I came in from the left side of the car. Both through the engine and from underneath.
I had to remove the autobox dipstick holder to gain access to the top starter bolt.
There are only two bolts holding it on - 14mm
The starter feed to the solenoid is a 12mm nut and then a spade connector on the solenoid.
I dropped it out from underneath the car.
It was dirty as hell inside.
A good clean and reassemble has drastically improved the starter spinning speed.
Starter on the bench pre-disassembly
Gunk on the armature
Gunk on the brushes
The part number for the starter
The solenoid with plunger
Looking into the solenoid with plunger removed
The lever arm that gets moved by the solenoid plunger and engages the starter bendix to the ring gear on the flywheel/flexplate
Starter bendix. Looks fantastic after 296'000km of use. Mitsubishi uses good materials!
All cleaned up and ready for reassembly