You can buy a back plate for around $12-$15,
I did this with 2 of my hyper motors, they are very easy switch out.

But I remember I removed the pull start for a motor one time and had to grind off the pin that engages the pull start, I just can't remember which motor that was??

One of my motors I ran with the PS on the back the cord had broke, so I put a screw and high temp silicon to seal the hole, worked fine like that for a long time.

Good to here you're back in business


OOh and BTW I run the Ofna True start (non chrome top version) for my buggy, they work awesome. But just about any of the smaller boxes will get the buggy started once you have a nicely broken in engine. The smaller 1/10 size boxes have a hard time turning over brand new .21 size motors during break in. Hope this helps.