Thanks for the advice on the last post! I’ve decided I’m going to update as we go incase any one else tries this down the road maybe they can learn from my mistakes. After discussing with the FIL (he’s the brains, I’m the brawn) we are pulling the starter to bench test it. 

Today I started by disconnecting the battery then any wires going to the starter. There are two vertical 9/16 bolts towards the back of the starter, the one on the right is pretty easy to remove with a socket wrench. The left one gave me a lot of trouble. There isn’t a lot of clearance and the bolt is only accessible by an open wrench or as I discovered…a crows foot socket. It is difficult to get enough clearance to get good turns. After a lot of struggling we discovered that you can see the top of the bolt at the top where it connects to the block it was under some rust. Next step I saturated the top of the bolt with some PB Blaster, scrubbed with a wire brush, blasted it again, let it sit, then was slowly able to get the bolt out! (Our Hail Mary was going to bring some heat)  
I was ready to remove the starter. Then discovered there is a front nut (8mm off the top of my head). After removing the hidden bolt the starter wiggle but won’t come out yet. Figuring that out is gonna be for another day. 

Ideally I’ll don’t want to bend that front bracket but will probably explore that route. 

Trips to Harbor Freight: 1  
Beers Consumed Today: 3   
Total Beers Consumed: 3

TL:DR: Right Starter Mounting Bolt-Easy Peasy, Left Starter Mounting Bolt- is a SOB but PB Blaster and a Crows Foot helps. AND a Super secret mystery nut. 

Rinker Captiva 186 Update 1: Let Get Start(er)ed!!