I am thinking of building a starter for largeer gas engines...G62 and larger. Anyone used a motorcycle starter and converted it for this use. Any ideas or plans?

Dennis

Gentleman in my club uses a car starter from a Dodge Colt. 1/4" thick aluminum plate is bolted to the front of the starter with a handle on either side. Same basic design as a Sullivan Megatron starter, but with only the front plate. He mounted a large pushbutton starter switch so that the thumb of his right hand turns the beast on.

Use the same basic design for your motorcycle starter and you'll be fine.

Hobbico and Sullivan sells large starter bells that can be adapted.

John

Edit - Don't forget to use a lawn garden/tractor battery to power this beast as they draw a lot more current.

agree with the colt unit, have one here, also have some spares from honda accord available as well as cones and relays.

Here is a photo of my converted starter. It is from a Mitsubisi V6. The starter is a Nippondenso. I have yet to find a giant scale engine that this starter will not spin with athourity. It is geared and has lots of torque.

Normally, when activated, the output shaft moves forward to push a gear into contact with the flywheel and then a contact is made to spin the motor. You have to remove the spring which retracts the output shaft. Also remove the output gear. Obtain a Miller drive cone and center drill it to fit the shaft. I believe I used a 1/2" bit. Drill the side of the drive cone to accept a set screw. Pull the shaft forward and drop about 5 washers over it. While the shaft is still forward, install the drive cone. The washers space the drive cone out and allow the pushing force to press against the output bearing.

I bought a heavy duty switch from Auto Zone and cut one end off of a set of jumper cables to use as the power cord. I also installed a finger guard. The shape of the starter is very comfortable to hold with out auxilliary handles.

Ken

I have done this some years ago using a motorcycle starter. But be carefull to check if it turns the proper way. If not, its not just a matter of changing the polarity, it will still be wrong. You actually have to do some internal surgery.

how do you modufy the output shaft of the car starter to accept a drive cone?

Smart,

In my experience you don't modify the output shaft, you modify the drive cone. There may be exceptions to this, I just have not run across them.

You have to drill a hole in the drive cone to allow it to slip over the output shaft. You then drill and tap a hole in the side of the cone for a set screw to lock it to the output shaft. The set screw can lock well by screwing into the flat on the output shaft if it has one. Works the same whether it is an automotive or motorcycle starter.

Your motto says "CA can fix anything!". Maybe you can just try CAing it on.

Ken