So I went outside to yank the tempermental starter out of the Jetta last night. Lying on my back in the driveway, I loosen one of the bolts, and I see the engine & tranny tilt down a bit toward the front of the car (and not from pulling on the wrench).
WTF I say to myself, and tuck the bottle jack in under the front of the transmission out of paranoia and a sense of self-preservation.
Remove the remaining two bolts, remove the starter, and discover that the flippin' thing is an integral part of the
only forward motor mount on that car.
I'm not sure what's more bizarre--this design, or the placement of the starter motor in the NorthStar V8.