Okay, so from my experiences of the last couple days, I've changed the starter in and out about 6 times. I figured a visual guide, as opposed to words might be easier, as it's pretty much the stupidest starter-placement i've ever seen.
so here we have it: the good car. this one needs a starter, or so we think. (note presence of dead turbo k car)
the donor, soon to be parted out.
these are the tools you will need. note that i have a small extension, but two big ones is best. the 13mm is used to take off the battery connection.
this is how you should assemble it all together. how pretty.
oh, and make sure you disconnect the battery. for the love of god (and your starter) please do that. don't forget or you'll be sorry.
this is what you see from the top. basically you need to get your hand/arm down one of the two areas indicated by the arrows in order to place the no-extension ratchet on the engine side of the top bolt. if you peer down right by the firewall (top arrow), you can see this bolt. it's not that hard to get onto, and once it's stuck on there, it won't fall off.
this is what you see from under the car. the easy starter bolt is front and foremost in the picture.
first, we'll use the extension ratchet with a 13mm socket to take off the battery cable. also unplug the ignition cable.
to get the first bolt out easily, i attached the extended ratchet on the transmission side of the bolt, and the regular ratchet suspended on the engine side. this way, i could easily turn the transmission side, undoing the bolt.
this is where it gets tricky. you've got a very narrow "pathway" to stick the extended ratched up from beneath the car. what you must do is stick your left arm up beside the starter and over top, feeling for the top bolt. feed the extended ratchet up that pathway, directing it onto the transmission side bolt with your left hand once it's up high enough.
once the extended ratchet is attached, you will want to go up to the top of the engine, and attach the normal ratchet via the two pathways in the 5th picture above.
this is sort of what you should see. behind that gargantuan finger, you will just be able to make out your regular ratchet, suspended above on the engine side of the bolt. turn the extended ratchet to undo the bolt. I found that the swivel head makes it really easy for the socket to come off the bolt, so i stuck my left hand up over the starter (as before) and grabbed onto the socket, making sure it stayed on the bolt. this hurts, and takes a while, but it does get the job done.
once your starter has both bolts out... it suddenly gains a lot of mass and may fall on your head. to avoid this - don't let it fall on your head . when you get close to undoing the second nut, brace the starter against your left wrist (as your left hand is holding onto the socket) so that it won't fall all the way down onto your face. odds are it wouldn't anyways, as toyota graciously supplied many random wires and metal pieces to get in the way. but better safe than sorry.
and this is me testing the starter. i DO scream like a girl, because electricity scares me. but you can see what i'm doing. basically, i touched a starter to the + battery plug and the ignition connection on the starter.
http://timber.rbss.net/efavideos/images/supra1/starter/starter_testing.MOV
//edit: if you own an automatic transmission and want to swap your starter, convert to 5 speed first, it's easier.
so here we have it: the good car. this one needs a starter, or so we think. (note presence of dead turbo k car)
the donor, soon to be parted out.
these are the tools you will need. note that i have a small extension, but two big ones is best. the 13mm is used to take off the battery connection.
this is how you should assemble it all together. how pretty.
oh, and make sure you disconnect the battery. for the love of god (and your starter) please do that. don't forget or you'll be sorry.
this is what you see from the top. basically you need to get your hand/arm down one of the two areas indicated by the arrows in order to place the no-extension ratchet on the engine side of the top bolt. if you peer down right by the firewall (top arrow), you can see this bolt. it's not that hard to get onto, and once it's stuck on there, it won't fall off.
this is what you see from under the car. the easy starter bolt is front and foremost in the picture.
first, we'll use the extension ratchet with a 13mm socket to take off the battery cable. also unplug the ignition cable.
to get the first bolt out easily, i attached the extended ratchet on the transmission side of the bolt, and the regular ratchet suspended on the engine side. this way, i could easily turn the transmission side, undoing the bolt.
this is where it gets tricky. you've got a very narrow "pathway" to stick the extended ratched up from beneath the car. what you must do is stick your left arm up beside the starter and over top, feeling for the top bolt. feed the extended ratchet up that pathway, directing it onto the transmission side bolt with your left hand once it's up high enough.
once the extended ratchet is attached, you will want to go up to the top of the engine, and attach the normal ratchet via the two pathways in the 5th picture above.
this is sort of what you should see. behind that gargantuan finger, you will just be able to make out your regular ratchet, suspended above on the engine side of the bolt. turn the extended ratchet to undo the bolt. I found that the swivel head makes it really easy for the socket to come off the bolt, so i stuck my left hand up over the starter (as before) and grabbed onto the socket, making sure it stayed on the bolt. this hurts, and takes a while, but it does get the job done.
once your starter has both bolts out... it suddenly gains a lot of mass and may fall on your head. to avoid this - don't let it fall on your head . when you get close to undoing the second nut, brace the starter against your left wrist (as your left hand is holding onto the socket) so that it won't fall all the way down onto your face. odds are it wouldn't anyways, as toyota graciously supplied many random wires and metal pieces to get in the way. but better safe than sorry.
and this is me testing the starter. i DO scream like a girl, because electricity scares me. but you can see what i'm doing. basically, i touched a starter to the + battery plug and the ignition connection on the starter.
http://timber.rbss.net/efavideos/images/supra1/starter/starter_testing.MOV
//edit: if you own an automatic transmission and want to swap your starter, convert to 5 speed first, it's easier.