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MG MGB Technical - Gear Reduction Starter

There is currently on Ebay, a new gear reduction starter which is selling for about $175 to $200. The seller is a dealer. What are the advantages of the gear reduction starter, besides being a new unit?
Stephen Sletta

Interesting question...

I'm sure that someone has the definitive answer, my thoughts are :

A motor with a small number of poles (as indicated by the number of commutator segments) is easier / cheaper to make and more robust.

Electric motors with a small number of poles run more smoothly and efficiently at high speeds.

The starter ring provides some gearing down, but even more reduction helps.

What do others think ?.

Don

Don

Hmmmm. I pay about $50 to rebuild my starter and that usually lasts 10+ years. Unless you have a really modified, super high compression engine, unsure what need there is for a geared starter.
Bruce Cunha

i have a bendix starter on my 67. It has always given me trouble. When it dies I going to replace it with a gear reduction starter. They are shorter than the later style starter and that way I can keep my hang down oil filter.
Jim Lema

Another advantage: they can easily be installed/removed from the car, unlike the original starters for early (3sync) cars (don't know if this applies to 'late' cars as well).

Alex
Alexander M

PRO--
Smaller: You late model guys can finally use the spin-on conversion oil filter head form Moss.
Lighter: Refer to the immortal words of Colin Chapman as to the value of "adding lightness."
Less current draw: Less heat, more power to the ignition, can run a smaller gauge cable (if you want, see "lighter" above).

CON--
Hideously expensive.
Won't cure a bad ring-gear.


Mike!
mike!

Actually will cure a bad ring gear on pre-67 cars as they use the other side of the ring gear. :-)
Leland Bradley

Leland is right, you do not need to change the ring gear on the very early cars.
Ian Buckley

Based on the one I tried the motor spins faster so it takes less current but turns the engine at least at the same speed, if not faster. Less current means less strain on the battery and quite possibly a faster cranking speed if the battery is at less than full power. The solenoid is also much beefier than the originals, in fact bigger than the motor itself. It is so much quieter the first time I cranked mine I thought it was just the motor spinning and it wasn't turning the engine.
Paul Hunt

Pros- like people say, these are gear reduction. That is, they have a very fast motor spinning over being slowed down by reducing gears thus turning the same overall speed or a touch faster.

Lighter, usually half the weight.
More powerful for modified motors.
nice looking.


Cons- makes a 'modern' starter sound. Sounds more like a Honda and not like an MG...

I personally only miss the sound and the stubborness of the original starters slow cranking that is not hyperactive and the occational popping off the ring gear that these cars had from the beginning. You can easily identify a car with the aftermarket starters, they are easy to tell a difference in sound
...and starting capability.

FWIW,
-BMC.
BMC Brian McCullough

My son's 1970 midget had the old style where the drive came in from the rear, and the ring gear was damaged. The starter was constantly giving us problems, to the point that my son developed a habit of putting it in 4th and pushing backwards on the car, before even trying the starter. We got a starter to fit an Izusu Trooper for about $100 at the local parts supply. I had to hammer the bulkhead a little to make room, and bypass the original solenoid on the bulkhead. It worked great, for the rest of the life of the car it worked every time even though the ring gear had several teeth that were only half as wide as normal! On an MGB you wouldn't have to do the adapting. As long as the bolt pattern was the same, that Izusu starter might just bolt right up for 1/3 the cost and be modern and reliable.
Thanks,
Ken T
Kenneth Thompson

This thread was discussed between 09/08/2004 and 13/08/2004

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