Changing a starter motor - difficulty?

[Byff]

I've got the next two days off work and a brand new starter motor sitting waiting to be installed.

Reading up on here, I take it's a case of removing the fuel rail and somehow go down through the "V", unbolting and pulling out.

Sounds nice and easy - not.

Doing a quick pre-what am I letting myself in for check, looking down into the void - I can't see any sign of a starter motor even remotely visible. Getting the fuel rail out the way doesn't look too bad but what about the wires and pipes that go through that gap - do you have to remove those too?

I need some reassurance here that this is something I can do myself.

BTW, I possess a reasonable amount of mechanical/electrical knowledge. It's the tight access and lack of having arms like Mr Tickle bit that I'm worried about.

[Byff]

Thanks, wish me luck for tomorrow

Hope the rain holds off

[Byff]

Didn't get a chance to do it today, rained all day

I was thinking of putting a gazebo over the car, anything to keep the rain off. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

[Byff]

I've had an interesting morning.

Disconnected battery, removed airboxes, fuel rail popped out easy enough and got a good view of the starter.

Now if your the type of person that looks at a woman's vagina and thinks there's no fking way a baby will come through there - that was basically me.

So I've booked it into Hexham Horseless Carriages for next friday, I'll let the midwife deliver this one - no home births for me!

[Byff]

Juddder said:

- Unbolt fuel rail [red(?)]
- Slide fuel rail [green] out of the way with fuel line attached
- Disconnect throttle rail [blue]

It would just be good to see how much space (*or not) is left...

There is quite a bit of space to get your hand down to the starter and I'm sure unbolting it wouldn't be any problem.

For me, once the fuel rail is unbolted, there's hardly any give in the fuel line so the rail only moved about 5-10cm to one side. Even then, there's loads of pipes, HT leads, coil packs and brackets which block the starters passage through the birthing canal.

I think if I had a full day without the worry of it being my daily driver for work, I'd have taken all the top end off as suggested by CerbWill (looking a bit like Tanguero's picture).

[Byff]

Admitted defeat and booked into Hexham - took them just under 2hrs.

As I don't have a garage, have a bad back, use the car daily (any old excuse to not do it myself) I found paying to get the job done better than doing it myself. Have to agree that the sense of satisfaction would have been worth it but hey - there's always next time.