Lighter starter motor

[Anorak_ian]

I took my starter motor off the other day and I was amazed at the weight of the thing. Way heavy

I'm sure the engine could use a smaller starter and do away with this excess weight.
Which leads me to ask; does anyone know of a smaller starter that will fit a Ruggerini twin?

[Zem]

Hmm, Kickstart!
I am searching for decompression levers at the moment, but I already kickstarted my engine, so it is possible.

[Anorak_ian]

Yes I did think of taking the starter off completely (just using the kick start) along with the battery, this would be a lot less weight.
The thing is, it isn't really that easy to kick start, and on a hot summers day, I can see my self over heating and getting angry, and on lookers poo pooing diesel bikes etc.

I'm now shedding some serious weight from the bike, 5kgs from the battery, and a few more from drill lightening and cutting down the metal plates etc.

[Stuart]

I'm a bit paranoid about my starter going bad. Being an unusual bike I'm always being asked to start her up and of course, it's all wear & tear isn't it? I fitted a kicker as a back up but man, I've not managed a start with it yet, even when warm. It also won't swing back enough to allow my heel to get on the neutral finder from top as it hits the battery holder. But feeling that kicker against the inside of my right shin does at least make it more like the standard Enfield it once was
And who knows, if the electric starter fails some day, I may just be able to summon up the combined strength of Hercules and Thor, God of Thunder, to successfully use it

[Anorak_ian]

Well you definitely need the leg of Odin if you’re going to attempt kicking her over on the compression stroke

I'm probably telling granny how to suck eggs here but; slowly kicking my engine past the compression stoke I can hear the injectors work (click, click). Due to the very odd firing sequence (180 deg crank, as one cylinder fires the next is about to (thanks for the info Dave)), if you slowly kick the engine round to the second click, and then give it some welly that should do it.
It aint easy though.

There are offset kick start levers available; Hitchcock's have a good selection in their Accessory Catalogue, Gearbox page.

[tappy]

I'm modifying the rocker covers on my Hatz twin to allow me to open the exhaust valves slightly while cranking the engine over. My idea is to allow the starter motor to spin up to a decent speed with little compression load from the engine, then shut the valves and let the flywheel momentum already gained help the starter motor get past compression. This way I should be able to use a lighter starter motor and lighter battery.

[smokyjoe]

I've a big old ancient Lister 2 cylinder with electric starter (it also has a crank just to taunt the hapless soul with a dead battery!) The starting procedure is just as you say, flip the decompression levers on both cylinders, hit the starter and when it is up to speed, flip off the decompressors. Sounds like a good idea for a bike.

[Mouse]

What style of starter is it?
Photo would be good.

[Diesel Dave]

Without decompressors you can't really lighten the starter and battery.

Because of the configuration you should be able to bounce start the motor however you will need to ease it over both compression strokes first to find the long gap between the 180 firing strokes.

Most engines with a few hours on them will leak enough past the ring gaps to allow this to be possible so long as you take it slowly.

You could look for a Pellham spring starter? Basically it's a clockwork starter motor, you wind it up by pulling on a cord like an outboard motor and when it's fully would it automatically engages. Not light but you could downsize the battery.

Not a cheap option though:

http://www.springstarter.com/page.asp?P ... turerID=38

[Mouse]

Most modern car starters weigh about half that of ones made 15 years ago and probably a third that of the original Mk1 Excort types. If you don't know they now use permanent magnet motors which spin fast and have an integral planetary gearbox to reduce motor speed. The result is a light weight (comparability) motor what uses less current and has higher torque than the older types.
If you are looking for a lighter replacement it might be worth finding a breakers that will allow you to have a rummage and offer up a few different ones to your engine, chances are you'll find something with the right gear and spin direction that will fit with the help of a small adaptor plate.

[Anorak_ian]

Thanks guys, I had to kick start her a few times on the way back from the rally, and the more I do it the easier it gets.
I must admit I wore Frankenstein boots, steel toe caps and steel sole plate, and that helped a lot, only thing is you can't feel anything through them. You know, like when your heal hits the exhaust pipe and rips it off. Yea, the small silencer has gone, left behind on a petrol station floor, and as a reminder there is half of a bracket left behind and a real nice exhaust note, very loud.
I think the pipes were a bit on the small side anyway, I'm sure it was restrictive.
I think the starter motor can wait for a bit while I build a bigger bore exhaust.

[sbrumby]

Have you tried bump starting? All mine will bump start. The trick is not to use ist or 2nd but 3rd or 4th. If you think about it , if you weigh 80kg all you have to push the kickstart is 80kg. On the otherhand if the bike weighs 250kg and you can get it moveing preferably downhill the bike helps you start. I also looked into the wind up starters they are bigger in size and the price will exceed the price of the engine.

[Anorak_ian]

Hi Sam, bump starting is not an option as I usually have camping gear on the bike.
I'll just keep it as is for now; it's really not a priority with so much work to be done to other bike projects. I have to get my house ready for sale as my wife as finally agreed to move to the country side and do some off grid living.

[Sibbo]

A mate and I set up an electric start on his marine diesel lump ,an ancient Yanmar 1964 ,20hp at 1200rpm .It had hand start only from new.

His missus couldn't start it even though my mate had no trouble ,so we got the starter out of a little Yanmar 500 twin and rigged it .It worked like a dream .

The technique is to lift the decompression levers ,get it up to about 300rpm then drop them .Bingo ! Away she goes!

It should work with any diesel ,especially if the battery is a bit sad .