[TR] Tr3a starters

[Randall]

> there is a bevel in the ring gear so that the starter engages easily.

Tom, the bevel is only needed for the original "Bendix" style starter.  With
the stock starter, the starter motor starts running first and it's the
acceleration of the starter motor that flings the pinion out (or in) to
engage the ring gear.  The flying gear teeth have to grab and engage
instantly, or be torn up.

But the gear drive starters are a "pre-engaged" design, which means the
gears are engaged (by a big solenoid) before power is applied to the motor.
They will work just fine against the 'wrong' side of the ring gear.  In
fact, Triumph delivered a fair number of TR6 this way (the TR6 also switched
to a pre-engaged starter).

> So, I'd probably say if it's not broke, it starts well, etc. etc. etc.
> why try something new.

I've been running a gear-drive starter (from TRF) on my TR3A (and now on the
TR3) for many years.  I do like it, but I have to agree that it's not worth
making the change just for the improvement.  In my case, the original
starter proved to be inadequate to start my modified (planned 10.5:1 but was
probably higher by mistake) motor on a regular basis.  After I got tired of
rebuilding the starter every year or so, I finally bought the gear-drive.
It had no trouble at all with the high compression (but I did go back to
lower compression shortly afterwards).

But if you do make the switch, please note that the starter you buy must
match the ring gear/flywheel that is in the car.  It's not at all uncommon
to find late cars with early flywheels and vice versa, so check your
flywheel before ordering.  If you have the late flywheel, you can see the
ends of the bolt holes where the ring gear is bolted to the flywheel,
through the starter opening.  The early flywheel used a press-on ring gear,
so no bolt holes at the edge (just the ones for the clutch, which are closer
to the center).

Friend of mine didn't notice that his early engine had a later flywheel, and
the new starter only worked a few times before the gears started to slip.

-- Randall