The Bosch starters as fitted to these engines (and literally every european car ever) sound pretty anemic, but apparently they're permanent magnet gear reduction? A quick stroll over to RockAuto and I see that the ACDelco and Remy rebuilt units both claim to be PMGR. Would be nice if there was a way to adapt a Denso-type starter to these cars.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...8434&jsn=10401

 

They are Bosch 110 series starters and the difference in the 110 series is the casting ( with the final gear ) mounting correctly to the engine block

What I found on mine was the bushing on the final gear shaft was missing and after replacing the bushing it meshed with the ring gear on the engine side better and sounded alot more confident otherwise it sounded terrible

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/183756211891.

Super cool and super expensive. If only somebody could buy it and then copy the mounting plate...

 

Back when I was converting Dodge Ram 50's/Mitsubishi trucks to Mopar V8's I originally built the first starter using a old school mopar gear reduction starter (circa 1974) I machined off the original starter solenoid boss, made a plate to bolt to the rear of the starter and mounted a Delco 10MT solenoid to it with a rod that went forward to the modified mopar starter fork. I had to do this because the steering box was in the way. Later versions I adapted a Mitsuba starter from a Honda car to a plate that replaced the original bell housing front cover. At one point I experimented with the Denso starters before Mopar finally started using them in production. It would not be difficult for some one with a lathe big enough to swing some aluminum plate and make an adapter for a denso starter. The hardest part would be making sure one had the correct starter drive to mesh with the ring gear. Denso's "House" starter (nickname comes from the solenoid cover, looks like a house) is one of the most adaptable starters out there. Many different configurations for where the battery cable and solenoid terminals appear. And I have in the past moved those terminals around to suit a particular application. Denso house starters number one failure is the battery stud plate terminal and solenoid ring inside which are easilly replaced and typically will wear out 2 to 3 times before the rest of the starter. Honda back in the 80's sold the terminal kit for $11 at the parts counter.