Just had to whack my starter with a hammer to get it going again. I have had starters go on all sorts of cars, but that was back when a new starter was actually better than the old one. Should I milk this thing for as long as I can or just replace?

The season is winding down, do you have a spare you could pop in and take your "hammer time" into your local refurbish shop

No, I don't, but that might be a good plan for the winter. All I really have coming up is a PCA fall foliage tour (with the wife, not sure I want the starter to die) and maybe one more autocross.

Might want to source a new one and have the older one reconditioned. I am quite sure we would never try something as risky as a 914 event. My wife does not care for any of my sporting (POS) machines

I am somewhat envious of you guys with cooperative wives

Yeah, I think I have to do that. If it died with her on the tour it would not be cool. Is just a Bosch reconditioned unit that people go with? I have an optima battery, Ford solenoid hack, and the old starter turns the engine over great, when it doesn't need hammer courage.

Before the hot start kit came out I carried a hammer in the trunk. That kit got rid of most of those failures. There is a ford solenoid set up one of the fellas conjured up. Far superior to the hot start kit of old. Bench test that starter first

Porsche didn't have Ford Parts when they built the car and it has worked for 40-50 years.
Before you add the Rube Goldberg device try the Ed test. I had a simaler issue. Called Ed Morrow as I was at my wits end with the issue. Here is what he had me do.

Next time is acts up take a jumper cable and connect it to the positive post on the starter then on the positive post on the battery. Besure the cable connection is clean and tight at the battery when adding on the jumper clamp. Try the starter. If it cranks and starts replace the positive barrery cable. I chased a bad positive battery cable for months on 7 of 9. Two starters, push starting the car at a couple events... Seriously my cable looked OEM new but was corroded inside.

Thank again Ed!

Too late, been running the ford solenoid (off my gt350) for almost 2 years without a single issue til today. I ran a screw driver from the battery hot to the yellow anyway when it wouldn't start, no luck. This was pure hammer time.

I tried that also. Does work if the cables are bad. Just clicks. I guess the ford part was not the answer.

The ford part fixed the low voltage to the solenoid. That works great. Hammer to the starter has nothing to do with low voltage.

Just trying to help exercise your demon.

Hehe

Are you giving the engagement solenoid a hit with the hammer ? if so pull the starter and remove it as the piston inside is most likely sticking in the bore ,give it a good clean and lube,bench test before you put the solenoid back on ,check for free movement of the bendix lever also, you should be fine.
Cheers.

The 'hammer fix' is generally a sticking solenoid. Best battery and cables in the world won't solve that. As noted, pull the solenoid off (2 screws) and clean it up, make sure it moves very freely in the housing.
Also make sure the pull arm to the gear moves easily. It is spring loaded though.

Sounds like a plan. Starter and solenoid work great so no reason to get a new one if I don't have to.

Get a new IMI gear reduction starter. It will be better than your old one.

Had a starter on my little 94' Ranger stop working one morning. Tested from battery, fender solenoid, voltage to starter while my wife hit the start position on the key etc. Everything seemed okay. Tapped (Don't whack) the starter with a hammer, turned over.

Don't risk getting stranded, get a new starter or have yours rebuilt.

Turned out my starter was a Napa rebuild from 2018. They swapped it out even though it tested okay on the bench. Told them about the hammer test and even he said, "Yeah, it'll stop working again probably soon."

What James wrote. IIRC, I bought my IMI from you Dan.

That IIRC thing. Seems to be more incorrectly these days.

Probably did, years and years ago.

I have a reduced gear starter in my 914 and love it. Still have the stock starter that worked perfectly fine. I should check the part number, given it's a six conversion, might be a 911 starter?

I put a new 911 starter in my 2.0L around six years ago and have not had a problem since. I could feel the difference in quicker starts and it seemed to have solve an intermittent hot start problem. Not sure which model or year 911 it was for but it looks very much like my original starter and was a direct bolt-in fit.

As we age, it's a miracle we can do anything correctly

But easy to forget f-ups.