400a Starter Motor

Hi Russell
Sorry to hear about that, Although I didnt do it myself I did have it done before, mine was taken out and refurbished.
I am pretty sure you have to take the exhaust manifold on the starter side off to gain access.
Regards from Scotland
Alastair

 

Had a rebuild on our Daytona starter this year (shouldn't be that different). It's not that easy to get the starter, you have take the exhaust manifold off and you have to lift the engine to get the manifold out of the engine compartment of the Daytona (perhaps you don't need to lift the engine to get the manifold out). I would try to get a car lift!

There is no need for some specialist tools, but I highly advise some thin walled spanners for the manifold and some kind of uniflex socket (Stahlwille 47 uniflex socket).
(12mm for a 1970 Daytona, don't know if your 400A has the same size)

http://www.stahlwille-online.de/index.php?amac=03030002000e&sid=f1b27352879de653549f21ce05a86b38&lid=2&mid=2&shid=&scmd=pdetail&pcid=2616&cid=3044&pid=3157

 

I've done it on my 412 without a lift, it's a time consuming job because you need to remove a few things to gain access. I don't think the starter motor can be removed from under the car anyway.

You need to remove the drivers side injection unit, steering shaft, header heat shield and the exhaust manifolds to access the starter motor.

Also, to undo one of the nuts holding on the starter motor you'll need a special spanner. I bought a cheap new (17mm?) ring spanner and ground the "ring" section thinner so it could fit in the recess holding the nut. Made that part of the job really simple.

The hurdles are:
Removing the steering shaft: you'll need a large wrench to undo the "nut" under the dashboard to allow the shaft to slide back, but first also disconnect it at the steering box

The exhaust may be rusty and exhaust manifold nuts may be seized - you'll need new gaskets. Undoing the connection between the exhaust and the headers can be pain too, its under car and typically rusted together.

It's an OK job for a home mechanic with some common sense, wouldnt recommend it for a novice though.

(I note that Superformance claim to have parts in stock to rebuild the original starter, I have heard good things about the gear drive starters too though.)

M

 

I'm thinin' that the steering assy. might be the deal breaker to going at it from above, I remember posts about starter removal from above & beneath. Perform an advanced search (click on Search, then click on 'advanced search'), type in 'remove starter' in the keywords space, then go to the 'search in forums' box & scroll down to highlight our forum group. You'll bring up 18 threads that people have started here....with all sorts of ways to go about it.

I find the 'advanced search' approach very effective. Here's the list you should get, lots to read:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/search.php?searchid=6165243

 

Fun and games indeed, when mine went I decided to take the car from here in Scotland to Roseneath engineering south of London 600 miles for the job. This involved me bump starting the car and doing the 6 hour drive including leaving running while refueling and stopping for lunch at sevices !!!!! which i thought was very cool! An adventure shall we say keeps you on your toes.
Regards
Alastair