Estart setup

[Neil E.]

My estart only engages about 70% of the time. Works perfectly when it engages; spins up and buzzes when it doesn't. The buzz comes from the pinion teeth running against the top of the ring gear.

The starter motor was not square with the machined surface of the mounting hole so I made up a .032 shim to go betwwen the motor tabs and the PV cover tabs. This made no difference to the operation.

Next I measured up the vertical play in the bendix assembly. There was a total of .048", which is reduced to .032" by the two factory shims at .008" each. I was able to modify a .040" washer to match the shim ID/OD.

Including one stock shim that gave me .048" total. I put both above the assembly to reduce the engagement travel. The theory being that the unit travels a bit less to engage the ring gear. This made only a slight improvement. All testing was done with a fully charged battery.

The witness marks (from tooth contact) on the ring gear shows lots of engagement. My only conclusion is that I may need two gaskets on the ignition cover (and matching thicker spacer at the starter).

Has anyone else needed two gaskets?

There is a sprag clutch inside the bendix assembly and it works fine. It handles the momentary over-rev as the engine starts. I also tried some different greases/oils in the bendix unit and they made no difference.