Subject: Rotary engine Snowmobile starter
From: Rotary Engine
Date: 6/25/2007, 2:21 PM
To: AARotary Engine


In a weight reduction effort, I have replaced the 11 lb. Mazda
starter with this 7lb. unit, and I am happy to report that it starts the
engine just fine.  The bolt pattern is not the same however, and I needed
to drill new mounting holes in my PSRU back plate.  The starter also
had to be mounted on the back side of its bolt hole 'ears' instead of the
face for the pinion gear to mesh with the flex plate.

 The cost for this 4lb. Weight loss was $19, and half hour to fit.
The starter is made by Nippon Denso and is available from
Surpluscenter.com--- 12 VDC NIPPONDENSO 028000 STARTER  Item# 10-1386.  They
appear to have 47 in stock.

 Steve Rosine
=======================


  Paul,

For those who are interested.  I received this reply and pictures from Steve
recently.  I did check with the people at Surplus Center and was informed
that this item has recently been sold out.  Darn!!.  If anyone has a lead to
this starter I would be interested to know.

Steve wrote as follows:

"The body of the starter is about 2.5" diameter.  These pictures should
help. In the second picture, you can see the original mounting holes I used
for the Mazda starter."

Doug Fir

I don't don't think the stock starter is that heavy. I think it is around 7 pounds.

Yes here is an old message on the subject back in 2000. It is the alternator
that is 11 pounds.

-- Ken Powell wrote:
> >
> > Paul,
> > I thought the group would find the following weights interesting:
> > 1.  STOCK 13B ALT - 10 LB 12 OZ
> > 2.  79 HONDA CIVIC ALT - 9 LB 3 OZ (This car was air conditioned so this
> >     was probably a 45 or 55 amp alternator)
> > 3.  13B STARTER - 8 LB 10 OZ
> > 4.  13B STARTER - 7 LB  8 OZ
> > The starter weights are kind of interesting.  I have 2 starters which
> > look exactly alike but one weighs 1 lb 2 oz more than the other.  Both
> > of these came off 1986 cars.  I did not take any measurements to
> > determine why the difference in weights.
> >
> > BTW, I weighed these with digital fish scales from Walmart and verified
> > the accuracy of these scales with the scales at the Post Office.  The
> > Walmart scales show exactly the same weights as the PO scales.  This is
> > a tip for those of you looking for a cheap way to weigh parts up to 50
> > lbs.
> >
> > The quest for a light weight starter is on.  Sometime in the next couple
> > of weeks I am going to go to Autozone to weigh the Subaru Justy starters
> > recommended by Paul Messinger in Contact magazine a couple of years ago.
> > I am also going to try to find the weight of the 35 amp Honda starter
> > used on the Civic from 1975 thru 1979.  I'll report back later.
> >
> > Ken Powell



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------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul,
I bought one of  the little Nippondenso snowmobile starters in the
Spring of 2003 from Surplus Center when someone on one of the Surplus
Generator Engine lists brought it to the  attention of the group and
mentioned that it worked well on a Mazda 13B engine.  For comparison, I
photographed it with two other starter candidates that I have on hand.
The starter in the center has no label or imprinted numbers, but, it
looks identical to starters that I have seen on Chrysler products cars
with Mitsubishi engines.  The starter on the right is from a Mazda Cosmo
engine and is similar in style to the Renesis starter.

In addition to the weight, there are some other notable differences
among the starters:
1)  The Nippondenso is direct drive and has a one-way internal slip
clutch.  The pinion gear is engaged by the solenoid.  Since  this one is
direct drive, it will probably spin the engine faster than the others.
But, it may be loaded heavily enough that it could overheat quickly on
extended cranking.  The rotation direction is correct for mounting on
the propeller side of the drive plate.

2)  The center one (Mitsubishi?) has internal gear reduction and no
one-way clutch.  The pinion gear is engaged by the solenoid.  The
rotation direction is correct for mounting on the propeller side of the
drive plate.

3)  The Cosmo starter has internal gear reduction and an inertial
mechanism that makes it a one-way drive.  The 20 tooth pinion gear is
engaged inertially.  The rotation direction is reversed for mounting on
the engine side of the drive plate.  The construction of this starter is
quite robust and the motor is larger than the other two.

I also notice that my  Nippondenso unit has an additional style number
including an "L" stamped on the label near the voltage.  There may be
both left hand and right hand rotation versions of this starter.

Aubrey Thompson



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Copyright 1998-2006 All world wide rights reserved.