fly wheel saga

[twincamman]

Wellllll I figured I would get through this summer without a ' LOTUS TRAUMA' but grinding noises from the starter area led to . discovery of a destroyed ring gear . said ring gear was in fine fettle at last summers rebuild and the car hasn't gone 300 miles < but the episode with the starter disassembling its self from the adapter plate must have done more damage than thought >SOOOOOO I pulled out the nintendo denso starter and launched it into Lake ---------[ name undisclosed as I don't want the enviro Nazis knocking on my door ] . There are a few after market 'lotus' parts I wish to sleep with the fishes , this consoles me . Water burial at midnight is reserved for especially annoying parts that have caused great grief and expense to me and the car . So now instead of driving 26 r 33 this summer -part of it will be spent re and re the engine -replacing the ring gear and sweating a lot while using language no fit for a distance of 500 feet around public schools and church yards ---- IF YOU USE THESE STARTERS it might be worth checking Your ring gear to see if any thing wrong is in the making -----ed

[cabc26b]

Hi Ed,

Sorry to hear about the problem. Is this one of the Gustofson starters sold via the usual lotus suspects ? or some other part ? I have never had a Gustofson fail mechanically BTW. However , I understand the electrics will eventually disintegrate on race motors because of the vibration.

George

[Emma-Knight]

If ring gear is chamfered both sides, you could fit a nice, cheap Lucas starter with a 10 teeth bendix and a fresh batterie. Even when they fail, damage to the ring gear will be minor. I fitted a Brise Starter which works fine so far. But sometimes I do miss the old, nasty Lucas noise.
As I'm not using the Brise for a representative time period - what are the long time experiences with the Brise unit?

Anna

[Frank Howard]

Ed,

Go fish your starter out of the lake, then go to any junk yard and purchase a starter from any Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth minivan. It's the same starter. If these starters were chewing up minivan ring gears, there would have been a major recall decades ago. Swap out the adaptor plate that bolts the starter to the bell housing and swap out the pinion gear and you'll be back in business.

[Galwaylotus]

I had a similar problem but I don't blame the starter. At first I thought it was due to a bad set-up and not enough engagement. The latter was true but it turned out that the ring gear had shifted back on the flywheel. I only learned that when the engine was out for a replacement ring gear. The new one was very tight going on and my mechanic (for the jobs I can't do in the street!!) tack welded the new one to the flywheel. So far so good!
BTW the starter is a unit sourced by the PO from Kelsport and I have to say they were excellent supporting my attempt to cure the "set-up problem".

[archigator]

I have nothing but great things to say about the Gustafsen starter. For some reason I constantly had problems with my Gustafsen starter aligning properly with the ring gear, to the point it would grind loudly more often than not. Everyone within earshot would turn around, grinding their teeth as if they'd just heard the perverbial "fingernails on the chalkboard."

I contacted Mr. Gustafsen directly, explained that I was now going on my third Gustafsen starter and second ring gear. He was very friendly, assured me that it wasn't his starter and proceeded to mill me several starter mounting plates at slightly differing angles and mounted them on the starters that I had returned to him... AT NO COST! He wanted to make sure his starters didn't get a bad rap. I installed one of the slightly "tweeked" starters and it has worked perfectly ever since. That's what I call "customer support!"

I am a customer for life... I don't expect to need another starter, and I plan on living a long time.

Gary
'71 Sprint FHC
Miami, Florida

[twincamman]

ok =--=---there 2 new ring gears on the way as I also put a Gustof starter in the super 7 and am affraid to drive it until I can check what that gear is like ---------so when the Elan motor comes out I will check to see if the gear has not moved on the fly wheel ---even though it is junk now -----the gears on the starter ring look like there wasn't enough engagement and they appear to have been had at with a chisle and hammer -every tooth has a burr and they were pristine at the rebuild --I am some what POd and will stay with Lucas 9 gear starters I think and Mr Gustafs stater can stay in the lake perhaps joined by another ----ed

[Old English White]

I had problems with a Gustafson starter too . On a new engine . On an expensive 2 days event . First day , 12 O'clock . Far from home . More than embarrassing .
It appear that if the adaptation plate is thick & strong enough , when bolted with the orignal bolts , the two small & long btr bolts from the japanese device have a lot to do behind that .
Worst , the gap between the plate and the nippon starter is far to much big in too many aeras. Thinking about the extra torque from the starter that tend to twist the long bolts , no wonder with the results on our rings.



I send these pictures to Mr Doc Gustafson , and quickly get new parts . The same parts . No mods on them .
It ended my engine man pour the back of the adaptation plate with ally Araldite to fill the differents gaps and should I say I pray every time I start "OEW" ...
My illustrated testimony stand to help to understand and make better parts , so ...
I , and now few others , ll be pleased to hear that Mr Doc Gustafson made some progress in the art of machining ...
Christian.

[Galwaylotus]

Ahh! Just remembered when I saw the attachment screw photos that my attachment screws go right through the full thread length so they don't seem to be moving. Perhaps the short ones should be replaced to give a better grip! Likewise my adapter plate doesn't have the gap shown oin the photo.

[twincamman]

the teeth were so worn it was obviously a hi mile junk yard part ----the 2 inch original bolts were not up to the job ----I will suggest any one contemplating using one of these not to ---ed

[cabc26b]

All

The OEM part always felt and sounded suspect to me, After hearing what's been said about the replacements it has me feeling lucky and also inclined to inspect the next one I get -

Anna -

The nasty sound for those who don't/won't or can't recall....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbAXvZk2sG4


George

[lightwait26]

After many battles with the stock unit, switched to the Nippon starter, not a single issue in 25 years of service.

[twincamman]

after the new starter ring is in I will go to a Tilton --if I can hold my breath long enough I may retrieve the offending part from its watery grave and send to Art ---he sounds like he needs some some grief after 20 years of reliable starts -- -spent the day moving cars and making room for the extraction -----ed

[Galwaylotus]

This was my ring gear before replacement but, as I said, not the fault of the starter.
After this photo was taken, I had the mounting plate machined for better engagement with the starter pioion but the damage had been done and the gear slipped even further back. It has since been replaced - same starter but no problems now.