[Healeys] Starters and Generators; was Re: Starting a BJ8

Mon Dec 19 23:45:39 MST 2016

     All that being said.  I just looked at the starter I had rebuilt for my BN2 and the date on it is 6 59.  As a started did not come with the rolling shell I bought, this one was given to me by the guy that sold me the car.  No problem, it will work just fine.  I don't think there was much difference between the 4 cyl starters and the later 6 cyl ones.
     He gave me an engine block too.  It only had a couple of problems.  It was a bare block with two of the main caps missing and had a chunk of cast iron missing from the water pump hole on the front of it.  Looked like someone got frustrated with the shrouded nut on the bottom of the water pump and just broke it off to get the pump out.  I guess he needed the pump more than a block with two missing main caps. Right now I am at the point where I am putting the head on it (using Wellseal) on the gasket and putting ancillary units like the starter on it before going into the car.  It's been a real adventure putting this motor together, but I think I have spent less gathering parts and doing it myself than a rebuild of a complete engine at a professional shop.  My only fear now is the transmission.  Have never taken one apart.  I am not even sure it needs to be rebuilt.  I was told it came out of a crashed Healey with only 10,000 miles on it and has been sitting ever since.  I certainly have enough fun projects ahead.  Just being freshly retired, I have no excuse now not to finish the car.Mike MacLean 

    On Monday, December 19, 2016 3:31 PM, "michael.salter at gmail.com" <michael.salter at gmail.com> wrote:

 Hear, hear!!!
If you want it to start like a Toyota buy a bloody Toyota.
Michael S 
BN1 #174

On Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 4:56 PM -0500, "Patrick & Caroline Quinn" <p_cquinn at tpg.com.au> wrote:

#yiv0332172090 #yiv0332172090 -- _filtered #yiv0332172090 {font-family:Helvetica;panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;} _filtered #yiv0332172090 {font-family:Helvetica;panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;} _filtered #yiv0332172090 {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} _filtered #yiv0332172090 {font-family:Tahoma;panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}#yiv0332172090 #yiv0332172090 p.yiv0332172090MsoNormal, #yiv0332172090 li.yiv0332172090MsoNormal, #yiv0332172090 div.yiv0332172090MsoNormal {margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:12.0pt;}#yiv0332172090 a:link, #yiv0332172090 span.yiv0332172090MsoHyperlink {color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv0332172090 a:visited, #yiv0332172090 span.yiv0332172090MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv0332172090 span.yiv0332172090EmailStyle17 {color:windowtext;}#yiv0332172090 .yiv0332172090MsoChpDefault {font-size:10.0pt;} _filtered #yiv0332172090 {margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}#yiv0332172090 div.yiv0332172090WordSection1 {}#yiv0332172090 Hello  I have recently had the starter rebuilt for our 1948 Healey. Apart from the bolt plate it’s the same as fitted to the 100 BN3 and other early Austin-Healeys.  Beforehand it was very sluggish and I was thinking of fitting a geared starter or even twin 12v batteries. However once serviced with new brushes, a little machining of the commutator and a good clean it’s now spinning like a top and the engine starts immediately I press the button.  British cars have been using Lucas products since the beginning of motoring. It is excellent equipment and the DHMC was highly successful at Le Mans, Sebring etc with cars fitted with Lucas electrics. The answer of course is proper maintenance as you would do with the rest of the car.  Hoo Roo  Patrick QuinnBlue Mountains, Australia   From: Healeys [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Michael MacLean
Sent: Tuesday, 20 December 2016 5:45 AM
To: Bob Spidell; healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Starters and Generators; was Re: Starting a BJ8  Going to pickup my starter from the re-builder today.  I am going to ask him about the bushing and oiling it or not.  When I dropped it off last Thursday he checked it out for me first.  He said it was weak.  Maybe he is not used to Lucas starters.  It is still going to look weak after he re-builds it.  It is definitely not a gear reduction kind of speed.Mike MacLean  On Monday, December 19, 2016 8:43 AM, Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net> wrote:
  re: "If I am not mistaken there is a small hole in the back plate of the 
dynamo (and starter?) to lubricate the bronze bush now and again."

You are not mistaken.  There also is supposed to be a felt pad between 
the oiling hole and the bushing; mine didn't have this pad and from 
dutifully oiling the bush--probably over-oiling it--the inside of my 
generator became oil-soaked.  When I opened it up to do just the 
maintenance Kees described I saw that the field coil insulation--just a 
cloth wrap, basically--had seriously deteriorated; probably at least 
partly from all the oil.  My only choice was to send it to a 'pro' 
rebuilder; who replaces the armature and field coils as a matter of 
course.  He says he installs an oillite-type bush that doesn't need 
extra oiling.

I rebuilt my starter years ago and used silicone lubricant on the Bendix 
mechanism.  I like this stuff because it doesn't seem to attract dirt 
like petroleum oils do.  Moly/graphite sounds like a good idea too.

Bob
On 12/19/2016 1:45 AM, Oudesluys wrote:
> You generally do not have to have it rebuilt to improve performance. 
> It is just a matter of maintainance. If taken care of properly they 
> perform well and last forever.
> Just cleaning up often does the trick. It is an easy job. Clean the 
> inside using e.g. a spray can of brake cleaner but be careful with 
> some strong solvents in case they dissolve the shellac of the 
> windings. Just clean up the commutator with 400 grade sandpaper, or 
> better skim the commutator on a lathe, cut the insulator between the 
> copper segments with a narrow (ground flat sides) hack saw blade to 
> about 1/2mm below the surface if needed, inspect/clean/renew the 
> brushes (when the commutator has been skimmed), oil the bronze bushes, 
> clean the bendix thoroughly and lubricate with molybdenum/graphite 
> powder rubbed in on the shaft and it should be fine for the next 25 
> years minimum.
>
> By the way, more or less the same goes for the dynamo, although there 
> is a chance that you may have to renew the bronze bearing bush at the 
> back and the ball bearing at the front. If I am not mistaken there is 
> a small hole in the back plate of the dynamo (and starter?) to 
> lubricate the bronze bush now and again.
> Many years ago I used to modify dynamo's to take a ball bearing at the 
> back.
>
> No need for an often short lived modern geared starter.
> Kees Oudesluijs
>
>
>
>

_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Suggested annual donation  $12.75
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
Forums: http://www.team.net/forums

Healeys at autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys

Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/rrengineer.mike@att.net  

_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Suggested annual donation  $12.75
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
Forums: http://www.team.net/forums

Healeys at autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys

Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/rrengineer.mike@att.net

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20161220/1cd0f503/attachment.html>