tonycharente Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hello All, Having broken the cable connection stud/post on the starter motor of my RHD 1966 TR4A I have no choice but to remove the starter motor. REMOVAL : This afternoon I managed to undo the top and bottom nuts and bolts which has allowed me to slide the starter motor forwards. I thereby know that it is a "long nose" M418G, and my flywheel ring gear is "Bolt on". However I have been unable actually to remove the starter from the car. It won't slide straight forward as it hits the exhaust - as far as I know the car's exhaust is standard. I've also been unable to swing it up and out as the end of the "long nose" won't clear the bell-housing. An evening's searching has shown that I may be able to make a little more space by removing the upper steering column coupling, so I will try that tomorrow, but are there any other tips please? I really really don't want to have to remove the exhaust if this can be avoided. REFIT : I was lucky in that having loosened the top nut and bolt I was able to remove the nut by simply jamming the bolt with a screwdriver (having sprayed the nut with WD40...) However I'd like to be able to tighten this nut and bolt properly when I refit the starter, and access to the head of this bolt is close to zero, being tucked away between the bell housing and the start of the transmission tunnel. Any tips for this that avoid removing the gearbox cover, please? Or does every TR4A starter replacement involve removing the gearbox cover? Many thanks Tony PS Do NOT ever overtighten the starter cable connection Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi Tony, I needed t remove my starter motor in a field two years ago and thus had no ramps etc. To undo the top nut I cut a crude hole in the plastic tunnel. This allowed me to get a socket on a long extension to loosen/tighten the nut. Simply lifting the carpet will give enough room The hole was tidied when I got home. I covered the hole with the large rubber floor bung. For me removing the motor out of the engine bay was easy as it is a Hi-Torque motor. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonycharente Posted January 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hello Roger and thank you for your rapid reply. Lifting the carpet and cutting a hole certainly sounds an awful lot less of an effort than removing the entire gearbox cover I must say! And doing it at home rather than in a field should be a lot easier too. Any clues as to exactly where to position the hole, please? Thanks again Tony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi Tony, you will have to approximate, triangulate and guestimate. Basically no! - Imagine where it should be and go for it. Drill a 1/4" hole and stick piece of wire through and see how close you are. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BlueTR3A-5EKT Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Are we talking the original Lucas M418G type starter? If So...... Do you need a stud post? I have a NOS one. You will need a big soldering iron to fit it. Or failing that I have a set of field coils with one attached. You will need a big screw driver to remove the old fields. Or failing that a NOS starter motor stator with field coils fitted. PM me if needed. Peter W Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Morrison Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 (edited) Hi Tony there is a cunning way to solve this top bolt nut repalcement for all time, and it makes future removal a two min job. I've PM you my email address so I can sort out an explanatary photo, John, Edited January 27, 2017 by john Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonycharente Posted January 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi Tony there is a cunning way to solve this top bolt nut repalcement for all time, and it makes future removal a two min job. I've PM you my email address so I can sort out an explanatary photo, John, Hello John, Have just emailed you, thank you. Tony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonycharente Posted January 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 (edited) Are we talking the original Lucas M418G type starter? If So...... Do you need a stud post? I have a NOS one. You will need a big soldering iron to fit it. Or failing that I have a set of field coils with one attached. You will need a big screw driver to remove the old fields. Or failing that a NOS starter motor stator with field coils fitted. PM me if needed. Peter W Hello Peter W, Thank you for this. Yes, it's the original Lucas M418G type starter. Once (If ???) I get my starter out I'll take a look inside and decide what to do / what else needs replacing but I may well be very interested, thank you. Tony Edited January 27, 2017 by tonycharente Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BlueTR3A-5EKT Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi Tony You have a PM Peter W Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tim hunt Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Tony, there are some excellent suggestions on here as to easing access to the fixing bolts but as for removing and replacing the original M418G starter motor as fitted to the 4A on my car I had to release the upper flexible coupling to move the lower steering column sufficiently to get the motor past. I now have a hi-torque starter, this is much smaller and as Roger suggests this will come out easily without releasing the lower steering column. Tim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonycharente Posted January 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Tony, there are some excellent suggestions on here as to easing access to the fixing bolts but as for removing and replacing the original M418G starter motor as fitted to the 4A on my car I had to release the upper flexible coupling to move the lower steering column sufficiently to get the motor past. I now have a hi-torque starter, this is much smaller and as Roger suggests this will come out easily without releasing the lower steering column. Tim Thank you Tim, Many thanks, and I'm going to try your suggestion later today, thank you. I will report back! Tony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonycharente Posted January 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Hello All, Well I am delighted to report that following Tim's suggestion (disconnect the steering column at the upper flexible coupling and move the steering column out of the way : thank you Tim) I have managed to extract my starter motor without removing the exhaust/carbs or anything else. At first I thought it still wasn't going to come out, but eventually managed to clear the end of the "long nose" by getting it almost vertical. Hooray! Many thanks to you all, Tony >>> Peter W: I'm about to send you a PM about your starter parts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonycharente Posted February 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2017 (edited) As you may have read in my Hi Torque Starter Motor topic, I was reluctant to cut holes in my transmission tunnel. This was because it is a significant amount of work to remove the tunnel to work on it to make a nice neat access hole. For reasons discussed in the Hi Torque topic I decided I really had to make an access hole. Encouraged by Roger, who had managed it in the middle of a field after all, I decided to try to do it without removing the tunnel. It went wonderfully... ...here's how. The first job was to work out where to make the hole. Bending back the tunnel carpet and sound-proofing I poked a very small screwdriver blade through the overdrive/reverse switch cable grommet. Using a torch and a mirror from under the bonnet this enabled me to judge where to make a first small hole with a drill. Checking each time with the torch and mirror I was able to establish where the holes needed to be. I happened to have a round rubber bung (used on old Lotuses) that looked an ideal size - made to plug a 3.5 inch hole. I put a large Jubilee clip on the bung's fitting lip and then used the Jubilee clip as a template to mark up where to make my round hole with Typp-Ex. Using an initial closely spaced series of little holes all round this marked up circle followed by using the drill to "join the dots" I had my hole. And there, thankfully, was easy and direct access to the hole for the starter motor bolt. Hooray! With luck there should be attached a series of 6 photos showing all the above and which should help you to see exactly where to make the hole. Hope this helps - it's nice to be able to give something back to this excellent forum... Tony Edited February 3, 2017 by tonycharente Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.