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The starter pinion current wont engage on my 2 Litre high chassis and I have noticed that one of the bolts securing the starter bendix spring has fallen out. Unfortunately I cant see a method to replace it without removing the mechanism but cant seem to get it past the bulkhead as shown in the photo below. Any thoughts/ideas appreciated ?
Just returned from the Le Mans Classic where the 1935 winning M45 BPK 202 is currently on display in the museum along with many other race winning cars…… however now back to needing to remove the starter pinion. Hopefully if you click on the thumbnail you can see the problem I have…. will I need to move the engine forwards, tilt it upwards or any other ideas welcomed ???
I removed mine from a 3 litre a few weeks ago. It will wiggle out but it’s a little easier if you undo the universal joint (hardy spicer) part from the shaft and remove that first. You can then push the shaft into the aluminium body and give yourself a bit more room.
I had the same issue with my low chassis 2 litre. I had to remove (in my case drill out) the pin (taper?) that holds the yoke in place, then remove the bearing casting, leaving the bendix in place. Then remove the bendix and shaft. I found my bendix bolts using a magnet on a stick. Refitting is the reverse and you have to feel the shaft back into the rear bearing. This gets easier when you’ve done it several times. I generally remove the bendix every couple of years to check on the bolts! The yoke is now held on the shaft using a nut and bolt, but carefully filed to ensure it doesn’t catch on the bearing mounting bolts.
Nigel Paterson
Many thanks for your comments/advice.
It was something of a saga to resolve. I was unable to knock out the pin with a drift so ended up having to drill it out. During this process I realised that the pin was actually threaded so it would have been very unlikely to have come out with a drift…. whether it was fitted like this originally I am unsure, but it looked pretty old. Even with the pin removed I still couldnt remove the spindle with a puller, so eventually had to cut through the bendix shaft and replace it with a spare from the club (part BEN01). With the shaft removed, it still required 4 tonnes of pressure from a hydraulic press to remove the spindle from the old shaft so it would have been very unlikely I would have been able to remove this when in situ in the car. Now the spindle is secured to the new bendix shaft with a roll pin (see photo) so should hopefully be relatively straightforward to remove in future.
It was a shame to have to cut through the old bendix shaft, but other than moving the engine forward, or perhaps tilting it, I can see no other way that I could have removed it. I have heard that with some cars there is sufficient clearance to extract the starter pinion etc without removing anything…. but that definately wasnt the case with mine. Anyway, thought I’d share my recent experience for information.
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