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Starter not engaging

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AlfaHealey

Freshman Member
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Got oil seal installed, flywheel lightened with new ring gear, clutch assembly in place, new gear reduction starter installed and bolted transmission and driveshaft together. Turned ignition key, crossed fingers and pressed starter button: Thud!
The starter solenoid seems to throw the starter gear up against the ring gear without engaging. I tried it several times without success. I did use a screwdriver to move the flywheel/ring gear so that it would align with the starter drive teeth and it meshed properly without binding.
The new ring gear is not tapered on the back side so I can why it has difficulty in lining up.
As you can probably tell this is my first venture into the wonderful world of Austin Healey repairs. Don't want to sound too dumb, but can I get this gear reduction starter to work? Thanks for any help.
 
Was the other side of the ring gear beveled? Is it possible to put it on backwards? Does the ring gear have the correct number of teeth for the bendix drive on the starter? Who put the ring gear on the flywheel? If you get it to engage, does it crank without making abnormal noise? If the starter gear is being slammed into the ring gear, but not engaging something is wrong with the ring gear position or the starter drive position. I'd talk to who ever did your flywheel work and the vendor for the reduction starter. A bevel or at least a rounded edge is pretty normal for the meshing side of a ring gear.
 
The ring gear was replaced on the flywheel as normal with the beveled side facing outward toward the transmission. The original bendix starter seems to work fine. It is a 106 tooth ring gear with one edge beveled and the other square cut. When I aligned the new flywheel assembly with a screwdriver the gear reduction starter teeth slid into place and turned the engine with no unusual noises. It just doesn't seem to be able to slide into place against the backside (no bevel) ring gear. Do the original ring gears have a bevel on both sides? If not, this gear reduction starter should work since there appear to be many installations that do. I tried to contact British Starters through email, but no response. Thanks
 
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