Replacing the Starter

Replacing the Starter
Paradise Garage

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The wonderful thing about modern PCs is that you can brag about how great your computer is without actually understanding a thing you're saying.

Replacing the starter on the Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger was actually a sideshow to the more involved process of replacing its headers. It's one of the things you should always replace while the headers are off anyway, because you can't do it without removing them. If you still have stock manifolds, it is not necessary to remove those.

Replacing the starter is not difficult. The main thing to keep in mind is that it is much heavier than it looks -- don't let it clock you on the head!. We got a Rayloc rebuilt starter from NAPA (#44-4619), which is original-spec replacement.

Here's a warning: If your car has headers, you will need to remove the driver-side header to get at the starter. If it still has stock manifolds, this is not necessary. To remove the header, see Replacing the Headers.

Disconnect the battery.

Lift up the car.

The starter is on the driver-side, close to the header (or manifold). There are two wires leading to it; remove them both. Don't worry about the hardware -- the new starter should come with new bolts.

If you have to move a header, do so now.

The starter itself is held on by two bolts which thread into the block (there are no nuts to worry about). One is at the top of the starter, mostly out of sight; the other is on the bottom and in plain view. Keep and reuse these bolts with the new starter.

Remove the top bolt first. It may actually be easier to reach from the top, if you moved a header. Otherwise you'll just have to wiggle a wrench up there one way or another.

Looking down the driver-side fender, with the headers removed, shows the hole where the starter hooks in.

While holding the starter with one hand, remove the lower bolt. If the starter is too heavy for one hand, hold it with both hands and get someone else to loosen the bolt. The point is that the starter will fall out when you remove this bolt and you don't want it to smash your skull in.

Take out the new starter and put the old one in the box. It needs to be in the box to get your core deposit back.

Put the new starter on the car, starting with the lower bolt and moving to the upper.

If you had to move a header, put it back.

Reconnect the wires to the starter.

Drop the car and reconnect the battery! That's it!

One of the easier projects on this car also produced one of the biggest benefits: The car starts every time! Wow, it hasn't done that in a while.

A big advantage to using a quality rebuilt starter is that you don't lose the unique Mopar sound. It's easy to pick out a V8 Mopar engine start, but you could lose this cool distinction with generic aftermarket replacements. With a rebuilt, or even a factory new, you know you're getting the goods. Those other guys will hear you cranking over and shudder -- "uh oh, there's a Mopar on the prowl!"