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One Step Forward, 2 Steps Back

12K views 87 replies 14 participants last post by  o1marc 
#1 ·
So the guy calls me the other day to say all they are waiting on to complete my hand held starter is a push button that costs $15. Look through my box of left over racecar parts that has all the switches and dash lights and buttons and find 2 of the exact buttons they use, Bingo, no more holdups. When I drop it off there he tells me the bad news. The owner doesn't want to give me the starter on our barter deal, wants to charge me $350 for it. The manager says Don't worry about it, I'll get it done and in your hands and we'll work out a payment plan or something, Cool. He calls this morning saying it is ready and to come get it before the owner sees it and asks about it. I jump in the truck and haul ass to go get it figuring put of sight out of mind. I'm on the way home and just out of curiosity I hit the button to see if it spins the right way (clockwise), Fuck me, it turns counter clockwise (1 step back). I get to the house and wonder my second question and that is does it have enough torque to turn my high compression motor over. I plug it in and it bare turns the crank about 1/16th of a turn (2nd step back). I pull the plugs and try again and it won't even turn the motor with no compression on it, Fuck me hard. Well I just saved $350 but am back at square one on getting this thing fired anytime soon. I think they make these for gokarts and the starter and battery they use just don't have the torque needed for an 11:1 or 10:1 motor my size.

 
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#2 · (Edited)
Take her apart and see how the lead routing goes. You may be able to reverse the polarity in the motor to get the direction you need.

But looks like you have other more pressing issues at the moment. heh
 
#5 ·
They want 350 for that?!!? I am in the wrong wrong business. Forget I.T. I'm gonna start building start carts for a living.

On a real world issue. The starter is fine. It will get the job done. But what they have left out is the final reduction that the pinion and flywheel ring gear provide. You will need more gears or chain reduction. I am guessing the output spins like mad when you power it.
 
#6 · (Edited)
to put it into perspective on a small block chevy with an 11 tooth pinion (some factory reduction starters similar to what you have) and a 153 tooth flywheel have a 14:1 reduction between starter and engine. you have 1:1 with that rig. You could probably add another plate and some bearings and use a chain and sprockets to reduce it. spur gears would give you the direction reverse but would be less forgiving from a setup standpoint.
 
#8 ·
I agree with raven the starter is fine, you need a gear reduction to multiply the torque and spin the big mill. I think you also may need a decomp lever in one of the plugs.

stupid question #2 - are you going to carry that heavy lump with you everywhere in a back pack? or is it just for home/track starting?
If it is just for home starting why don't you get a roller starter?
 
#9 ·
Your best bet is to go get a starter with a built in gear reduction. I use a Dodge starter for my sidecar. The Weslake is 14:1 and a standard starter won't cut it. They are't cheap but they work. On the start line at Bonneville is the last place in the world you want to be to find out your starter won't cut it. Plus Dodge starters are the right rotation.

 
#10 ·
The Dodge starter turns counter clockwise? If I go that route it will set me back longer as I don't have any money right now and the place that made my starter probably won't put the money out to buy one as they already had the starters and parts to make mine instock.
 
#11 ·
You have a reduction starter but not enough reduction. :( does the end cap come off the motor? you could possibly swap the leads on the brushed, or rotate the brush holder, or rotate the housing with the magnets 180 degrees. it shouldnt be a huge deal. worst case is you have to extend brush wires in there to swap polarity.

the other issue is reduction. the best way would be a 10:1 inline reduction box. but thats pricey unless you have a very good scrapyard. unfortunately your device is pretty but not well thought out by the shop. :(
 
#12 ·
do you have a lathe? or a friend with a lathe?
 
#13 · (Edited)
The place that built it is a machine shop that I am on a barter system with. As far as not well thought out, they probably didn't know the application requirements for me. These starters work fine for their application on go carts, his kid has over 600 national feature wins, they use these starters for his carts.

Check this phenom out, google "Spencer Davis Racing", he's only 14 years old now and racing late model stock cars and trucks.
 
