Engine and Transmission Tech

The one I’ll looking at is the aftermarket unit:
[thewedgeshopstore.com]
(select aftermarket one wire in the options list for the correct picture)

Reason I’m looking is I can’t fit my exhaust around the conventional starter motor with the solenoid on the side. The European Rover SD1 had the solenoid on the bottom but those appear to be non-existent stateside (the NAS SD1 used the side mount solenoid starter).

The one in the link appears to have the endplate indexable which may help me out.

I have had similar starter for about 10 years. I believe most if all are based on Denso starter. It is small (obviously :-) and powerful and so far have not caused any drama. IIRC I bought mine from Rimmers in UK.

If I don't run out of time... Plan to mod the billet nose of aftermarket sbc, to fit RV8.
could happen, art.

That's an interesting option Art . I pulled apart an old planetary reduction starter from the 1990(ish) - 2004 Landrovers to look at the ability of modifying the center housing. The ear away from the solenoid is easily cut off, and the nose is easily cut off.

But I'd need to machine a fixture to support and align the nose so it can be welded back in with the bushing in the right place, and then the new mounting ears would need another machining operation to ensure they are parallel and true. This all seems like a lot of effort to a starter that is already used.


After adding up my time, I just decided to go for the unit from the wedge shop. These look like powerlite, but are their own design. Note it is able to be re-oriented, but the solenoid in the pic is positioned directly under the motor - and this is how they are supplied.
The solenoid looks huge, but apparently is 4" from the center of the motor shaft to the outside of the solenoid, so pretty compact in reality. I'll probably put a heat shield over it to protect it from the downpipes anyway.

Hey Jukka- always good to hear from you!
I've heard of three powerlite failures (for the RV8 application) in the past few years, so no idea if thats bad luck or their quality has dropped a little?
The unit Rimmers sell (GXE4442UR) is the Powerlite RAC318 - $350 at todays price Vs $220 from the wedge shop, and the wedge shop don't seem like the folks that sell anything they wouldn't put their rep behind, so that's the easy choice for me.

I have a powerlite on mine,small and a lot more powerful then the standard version

I remember back in the early days before mini starters became available the trick was to get a starter with the aluminum nose piece (most were cast iron back then) and then weld and drill new tabs in order to rotate the solenoid to a more favorable position. This was certainly not a precision operation. The tabs were welded on while clamped to the existing tabs, then punch marks were made while holding it in place on the bellhousing. It was only required to trim off one of the original tabs. You needed a tig welder and a drill press although the holes could be hand drilled.

Jim

Well, I got the starter, and its interesting.

They clearly have done some legwork, and found a starter off a Toyota or something, then machined the original mounting ears and some of the housing away, and then machined a pilot dia concentric with the pinion.

A new part (that I'll call the adapter) was machined, with the pilot dia and ears (lugs) to fir the RV8, and a hole bored in the center that the nose of the starter engages into. What they have done, is to offset the center bore away from the crank axis - to get the mesh just right on the pinion to ring gear. It seems pretty good.

There are a few holes around the adapter, which allows the starter to be indexed, but it is supplied in a position that gives the most clearance for headers.

The interesting thing about these starters that I never appreciated is that the housing in line with the pinion is the solenoid, and the motor is the part offset from the main housing - not that it matters,

Now, what I don't like is that the two original small (M4?) bolts that hold the solenoid to the housing are all that's used to hold the adapter to the main housing. TWS says these have been tested exhaustively, but I have decided to machine some small tube spacers to fit in the cast holes to reduce the bending on these small bolts.

I'll upload pics later.

For years, I have either used junk yard sourced Bosche units from 4.0/4.6L Rovers, or used the cheaper than that direct fit Ebay starters. Both work great, are under 10 pounds, and bolt right in.

Yeah, I naturally tried the 92-2004 land rover planetary reduction starter first as these are really good units, but the side-mount solenoid doesn't come close to clearing the SD1 Vitesse cast manifolds. These are a really good 4>2 design that have a tiny opening, but large internals so are easily ported out, and will accept upto 2" primary pipes (although I made mine in 1/75").