Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,
I have to swap the starter on a syncro with an injected (MV) wbx engine. The throttle body, coolant pipes and fuel tank almost entirely prevent access to the top starter bolt. I can feel the bolt head with my fingers, but even with a decent socket set and flex head ratchet spanners I can't get anything onto the starter bolt to undo it. Guess I'm probably not the first person to ever have trouble with this?
Dropping the engine slightly seems to be the best way to make room, but at which end? It looks to me like dropping the front of the gearbox about 2" ought to be enough to get a socket and extension bar onto the bolt from underneath.
If anyone has had the same problem, I'd be interested to know what you did. Thanks,

Richard,
www.rjes.com
Quality Subaru Powered VW Components

If you really can't that bolt undone, then drop the front of the gearbox

Great, isn't it?

You CAN get to it..... provided you aren't too attached to the skin on your fingers.

It's an utter cahnt of a job, one of the worst there is.

Don't forget to take off the driveshaft and locker actuator and cages etc

easy enough to do. Remove the airbox, connecting hose and throttle body. Get a decent allen key for the front of the bolt and a 17mm ring spanner for the nut. I can get my podgy hands through the space between the fuel tank and the water pipe to get the allen key in - must be a key, a socket is too unweildy in that space. It's a bit of a faff, but not that hard.
Worst bit is having to remove the driveshaft and diff lock actuator to get the wiggle space to wiggle it once the bottom nut is off.

Thanks for the replies folks. Sounds like my bolt installation is a bit different to the one described by Beaker. It's a '91. The bolt is a hex head, 15mm or 17mm as a guess, fitted from the starter side. Whatever size it is, a flexible ratchet spanner won't reach from above, and all sorts of conbinations of U/J's and extension rods won't reach from below!
I hope it screws into an insert like on type 4 air cooled engined, not a loose nut. I'll get a little mirror and a torch to look under the throttle body. I don't really want to disturb the induction system if poss, so I was hoping to drop the engine or gearbox end slightly. It looks to me like dropping the front of the gearbox to give better access to from underneath is easiest, as there is a lot less attached there than there is to the engine. I think I'll try that approach first (can't wait...). Thought some of you must have had to do this horrible job before.
No problem undoing the drive shaft CV, and the diff lock actuator is missing. If anyone has a diff lock actuator for sale, I'm interested (as long as I can free the jammed shaft off. It has a small bent nail fitted through the roll pin hole in the shaft, so it looks like someone has been following the procedure on the tech pages to try to free it off. I'll have a go while it's up on ramps. Thanks.

Unbolt the drive shaft.