Starter Rebuild.,.side job..

[13jeff13]

Wow! Is it possible that after all is done, you will have a better than new starter? Great work.

What exactly is a bead blaster?

Well Kelly I hope so, but As good as new will be just fine too

A bead blaster is exactly the same as a sand blaster,, but you put glass beads in there which are smoother than sand, and give you a cleaner finish.
They also make a Soda Blaster, that uses baking soda, and is very forgiving around delicate parts,, like fiberglass. I don't have on e of those,, yet.

Here is my cabinet, it was $60 at harbor freight, a discount tool house here in the states. They make pressurized ones too for portability, and I have a gravity fed one for those things too big for the cabinet,, $20 at Sears.

[Kelly]

Well, you get another "wow" for the well equipped work bench. I wish I had, I wish I had...

[rigspelt]

This is becoming one of those keeper threads for the died in the wool DIYer. In my case, it reassures me that I was right in taking the starter to the alternator shop with the old dog on the porch where there is an old guy who comes in every once in a while to rebuild those old starters. Left there in the fall and picked it up in the spring, and the bill was very reasonable.

For those who don't have a bead-blaster and can't justify one for the home shop, I took a couple of little A4 parts to a local machine shop when I did the refit and asked him to blast them for me. They're so small he ended up not even charging me. Didn't know there were such cheap ones around though...hmmm.

[ILikeRust]

Well that's interesting. The lug on yours is different than mine.

On mine, the copper bit sticking out of the case is a separate piece from the tab coming off the winding. The external copper bit extends into the case to about where this red line is:



The tab coming off the winding extends underneath the copper lug, and they were soldered or perhaps spot welded together.

When I took off the solenoid, I noticed the copper lug was slightly bent, so I pushed it a little to bend it back and it snapped right off - so the solder joint or spot weld or whatever it was wasn't very good to begin with, I guess.

I found an alternator and starter repair shop that's in between my house and my office, so maybe one day this week I can swing by on my way to or from work and see what the guy says.

One way or another there's got to be a way to fix it - even if it's just drilling a hole through and riveting them together or something.

[13jeff13]

Well, you get another "wow" for the well equipped work bench. I wish I had, I wish I had...

Just years of garage hobbies,, You accumulate.

Rigspelt
"Didn't know there were such cheap ones around though...hmmm."

The cabinet isn't too expensive,, But then you have to have an air compressor also,, and then some extra hose and fittings, AND, I rigged a floressant light in there to see what the heck I am doing.. I

[ILikeRust]

So I took my starter motor shell, with the little broken-off copper lug in hand, to the motor/alternator repair shop.

The place is quite the dirty, greasy, dark little worn-out hole in the wall. Looks like it's been there since the 1930s or something and has never been painted or cleaned up since then. Beat up, worn-down, faded old brick building with mortar falling out, cracked parking lot with a bunch of rusty old tractors in front, faded paint peeling off the front of the building. Wow.

Anyhow, the guys inside were really great - very friendly. They took a look at it and said, "you ain't fixin' that."

Huh?

"Yup," they said, "no way to fix that."

The tab coming off the field coil is aluminum - no way to solder the copper tab to it. He said it originally was some kind of spot weld.

The guy told me he didn't know why they made them that way, because once that copper tab breaks off, the only way to fix it is to pull out the old field coils and put new ones in, because the lug is an integral part of the coil. So I said "do it."

They're working on it right now and are going to call me when they're done.

Funny thing is, the guy told me he's only seen that construction, with the separate copper lug spot-welded on, in automotive applications. He's never seen it in a marine starter. So he said maybe somebody replaced the starter motor at some point. But I pointed out that the motor casing says "MARINE" right on it. So he said well maybe somebody rebuilt it at some point, and if they did, they put the wrong field coils in there.

Whatever - in any case, it should be good as new by lunchtime today. I have no idea how much this will cost me, but I'm assuming it will be substantially less than buying a whole new starter motor - just the cost of the new field coils and a bit of this guy's labor.

[lat 64]

A sign of quality

Was there a dog?
Look for an old grey-whiskered black lab mix . It will be sleeping most of the time on a really stinky old blanket in the front room.

Russ

[ILikeRust]

No dog. Just piles and piles of alternators, starter motors, water pumps, clutch plates and flywheels. They do all of the above, and brake linings too. The place was filthy inside and dark like a cave.

But they certainly seemed to know what they were talking about and how to fix it.

[ILikeRust]

Woo hoo!!

Just went and picked up the repaired motor casing. New field coils in place.

On the way over, I was trying to guesstimate how much it would cost. I'm thinking, "Ok, figure about $50 for the part (you know these things are always expensive) and the guy's labor - so say $50 for labor, plus tax, disposal fees, whatever else they add on..."

I was all prepared to pay $100 or more.

The guy hand writes on a pin-fed carbonless paper form - the kind in one of those old-fashioned metal boxes with the crank on the side - no computer for them!! Looks up at me and says, "OK - thirty-five dollars."

I'm like "whut?" <blink><blink>

Gotta love places like this!

Although it looks like a total dive out front, and is really grungy and tattered inside, every guy there was friendly and polite (they kept calling me "sir') and very helpful - they've all got great attitudes - I just walked in there this morning and they got right on it and had it all done within a few hours - and the whole bill was $35!! R U SRS??

That's the cheapest thing I've done with this boat so far!

Automotive Manufacturers in Richmond, VA - they're a keeper.

[sastanley]

ha ha - what Russ said!

Bill, excellent..you found a good shop!

My theory is they don't waste any of their profits doing infrastructure improvements so they can keep their prices dirt cheap!

Brooms and paint and electricity & all those other non-essentials cost money!

[Administrator]

My variation on Russ's model:

Had some mending done last week. Little old lady in the back of a bookstore, working without glasses. When I went in, Rush was blaring in the radio, interrupted only by a fire/police scanner occasionally barking in the background. He husband sat by, wearing a big cowboy hat and doing nothing more than keeping her company.

Cutting to the chase, the work was perfect, and she charged $16. Had to have taken her at least two hours.

God bless 'em.

Bill

[ILikeRust]

Of course, the acid test will be when I put it all back together and see if it actually spins and starts the engine!

[sastanley]

Bill T..make sure you take a minute to go add them on the "Good Guys List" here in the forum..(after it starts of course!! )

Great info!

[rigspelt]

Cutting to the chase, the work was perfect, and she charged $16. Had to have taken her at least two hours.

I had the same experience couple of years ago. Favorite $200 leather jacket with ripped and unusable pockets. Commercial places wouldn't touch it. At curling learned about a nearby retired lady. Mobile home in a trailer park. Fixed it perfectly for $20. I imagine it took her hours too. Then last year when the jacket faded, a shoemaker sold me a product to restore the colour, said it would cost me a fortune if I paid him to do it. He taught me how then went back to work. Took me a couple of weeks, but looks new again. Bless'em indeed.

[13jeff13]

Starter Finished

The starter project has been completed, and I am moving further along with my rebuild. Work and home issues have kept me away, but I need to complete this and get her in the water this spring