Here are the Honda starter motor conversion details, thanks to TK
Quote:
With the help of Scooperman and Brucie in the 'Toon, I went to the boneyard this morning in search of a Honda starter motor. Between the Accord(ian)s and Civic's I found a decent looking rebuilt one. It only took a few minutes to take it out, once I figured out that it has a bolt coming from somewhere under the inlet manifold! I left $17.99 Cdn (including the $5 core charge) at the counter and I was away.
The engine in the dyno stand is pretty accessible, so I checked the fit there. I didn't really like the way it was sitting, so flying in the face of Scooperman's directions for mounting, I cut all the extraneous aluMINIum lugs off the mounting face. My idea was to make a flange out of aluMINIum plate and turn a hole in the centre that matched the hole in the Honda transmission, 75 mm. I grabbed a scrap Lucas starter (yea yea, cut with the jokes) and removed the mounting flange for a template. That template turned into a prototype flange when I chucked it in the lathe and cut the middle out. With that piece bolted in place, the Honda starter could be rotated around until I found a good position for it.
Unfortunately, the solenoid can only go in a couple of different positions and still allow the thing to be bolted in place. Ideally the solenoid would hang down, but that would mean that the mount bolts would have to come in from the clutch side and there's no straight path for the bolts. The prototype mount flange looked pretty good so I just welded it in place. NOTE: the Japanese aluMINIum is nice and clean, but the English stuff was just full of crap and welded quite poorly. I had to grind and reweld to get a decent finish.
The business end has the same 10 tooth drive gear and once it's centred in the hole, it engages perfectly every time. The drive doesn't extend any farther than the ring gear, so that big cone on the clutch cover can be cut off.
It sure sounds quite different from the Lucas starter! It also spins faster than the Lucas so this thing should start with fewer turns. So what's the advantage? Well besides a more reliable and available starter, it's 600 g (4.0 vs 4.6 Kg) lighter. It also eliminates the Lucas solenoid, an item that constantly causes irritation. Sure it took a couple of hours to fabricate a mount to bolt into the Mini transfer case, but if I ever need to rebuild this thing, I can keep the one unique part and change everything else. Easy!
