The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Fitted a powerlite one that I got in Rimmers sale today.
It cranks the lump much better than the standard one and as stated is much lighter and easier to bolt on and off.
Pricey but good.

What xvivalve says the auto electrician said is spot on. I've reconditioned/rebuilt many 2M100 starters over the years and when working properly are a very powerful motor that should have no trouble kicking over any Dolly engine. If memory serves correctly, Jags had the more powerful 3M100 starter and a lot of parts are interchangeable, i'll try and do some research and see if a hybrid starter could be made from the two different ones.
Before going to the expense of fitting one of those high torque jobbies, it may well be worth getting your existing starter stripped and rebuilt by an autoelectrician. Also worth upgrading the starter cable from the battery due to the length of the run on it and going round all your earth connections to make sure they are clean and tight. A wire wheel in an electric drill or even a bit of wet 'n' dry will work wonders to make sure everything is clean.
You could strip and clean your starter yourself and leave the drive end bush and the commutator end bush soaking in engine oil overnight. That's bushes, NOT brushes!! The carbon brushes should be clean and smooth with at least 6mm (IIRC) poking out of the brush holder. The commutator should also be clean and smooth with the insulation between the segments undercut squarely by about 1mm or there abouts. Also check for play between the armature shaft and the drive end and comm end bushes - more than very slight play and renew the bushes. They press in fairly easily, the drive end needs to be pressed out, the comm end bush can be removed with the right size tap, just wind it in and it pulls the bush out. Obviously this renders it useless as a bush but if it's worn that won't be a problem! Going this far should have it spinning a bit quicker and starting the car easier. There is more that can be done depending on your technical ability etc and how far you want to go with it.

Hope this helps a bit,

Cheers,
Dave

Yes I would have done this but these motors are getting old now and having run Sprint motors for quite a few years have had several faults and nothing lasts for ever. A track day costs a lot of money and when the car wont start for whatever reason its wasting more than the starter costs.

I can see the logic in that!

Hello, picking up an old post i have to revise.

In the meantime i have a lot of trouble with the hi torque ones. They cannot take the heat on a dolomite engine. On a Honda and Toyota they are mounted far away from any heat and work fine. I had my third hi torque faulty last week. The most common problem that occurs (at my work we also fit lot's of these on diffrent british cars) is that the little wires of the coil do snap inside. The plastic connector on the outside where the white/red wire goes on can turn a little bit in the housing and then in the inside the wires break. When you take off the little cover with the three screws, you can see the wires. The best thing is to fixate the plastic connector with some plastic repair so it cannot wiggle anymore. When one of the two little wires breaks, the coil is not energized enough. When the two break it wont start at all.

This is recommend to do by every denso/high torque before fitting. On a Dolomite the coils melt inside. I have had two who were melted and did not energize enough to have the startermotor running. It runs ok on a workbench in free air but not fitted in the car.

After examination of all three they suffer the same faults on a Dolomite, where it sits next to the exhaustmanifold.

At the moment i have an old Lucas out of the shed what does start most of the time but i have a new Bosch modified. It is a conventional starter like the Lucas but with 1,7 kw. That is almost twice the power as the Lucas and still more than the hi torqies.

My new conclusion is that a well reconditioned Lucas starter is better for a Dolomite than an hi torque. For hobby cruising a hi torque would work ok but i drive about 40.000-50.000km a year with a Dolomite, mostly on high roads and then they fail because of the heat.

Will let you know how the Bosch is doing next week.

Jeroen

The Hi-torque ones are 'adapted' in Brierley Hill, not far from me. On "behalf of the Club" I tried to buy 10 direct from them to get a better price, but they quoted me one of our supplier's RRP despite the bulk order!

Hello All,
my rebuilt original is still working fine,interesting to hear Jeroen's comments about heat etc.
regards
Jason.

Hello, it's on the car and does ok. It is a gear reduction Bosch starter with external relay, like the original. It fits with all the three holes. It's 1,7kw. A high torque is 1,1KW. The price was 160 euro. Now i have to buy my friend a lot of drinks to have him told where it's from and what bendix is in.

Jeroen