Courtshark

Trying to install a mini starter but the new bell housing won't go on over the stock starter mount. I assume this mount has to be removed. How does it come off? Does the clutch also come out?

Also the clutch hard hydraulic line is in this area. Do you have to eliminate the bracket for it to use this starter?

Lastly, the top bolt on the starter seems nearly inaccessible. Any modification needed there?

atb

Flywheel has to come off to expose the two bolt heads that bolt into the back of the block.

Hai gebissen

Hai gebissen

So, the factory iron starter mounting bracket cannot be used with the oil pan spacer. There is simply not enough room for a bolt with a head/flange of any kind. Even just a stud with no head/flange is touching the oil pan above when threaded into the starter bracket.



Then there is the matter of the hard clutch hydraulic line to the slave cylinder, that normally goes over the starter, and its bracket. Unfortunately, if the bracket is used, the hard line blocks the hole where a top starter mounting bolt would go (if you could even get one in there):

Hai gebissen

Here is a stud started into the factory starter bracket...

The Fixer

Mini starter for sway bar clearance/weight savings?
Makes you realize your never done improving.
Good luck with it Courtshark.

Hai gebissen

It is lighter, yes, but there is no way the larger stock starter would even come close to mounting back up once the oil pan spacer is installed.

Hai gebissen

This is interesting...

I measured the distance from the flange of the engine block down to the center of the upper starter mounting hole on the stock S4 cast iron starter bracket, and it appears to be 30mm (also note how tight the clearance is with just a stud installed in the stock bracket's upper hole)



Then, I measured from the flange on the early 928 bell housing/starter mounting bracket, and it is only 25mm



In other words, by installing the early 928 lower bell housing/starter mounting (which requires removing the clutch and stock starter mounting bracket), I will LOSE 5mm of space.

Ducman82

i have a pan spacer adn mini starter as well. tight fit. BUT i also and musing the early bell housing cover. no cast iron starter mount.

Hai gebissen

What year is your car? Manual or automatic transmission? Stock S4 oil pan? What model is the mini starter? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure we are talking about the same car here ('88 S4 with manual trans). Thanks!

Ducman82

81 manual. The mini starter I have is the IMI. Early pan. Had to use a button head Allan head on the top mounting bolt... That hard line is crammed up there.... Can't wait to replace it with one of Greg brown lines

Courtshark

Thanks. Weight savings and sway bar clearance are fringe benefits, though; the goal is to use the oil pan spacer that drops the oil pan 3/8" to reduce windage in high RPM turns. Many 928s suffer from 2/6 rod bearing issues in such turns, which can lead to catastrophic engine failures. One trick is to use this pan spacer, as well as an "early style" oil pick up. Same amount of oil, but more room for it to move around in the pan below the bearings and crank.

Because the pan is lower, as my brother said, the stock starter cannot fit in any configuration. Thus the mini starter is a must. The question is whether it will ever work, though! No one has responded yet that they've successfully installed any of this on a manual S4 or newer 928.

Mike Simard

This is doable with a socket head cap screw.
There is also plenty of material on the pan if you want to remove a little with a rotary burr.
What kind of gaskets do you have? Sometimes, people get carried away and put those awful rubber gaskets on BOTH sides which really takes up a bunch of room as well as being a sealing problem.
You want case sealant only for the spacer-block.

Courtshark

Mike, the kit Carl sells comes with two cork gaskets that create a sandwich around the spacer. I'm wondering, though, whether instead of a cork gasket, perhaps a gasketmaker (thinner but accomplishes the same result) would leave more room for all of this to fit together. A bit late now for that...

ptuomov

You'll get a more rigid installation if you don't use the cork gasket between the block and the spacer. It'll add to the rigidity of the block and girdle a little bit (but not that much if it's just the loop instead of grid).

A potential reason for running a gasket between the spacer and the pan: I think the block is less likely to crack if you hit a rock with the oil pan. I've also stayed in Holiday Inn. Can't think of any other reason, the pan is thick and cast and it probably wouldn't leak with just a sealant, although I've never tried. But don't forget I've stayed in Holiday Inn.