rrs1 posted:Why does this car need to be updated to a 2019 spec for a very simple starter sytem? Consider how much are you going to be driving this car? Not much by most. Go to O'Rileys, spend $54.00 for a 72 Mustang Starter. It fits guaranteed, no modifications needed, and it will most likely outlive your ownership. Then run a ground cable/strap from the starter stud to under a motor mount nut. Solved my hot start problem.
It isn't so much that it needs to be updated, it's that at this point, many original starters (manufactured in the early '70s) are worn out.
What happens is that as a new unit, there is little issue with them. As the brushes wear against the armature, the armature wears down. You can take them apart and resurface the armatures but you loose torque out of the started by cutting the diameter of the armature down. It needs to be it's full diameter to do what it was designed to do.
I've seen armatures seemingly 1/2" less in diameter then original.
You can luck out on a rebuild working almost as well as a new starter but these days that's more of a rarity then the rule.
A sure sign that a starter is done, regardless of how recent a rebuild was, is it's inability to turn over a hot engine.
As far as $54 for a rebuilt? We get 'em for $25 from the junkyard when they have them.
By FAR, the simplest (and highly dependable) solution is to put in a Tilton type "race" starter. They seem to have more torque then the originals ever did, take less voltage and are more compact and light weight. I believe the guts of it are out of a Nisan pick up truck?
It doesn't HAVE to be a compact starter though. ACCELL makes a very nice full size unit and if it was blue instead of yellow it would look original. It certainly is a powerful sucker but it ain't light weight and compact.
Of course everyone is entitled to make a fool of themselves and bang their own heads against the wall, hopefully for pleasure. So don't stop on our account. Keep enjoying the pain. I try to limit mine these days. Not enough time. 