I have just taken a dead starter motor off the car. I don’t know what is wrong with it but it seems terminal. I have a good starter from another car but someone has tried to start a siezed engine with it and the cogs are damaged. Is it possible to swap the bendix from one to the other to make one good starter? I can’t see how it is dissasembled.
Chris
Chris
You have to compress the large spring at the end to remove the wire circlip recessed in the thick end washer…Don’t know about interchangeability…
John
Chris,
It is impossible to make one good starter out of Lucas starter parts. What you need is a modern gear reduction starter made out of Nippondenso parts. Try:
Chris, There is a spring compressor tool for doing the job.
Howard, It’s a point of view … It is worth pointing out that Lucas starter motors have been starting cars quite happily for several decades.
John,
Thank you, I agree. I have just borrowed such a tool and will attempt the job tomorrow. I think that the starter that has just failed was probably anything up to 35 years old and was working perfectly until last week. As I am into my fifth decade now I have stopped buying things to last!
Chris
Same as me Chris…it only kicks in when you start thinking the Pope looks young
Kenny
Now then Chris.
Last year I bought a fab wee starter from Paul Mattys - a Brise. It’s really good and sounds like it’ll last a good few years. I look on it as something I’ll pass on to my Son!!
Hamish.
And leaving motorists stranded for decades.
A modern gear reduction starter simply has more grunt.
And chewing up ring gears for decades.
A modern pre-engaged starter does not start turning until the pinion is engaged with the ring gear. This extends the life of the ring gear. You’ve heard of owners whose cars won’t start unless they put their car in gear and push a little. That’s because the Lucas starter has knocked off and/or damaged some of the ring gear teeth and they are trying to get the part of the ring gear that still has good teeth left, lined up with the starter.
I’m all in favor of preserving originality when practical. If you want to preserve the original Ford ring gear (which is a lot more difficult to install than a starter motor), install a modern pre-engaged gear reduction starter. Put the Lucas starter in a box and include it with the car when you sell it. If the next owner is that hung up on originality, he/she can put it back in. But I’d be willing to bet that there is not a single example of this ever happening. Anyone know of one?
Hi.
I got the same Brise starter as Hamish, again from Mattys. It was sold to me as a pre-engaged reduction starter motor, but I think we established on the forum that it’s actually not. As Hamish says, it does seem to do the job very nicely, but I’m still left uncomfortable as I did not reverse the ring gear on the flywheel. The advertisement showed a picture like the one in the link from the post above. But the Brise doesn’t have a solenoid on the side, so unless the switch to the main current is delayed slightly, it’s going to be smacking hard into the flywheel teeth…
I have raised my concerns with Matty’s and they assure me it should be fine.
The advantage of the Brise is that it fits straight in, with no fettling.
I’ve just checked the link from above, and gone to: hometown.aol.com/martingf/Lotus.html
At $174.95 + $50 p&p to europe, that works out at ?114.27. Would we have to pay duty to buy this for the uk?
That beats the uk prices by a long way! I’m tempted to get one and sell the Brise on ebay.
Sean.
Sean,
I assumed that at least one of the distributors listed on Gustafson’s site was in England. Guess I was wrong. Why don’t you contact Gustafson and ask if you can be the UK distributor? Tell them you need a free sample to check out their product before you commit.
As a side note, 1-1/2 years ago, I yanked the transaxle on my Chrysler minivan. This was about the same time that I had ordered the Super Starter for the Elan. As I had the Chrysler starter on the bench and I knew that Chrysler uses Nippondenso starters in many of their cars, I did a side by side comparison. Sure enough, besides the pinion gear and the mounting bracket, they are identical. My minivan has the 3.3 litre engine and I know the same starter is used on the 3.8 litre Chrysler engine. So when I’m starting the Elan, it’s certainly reassuring to know that the starter was designed to turn over an engine almost 2-1/2 times the size.
Frank, I forgot to say thanks for the link. Very interesting. I’ve been looking for a new career…
I’ll probably see how I get on with the Brise for now. My car’s still in bits awaiting the return of the body shell.
Very impressed with that price though - I wouldn’t consider an original now.
Sean.
Frank’s link show Vicarage Jaguar as one of the stockists and they have a UK branch under the name of WatJag - http://www.jaguar-info.com/home.htm.
Maybe worth a try.
How much was the Brise from Matty?
Reading directly from my receipt:
part no: MSTM026B “Pre Engaged Reduction Starter” ?185 + vat = ?217
Sean.
Thanks Sean
I concur with Sean.
However, having used the Brise for about a year, I’m very happy with it and I see no reason to change. My car had been sitting around for about 3 weeks and I started it last night at the first attempt. The car was sitting outside and it’s been frosty here for about a week.
I too haven’t reversed the ring gear (Matty’s said I didn’t have to) and it sounds like it is meshing properly. There is no teeth jarring crunching noise that the old Lucas unit made.
Roy who I spoke to at Matty’s also said they use them on their competition engines and have had no problems to date. I have no reason to doubt them. Jings, this isn’t a British success story is it?
Hamish.
Sean (and all),
I swapped the bendix and got the starter working however I am getting keen on the nippondenso starter in your link. I have had an email from Doc Martin and he will supply one for 215 US dollars inc post & packing. This seems like a no brainer. Has anyone fitted one of these starters? If not I think I may be the first to report.
Chris
I have ordered one of these units, at ?112 it seems worth a go.
I let them know that my old starter had ten teeth on the cogs to ensure that I receive the correct one and they say that their unit is compatible with both nine and ten teeth units.
I have no reason to disbelieve them but any comments?
Chris