Alan,
Your pinion gear is bass-ackwards. The beveled gear teeth are to
aid its meshing with the ring gear (whose bevels should be opposite the
engine). The pinion is forced towards the starter/ring gear by centrifugal
force and the worm gear--overcoming the little spring--when you hit the
starter.
When cranking, the heavy spring on the pinion shaft is compressed so when the
engine starts--and you disengage the starter and the ring gear overruns the
pinion--the big spring and the worm gear pull the pinion out (away from the
starter) thus disengaging. A bit counter-intuitive, but play with the pinion a
little and you'll see what I mean.
Except for a possible, occasional problem with the starter not engaging
this probably (obviously?) made little or no difference (there does appear
to be a little wear on the non-beveled end of the pinion teeth, but it's of
no consequence). The bevels on the ring gear were sufficient.
The small spring is there to keep the pinion from chafing against the
ring gear when the engine is running. I believe they get brittle with age
and heat and eventually just self-destruct. The collar this little spring
butts against should slide freely, I believe (been a while since I overhauled
my starter).
Clean very thoroughly and lube with silicone oil when you re-assemble.
bs
***************************************************************
Bob Spidell San Jose, CA bspidell@comcast.net
'67 Austin-Healey 3000 '56 Austin-Healey 100M
***************************************************************
Subject: Correct orientation of starter motor pinion?
> Just taken my (BJ8) starter motor apart, taking photos as I go, and
> discover a discrepancy with the workshop manual.
>
> In the manual the pinion is shown with the bevelled end of the 'teeth'
> towards the body of the motor. Mine had the bevelled end away from the
> body. It's obviously bevelled for a reason. Can anyone advise? Should I
> re-assemble it 'correctly', or as I found it?
> My retaining spring was totally mangled - perhaps this is the reason?
>
> Photos here might explain ....
>
> http://www.healey.alanfcross.com
>
> TIA.
> --
> Alan F Cross (H-BJ8-L/41672 aka "Ginny")
> Webmaster for the UK's national Austin Healey Club at:
> http://www.austin-healey-club.com
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