Ke17 Starter Upgrade And Removal

[dapbmw]

my thanks to felix for the tip on opening the hood with a broken cable. this car is testing my patience :hmm: but i'll prevail. now another problem came up this time it is the starter.

 

finally got the hood to open and charged the battery. the starter worked for a

bit and stopped, so i hit the solenoid with a long cold chisel and a hammer and it worked again

then stopped. now i need to replace this bugger.

 

i know it will be a pain to remove. the best bet is to remove the intake

manifold? nothing against the 3k engine but it is a lousy design as far as

accessbility to the starter is concerned plus putting it underneath the exhaust

manifold makes it even worse as it will have starting problems when the engine

is so hot! why did they have to put the intake, exhaust and starter all in one side/spot?

 

my question is can i use a later reduction gear starter from a kp61 starlet? it

is the same engine just not sure if there will be a fitment problem considering

the tight space.

 

so can i use the reduction gear starter for this engine too?

 

cheers,

dave

Edited August 3, 2009 by dapbmw

[Felix]

No worries. :)

 

I'm running extractors, and find that it is easier to jack up the motor slightly and remove the manifold side engine mount to get the starter motor out. A lot quicker and easier than removing the manifolds.

 

I've never really had a problem with starter motors except for once when I had a pressure plate partially disintegrate. Bits of metal jammed between the ring gear and inside of the bell housing, effectively seizing the motor. Some rocking back and forth of the car in gear, cursing, plus some major strainage of the starter cleared the jammage enough to get it running and nurse it home. Geez it made some strange noises. The starter was never the same afterwards, she was cooked well done. :hmm:

 

You might just get away with disassembling your current starter, cleaning it up and sanding the solenoid contacts with fine sand/emery paper. Not necessarily a long term fix, but could get you by until you source another starter.

 

Not exactly sure on the starlet reduction starter. If it fits in and clears everything it should be fine. From what I understand the reduction starters are quite compact. Never had one myself though.

[Taz_Rx]

I have one of the reduction starters and its basically the same size as the normal ones. The solenoid is bigger, but the motor is a bit smaller.

 

You can buy then new from Ashdown Ingrams for around $200 TRADE price. Part number is something like RX421S IIRC.

When I bouight mine we weren't 100% sure it would fit (under a turbo exhaust manifold) and the guy was good enough to let me take it for a trial fit, just said don't turn the key its your not 100%. As soon as the gear on the starter hits the ring gear they won't take any returns.

So yeah grab one and see if they're happy to do the same. :hmm:

[Felix]

I think he's in Canada or the US.

[dapbmw]

I have one of the reduction starters and its basically the same size as the normal ones. The solenoid is bigger, but the motor is a bit smaller.

 

You can buy then new from Ashdown Ingrams for around $200 TRADE price. Part number is something like

 

$200 AUD's that's a lot of coin, yo can get one here for under USD$75. So it will fit on a KE17 right?

 

Cheers,

Dave

[camerondownunder88]

I change starters by putting a jack on the altornator mount and taking off the exhaust side mount like Felix. WAY faster than manifolds etc and wont ruin gaskets.

 

As for reduction starters they I guess start the car faster but I have never found the need for one and a normal starter can start my high compression 5K in my KE15 so for a stock 3K id jsut use the same type of starter.

 

But in an old KE1X upgrade the starter to battery cable. I did this in my KE15 as after 40 years it all starts to break downa dn wow engine started tice as fast adn I added a few more earths to the motor.

 

Cheers

Cameron