Well.
Tried to start it, failure. While I was at work Dad fitted the 1850's battery as the 1300's is knackered, mixed up the terminals and fried the alternator, oops.
So, new alternator, battery and electronic ignition fitted! Car came
very close to starting but the starter kept cutting out, we tightened the electrical contact on the end as it was very loose and it died... Now there is a click and the solenoid starts smoking instantly, gooooood.
So, took out the starter motor to have a look at it, sadly I know nowt' about starter motors but I'm guessing these grooves shouldn't look like this?
The bushes look less awful than I expected, but the wires don't look too healthy:
As you can see, the cable for the solenoid is bulging/melting:
I bought a replacement solenoid a while ago but when fitted to car it didn't seem to work at all...
So, thoughts? When the starter motor DID work it was pretty lethargic and took a while to get up to any speed, I'm not sure if it is possible to repair or rebuild or if it is required/worth buying a new one when there are new hi-torque ones on the market?