Gridgway

Right, we have a happy ending. After taking some reassurances from the engine builder, I bolted the starter in. The main battery cable didn't reach. I was going to use the wiring in place from the solenoid and use a "link" wire on the starter. But as I had some wiring work to do, I bit the bullet and rewired to remove the solenoid as well. That took some time and a new battery cable, but the results are much simpler and tidy. And to the main news. Re-connected the ignition to get sparks, turned the key, cranked and fired into life not a drama or even a slowing, super duper. Not really going to know the problem - wrong number of teeth on the starter pinion? Just not man enough? My engine builder consulted a starter expert who actually said he didn't think 9 or 10 teeth would make much difference with 110 teeth on the ring gear - who knows? Now I need to find time to get it on the rolling road to set up the carbs and the timing, get an MoT, some insurance and tax (not in that order) and we are blat-ready! Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement. Fab as always. Graham

I think it's all because it's non-oem flywheel. It's a TTV steel flywheel with 110 teeth We clearly didn't communicate enough in the build! The starter is an RAC418. I'm waiting for a call back, but I think the 9 tooth starter should work, so I will strangely be ok!

Right, serious confusion or perhaps serendipity time. Here's what we know: The inertia starter has 10 teeth and worked seemingly fine before the engine rebuild (inc new lightweight flywheel) It doesn't do the job now. The current ring gear has 110 teeth (what a pita to count) with the lead in on the rear (facing towards the back of the car) for inertia starters. The new powerlite pre-engaged starter has 9 teeth. Can we deduce that: The old flywheel had 135 teeth By pure chance the new starter should work with the new flywheel 9/110 (engagement problems not withstanding)? Graham PS now I think back, the splines/teeth of the old starter were well chewed up and I replaced the pinion with a new one. Maybe the old flywheel was 110 teeth too?

And just for clarity (my sanity), the 10 tooth inertia starter (which I have) should be paired with the 135 tooth ring gear? The new starter motor has arrived with 9 teeth, even though I specified 10 teeth to the starter motor man. 9 teeth starter is for the 110 teeth ring gear?

Agreed, but I reckon with a torch, a white marker pen, turning the engine by hand with the plugs out, you should be able to count the teeth for a revolution as well!

#28 now that is a very good question which I don't have a definitive answer to. However I do know that with no ignition the starter spins the motor perfectly well and there are no witness marks. But before I try the new starter I'll grub around and count the teeth through the starter motor hole to be certain. I'll report back!

No, the starter motor man used his own test etup including solenoid. However I have thoroughly cleaned the contacts and tested the solenoid and questioned the starter motor man. He said he'd never come across a solenoid that impaired a starter motor. They either work or they don't. I also tried a direct feed to the solenoid +ve from the battery and it didn't make any difference. When I have done my testing, the engine stops being cranked by the starter motor as it comes up to a firing stroke, so the setup isn't man enough to keep the motor turning through the firing of a cylinder. If I disconnect the coil so there's no sparks, the starter motor will happily crank with a 10-11v cranking voltage. We'll see how the new starter gets on!

Quick update here. I have had the Lucas LRS 100 starter motor tested (along with the same model from my next 7 project) and both pronounced to be in fine health. I re-checked and recleaned all the connections. Tried both starter motors to no real success. I then had the battery tested (2021 one from Halfords) which easily exceeded the rated CCA and was pronounced in fine health. Then I experimented with reducing the ignition advance by rotating the dizzy. It was too advanced and I had a bit more success. It would successfuly crank about 1 time in 5, better than nothing. But with nothing else left to try, I have bitten the bullet and ordered a new hitorque starter motor, The starter motor man at Burghfield (who is excellent I have to say) assures me that being a pre-engaged type, the run in on the starter motor teeth will do the job just fine without having to do any ring-gear changing. All 4 race cars I have with ford engines happily run pre-engaged starter motors without changes to the ring gear, so here's hoping that a/ it'll be ok and b/ solve the cranking problem. Hopefully find time to pop it on over the weekend and even more hopefully give the final update! Anyone want a Lucas LRS 100 starter motor tested by the starter motor man?

