The clutch in the starter could be stripped, that is kind of unusual though. Battery voltage should stay above 9.0 while trying to start. The battery will probably respond to charging up.

 

Could the new flywheel have a different amount of teeth? Not allowing starter to engage?

 

Just a thought, but when you reinstall your tranny which didn't mesh up all the way before tighten the bolts but rather using bolts to close it the rest of the way could be your issue, try loosen the tranny bolts and re-align, see if this solve your issue.

 

That's a good idea. I was pretty paranoid about that, and sense the gap was not that big, the bolts didn't take a lot of force to close, and I tightented them criss cross, that if it was in alignment it wouldn't go anywhere (i.e axles).

I'm going to push start when my brother gets home and see what happens, and probably get a new starter. Process of elimination at this point.

 

Push started it today and it shifted like a CHAMP. What a relief. It was good to have that big part work out alright.

Drove for a while, starter still wouldn't engage.

I ordered a new one for tomorrow. I'm willing to bet when I mistakingly took it apart, the whine was some I needed inside locking up, and after that it had nothing.

 

Let it be known to all others who find this thread looking for hope:

New starter fixed it.