New Starter Recommendations?

[mike g.]

We have the old lucas solenoid and starter setup, which caused us some headaches during the school and regional at Blackhawk. We ended up push starting the car, yes, fun.

It seems the word at the track was to replace the whole setup with something else, non-Lucas.

Tilton was recommended, as was a hitachi or some other brand.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Charles Warner]

Tilton - and forget it.

[cff96]

We use the Tilton also.

PS: Sent an e-mail with the info we talked about at the School/Regional.

Cindy

[Brian]

There are two broad types of starters, based on who made them in the first place. Nippon Denso and Hitachi. There are others, obviously, but these two are the basis for most of the aftermarket racing starters available in North America.

Tilton Super Starter is a Hitachi based unit with a custom nose that allows it to fit a bunch of different applications. My experience is that it's a great starter but the solenoid is subject to failure from the vibrations typical in a FFord engine. People say that real Tilton stuff is modified to make it a lot more resistant to vibration. The Hitachi starter is identifiable as having a larger motor body and a pretty small solenoid. It is gear reduction and has two gears, so a single stage of reduction. Lots of parts are available to rebuild the pinion drives, etc, and the solenoids are easily replaced once you learn the trick.

The Nippon Denso is identifiable as having a smaller motor body and a really pretty large solenoid that is about the same size as the motor body. Again aftermarket people put a custom nose on that makes it fit our applications. I've used one for several years and have had zero issues or failures. Since I've never had to fix one I don't know how hard it would be to replace a solenoid or whatever. I've bought Honda Accord starters and made my own nose, and bought aftermarket starters with fancy multi-position noses.

It seems to me that Hitachi starters are available to the aftermarket as new parts. What I do personally is buy a Port City starter for a Chev V8, install a Tilton 10/12 pitch pinion and a nose that I whittle up from billet and have a brand new starter for about $200. It seems to me (verified by people in the industry) that Nippon Denso does not make starters available new to the aftermarket, so all the ones I've seen are rebuilt units with a custom nose that gets the clockable bit attached with a few bolts. All of the OEM units have custom cast noses unique to whatever car they are for, and it's not easy to adapt them to a simple Hewland deal.

I use Nippon Denso as my first choice and I use Hitachi if I can't make a ND unit fit (they are shaped quite different and so run into chassis parts differently. The VAn Diemen RF85/86 starter is a ND unit with a custom cast nose mount and the pinion removed. I finally figured that out last weekend...

Brian (who has spent far more time that he wanted to researching, fixing, changing, and otherwise dicking around with starters)

[DanW]

May I suggest one of Marc Bushman's starters?

Marc is highly regarded throughout the formula car community and is great to work with.

http://www.apexspeed.com/forums/sear...earchid=641852

[Henrik]

Hello

Or make your own out of an Toyota Starlet starter. I made this for my friends Hawke.




I turned down the nose piece and made a new plate to attach it to the bellhouse. Starter pinion gear is correct for the smaller 110 cog flywheel. The plate neaded an offset of 3mm but measure that on your bellhouse. Total cost: used start $50 + 1h at the lathe, 1h test/measuring + welding ie rather expensive if you can´t do it yourself

Nippon Denso ND-128000-1440 start available from the following Toyotas

ToyotaCorolla (_E8_) 1.3 10.84-08.87 2E-L /-LC1.3 DE
ToyotaCorolla (_E9_) 1.3 09.87-02.90 2E1.3 DE
ToyotaCorolla (_E9_) 1.3i 06.89-06.92 2E-E1.3
ToyotaCorolla (_E10_) 1.3 12V 07.92-05.95 2E1.3 DE
ToyotaCorolla (_E10_) 1.3 XLI07.92-05.95 4E-FE1.3 DE
ToyotaStarlet (_P7_) 1.0 10.84-11.89 1E-L1.0
ToyotaStarlet (_P7_) 1.3 10.84-12.89 2E-LC1.3 DE
ToyotaStarlet (_P8_) 1.3 12V 12.89-03.96 2E-E1.3