After my no ignition post I took off engine mount and created good earth contact (removed fresh paint) and still nothing.
So took off starter motor, bench test and nothing, so dead starter, well not quite yet.
I popper the top off, and it is full of what i assume is some form of copper grease, everything coated, took out contacts and gave everything a good clean, good dose of electrical cleaner, assembled and guess what start motor turns.
Question…was I lucky do i find someone to rebuild or get a replacement, bear in mind i’m in NZ so not as many people to help.
Check the bushes for play or visible wear. If they look OK, try to get a bit of oil in them. How much wear is there to the brushes and armature? If sufficient life left, a good cleaning and bush replacement or oiling is probably enough without a rebuild. Post some pictures for more advice if you want to rebuild yourself.
I think you are good to go. Thats the beauty of old british cars…often things can be made to work with just a good cleaning. Probably a brush not making good contact
To be clear, I mean oil the sintered bronze bushings in the caps - I use the same oil as I put in the engine.
If you have 7/8" brushes, that should last a long while. I’ll see if I can find my notes on size when new, but they can’t be much bigger I don’t think.
my starter has three large screws in the outer casing and two on front plate, will this enable me to widraw the unit from the casing without having to remove starter gear?
like you I am in NZ. I recently had to change my starter and ended up getting a Powerlite unit from Paul Matty. My Lucas starter was fine, but I managed to break a mounting lug off when putting the starter back on after an engine removal/install. I am waiting for an end plate to come up on trademe so I can fix it.
I did find a place in NZ that supplied Lucas style starters and was tempted to by a one. In case you need a new one and want to get it locally, I think the following is the one suitable for a Elan:
street actually said he had 7/8 mm which sounds a bit short whereas 7/8 inch is maybe acceptable.
I think you will find that the 3 large screws in the outer casing hold the field coils in place and do not need to be removed to get at the brushes. Removing the 2 long screws in the end plate will allow you to remove the rotor.
Good catch, Mike, perhaps he was quoting the measured thickness of the bushing “wall”, as a 7/8mm brush would be worthless. Street - if the armature spins easily and if there isn’t any lateral play, the bushings are likely ok - but they can wear unevenly and that is noticeable. They can also get grit between the bushing and spindle and cause gouging and wear, or just wear from lack of lubrication. The sintered bronze bushings are typically soaked overnight in oil so they “absorb” it and are self-lubricating, but if the ones in place are good enough you can force some oil into the pores with finger pressure. As Mike noted, the 2 bolts in the commutator end cap run all the way through to the bracket end cap - remove them and you can slip everything out of the casing (except the windings). To remove the armature from the cap to get to the bushing on that end, you need to remove the pinion gear by compressing the spring and removing the clip - I have an old tool for that purpose and can post some pictures if you need a visual to work out how to create/craft something that will work.
Forgot I’d started a thread a while back as I was rebuilding mine… there are a few pictures that might be helpful.
If the commutator is badly scored or grooved you can give it a light skim in a lathe to clean it up, the minimum diameter should be in the manual somewhere (I don’t have mine to hand to check). You should also really fit new brushes at the same time, again not too difficult if you can source some locally. Make sure the bendix is in good condition and clean and dry and your starter should last several more years.
Yep, no requirement to undercut the mica, needs a properly ground tool on the lathe, ideally diamond tipped but not essential. Any comm I’ve skimmed have all gone concave from wear from the brushes so need to be flat if fitting new brushes so they make good contact. If the comm is basically good and you are not fitting new brushes just polish up the comm so it’s nice and clean.
Thank you all for the good advice, I found GT Electrical (Auckland) who having been doing business for over 40 years and were more than happy to fully service the starter motor and only charged me the equivalent of 100 GBP incl Tax. bushes, bearings, lathe, clean, good $200NZ spent and should be good for another 50 years