what length extention will i need to remove the top starter bolt

[chefma70]

my car is a pre 89 mkiii .what size extention and i will also need a swivel right? whats the best angle to take the pita bolt off from.

 

[black91turbo]

go to harbour freight and get their 2ft extension in 3/8. I would recommend unbolting it under the car using the 2ft extension by running it over the transmission. You will need a 14 socket swivel. Good luck

 

[Shytheed Dumas]

The best luck I've had is using two 1 foot extensions with wobble ends and a swivel. Getting the bolts off is just the beginning of the starter fun.

 

[black89t]

i use a 6" extension and a deep 14mm with a small wrachet to sneak behind the starter leaving plenty of room under the intake for me to get a good hold on it plus a 14mm wrench to hold the nut on the back. its hard to do under the car because the nut will just spin with the bolt.

 

[williamb82]

6in. i use a 14mm deepwell, 6in extension on the ratchet. no swivel. go from the front on the top side. slide it between the block and starter with your left hand and slide the soket on the bolt with your right. then use your right to put a 14mm wrench on the nut and back it off. same for the bottom bolt. and it should be a 12mm nut holding the wire on. disconnect the neg of the battery before removing that though. just changed the starter on the 7m in my 84 a couple weeks back. took 10-15min all done from the top. never had to jack it up or get under it.

 

[Asterix]

This is where I learned my lesson to never, ever use cheap tools. If your friend's cheap pos 14mm socket rounds off the top nut, you get to pull the whole intake off to get to it. What should've been a 1-hour job turns into a full-day wrench-a-thon with some chiselling to get that rounded nut off.

Asterix

 

[benchwarmer]

I use a deep 14mm socket and a 6" extension from the front to hold the bolt in place. Then I use a stubby ratcheting wrench to remove the bolt from the back.

 

[gtimportfanatic]

i used about 2 feeet of extensions also.. worked lime a charm.. well.. a 1-2 hour charm.. but it worked nonetheless...

 

[chefma70]

this job sounds like alot of fun:3d_frown:

so does this bolt have a nut on the other end just like the first one ..........

or is it just a straight forward bolt

so i will need a stubby to hold the back one and extentions to unbolt right?

 

[williamb82]

both bolts have nuts on them. i dont see how you guys make it out to be so hard. i guess it helps if youve seen someone do it the fast way. ive had a few guys go "oooohhhhhhhhhh, thats how" when ive helped them. one day maybe ill try to get someone to video me taking it out. putting it back in is a lil trickier as sometimes i drop the nut when putting it on. thank god for strong magnetic pickup tools. lol

 

[88-7MGTE]

I agree starter removal sucks,
getting it in sucks even more.

 

[Dunckel]

Here's a good link that helped me. It's for replacing the starter contacts, but you need to get the starter out to do that. http://supras.com/06/techcenter/display.php?QID=68

 

[gaboonviper85]

I used a 6" extension and deep socket....enter from the bottom....it's really bit hard once you figure out how to hold your mouth just right! Seriously...you'll feel like a retard once you figure it out...

 

[GrimJack]

Cripes guys, you're making mountains out of molehills here. I can pull the starter by myself in 15 minutes, it's less than half that with a buddy.

I feed extensions in from the front of the engine, below the alternator and above the AC compressor until I can slide the socket onto the bolt. Slide under the car and wedge a closed end wrench on the back side, then pull the bolt from the ratchet on the front of the engine.

The rest of the connections come off even easier.

I'm with williamb82, we need to video this one day, this question comes up WAY too often.

 

[williamb82]

i had my old one out and the new one in in less then 15min. lol. next time we have a meet someone bring a video camera and get this on film.

 

[Rennat]

Cripes guys, you're making mountains out of molehills here. I can pull the starter by myself in 15 minutes, it's less than half that with a buddy.

I feed extensions in from the front of the engine, below the alternator and above the AC compressor until I can slide the socket onto the bolt. Slide under the car and wedge a closed end wrench on the back side, then pull the bolt from the ratchet on the front of the engine.

The rest of the connections come off even easier.

I'm with williamb82, we need to video this one day, this question comes up WAY too often.

its really not that hard... me and my dad pulled... err... unbolted it, until i saw my problem. haha. only took us 20mins, but i pulled it out anyways and cleaned it.

 

[easternguy2005]

I had to do this today to get at the knock sensor. I decided to pull the top half of the manifold off and used a deep 14 with long extension, a universal then another long extension. the rachet wrench was where the battery was and still had to get a 14 wrench in the back.

Putting it together tomorrow is going to suck....


Universal = swivel socket
'90 had 2 bolts and 2 nuts

 

[Poodles]

I have 3' worth of extensions, starter's not that hard to unbolt from under the car, but getting the starter out is the nightmare...

 

[chefma70]

i figured it out this is the easiest way .you will need a 2 foot extention and a SWIVEL socket 14 or 12mm idont remember your gona wanna get it,working from about where the tranny drain plug is at .dont forget a shop light or flashlight

 

[IJ.]

Early starter is 2x Bolts and Nuts

Late starter is 2x Bolts