Mopar Muscle Association UK

Hoping this might be useful to anyone thinking of changing their starter motor. This was done on my '68 383 header equiped Charger, but after talking to others this should be the same as any big body, big block, Mopar.
I was looking forward to doing this job, the original starter motor in my Charger had pretty well expired (check out the thread elsewhere http://www.mopartalk.co.uk/mopartalk/vi ... php?t=1076).
After asking around for advice, it was pretty obvious that one of these mini hi-torque starters was the way to go as they are alot smaller, lighter and more powerful. They are also far less prone to heat sink failure on header equiped cars.

I decided to order mine from Hauser Racing, a more expensive option that went against my grain as a serial ebayer, but speed was of the essence here.
Anyway the day after the starter motor showed up in the post, I broke my shoulder, suffered concussuion and a possible trapped nerve ( no more shandy for me! ) which effectively stopped me doing anything too physical for the next six weeks. So you guesed it, Mustang Mike was contracted in, again!
My Charger is kept outside my place at the momet, so we choose a day when the weather looked best, and indeed Sunday the 24th was the best, with only occasional heavy rain, and only strong winds, and it was only quite chilly!

Firsty (after disconnecting the battery) we released the six drivers side header to head nuts, and then the two electrical cables to the starter motor, before removing the drivers side road wheel and raising the car up at that corner. From underneath Mike undid the bottom securing nut, while from above, I released the top securing bolt of the starter.
Everything was free to move but we just didnt have enough space, Mike was pretty amazed that the starter motor, steering box, header and brake unit seem to share the same square foot of one side of the engine bay!
It was quickly becoming apparent that we needed more room to get the old bulky motor out, so the three header to exhaust pipe bolts were undone, and the car raised even higher of the ground (about three foot), this allowed the header to be moved more freely. Even the spark plugs were removed to gain more movement.
The header was manipulated backwards and downwards from above, and this allowed just enough room for the starter motor to be angled to one side and removed through the small gap. Mike withdrew it from underneath the car and then we appreciated the mess it was in! We compared it with the new motor (Proform 66269), and the difference in weight and size is staggering. So far this had all taken just over an hour

With the old starter motor out, the new one was put in, what a doddle, plenty of room!

But straight away we ran ito a problem. The new motor didnt want to line up properly, something was kicking it out away from the block, but we could tell that it would fit in in the bell housing apperture. Mike was struggling below on the wet stone chippings, covered in oil and stuff, while trying to get the motor to fit. I heard him say something, and I think it was something like "Im really enjoying this job, it is fun, and I thank you commander for allowing me to do work on your car in these conditions!".
We were getting no where, and Mike had to go home to pick his daughter up, so we agreed to come back another day. Ive never seen a Mondeo move so quick!
I was fuming, and was working out what to say to Hausers. As I placed the starter back in its box, I noticed a piece of paper in there. It said important, so I read it, it said you have to remove the terminal adapter for it to fit to big block engines. How stupid did I feel!
This is a block of plastic that extends the terminals for different applications and when removed allows the starter motor to sit next to the block quite comfortably.

The weather was improving so I rang Mike up and explained what I had found out and half an hour later he was back round with daughter Mustang Millie.
The starter was fitted once again, and was perfect, even to the extent that it stayed in place without the retaining nut and bolt, which was just aswell because the top bolt wouldnt go back in!
Much head scratching followed, before we noticed that the top starter mounting hole didnt align with the bell housing hole.
The motor was dropped out again, and we marked where the hole would have to be enlarged. This was done carefully by milling out with a drill, and after a couple of goes and about one and half mil removed, the holes lined up and allowed the bolt to be fitted.
We then ran in to problems with connecting the wiring, this took ages and much refitting of the starter. In short we had to undo the starter motor cable from the two starter relay terminals on the bulkhead, connect the two starter cables to the starter while it was held loosely in place and then offer it up into place. Even then we had to get the cables to face a certain way (out towards the drivers side fender) and chop down a plastic boot on the larger cable for the motor to fit properly. The starter to relay cable was slightly rerouted to allow enough flex and I suspect that this was its original route.
Eventually the starter was properly in place and the retaining lower nut and upper bolt were done back up.

We had spent about three hours on this and the cold, frustration and stone chippings had got to Mike. I felt like I had rebroke my shoulder.
Everything was pretty well slung back together, spark plugs, leads, starter relay connections, header, exhaust, battery and wheel were all refitted.
after the Charger was lowered we went for start up, and what a difference.! Straight away you can tell how much power the new motor has and how vigorously the engine starts.
one lesson learnt, read all instructions. But Im kinda glad I broke me shoulder!
Thanks to Mustang Mike, and James King for his advice.

Ohh! We for got to tell you about thr terminal block. Oh and I had same problems with my cables too!

Yup!

I had to do a bit of filing on the cable ends and shorten the terminals themselves to give plenty of clearence between anything live and the block.

I also found one bolt would not line up. But I found this was because the starter case was fouling the block and also one header pipe. A bit of grinding and a bit of hammer work on the header pipe and the mounting bolts went in fine.

This is what American companies I have delt with in the last couple of years call "bolt in".

Read the instructions?? Only if all else fails!

Thats just it! All else did fail!
God knows what I wouldve done if I hadnt seen that bit of paper, ground the blockdown possibly!
As a model builder I dont normally read instructions anymore, but that really caught me out.