Need new starter motor

[NYK]

Have been firing up my recently rebuilt Plus 2 this week and one thing is apparent, the starter motor is not up to the job. Battery and wiring/earth all good so I clearly need a high torque starter. Have looked at various posts, some quite old now so wondered what is considered best/good in class now.
Requirements:
- must work with existing starter ring
- clearly must give improved performance over standard
- must not be a bastard to fit
- preferably not going to cost an arm and a leg

Recommendations?

[ericbushby]

Hi
I have said before that I am completely satisfied with the Powerlite RAC 472 I fitted in 2014.
I bought the nine tooth version for my 110 tooth flywheel ring gear.
Two screws to fit it. The usually awkward top screw is already fitted and captive, just needs a socket and long extension.
The power cable from the solenoid on the bulkhead reached and fitted correctly to the large terminal of the motor.
The small wire to the internal solenoid can also be fitted to the motor terminal. Recommendations and instructions come with the motor.
There is nothing more that you need to be do. Once you get to it, then it can be changed in a few minutes.
It will work perfectly well using the existing solenoid and mine has, although there are many ways of making it more complicated.
Best of luck and let us know how you get on.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[NYK]

Thanks Eric, did you notice significantly improved torque from this starter. My current one really struggles to spin the engine and on initial starting will often no manage even to turn the engine over.
Nic

[ericbushby]

When I wrote this up at the time I caused some amusement with my highly technical description of the improvement
so I will repeat it here.
With the old Lucas motor the engine went:- err err, Wow, err err, Wow, err err, Wow.
With the new motor it now goes:- Wow, Wow, Wow
Maybe three times faster and the current drawn was reduced from 190 Amps to 160 Amps.
An extra benefit of this type of motor is that it stays engaged until you let go of the starter switch.
The old one threw the Bendix out of engagement if only one cylinder fired and the engine did not start.
Cheers
Eric

[gherlt]

Powerlite RAC 802BLK looks more "appropiate" to the Elan.
And works like a marvel, last year I bought two more.

[NYK]

The 820 is rated 1.6 kW cf. 1.0 KW for the 472. Unhelpfully there is no comparative torque data provided.
Eric, your technical description for the cranking of the Lucas starter perfectly describes what my car sounds like.

[alan.barker]

Strange it's taken 48 years to be not good enough
If you have a standard engine and the standard Starter is in good condition no problem.
I have found with the standard Starter if you renew the Bush at the Bendix end Oilite + Bendix + brushes it will be ok for at least 10 years.
This is standard Engine imho.
Alan

[Craven]

As Alan the standard starter is more than adequate on a standard engine, in my experience with the Lucas starter is the provision on cranking amps, nearly giving up on the Lucas I purchased one of the small jump start Lithium Ion (600 amps) battery. So if my car battery, a new small original fitment, starts to drop off, clip on the jump start and away we go. My car battery is OK as long as it is fully charged.

[HCA]

I echo Eric all the way!

Forgetting the technicals (who cares what ammps it draws...) the best thing next to turnover speed is the absence of that horrible bang of British cars of a certain age of the bendix engaing - and even worse the louder bang when it re-engages!

Luckily British technology saw sense and came up with the pre-engaged starter! You will be happy with it

[StressCraxx]

If your existing Lucas starter won't crank the engine properly it's likely time to have it refurbished. The bushings wear and so do the brushes and commutator. The more wear on the brushes and commutator the higher current required to turn the flywheel.

Our starters are the same as the 850 Mini.

I've been using a gear reduction starter for years because I had trouble with the bendix gear hanging up in the flywheel and leaving me stranded on occasion.

[NYK]

Well my engine is rebuilt to standard spec and the Lucas starter may well be clapped out and clearly needs replacing. It seems to me that if I can ‘upgrade’ starting performance by buying a starter of a more modern design and there are no downsides to so doing, why wouldn’t I? The rebuild costs to date are significant so a few hundred pounds more on a good starter is neither here no there.

[HCA]

Ah - you have a rebuilt engine then? Might be a problem here - if the engine is in perfect trim, then you may not hear the high torque motor beyond the engagement click, a whir and then the sound of a twin cam!

Just do it!

[SENC]

Don't bin the starter when you buy a replacement. They are dead simple to renovate, and you'll have a backup. Other than the missing the pre-engage feature, they work just as well on a standard engine. I just rebuilt mine and a back-up spare for my Seven.

[Quart Meg Miles]

Your decision may be influenced by what else is non-standard on your car. I sometimes wonder why people buy a 50 year old car and then moan about what's wrong with it and change it to something that it never could have been.

The standard starter and battery are perfectly capable of starting even a S130; if you don't like the whirring noise then buy a newer car. But if, and I have no idea, you already have electronic ignition, low-profile tyres and solid driveshafts it hardly matters what you fit as a starter, it's no longer an authentic Lotus.

But it's your car and that's just my outlook, which hasn't stopped me fitting a rear draught excluder and LED tail lamps!

[skelteanema]

I recently replace the Lucas starter with the Powerlite RAC472 when I broke an ear off the Lucas mounting plates during the engine reinstall. I wasn't having any problems with the Lucas unit, but I just couldn't find an end plate (or a scrap starter) anywhere. The RAC 472 was a straight forward swap, with only the hole in the connector tab needing to be enlarged slightly. It starts easy enough now, but the Powerlite starter is a lot noisier than the Lucas one.