Rover V8 Air starter.

[paulmanta]

I am not sure which section of the Forum to put this in, its neither electrical nor engine so I thought I would put it here and hope you all dont mind !

I have a 1986 Opel Manta which is runnigna Rover V8 (SD1 V8) and i have had problems with the starter motor fouling the steering rod and also the exhaust manifold is very close on the same side. The result is hot starter and badly flowing manifold on the drivers side that knocks and rattles when hot.

I have air bag suspension on the front of the car and so I have an on board air tank and compressor plus extra air capacity.

I am asking if anyone knows of an Air/Pneumatic starter that is available for the rover V8 ? compact is vital, the smaller the better.

Does such a thing exist ? I have tried Googling and only came up with off the shelf general application products like the Ingersoll Rand 3BMG, which is a little over spec and heavy, also would require heavy modification to use.

Paul.

[Eliot]

Look at a high torque / gear reduction starter, as they are smaller and better than OEM ones.

quick google:
http://www.britishstarters.com/

On my chevy one, I was able to re-index the position to clear the exhaust.

[gelmonkey]

Try this
Lucas LRS 318 9m 90 body starter.
Or as mentioned above a gear reduction starter.
cheers
P

[ian.stewart]

If I can, Ill get some pics of my mod has allowed me to move the solonoid out of the way of my steering,

[unstable load]

The only air starters I have come across are for big stuff like 16 cylinder Cat engines, you could probably replace the V8 with one...........

[paulmanta]

Thanks for the replies, i googled up a company called "racemettle" who seem to do these gear reduction starters, has anyone used them ? i am aware there is a difference between normal rover V8 and SD1 type starters, normall its the position of the solenoid but i am wondering if the gear reduction ones have this difference or if they are adjustable.

Current starter i bought and fitted has the solenoid below the body of the starter, at 6 o clock if you will, its about 9 inches long, so not as big as the last one i had that touched everywhere, this only hassles the steering and manifold a bit, the other one just would not fit in the hole at all.

I was barking up the air tree because about a couple of years ago i saw one on ebay for some V8 engined race car and did not think to buy it, It looked small, really small, no solenoid and about 6 inches long and about 4 or 5 inches across. I hoped that it was an item someone else had seen.

I am going to get some specs and sizes on gear reduction ones now, then make a new bloody manifold, except I will have to do two because I wont be able to have odd manifolds !

[ian.stewart]

Do these help??, the engine is upside down on a stand, and the solonoid points directly downwards, the bottom pic shows the mod you have to do to the pinion support

[Eliot]

The non oem gear reduction starters allow you to swing the motor/solenoid around in relation to the pinion, which saves that trouble.

[ian.stewart]

Deffo not as cheap

[DaveEFI]

Thanks for the replies, i googled up a company called "racemettle" who seem to do these gear reduction starters, has anyone used them ? i am aware there is a difference between normal rover V8 and SD1 type starters, normall its the position of the solenoid but i am wondering if the gear reduction ones have this difference or if they are adjustable.
[snip]

There are different makes of hi-torque gear reduction motors to fit the RV8 - although they all seem to use the same basic Denso motor. So the layout does vary somewhat.

[Eliot]

Deffo not as cheap

No - and must admit I duly noted your solution in the old brain-box.

[paulmanta]

Thanks for the pics, That does help a bit except i have less than no room down that side of the engine, i have no manifold at all at the moment and the starter fouls the steering.

The air start idea is one I had hoped had been done before, it would save me doing the leg work and machining to make it fit. but, I fancy it so I am going to try and go down this route.

I will pop a thread up if I can get it to work, no point if I cannot !

[Wotland]

If ever I have always the hand crank of my old landy .