90 starter motor- what am I missing here?

[aggie57]

Alister, I am using the 2.5L flywheel (with spacer from Hugh), with the starter motor from the 2.5 (or it could be from a mates 3L 75, I'm a bit mixed up by all the wheelings and dealings that have gone on). Either way not the 164 starter. I have not changed the pinion in any of these starters; is this is a step i missed?

So that's good.  The correct combination is 2.5 flywheel and starter with 4mm spacer on the back of the crank (yes, the block is also 4mm shorter but the 3 litre crank is actually 8mm shorter than the 2.5 so the spacer moves the flywheel back 4mm while the 2.5 litre bellhousing bolts up to the 4mm shorther block, restoring the correct starter to flywheel relationship).  If you've inadvertently ended up using the 3 litre starter then the mounts should be fine but I can't speak for the pinion.  

[Mat Francis]

SUCCESS!

No luck with the starter that was in the car, was starting to get pretty annoyed at it all. Swapped it out for another one that I again tested on the ground first, then attached to the wiring only, then finally properly bolted up to the motor. No unsavory noises, engaged and disengaged happily many times, and most importantly turned the motor without issue.

Conclusion; I have NFI what was wrong, maybe I was just hugely unlucky with dodgy starters and when they chose to work/not work.

Now for the fun of resurrecting the very brittle L-jet     

[aggie57]

excellent!

[Craig C]

Some starters work ok without any load like when on the bench.  I understand one method of bench testing is to apply pressure with a piece of soft wood to the engaging gear and see how it performs under load.

[VeeSix]

That is great Mat, forward movement then and keep us updated on the 90s progress, are you still converting to twin headlights either side? 

[colcol]

Sometimes starter motors work on the floor, but not in the motor, i had a starter motor, that i built from 2 blown up starters, cause i had nothing better to do, it cranked over ok, the car would start ok from cold, but wouldn't start when the motor was hot, it would crank over ok, and i blamed the ignition system, and changed every thing, but still wouldn't start hot, but noticed the starter motor was cranking a bit slow, so put another starter motor in that cranked a bit faster, and bang problems solved, try another starter motor, Colin.

[Mat Francis]

Thanks again guys.

Would still like to give the headlight conversion a crack. Realistically though, I'm not sure it will happen. It's taken me this long to just bolt the motor in and get it to turn over, I'm not sure if I should be creating more work than I need to any more, I just want to drive the thing! Also depends on what the going rate for 90 headlights is when i start looking.

I'll see how the next few weeks go for progress, and make a decision closer to the time. 

[dehne]

matt when you are looking for the lights just letting you know I have 3 sets