Starter motor and alternator suggestions?

[Piglet]

For my MK3 Spitfire. What are your preferences? And where would you buy them from?

Alex

[Colin Lindsay]

I'm a traditionalist (where it suits!!) so bought a couple of NOS Lucas starters off eBay recently, both well under £20. Alternators, well I've only used the Lucas or Denso versions, there's another thread here somewhere about the pros and (mostly) cons of the Lucas ones these days. The gang here are well used to fitting modern alternators and will advise accordingly.

[Piglet]

Thanks Colin. Let's see what they say!

Alex

[Josef]

If you need a starter, best off giving somewhere like the Spitfire Graveyard a call. Dave there will sort you out with a decent used one. If buying from eBay/autojumbles be aware that the Lucas starters that all look the same do come with different bolt spacings (I’ve a box full of used ones I’m going to skim the commutators on eventually, not all will fit a Triumph though!)

[Paul H]

Just upgraded the Dynamo on my Vitesse to a Denso Alternator . Its 40amp and much smaller than the traditional alternator . Cost about £85

Paul 

 

[Piglet]

I'd ideally like to buy new. That Vit one looks neat! There's a lot of high torque starters on eBay but I don't think that's required for a standard engine...

Alex

[Clive]

Another vote for the baby denso alternators. I have them on my Ford powered spitfire and my toledo, both been faultless and despite being "only" 40A they will run a car in winter for 48 straight, so all through the nights with heater, lights, spotlamps etc all running. 

Beware the copies, they are not great. 

Re starter, the 4 cylinder ars seem to be fine with the original starters, but the supply of decent ones is getting thin. Colin got lucky with NOS ones, but if yours is playing up and you want to have the engine whizz over on the starter, the Club shop may be a good place? RAC401 is the part number, although RAC 414 is the number the manufacturer recommends (go figure!)

Have a look here. 

 

[AlanT]

I second @Josef re giving Dave at Spit graveyard a shout for a starter. His stuff is properly tested. My car has one of his starters on £22.

[Pete Lewis]

there is no doubt a geared/hi torque starter will fling the engine over far quicker than the originals and they run on  so little current in comparison 

will whizz an engine into life when the battery has been left to go in a low state due to lack of use 

had one on my Vit 6 for years  but not needed to use one for the lucas pre engaged unit on the 2000  they are more reliable

(as a fan of the HT   i dont currently have one Ha )

you do need to weigh up the £££s  involved 

if you fit a hi T you must keep the orig spacer and shims or you may run into mesh /engagement hic ups 

Pete

[NonMember]

12 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

I'm a traditionalist (where it suits!!) so bought a couple of NOS Lucas starters off eBay recently

I'm also in the "stick with original" camp. I've never had a problem with the original spec starter failing to spin the engine nicely that wasn't down to a fault - expired brushes, dead battery, failing solenoid, jammed bendix - on either the 4-cyl or 6-cyl engines. Where they do fall a little short compared to pre-engaged is on engines that regularly "fire and fail", or gradually splutter into life. The first kick will disengage a Bendix starter but the engine isn't actually running yet. I was definitely glad the PI had a pre-engaged!

[Peter Truman]

I have a Bosch Hi Torque starter for a 93 to 95 Toyota (Holden) Commercial 4cyl Rodeo fitted to my Mk2 Vitesse as recommended by Paul Teglizer (USA) the spacer needed trimming to around half thickness. so it cleared the flywheel. I'm happy with it it spins faster than the original Lucas unit. Note Hi Torques engage on the front (engine side) of the starter ring not the rear like the Bendix unit.

[Pete Lewis]

not sure if the HT used on the many have this but all our truck pre engaged the sol indexed the pinion 1/2 tooth on firing up so it always engaged and didnt butt 

against a blind tooth  if you fired the sol you could see the pinion rotate that little bit each time 

Pete T 's   obsevation is that the flywheel teeth are now chamfered on the wrong side , the new pinion is chamfered to easy mesh but hopefully the sol 

does the 1/2 tooth trick .......  whos going to test one to prove this out   ?????????

Pete

[dougbgt6]

I had one of the windings on a starter motor go open circuit, quite rare I think. I considered a high torque replacement, until I saw the price! Standard works fine.

Doug

[Paul H]

12 hours ago, clive said:

Another vote for the baby denso alternators. I have them on my Ford powered spitfire and my toledo, both been faultless and despite being "only" 40A they will run a car in winter for 48 straight, so all through the nights with heater, lights, spotlamps etc all running. 

Beware the copies, they are not great. 

Re starter, the 4 cylinder ars seem to be fine with the original starters, but the supply of decent ones is getting thin. Colin got lucky with NOS ones, but if yours is playing up and you want to have the engine whizz over on the starter, the Club shop may be a good place? RAC401 is the part number, although RAC 414 is the number the manufacturer recommends (go figure!)

Have a look here. 

 

Another vote for Hi Torque RAC401 - Worth every penny 

Paul 

[Piglet]

Lots of votes for the RAC401! I shall consult my finances...

Thanks everyone!

Alex

[Colin Lindsay]

12 hours ago, Piglet said:

Lots of votes for the RAC401! I shall consult my finances...

Thanks everyone!

Alex

You'll need to, they're ten times the price of a standard starter...

[Peter Truman]

My equalivent Bosch HiTorq for the Toyota/Holden Rodeo that fits the Vitesse Mk2 was less than $140.