When I bought my car it came with a Lucas starter, which shockingly has worked (mostly). I also got a nice looking starter in the spare parts bin which I thought I would throw on before the Lucas ****s the bed or the bendix backs up into the ring gear on track. It appears to be some sort of Nippondenso unit, and looks like it was prepped for race use, including the machined aluminum mounting plate which has a raised portion that fits perfectly into the opening on the hewland/kent adapter. The area between the engine block and the frame on a zink is very tight, but I was able to clock the starter enough to cram it in there. Unfortunately when it's in this position the top mounting bolt is sandwiched between the solenoid housing and the mounting plate, and a portion of the engine block extends over it and makes it nearly impossible to tighten down the bolt. I made a tool for it, but it sucks anyway. When I give it juice and the pinion extends it comes just to the ring gear, but not enough to engage it. Can anyone identify the motor from looking at it to tell me if this motor is the wrong unit? Is there a way to build the starter so the pinion extends further? Is there something I'm not getting? I've got a race on June 10th so I may have to put the old starter back on for now, unless someone here can figure this out. Help!
I had the same problem fitting the starter to my Alexis,yours looks the same,I made the top hole mount a slot,so the mounting bolt was in place with apin welded to the head to stop it from spinning,using a nut on the other side to tighten the unit,also had the mounting face turned down because like yours the starter gear wouldnt reach the flywheel,it was a while back so I cant remember how much came off.Part of the fun in vintage racing
I have had the same problem. You can take the pinion gear off the starter, and modify it.. I don't know if it's one of Marc Bushman's his starters, or not, but you can check with him to see if he has had pinions made to solve this issue. You can check with him at 630-279-8834. You can call me at 619-977-1780 .....0700 - 0900 PST and I can tell you how to modify the gear.
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Roland Johnson
rjcsandiego@sbcglobal.net
619-294-7012
Marc Bushman helped me fitting one of his starters in my Z10. I ground both the starter housing and the block web to fit it up.
Marc makes several internal mods so these starters always spin and start, particularly the internal solenoid wires.
We had to make an adjustment to the ring gear engagement too. You want to engage the pinion about halfway across the ring gear teeth, no more. Otherwise if the motor kicks back, the pinion will get spit off the shaft.
Regards,
Dan Wise
__________________ "Driving a Lotus is a triumph of bravery over intelligence." Stirling Moss
I had the same problem with my Z10, I did everything i could to make it work properly but i couldent. The best thing i did was when i got the Tilton XLT starter, its small and fits perfect and has many directions from pegasus racing.
When I installed my Tilton Super Starter, I called their tech line and they gave me dimensions to take from the face of the ring gear to the face of the pinion gear when fully extended (basically measuring depth of engagement). I had to take the starter apart and remove both internal shims to bring the pinion back so it didn't insert as far. Maybe you could use shims to push the pinion gear out so you get more insertion?
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-Will Velkoff
Crossle 30F
#30 NARRC Club Ford
For anyone interested, it sounds like in talking with Roland and Marc Bushman that the solution is to machine off the shoulder of the pinion, cut in a new seat for the circlip further up the shaft, etc. so that the pinion begins closer to the ring gear. In theory if it starts closer, it'll extend far enough to engage. Fingers crossed...
Starter Motor for Zink Z10
