Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2015 15:42:20 GMT -5
I don't know how it got that way, but the brush wires in the starter were shorting, smoking and the motor wouldn't turn over. I grabbed a can of electrical cleaner and sprayed it liberally at the starter, washing away some copper dust. I walked away from it to let it dry. After a period of time, I went back to it and tried to start it. Holy Batcrap! Sparks started flying and it caught fire on some cleaner that hadn't quite dried. I ran for the fire extinguisher and with a carefully aimed short burst doused the flames. Dodged that bullet! I pulled the starter and began disassembling it. I washed a heaping tablespoonful of copper dust out of it and discovered one of the four brush holders had broken and taken the phenolic insulator with it. As well, the Bendix looked like it had been chewing on itself. HMMMH. What to do.
Called Muskrat and we put our heads together. I suggested that I rob an intact holder from one of the junk starters I have in the back room. They are held to the plate with rivets. I had a spare Bendix with the correct number of teeth, so I thanked him for his thoughts and began the overhaul.
Extraction of the rivets holding the two-piece broken holder was easy enough. I discovered that the holes in the plate are bigger than the holes in the holder. HMMMH. I picked up one of the old rivets and discovered there was a phenolic alignment spacer under the phenolic washer. AHAH! Steel pop rivets were used taking care to place the salvaged alignment spacers and phenolic washers back the way I found them in the back plate. I inspected the bushings, cleaned everything up, replaced the Bendix, reassembled it and bench tested it. EUREKA! Houston we have a start sequence!
I carefully reinstalled the starter on the motor and YAAY! It cranks with a sweet new-starter sound. And it cranks. And it cranks. And it cranks. HMMMH. No fire in the wire. Pop the top on the dizzy. Crank it over. What?? The dizzy ain't turning! WTF? I'm thinking, "Oh crap. The tab broke off in the oil pump!" "Oh crap, the oil pump failed!" I pulled the dizzy, saw the tab was intact. I looked down the deep , dark hole. I cranked it over. "Thank you Lord, the pump is turning." Move to a position where I can see the Oil Pressure Gauge. Crank it over. PHEW! I have good oil pressure. Move back to the distributer. Check it closely. All looks OK. Come to discover it was not in the motor all the way and had just been hanging on by the very tip. It's in correctly now by HG! And the motor even runs!
Called Muskrat and we put our heads together. I suggested that I rob an intact holder from one of the junk starters I have in the back room. They are held to the plate with rivets. I had a spare Bendix with the correct number of teeth, so I thanked him for his thoughts and began the overhaul.
Extraction of the rivets holding the two-piece broken holder was easy enough. I discovered that the holes in the plate are bigger than the holes in the holder. HMMMH. I picked up one of the old rivets and discovered there was a phenolic alignment spacer under the phenolic washer. AHAH! Steel pop rivets were used taking care to place the salvaged alignment spacers and phenolic washers back the way I found them in the back plate. I inspected the bushings, cleaned everything up, replaced the Bendix, reassembled it and bench tested it. EUREKA! Houston we have a start sequence!
I carefully reinstalled the starter on the motor and YAAY! It cranks with a sweet new-starter sound. And it cranks. And it cranks. And it cranks. HMMMH. No fire in the wire. Pop the top on the dizzy. Crank it over. What?? The dizzy ain't turning! WTF? I'm thinking, "Oh crap. The tab broke off in the oil pump!" "Oh crap, the oil pump failed!" I pulled the dizzy, saw the tab was intact. I looked down the deep , dark hole. I cranked it over. "Thank you Lord, the pump is turning." Move to a position where I can see the Oil Pressure Gauge. Crank it over. PHEW! I have good oil pressure. Move back to the distributer. Check it closely. All looks OK. Come to discover it was not in the motor all the way and had just been hanging on by the very tip. It's in correctly now by HG! And the motor even runs!
