I have a verto clutch and standard pre-engaged starter motor.
(the pre-engaged one is the one with the "solenoid" thingy attached to it.
the older inertia ones had no "solenoid" attached.
in the 11 years ive had nelly ive found her to be a very good starter.
its ALWAYS lack of spark that stops these engines.

today i fitted a new starter motor to nelly. (the old one had had LOADS of abuse
off me from when i put diesel in nelly by accident recently.)
the new starter motor is fitted AND WORKS FINE.

but its "solenoid" is at a totally different place. i couldnt get the battery wire onto it
until i lengthened it.
is anyone else aware of this? im gonna put a picture up to show what im on about.

BTW ive settled on the 6 1/2 inch ram pipe. it gives the boost from 2500 to 3500 which complements the 256 cam really well. The 7 1/2 incher is great around town but not as good above 3000 rpm . . . .

photobucket have "upgraded" their site.
lets see if this works:
http://s1072.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... ssa%20pics

ive created a new album with three views of the back of nelly showing ram pipe and air filter
position. (and my perspex back window . . .)
the pic of the OLD starter motor with my blue additions showing that the angle between the top bolt hole and "solenoid" is just about 90 degrees.
the new starter motor has a MUCH narrower angle (sorry no decent pic showing this)
which moves the battery connection A GOOD INCH FURTHER away from the "transmission tunnel".
i had to pull more cable through to solve that "problem".

now that ive got nelly running so well - i WANT MORE !!
so that means reducing weight and more power. (700 kilos is far too heavy)
at the moment i have an MG metro cylinder head with a machine shop in manchester
who are trying to put unleaded seats in it - if they succeed i will take my time and try and modify that head to make it the best i can and up the compression ratio slightly. . . .
if the hardened seats wont go in its not the end of the world as the head thats on nelly now isnt too bad. - its just that i read that the mg metro ones are the best . . .

it is my hope that the 6 1/2 ram pipe will KEEP the lovely torque but that the bigger ports and hopefully better valve seat area of the MG metro head will release more top end power . .. thats the plan.

Hi Dastardly man , your old starter motor is off a Mini ,and your new one looks to be off a Metro. It is possible to take them apart and interchange the parts you need , if you are careful.

many thanks! I didn't know there was a differenece!