So i recently had the pleasure of installing a new starter on my car. its a 1991 Pontiact Bonneville for those who didn't know. the issue was that when starting the car it was a poor crap shoot on whether the starter would actually engage the motor and start the car. sometimes it might turn the engine once and then disenage. so most likely the bendix was worn or failed in some manner. anyway, while i didn't expect it to be a walk in the park, i guess i was not prepared for how much greater of a challenge it would be over changing out the blower motor. 

 here it is good to mention that unlike the blower motor, the starter needs to be spaced correctly off of the engine block so that the gear on the starter will nicely mesh with the teeth on the flywheel, thus starting the car. if its too close the gear hits the flywheel, grinding the metal and not starting the car. if its too wide then the gear misses and does not start the car. apparently the rule to follow is to space the teeth one paper clips width apart. of course, how you're supposed measure that when under then engine and there is all sorts of things in your line of sight is anyone's guess.

 so anyway, first you have to locate the starter. meaning, jack up the car, disconnect the battery and crawl under it. it took me a couple minutes to get over the fear of crawling under something that, if the worst should happen, would easily cruch you under its weight. once i overcame that i came to discover that mine was luckily close to the front and mostly accessible; only one structural support passed beneath it and both the bolts were reachable. so, the first night i found the starter, disconnected the leads and removed a little plastic guard meant to keep "oil cake" and other dirt off of the flywheel. unfortuantely i didn't have tools suited to the task of breaking free 18 year old bolts; thus ended day one.

 the second day a kind co-worker lent me a longer wrench with two extensions and an elbow joint. with the extra leverage and a fresh supply of elbow grease the bolts came free and the starter was removed. now just to get in the new one. installing the new one was easier than i expected. i got it into place and used the same three shims (0.015") from the old one to space the new start on the engine block. good, now start it up and...the wonderful sound of metal babies crying and finally the car starting. as i only had three shims at this point i decided to try out removing them all together. so crawl back under, take out the shims and retighten the bolts. turn the key and nothing but the wonderful sound of metal on metal. like a bunch of loose nuts and bolts in a coffee can. ok, so nothing else i can try tonight then. end day two.

 day three...lucky for me there is an auto parts store about a 7 minute walk from where i work. on my lunch i walk over and buy a set of shims. as it was friday night and my neck and shoulders were still hurting from the last two nights lying on my back under the car, i decided to take it easy.

 day four. going for an jump in the opposite direction i use double the amount of shim space (1x0.060" and 1x0.30"). it works beatuifully. finally, it is all together and running grand.

 i was actually quite fortunate. the repair manual i have for my car mentions that for some models of car the manual covers it may be neccessary to lift the engine in order to reach the bolts. had this been the case for me i think my project probably would have turned into me getting the car to a repair shop.

 

anyway, this was my fun project this past week.