That's exactly the system used in my old kawasaki 750 twin, owned years ago.
I think it used little rollers and ramps that were forced to lock onto the
crankshaft by centrifical force when the starter motor was turning faster
than the crank.
I was about 100 miles into a 300 mile ride one friday night, when the
"clutch" decided to engage the starter motor , and nothing I could do from
outside the engine would get it to un-engage. so I had the exciting
opportunity to completely disassemble the side of the motor, and tear out
the starter motor drive, the rollers, et al, on the side of the road, in the
failing light, using only the cheesy tool kit included under the seat of the
motorcycle! These tools are kind of like silhouettes of actual tools - the
same shape, but made of some imitation metal...
Some day I'll tell you how I changed the front wheel bearings on a Mini
using only a hammer and a screwdriver, likewise on the side of a rather
deserted highway.
Cheers, Brian
At 02:10 PM 7/23/98 -0400, you wrote:
> Bitch, Bitch, Bitch.
> I sure wish I had the choices that some of you guys are bitching about.
>
> Just thought the list might find it amusing to know what my little Jap
>car
>used for a starter since the thread revolves around the Izusu starter
>application.
>
> Ironically, I race a (mostly) reliable nipponese car - 1967 Honda S800. But
>Honda had some funky ideas for starting cars in those days. They connected
>the starter motor to the front of the crankshaft via a short chain. The chain
>in turn operates a "dog" clutch that turns the crank. The many downsides of
>this system include 1) wearing of the rollers in the dog clutch and eventual
>problems getting it to engage; 2) they are getting harder to come by and more
>expensive by the minute; 3) if you spin the car and roll backwards and don't
>push the clutch pedal, the dog clutch will engage and will ruin a rare and
>expensive starter motor; 4) last but not least it would be all but
>impossible to convert the car to ANY conventional starter.
> Okay, so now I'm the one doing the bitching and crying. But I feel
>better
>now that I have vented.
>
> Cheers, Doug Meis - Team Escargot
>
>
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