#14 ·
The Dodge starter runs counter clockwise. I got caught by the rotation thing as well. I used to work for NAPA auto parts at their LA DC. It has a retail store attached and the manager is a long time friend of the Bean Bandits so was sympathetic to my LSR efforts. There were (and still are) a number of "faulty" starters in the back of the store. The "faulty" part was usually clumsiness on the part of the installer. I was able to borrow them to see what would or wouldn't work. In the end it came down to needing a gear reduction The starter I bought was a rebuilt unit and has worked fine for the past five years. I went out to the garage to have a look at it and unfortunately the only number I could see on it was 17540. Meaningless except maybe to NAPA. If you are like me and broke most of the time a scrounge around a junkyard might be in order. Making the handles etc. is nothing. I made mine from a piece of 3/4" sq. tubing and some 1/8" plate. All bits I had laying around. The handles are two 1/2" x 4" bolts with some foam wrapped around them.

The other alternative is what I used to start my Norton. A Briggs and Stratton to spin the rear wheel. Once again I had to reduce the wheel speed so it would bite the rear tire of the bike. Worked fine on the Norton but wasn't worth a damn on the sidecar. Another alternative, if you have pots of money, is a Doc Z roller starter. But I don't have pots of money.

 
#18 ·
you are saying looking at the spud, it turns counter clockwise right? If so pretty much any old v8 starter will do the deed. they all turn clockwise looking at balancer, so due to the spur reduction at the flywheel the starter turns counter clockwise (as it would be installed on the engine and in your start cart). Pretty much the exception to the clockwise rule is Honda car engines. I am guessing you have a starter form a fwd import of some sort that installs from the back of the bellhousing.

the starter he is using is most likely from any A or B series Chrysler engine from the 50s to the 90s. Shouldnt be too hard to find. the bolt flat to the bellhousing like your current starter. I would probably remove the original pinion and try to fit a shaft of some sort to mate with your spud. You may need more reduction though :(

Here is an article all about chrysler starters: Repairing vintage Chrysler - Plymouth - Dodge starters
 
#28 ·
If so pretty much any old v8 starter will do the deed. they all turn clockwise looking at balancer,
No they won't. I have three starters under the bench that won't crank the Weslake. And none of them would crank a V twin. Probably all three together wouldn't crank Marc's twin. I'm cranking a 13:1 540cc single with 35 deg. fixed advance. It does it without any problem. 24v. might be a good idea for a V twin. Doc Z roller starters use two 6v. Ford starters off a 12v. battery. Great starter but big bucks.
 
#19 ·
I used to use the big ol dodge gear reduction starter for my dragbike, worked fine but that was on an 80 inch Suzuki. Even for that 24 volt is required. Later on I went with a Toyota gear reduction starter, worked just as well. But 24 volt operation was always necessary. Never Burned up a starter though. Solenoids would trash after about 250 starts.
Seems like a v-twin may need more torque to turn over.
Notice that pingel says that their starters are NOT for V-twins. Starters
 
#22 ·
I am thinking use the chrysler reduction starter, fit a sprocket where the drive was, use chain final reduction.
 
#23 ·
or try it direct drive with 24 volts :D
 
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#25 · (Edited)
I'm 60 years old, it's 1327cc at 11:1cr, 90 degree summer days. I ain't pushing it around.;)

Bump start was the plan when we first started this build when I was 24.

I have some pressure relief valves to machine into the heads. he engine assembler balked at putting them in. I'm glad now he didn't because I lost a lot of confidence in him with all the issues he had assembling this motor. next year I'll pull the heads for porting and put the valves in then, should make bump starting a bunch easier.
 
#33 ·
The torque of the starter shouldn't be a problem Some of the Harley guys at Bonneville use hand held with no problem. A roller starter would work just as well. i did a search on roller starters a while back. The MotoGP starters are available if you have around $2100. Doc Z makes great and portable roller starters. I got to use one at Bonneville in 2007 with my Norton. Worked as well as anything. I was all fired up to get one when I got home. Until I saw the price. At that time the one I had used (two 6v. Ford starters running off a 12v. battery) was $1100. That's out of my league. I bought my starter, rebuilt, for around $250. It would have been cheaper but I didn't have a core. The mount and handles didn't cost anything. They were bits laying around the garage. The cart was from some scrap 1/2" conduit and some 1/8" plate. The wheels were $5 Harbor Freight. Things don't have to be expensive to work.
 
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