This means all 67-73 & L76-80 came with the Prestolite Housing and Starter Motor.
Its on the 74-E76 that things are muddied.

On 74-E76, there were 3 housings that may have been fitted.
Which one any bike got was a toss-up.

If you had a Prestolite motor you had a Prestolite matching housing.
If you had a Hitachi motor you had a Hitachi matching housing.
– On these, the motor, thru bolts, and housing were matched.

However, the 3rd possibility was a combination:
It had a Prestolite housing but with a set of Hitachi mounting holes added.
- It had both bolt patterns.

The Pretolite holes were at the 12:00 & 6:00 position.
The smaller Hitachi holes were skewed clockwise from those.
This skew moved the Hitachi motor cable stud slightly below the 3:00 position.

so for you all who own a 74-e76 this means: if you remove motor and see only 2 holes in housing- you need the same brand motor. or you need to change housing to change motor brands.

if your housing has 4 holes your good to go with either motor.

this 4 hole housing- ive only seen it on bikes. not on parts dept service parts. there is no mention of it in parts book.

• Some solenoid covers used from 1977 had the ability to conduct electricity. The pigment in the black paint contained excessive amounts of 'carbon black' mixed in the rubber compound which was the medium. The high concentration of carbon could cause a slow battery drain condition when left for extended periods. ¹⁾
• This would be difficult to detect as the electrical charging system would test out OK.
• FL/FX models had an aluminum oxide paint color which could also create this problem.
• Inspection:
  • Set a voltmeter to 10 scale.
  • Connect a jumper wire to the outside solenoid cover and the battery positive (+) post.
  • Then, connect the volt meter to the inside solenoid boot and battery negative (-) post.
  • If the needle reads anything or even flickers while keeping solid contact, the cover is conductive.
    • If the cover is found to be conductive, replace the cover (31457-77). Test the new cover as above before installing it.