Need help rebuilding my own starter.......

[Fordiesel69]

I have a marine starter off a 350 chevy 260HP. Alpha one gen one.

The symptom is I will turn the key, hear the bendix come out, but the starter motor will not turn or hum. After 20 ~ 100 attempts it will finally work and sound good.

It is a delco remy that has the round bendix solenoid mounted to the top. I need to source this part and I would like it to be a high quality one, and not a china one.

Finding a local rebuilder is not an option, they do very shotty work. Buying a new starter is not an option, = china.

 

[hoot]

Re: Need help rebuilding my own starter.......

How about pulling the solenoid and remove the front cap. Inspect the washer and ends of the terminal post. The post can be rotated 180 degrees if contact area is worn away and the washer can be cleaned up. Be sure to note where the wires go.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Need help rebuilding my own starter.......

Go to the Mercruiser manual for the process unless you already speak starter. Although the manual is good to have and will keep you on the straight & narrow of the sparkproof design for marine electrics.
If you need the external starter solenoid, brushes or commutators here is the link for the Iboats marine store Mercruiser electrical page. http://www.iboats.com/Mercruiser-St...6933745--**********.819369790--view_id.268711.
I did see you said the bendix works OK.
There's a company in Tennessee that has new complete starters for that engine for $52 or $55. http://www.dbelectrical.com/c-2855-57-liter.aspx For that cheap I guess they sourced where you don't want to buy from though!

 

[Fordiesel69]

Re: Need help rebuilding my own starter.......

Yep bendix is free and clear when the soloinod works. Engine bilge was flooded and starter is full of water. I can use auto parts to rebuild it and I will just transfer over the marine sparkproof parts. The soloinoid is a cheap china rebuild so I do not want to use it. Rather I wanted to source a genuine ac delco.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Re: Need help rebuilding my own starter.......

Well, I ended up getting a starter from advance auto and gutting it. Then gutting mine, glass beading the entire thing and building a new starter out of the one from advance auto.

I took your advice from above and pulled the flat washer from the soloenoid and flipped it over, and glass beaded it and all of the contacts within the coil.

Tested in a vice with a block of wood for over 20 minutes and it worked perfect every time.

The brush holders are rivited to the field assembly, so I had to use the one from advance auto, it looked absolutly identical. I also used the new armature as the commutator was nice and straight unlike mine.

 

[45Auto]

Re: Need help rebuilding my own starter.......

What country did the Advance Auto starter come from?

 

[Fordiesel69]

Re: Need help rebuilding my own starter.......

Mexico. I guess just a tad bit better than china.......

Duralast from Autozone is all china.

All I really used was the field housing and armature. It was all remachined so the commutator was thinner than my original, but still enough meat left.