Hi Scott!
Well, I'M not an expert, by any means...
The later K-series were available with ring-gear start... my loader-mutt project has a K301 with ring-gear start, and I believe a belt-start can be converted if one has the correct ring-gear type flywheel, flywheel shroud, and the cast-aluminum plate that closes off the block-side of the shroud... of course, you'll also need the starter, and perhaps do some wiring modifications. In order to charge the battery, you'll either need to fit the engine with a stator (which will match the flywheel) and a rectifier/regulator module and some more wiring modifications... or... if you're not concerned about looks, you could always slap an automotive alternator with internal reg where your starter-gen USED to be, but you'll need to alter it's mounting bracket position, 'cause the ring-gear starter mounts to the same bolts as the old Delco starter-generator.
I'm not sure how well the ring-gear starter will tolerate the lack of ACR- my K301 has both ACR and ring-gear start.
As for cutting out the ignition, well, it might provide a lungful of rich fuel (with choke out), but not much else... perhaps even some unwanted flooding. If I were in your shoes, I'd research the mechanical spark-advance stuff and see how hard that is to accomplish.
But do note- the well-worn K241 in my 109 is pretty leisurely about rolling over, and since I've been using the 109 to push snow, I've found that it's downright stubborn at any temp below 20F. I had a few days where getting it to fire at -18F seemed like an impossible task, so I made a bracket to hold one of my boat batteries to the transaxle... and some 2' long jumpers. The added oohmpf doesn't make it crank a whole lot quicker, but it will crank longer... usually long enough for me to get it to wake up using any number of silly gearhead tricks.