Hi everyone can anyone tell me weather the length of the starter motor brushes are 12mm all up or 12mm from the end of the housing they are cased in looks like im making my own

I cant tell you the exact length but when new the top of the brush sits about 1mm maybe 2mm below the top of the little rectangular holder, I presume that is to prevent the spring slipping of the top and losing tension.
I looked into a source of these and came up with zip but in my investigation worked out that they need to have 5mm of brush to wear away.

the kit from the 'bins is not expensive

includes the backing plate and both brushes ....this way you get new springs and properly welded up and new cable between the brush and the contact points
have done a fair bit of brush shaping ...from the wrong size to the correct one ...with a file ...(it isn't hard ) but connecting the flexible cable from the brush can be a  bit hard,,, the soldering process works but it weakens the first few millimeters near the joint  with the solder , creating a good fracture point .

good luck !

Hi Michael, I've just measured a new brush.

It is 12mm x 5.91mm x 8.87mm


 

Paul.