Just put a FRPP A50 mini starter on my 82 yesterday. It fit perfectly where the regular one has lived for 8 years. Has two wires to the starter vice one, but the wire harness in included. The old one was fine, but I wanted something that will start when hot in the staging lanes in July...
To say the least, it cranks the car with much more enthusiasm than the older one.
It needed longer mounting bolts because the mounting ears are thicker than the original.
I have driven Fords with the plain old starter since 1970, and they are pretty damn reliable. Given the choice between a $40 rebuilt unit that I can buy in 20 minutes, or a two day wait for the $139 unit, on a daily driver, I would just put the rebuilt unit on asap.
One of the bennies of the Ford movable pole shoe starter and fender mounted relay is the ease of troubleshooting. You can jump the relay with a screwdriver or plier handle to see if its the starting circuit or the starter, or battery. There's only one wire going to the starter, and it has no power when you are not cranking, unlike the GM style, (and the ministarter). So you don't have to unhook the battery to fool with the starter, and it won't short everywhere when being installed.
You can have the whole thing on the driveway in 20 minutes to troubleshoot.
Only downside is that they don't tolerate low batteries and poor connections.
