Now I know nothing about chassis design guys, but what would you do with this tube (the sloping right hand one thats in the way of the starter motor)?

So far my ideas including banging it with a big hammer and getting rid completely

sorry for the horrible dingy photo

is it hactually hitting the starter motor?, or just the solenoid?

if its just the solenoid you could mount it away from the starter which may be an easier option?

hth

Ray

Cut it out and make a new one up, try and get some one local to weld it up.

If you have a trailer and want to have a ride to spalding I would do it for you.

thanks for the reply ray, how would I go about moving the solenoid? how does it operate? although it is separate from the main body it is built into the starter casing as a single unit.

I had considered this as the easiest option but then couldnt see a way of moving it.

where would you move it to big_wasa?

I considered fitting a new one on the round downtube at the end of the drivers footwell, but that would be a tricky weld, and tricky to fab the pipe to fit there in the first place?

quote:

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Originally posted by rayward
is it hactually hitting the starter motor?, or just the solenoid?

if its just the solenoid you could mount it away from the starter which may be an easier option?

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ah okay no the rear of the engine is much too high, the bottom of the gearbox floats about 2 inches above the gearbox mount when attached on both engine mounts.

Ok, how about getting the problem tube moved over to the left a bit? Im sure someone local to you on here will be able to offer their services for a few beer tokens?

If you moved it to the other side of that bracket would it clear the steering rack ?

no it wouldnt

i know this isnt going to be popular, but what would be the effects of simply removing that bar?

the reason being that the previous owner saw fit to seal and rivet the interior fibreglass footwell panels in place, making welding in that area difficult and dangerous.

engine out and stick a pinto in PROBLEM SOLVED! Sorry no help, just ignore me

Is it possible to modify the starter at all to rotate it to a different angle? Or possibly change to a different but compatible starter?

How about moving the solenoid a few inched towards the front of the car and making some sort of extension operating arm?

Try to source an inertia starter motor - maybe one from a low capacity Fiesta or Escort.

Might be worth taking a template of the mounting holes to the breakers and have a look around.

quote:

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Originally posted by sickbag
Try to source an inertia starter motor - maybe one from a low capacity Fiesta or Escort.

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remove!
Not the starter but the bar.

You can easily find an other way for the needed strenght. The locost, tiger, etc doesn't have such diagonal.

grtz

sympathies - I had this recently with gearbox bulge for starter motor - solved by cutting tube out and rewelding in different position, unfortunately mine could not be omitted - yours looks like an addition.

I doubt you can do much about the starter/solenoid so the tube has to go - looks like it fouls the steering column too.

Can't suggest if and how you need to fit a replacement tube without seeing diagram/better photos of your chassis.

the tube will be coming out this weekend as I'm not sure its entirely necessary - i think it might be extra strengthening for 400bhp dax monsters.

when you cut the tube, leave about 70mm of the tube welded in place, you could then get a larger tube with same internal dimeter as the outer of the cut tube bent so it misses the starter and slide it in place, obviously one end would have to be open so it could be pushed into place, then have it all welded at some stage