As I've been preparing to remove my engine, I've been getting the smaller components out of the way first. One of the(perenially) most difficult things is the starter, because of its location under the exhaust manifold. I got so fed up trying to rotate, slide, and eventually curse the thing out of its place that I decided to remove the front engine mount, which had to come out anyway.
The starter might as well have fallen out after that.
In the future, I shall be removing said mount when it's time to replace the starter
By the way, some years ago I was having intermittent starting troubles. I found that the solenoid connection(small positive wire from the battery) was slipping out of contact, so I crimped a regular male spade terminal onto the wire, and it worked perfectly until the car... stopped. Your mileage may vary obviously, mass-produced parts being what they are, but this solution worked just fine for me.
.02 poorer
- Ben