Jeff,
I know that there are a lot of members like yourself that really love to get your hands dirty, and that's great. However let me tell you what happened to me.
First, when restoring my 280SL, I was responsible for many of the subassemblies--things that can easily be removed and taken away--such as the starter, alternator, brakes, trim, etc. When researching the restorers, one of them sent me a very long, extremely detailed document on what they planned on doing--including a half page on restoring the starter, with something like 4.5 hours at $85 per invested. Well, nonsense to that! IMHO a Bosch starter should and could be restored by Bosch or exchanged for same. I got a local price of about $175 for exchange. Now here's where I made a mistake...I decided I could probably save a few bucks (that thinking always leads me into trouble) and thus took it to a local auto-electric place, where they rebuilt it for something like $89.
Nearly a year later, the restorer was ready to put it all back, and did. Starter engaged, but wouldn't disengage! They had to disconnect the battery in a hurry! Thinking it was a one off problem, they tried it again with the same result. Off comes the starter for a bench test--where it seemed to work perfectly. Onto the car again, same problem. Out of the car again when he called me. Do you see the time invested here so far? Thank goodness that at the time MY restorer was only charging me $45 per. I instructed the restorer to exchange for a Bosch reman unit. Went in no problem and has been working ever since.
Somewhere in South Carolina is a Bosch reman facility where all they do is remanufacture Bosch alternators and starters. Needless to say they have access to all the requisite original parts and adhere to standards somewhat greater then those at the local place, and certainly better then the workbench in my basement.
After my experience, "factory" rebuilts, when available, are my choice. But that's just me....
Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored
