Intermittent Starting, advice needed.

[spiffo 0]

Ok, so I finally got a vr6 and I'm busy fixing all those annoying little faults that previous owners have ignored.

I've got an intermittent starting problem, turn the key and nothing happens, no clicks from the starter motor, nothing, try it a few times then all of a sudden the starter motor spins up and were off.

From the wiring diagram it seems the 12v to the starter solenoid comes out of the Ignition barrel on a Red/Black wire, so I get the multi meter on this wire and do some tests, turning the key sometimes 12v appears on this wire and sometimes it doesn't, when it does the starter motor kicks in.

The overwhelming conclusion then is that the contacts inside the Ignition barrel need cleaning, but how do I get at them ?

The picture below shows a metal plate on the right hand side of the barrel, can this be prised off to gain access or am I going to feck it up doing so ?