• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Spitfire Spitfire starter puzzle

spithuron

Freshman Member
Offline
I bought my first Spit (78) 3 months ago. It's a project car, doesn't start, primer paint. I bought from an older gentleman who owned it 6 years and according to title only drove it 12 miles. Sat in heated garage most time he owned it. I'm not much of a mechanic, but want to learn.
I cleaned connections, checked battery, starter relay, determined it must be bad starter. Took out, had bench tested and is no good and gear teeth were badly worn. Ordered new one online, rec'd a Remy 16121 with 9 teeth. Noticed old starter, and should have checked this out before ordering, was stamped Lucas 25147 and has 10 teeth. Looking around on nets, I found this # has application for Austins, MG MKII, but could not find an app for Triumph. Does anyone know if some Spits used 10 teeth starter pinions? I wonder if someone assumed any MG starter will work in a Spit. How could I check flywheel to see what it really needs? I'm thinking about installing it and turning starter manually with wrench, but not sure if I'll be able to tell if gears are really meshing turning that slowly. The flywheel is very tight and I can't turn it by hand, but can move it a little with screwdriver. Any advice out there?
 
I checked Rock Auto and they list that Remy for the Spitfire. I would put it in. My guess is the old one was wrong to begin with. Welcome to the world of Sprifires.
 
Sounds like someone put the wrong starter in as everything I can find points to 9 teeth for the Spitfire. I think Lucas 25149 would have been a valid number for the Spitfire.

Scott
 
I believe the 9 tooth was original equipment, how can I tell if the flywheel has been changed, or what are chances of that?
 
Back
Top