Yet another 3.0L broken starter motor bolt - looking for permanent solution

[vjanda]

I bought a second hand Trophy 2052 WA 4 months ago.
This is my first boat with an i/o engine. Only been out fishing a dozen times.
Very happy with it until 2 days ago when I found one of the two bolts holding the
starter motor under the engine.
It snapped about 1/2" inside the block and I'll probably have to pull the engine to have it extracted.
When I ready numerous post on this forum about this occurrence not being uncommon
I decided to read up on the subject.
As pulling the engine is going to put me out of fishing action and out of $700+ I really
want to do everything possible to prevent it from happening again. Spending that amount
of cash for a snapped bolt and getting screwed (sorry I had to ) ain't exactly my idea of fun.

On the picture below where another unfortunate starter motor is jammed in place with wooden planks
the starter motor is secured to the block with a bracket. From what I've ready that's the best thing
that I can put on my starter to make it more secure, as well as buying 2 new bolts once the old one is
drilled out.



My questions are these:
1) Is this bracket the best long term solution for preventing more broken bolts?
2) My engine block has the screw that holds the bracket but I have neither the bracket itself nor the
attachment on the starter that it would connect to. Can this attachment be made (drilled) on my starter or do
I need to buy a new starter motor that includes the support for a bracket? Where can I get such a starter and
does the bracket come with it? Anyone have a link? I looked on ebay but none of the starters, even the original
ones, include the bracket.

Many thanks in advance

 

[ssb33r]

Re: Yet another 3.0L broken starter motor bolt - looking for permanent solution

The new starters have a stud sticking out the back of it from one of the long thru bolts and the bracket is formed to go from this stud the the boss you see in that picture. IF you have enough room on the top and side the bolt can be removed without pulling the engine. Did it break off in the outside blind hole or the inside thru hole?? If its the outside blind hole you can take a grinder with a cutoff wheel and cut the top off the hole so you can get a punch and drill bit in there. IF you get it centered right and all goes well after you start drilling a little bit, the bit will catch and spin the bolt out, if not no big deal you can drill right thru and get an ez out in from under the engine. Couple hours tops for a first run. Done this many times out on the lake when one of our guests hydro locks a motor and snaps off a bolt or 2. Alot of times yes this bracket will help with broken starter bolts, but on the flip side of it if the engine gets hydro'd and the bolts dont break it can take out the ring gear and starter gear, id rather do bolt

 

[vjanda]

Re: Yet another 3.0L broken starter motor bolt - looking for permanent solution

Unfortunately mine broke off in the blind hole. It's a clean break but some 1/2" inside. A friend mechanic thinks he can drill it out with a flexible drill somewhat similar in appearance to what dentists use. Space is very confined so I am hoping for a miracle to be honest. Thanks for the bracket advice. I will not be installing it. I actually had to remove the starter some 3 weeks ago so perhaps I didn't tighten the bolts enough when I re installed it. I doubt I over tightened them. Perhaps I should have check them after a few trips...
Best regards

 

[Jeff13]

Re: Yet another 3.0L broken starter motor bolt - looking for permanent solution

Unfortunately mine broke off in the blind hole. It's a clean break but some 1/2" inside. A friend mechanic thinks he can drill it out with a flexible drill somewhat similar in appearance to what dentists use. Space is very confined so I am hoping for a miracle to be honest. Thanks for the bracket advice. I will not be installing it. I actually had to remove the starter some 3 weeks ago so perhaps I didn't tighten the bolts enough when I re installed it. I doubt I over tightened them. Perhaps I should have check them after a few trips...
Best regards

Replying to an old post, hoping to help others out. Mine also broke in the blind hole and there was no access to it from the bottom. I decided I was going to fix the blind hole by grinding the top of it away. It took less than an hour. I used a thin cutting disc on a four and a half inch die grinder to access the hole. Then I used a grinding wheel to get down to the bolt itself. Then I cut a groove in it with the cutting wheel that allowed me to use a flat blade screwdriver to screw it out the bottom. I'm glad I did it this way, because the bolt was bottomed out in the blind hole which is probably what caused the bolt to break. See the pictures for more information.