how do you remove the top bolt holding the starter on up by the top of the tranny and trunk. i cant get it with a socket or an open ended wrench. is there a special tool i need. thanks

If it is a nut/bolt...you'll need to fashion your own wrench from a stock one...if yours doesn't fit (grind, massage, shorten...?) Adjust your wrench so it fits).

If you have an allen fastener instead of a nut...you'll simply need an allen socket with a 6" extension to reach the fastener. Get a mirror and look to see what you have there and attack accordingly.

Bill

Just completed that very job. With the driver's side wheel removed & a suitable light you can just see the nut in question over the top of the starter motor. On mine it was a socket head screw that required a 10mm hex allen key. Couple of extensions & a ratchet = end of problem. If it's an ordinary hex nut you'll probably need to use a 3/8" sq drive socket, a ½" sq drive version will be too bulky to fit.

Screwdriver to jam the bolt head on the starter (if a hex head) and remove the nut from inside the engine compartment.

I used a long extension on a 3/8" drive socket, removed air cleaner and had friend hold nut in engine compartment. D shaped head on long top bolt for VW, 914 had long top bolt, but had regular head on it.

if you have a STOCK starter, the bolt is LOCKED in place by means of a little extrusion on the starter. Makes it worlds easier to just reach in with a 15mm (or 14mm) wrench and loosen it up. Took me over an hour to change my first starter, and I did the last one fifteen minutes before I had to go to a interview.

b

its a nut, 17mm i think i dont completely know becuase of the way the starters bolted to the trans a socket cant go over it, it hits part of the trans. if i use and open ended wrench i cant get on it becuase the bottom of the trunk blocks it unless i can make a 17mm 2 inch long wrench. but some of you say i can reach the other end in the engine compartment. what do i have to take off to get to it. any engine sheetmetal. thanks again

One question, 6 replies, and only TWO of them displayed EVEN A CLUE how to do the work. FOUR more reasons why BAD information gets into the archives. Open the engine lid, reach down the driver's side of the engine, just a few inches from the centerline of the case, and remove the 15mm (or 17mm if the engine has been subjected to the efforts of a hacker)nut and the washer, and push the bolt through.

The Cap'n

what he said!!!!