Updated starter

starter on my 02 Continental engages only 1/2 the gear teeth width. If I can get a starter that engages full width of teeth I might not need to replace flywheel teeth. Only inside half of tooth width is stripped in engagement area.

Maybe and maybe not. You will have to find out.

I would bet dollars to donuts that any new starter you can find that will fit the mounting point will be exactly the same dimension. If I am correct, unless there is something wrong with your starter or a way that it can be modified with a thinner bushing in the nose to let the gear out further, this will be a recurring problem.

In any event, you have already determined that half a tooth is not enough, so even if you get the starter to extend out and catch the back half of the teeth, you will likely get only a year or two out of that ring gear before what is left of the teeth fails.