I have a 1915, swing axle and cannot figure out why the starter is not meshing properly have had this problem since I bought it, rebuilt the engine with 8 dowel crank and chromoly flywheel 200mm, I have built many vws and have never run into this, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Do you have a 6 volt starter on it? If so the gears don't match the 200mm flywheel

Or you could have a bushing issue

I would swap what you have out for a 12v starter from an auto-stick. It has more torque, it is self supported and is available with a lifetime warranty from many of the larger auto supply places. (Autozone, Advanced Auto, etc)