Excuse me if this has been answered before, I used search and couldn't find it.

I have an 86 with stock exhaust manifolds, no headers. I was able to remove the starter, finally, bit am not able to fit the new one in due to the tight squeeze behind the exhaust pipe and suspension arm. Does anyone have any suggestions? (I really don't want to release the exhaust pipe since it looks rusted, and am afraid of snapping a bolt).

 

If the old one came out, the new one should go in.

 

Yes, but with the tight fit, it's hard to tell how it twisted out

 

"The angle of the dangle is twice the hypotenuse squared"- Beavis

Keep trying- if you have room to flip it in there, do it upside down, backwards, whatever will get the SOB to at least get into the area. The starter is a tougg part- don't be afraid to use some force on it. You aren't too far from that 'eureka!' moment.

 

Thanks HawkZ28. I think I should remove the solenoid and try again.

 

Don't remove the solenoid.

Put it in tail first, nosepiece pointed toward the ground, with the solenoid toward the bell housing. It'll go far enough up in there to rotate the nose up toward the block where it belongs.

 

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

 

I tried puitting it in tail first, but there wasn't enough room. I ended up removing the solenoid, and reinstalling it once the starter was in place. Thanks for the good suggestions, though.