Starter Motor Upgrade???

[William2]

Situation as follows. I have just fitted a new 10 tooth pinion variant standard starter motor to my newly rebuilt engine which is naturally going to be harder to turn over with the extra friction of the moving parts. The engine is back in the chassis (bodywork off) so I have good all round access.
I removed all the spark plugs and decided to connect a battery directly to the starter motor and chassis. It turned the engine over ok on about 3 separate sessions and then appeared to jam. Without removing the unit it seemed to free up again and trying it a few more times it seems to behave itself. Also, this happened without plugs in and therefore zero compression to work against. Some folks suggest that the standard starter motor has always been a bit on the feeble side! Several issues spring to mind.
I believe there is a lot of debate as to whether starter motors should have a 9 or 10 tooth pinion. Brian Buckland's book suggests 10 tooth is the better version but that they were originally fitted with 9 teeth.
I was contemplating whether it was worth spending the money on a modern high torque starter motor and if so do they fit easily and what ones work best (or are they all very similar)? What is the correct amount of gear teeth? Do they in reality make all the difference to twin cam starting or do they have their own problems?
Sorry about all the questions but I would really value any help and comments.

[ericbushby]

I went for the Powerlite 9 tooth starter as recommended by Olly at Pheonix Motors, my local Lotus specialist.
I am so pleased with it that I gave the old Lucas starter away because I will not be fitting that back again.
There was a discussion on this quite recently. Try a search tor more opinions.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[twincamman]

I time my engine to fire on the first revolution of the starter.at 14 degrees on the crank pulley .....I have 900 dollars worth of Denso starters on the shelf that caused starter gear damage as they do not disengage upon the first hint of resistance on start up but keep cranking as a result I have gone back to the Lucas starter with no problems so far ....Ed