Thanks. What pressure did you start at to get there?

#10 we are of one mind! #11 yes

Thanks all. The Avon document is linked on the old club url when you do a search. It's definitely talking about caterham motorsport and it says 32-36 hot for the academy tyre. To get there in road driving you'd have to start pretty high I think 25-28. My instinct was to start at 18! But that's just a guess.

As I am about to get back on the road with my crossflow (hurrah) and its new Avon Academy tyres (it had 20+ year old concrete blocks on before!), I'm looking for some guidance on pressures. The Caterham little green book says 20psi for 13" wheels. That was written a long time before the current academy tyres though. The Avon guide says 32-36 hot on track. My instinct said 18 cold. But even 20 cold is unlikely to get to 32+ on the road I feel. Any real world experience and advice out there please? Cheers Graham

So without any changes, just faffing about a bit, one of the reversong lights works. It's the lhs one which is further forward in the wiring circuit if that makes sense. So the fault on the RHS is downstream of that. Most likely thing is just the rhs bulb. So I'll have another look tomorrow. With the lighting sorted, there is very little to do to get it ready for the rolling road for tuning. Not long now!

Thanks Ian. The old reversing light switch was one contact, but didn't work. The new one I put in has two connections so I made up a lead to go to earth. The switch worked with the engine and box out so I hope it still does as I don't want to take it all out again to change the switch! I'm sure that's not going to be necessary though. I thought I'd have another go this evening, but I've had to go out to a "do" I'd forgotten about so it'll have to wait.

The reversing lights are tomorrow evening's job. I need to remind myself how they are wired. I think... two connections to the lights. So I think +ve to the lights, -ve back to one terminal on the switch on the box and the other terminal to the body. Starting point is to test the +ve to the lamps. Perhaps that needs the headlights on as well! That would make life easier to solve it the same way!

You are a genius! I was sure they shoudl work independent of the headlights, but I was wrong and I clearly didn't test that! As you were everyone, nothing to see here! Now if someone could tell me why my reversing lights don't work that would be fab! They didn't work before and I had to change the switch on the gearbox and rewire that end. They still don't work!

Thanks Jonathan, I do indeed have all the diagrams. I #think# I tested them with side and then side and headlights on (and none). But that was an hour or two ago. Do you think the headlights need to be on for the fogs to work? It makes sense for it to be something that simple!

And also to add. I don't know when the fogs last worked. I've not checked them before. The car came with an MoT from two owners ago. Not sure if a foglight is mandatory for that age of car - I think so, so it's fair to think that they must have worked then.

I successful wired up the wires I had split to take the wings off - bullet connectors - yuk. And after a small false start that all works. However my fog lights don't work. The bulbs are good, the earths from the bulb fittings are good. Then I tracked it all through to the switch, then to the side of the fuse that feeds the switch, all good. Fuse ok. However the other side of the fuse doesn't have12v. I made a slightly dodgy bodgy fuse that just has two wires, one soldered to the top of each fuse "leg". That's how I traced continuity all the way through to the bulb. Now I'm stuck. I don't know where the main 12v for the fog lights comes in. It looks to me that the next step is to get the fuse box off and poke around the back of it, but that feels pretty horrible. So all thoughts welcome from anyone who has knowledge here!

As a temp fix that might well last a long time, you could try using chemical metal on the crack if you can't get a new sump pan.. I've done that a few times. Not petty but has worked.

Radweld? (not serious!)

#29 I've never found the need to do this to get it ok and it's definitely the way to bend the plate if you overdo it at all. Hey ho!

#25, it's easy to bend. What happens is that the two outer bolts are done up with the centre grub screw extended. That bends it. If you do the correct tightening sequence it all works fine.

Thanks for another recommendation. It's not the easiest of things to wrap and ship, but I'll get it off and to someone. I'm not going to have time over the next few weeks to do a DIY job. And in fact I have got my new BDR resto project coming on Saturday, which was reported to have a lazy start when it was last used in 2008! So I'll get them both done.

Super thanks for the recommendation. I'm expecting to need to return it to get it working a in top form. Mind you, it can't be beyond home skills to take apart, clean and replace brushes and stuff!