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Location: The Mile High City | Is it even possible? (haha) Between the block, exhaust pipe, frame, and torsion bar, the ultra-heavy starter motor is wedged in like a g-string in Kim Kardashian's butt crack. The repair manual is of no help whatsoever. Do you have to disconnect the exhaust pipe from the manifold? Those bolts weren't budging - even with a breaker bar. Anybody done this? |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 6506
Location: Newark, Texas (Fort Worth) | https://www.web.imperialclub.info/Repair/Electrical/starter.htm Spray ex. nuts. with PB Blaster or Mouse milk or acetone mixed with trans, fluid. wait. Add heat. try.... |
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Location: The Mile High City | Not a great design. There was a thread once about what design changes people would make to the FL cars. I think the master cylinder beneath the brake booster was the most vexing. I'd have to put this in as well!
(04 reduced.jpg)
(02 reduced.jpg)
Attachments ---------------- 04 reduced.jpg (208KB - 31 downloads) 02 reduced.jpg (224KB - 27 downloads)
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 7423
Location: northern germany | I have medium length headers and I can remove it w/o ex pipe removal but have to disconnect the cooling lines. Don't you have a transmission cooler? The pipes should be there, under the starter. |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 7423
Location: northern germany | Lancer Mike - 2024-04-04 6:07 PM
Not a great design.
lol, takes a few minutes with a torch to remove the ex pipe, another few for the starter. Have you ever worked on a new car? Chances are, you have to pull the engine with gazillions of wires, pipes and whatever. Not rarely a 4-digit bill at the dealer, just labor. Gotta love the old cars
Edited by 1960fury 2024-04-04 8:01 PM
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9701
Location: So. Cal | Mike, in my thread on my '58 Fireflite, I describe the same issue. This is what I wrote:
"I finished swapping the starter out of the car. It took me a while because once I disconnected it, I couldn't figure out how to get it past the torsion bar or exhaust. Both options were quite
painful for a typical R&R of a starter, in a field of dirt. Instead, I removed the master cylinder & throttle linkage. Then I was able to pull it out from the top."
So that's what I did, and was definitely the quickest method, but also still painful. |
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Location: The Mile High City | Thanks Sid and Nathan. I'll figure out a way. The worst of it is, I think the starter works fine. I want to replace the solenoid! I should have looked at your thread, Nathan! I did a search in titles and couldn't get a hit. I'll put in a link to your thread, just in case anyone else is having the same problem. Bottom of page 1 Do you think removal of the access panel under the brake pedal would allow me to get it out through the passenger compartment?
Edited by Lancer Mike 2024-04-05 3:47 PM
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9701
Location: So. Cal | That might be a good way, but I'm not sure. I didn't think of that at the time. The screws for that panel would have required a torch to remove, so that's likely why I didn't consider it.
Edited by Powerflite 2024-04-05 5:15 PM
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Location: The Mile High City | Hallelujah! I took Marc's advice and soaked the exhaust pipe bolts with PB Blaster and hit em with a big ol' breaker bar and got both bolts off. I was able to move the exhaust pipe just enought that I could BARELY squeeze the starter motor out. Removing the MC and linkage looked really difficult, but that was plan B. |
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Location: The Mile High City | I bought a new solenoid and plunger kit from Vintage Auto Garage. It didn't come with any instructions.
Edited by Lancer Mike 2024-04-10 11:09 PM
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Attachments ---------------- new solenoid and plunger kit reduced.jpg (206KB - 26 downloads)
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Location: The Mile High City | A few questions: - It did not come with an internal spring - should I install the spring from the old solenoid?
- Should I use any grease for the plunger?
- I don't know what the disks are for, but I think assembly is something like this diagram I created. Reasonable?
(plunger assembly.jpg)
Attachments ---------------- plunger assembly.jpg (33KB - 29 downloads)
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 659
Location: Finland | yes-no-yes , IMO
Edited by 22mafeja 2024-04-11 2:31 AM
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Location: The Mile High City | Thanks, Ralf. I will assemble and bench test. I didn't know if there was some sort of electrostatic grease, but I'll go bareback and see what happens. A bit better assembly diagram:
Edited by Lancer Mike 2024-04-11 9:04 PM
(plunger assembly revised.jpg)
Attachments ---------------- plunger assembly revised.jpg (33KB - 25 downloads)
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Location: The Mile High City | Thanks everyone for your help. 'Twas still a huge pain to get the motor back in and tighten the mounting bolt and nut, but it's done and the De Soto is running and driving again. One curious thing: the negative battery kill switch seems to have failed during the process. I'm not sure if it is related to the coil problem or just coincidence. I did not know those things could malfunction or break! At any rate, I hope that's the last time I will ever have to remove the starter motor. One more spring to add to the diagram.
Edited by Lancer Mike 2024-04-17 6:24 PM
(plunger assembly revised.jpg)
Attachments ---------------- plunger assembly revised.jpg (38KB - 17 downloads)
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