Starter Q
I have a 90 Van Diemen. Pegasus says they have no starters which fit my car, due to the oil reservoir in the bell housing. Where might I find a new starter? How do I know which is the right one? Mine says it wen made in Brazil. I think I need one because my car will not turn over fast enough to start w/ the onboard battery when it is warmed up. This is new since I rebuilt the motor and was not fixed by a new battery. Any help?
Mark
1990 Van Diemen, the Racing Machine, CM AutoX, 2016 Frontier
You can try to make a street car into an autocrosser or you can do a lot less work and make a race car into a great autocrosser
Have you tried taking the starter to a good alternator/starter repair shop for a rebuild?
They may be able to identify the manufacturer and source any necessary parts. Repairing a serviceable starter or alternator is usually cost effective. If your starter is close to the exhaust you may want to consider a heat shield.
Dave Cutchins
Stohr F-1000
While your problem may be a starter, it may also be a voltage drop in your power cable and/or ground path. Words like "rebuilt the motor" hint to me that perhaps the block was painted and maybe the ground path back to the battery isn't as good as it was.
Use a voltmeter to measure the voltage drop between the battery positive post and the starter power post while cranking. Do the same with the battery ground post and the case of the starter. Each of these needs to be less than 1V (.5v is better). The voltage drop represents the resistance in that path of the circuit.
I was always suffering the problem you describe with my Van Diemen S2 -- now it is completely different with the MZR / P2 setup -- but I have a large ground cable between the chassis & the engine block for just this reason.
Another hint -- when hot the starter solenoid sometimes has a higher resistance, and using a larger gauge wire to the solenoid will sometimes help.
Good Luck!
Contact Brad at Primus. He may know of an over the counter starter available for the FF version of the early to mid 90's Van diemen. For example, the FC uses a mid 90's Ford Taurus v-6 starter. Cheap, plentiful, and guaranteed at your local auto parts store!
Thank you all for the info. I have things to check on.
Mark
1990 Van Diemen, the Racing Machine, CM AutoX, 2016 Frontier
You can try to make a street car into an autocrosser or you can do a lot less work and make a race car into a great autocrosser
David, Voltage drop was about 4 volts. When I hooked up the starter battery which has a much shorter wire, it was about 1.5 v. The wire from onboard battery to starter is quite large. Adding jumper cables between battery and starter did not help with voltage drop.Originally Posted by David Ferguson
Motor is connected to chassie via front mounting bracket to aluminum head.
Mark
1990 Van Diemen, the Racing Machine, CM AutoX, 2016 Frontier
You can try to make a street car into an autocrosser or you can do a lot less work and make a race car into a great autocrosser
You might check with these guys. I have used their products for years. http://www.hitorque.com/category_s/3.htm
The mounting flange can be rotated to fit most applications.
We'll that's too much! It's likely a bad connection -- you can find that by using your voltmeter across each connection -- battery post to cable, cable to master switch, master switch post to post, etc.
It could be a corroded crimp in one of the wire ring terminals.
Good luck in your search.
Thank you. I will ck it out and report back.
Mark
1990 Van Diemen, the Racing Machine, CM AutoX, 2016 Frontier
You can try to make a street car into an autocrosser or you can do a lot less work and make a race car into a great autocrosser
I ran more checks and it is more like 1.5 v drop and only .3 greater at the starter than at the battery.
Mark
1990 Van Diemen, the Racing Machine, CM AutoX, 2016 Frontier
You can try to make a street car into an autocrosser or you can do a lot less work and make a race car into a great autocrosser
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote