Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I am having trouble fitting my new Hi-Torque starter motor. With some filing, I managed to get it to fit and with multiple mounting holes on the adaptor plate, the starter fits quite nicely into it's position. My problem? The fitting instructions call for 2.5mm +/- 1mm clearance between the end of the pinion teeth and the ring-gear. I calculate (using a vernier caliper) that I have 9mm. With a starter "throw" of 12mm, I will only have 3mm engagment with the ring-gear teeth. Not enough.
I would be most obliged if someone has their starter out, if they could check the depth of the front face of the ring-gear from the front face of the bellhousing (including the metal coverplate). Mine measures 31mm.
Regards and thanks,
Colin.

Hi Colin

I measure 32mm rear face of block to front face of ring gear on my spare competition engine. The position will vary a little depending on thrust bearing thicknesses used and tolerances on the crank and flywheel machining. I use a Datsun crank with the thick thrust bearing that they require at the rear so I would expect the flywheel to be a little more than normal to the rear so the 32mm I measure compared to the 31mm you measure sounds consistent.

regards
Rohan

Rohan,
Thankyou for doing that. I suspected that I had put things back together correctly. When you have the supplier/importer telling you that you definitely have the correct adapter plate on the starter and that that same starter has been sold to other Elan owners without complaint, you begin to doubt yourself. He is willing to sell me a pinion that has the teeth starting closer to the end of the shaft by 5mm. This should give me an engagement of 8mm with the solenoid activated. As the ring-gear is 9mm thick, this would be almost full engagement. Should do the trick. Unfortunately, I purchased the starter in 2002 and no-one is interested in it anymore. That will teach me for being such a laggard.
Cheers,
Colin.

Hi Colin,
I have had the same problem with a Hi torque/pre engaged starter. Go to thread titled "disaster" (page 12 on this forum) for more detail.
Cheers, Wylie

Wylie,
Thanks. Sounds like you have already had the problem. Did you do any measuring before fitting the new starter? I must admit, I only did it because I had the body off and the engine out and it was easy. Because the item was sold as specifically for an Elan, I would probably not have gone to the trouble and I would be facing the prospect of a ruined ring-gear. As I mentioned, the supplier will sell me a longer pinion to gain 5mm which will suffice. Either that, or I sell on Ebay and spend another $350 and get one from the Elan Factory.
Cheers,
Colin.

Colin
Bosch preengage starters from early 70 Australian Escorts bolt in and are a lot cheaper and you should be able to still get them new ( I have got 3 the last about 3 years ago). They are a 3 bolt mounting but work fine with the 2 mounting bolts on the earlier Ford bell housing. They come with a 10 tooth pinion which was standard on the enscort that works or you can change for a 9 tooth pinion to match the original Lotus one that is available from Bosch.

Any auto electrician should be able to find one for you

cheers
Rohan

Colin,
When I bought the starter, I just fitted it on with no measuring, it was only after the ring gear stripped that I checked out what was happening. The seller couldn't seem to shed any light on the problem and since returning it wasn't really an option from such a lonely outpost as New Zealand, I modified it myself. Seems to be fine now.
Cheers, Wylie.

[quote="ebc699"]Hi Colin,
I have had the same problem with a Hi torque/pre engaged starter. Go to thread titled "disaster" (page 12 on this forum) for more detail.
Cheers, Wylie[/quote]

Had a quick look on page 12 things in commom can't find anything?
John

try here
elan-f14/disaster-t17585.html
Its in the Elan section

john.p.clegg wrote:

ebc699 wrote:Hi Colin,
I have had the same problem with a Hi torque/pre engaged starter. Go to thread titled "disaster" (page 12 on this forum) for more detail.
Cheers, Wylie

Had a quick look on page 12 things in commom can't find anything?
John

Gary

Thanks,don't know where I was looking..

John

Rohan,
Any chance of a Bosch part number for that Escort starter?
Regards
Colin.

rgh0 wrote:Colin
Bosch preengage starters from early 70 Australian Escorts bolt in and are a lot cheaper and you should be able to still get them new ( I have got 3 the last about 3 years ago). They are a 3 bolt mounting but work fine with the 2 mounting bolts on the earlier Ford bell housing. They come with a 10 tooth pinion which was standard on the enscort that works or you can change for a 9 tooth pinion to match the original Lotus one that is available from Bosch.

Any auto electrician should be able to find one for you

cheers
Rohan

Part number on the body is 9 000 062 024,
number on the pre engage solenoid 9 330 061 028

cheers
Rohan

Thanks Rohan,
Have ordered the longer pinion gear for the hi-toque starter. If this doesn't do the trick, I will chase up a bosch unit.
Colin.

rgh0 wrote:Part number on the body is 9 000 062 024,
number on the pre engage solenoid 9 330 061 028

cheers
Rohan