And yet another method...had time on my side, epoxied the hex bit driver in the hex head, let the epoxy dry, came back and it worked.

It was on my birthday when that bolt snapped free, that was a great gift!!!

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

You did that on the upper bolt?

With the holes the re-install ought to go better and faster.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

IIRC...20+ years ago, yes. It was VERY difficult to access. Couldn't bring myself to put holes in the floor back then, today I might. Used new bolts and anti-seize on the rebound.

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

Well in my case the exterior or the car is in poor shape. It had been hit 2 times in parking lots and one hit and run on the road.

But previous to that people said I should have junked the Car because a rear cross member rusted through and cracked. See the attached picture.

I squeezed the crack together welded over it an then got some flat metal and welded that on over the cracked areas for strength.
I had never used a flux core welder before and I could not really weld flat and had to do above me which was even harder. Did a hole lot of grinding and re-grinding till I got the crack welded over with no holes and I only have a pick of one plate but I welded on 2 plates. Not shown one is on the side.
I think I did a thread on it but can't remember.

The short story is drilling the holes was much less invasive then what I had previously done.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I hate those bolts. I have used an Allen socket on several long 1/2" extenders with the socket wrench at the end of the tranny. Don't have a lift, so I am lying under the car on ramps. Would hate to be faced w/ that on the side of the road. One guy bent an Allen wrench so they can turn the bolts from the engine bay side. Had they designed it so the bolt heads are on the engine bay side, w/ thru holes in the starter and tapped holes in the adapter plate, it would an easier job. M-B was probably trying to keep compatible with existing parts.

One nice thing is that the starter bolts to the engine/adapter and not the transmission. That makes it possible to use the starter w/ the engine on a stand to insure it runs. I did that w/ a used OM617 engine I bought to insure it ran OK before installing it in my 1985 300D. In my old Mopars, you must have a transmission bolted up to use the starter.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

I just found an old post of mine W123 turbo starter removal procedure on how I r&r a 617 starter motor's top and bottom bolts. Looks like my Photobucket pics are gone.

The 10 mm size on this quad Gearwrench set was a key tool which made it possible.... because there's a stop so the Allen bit cannot shift, and the wrench is straight.

http://www.gearwrench.com/wrenches/ratcheting/quadboxtm/gearwrench-85227-2-pc-12-point-quadboxtm-reversible-ratcheting-metric-wrench-set.html

plus a cut to fit 10 mm Allen bit, a floor jack, and a pipe between floor jack and Gearwrench to break the bolt free. Made a difficult job easy.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I am going to take care of the Bolt issue similar to BillGrissom's technique except that I am going to either epoxy or solder in the cut off Allen Wrench piece and you end up with a bolt with a 10mm Hex head on it.

I bought a set of USA made metric set of Eklind long Allen Wrenches. 1.5, 2, 2.5,3, 4, 5,6, 8, and finally 10mm for $11.50 with free shipping on eBay that arrived yesterday. (It seems sad to buy a set just so you cut up one wrench but the local hardware wanted $4.59 for a singley 10mm Allen Wrench.)

Unfortunately Silver Solder at a melting temp of 720-760 degrees F (can't remember the exact heat) would change the temper of the bolt. Changing the temper of the bolt head may not make any difference for bolts that hold the starter on but tempering softens the metal and you don't need that in this case.

I have not decided but am like 80% decided on using regular solder that melts in the 220-240 degrees F range. It won't significantly effect the temper of the bolt had and because of the content in the alloy it is soft enough to allow you after the Hex is soldered in to take a center Punch and carefully mush over the edge of the bolt head for a tighter fit. That would not work well with JB Weld Epoxy as it would crack the epoxy.

Likely do that tomorrow as I need to degrease the and suspension on the Starter side again.

Even after the above I am going to put the blot with the partially buggered head on the bottom.

Note single replacement bolt at the local industrial hardware store was almost $7 so I can see the benefit in reusing the old bolt.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Well I got lazy and used JB Weld Epoxy to hold the cut off sections of Allen Wrench in the holes of the Allen Head Bolts.

Tomorrow the new Starter Solenoid is supposed to arrive but I did not read closely and ordered the Starter Brushes from an eBay seller in Latvia and it is going to take as much as another 10 days for them to arrive.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel