TR2/3/3A Starter Paint Colour

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Hi guys,

Quick question. 59 TR3A stock starter....what colour were these painted from the factory. I am in the middle of refurbing it and was cleaning the case. It looks like the main body was some kind of light blue or seafoam green under all the oil, dirt and rust. I thought it would just be black so I'm curious...

Also, I have everything out of the case. There is a piece of paper in there that I assume is supposed to cover the case holes above the brushes where the metal band screws over...this paper is pretty knackered...is there something else that can be recommended to replace this with?

Thanks as always,
Cheers
Tush

 

[Andrew Mace]

Color-wise, I'd guess your starter might have begun its life in a big Healey?

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Hi Andrew,

It does definitely have that Healey colour to it.....

Cheers
Tush

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Posted a little video...for anyone interested, you can see the colour I am seeing at about the 10 minute mark of the video..

https://youtu.be/_HkFdHD12i4

Cheers
Tush

 

[CJD]

That paper is an insulator for the long through bolts. They are grounded and also pass through the section with the brushes/wires. There is not much chance of the wires grounding on the bolts, but I guess Lucas just wanted to make sure. I replaced the paper with a section of gasket material.

 

[bobhustead]

Pretty sure the original color was black.
Bob

 

[Geo Hahn]

Posted a little video...for anyone interested, you can see the colour I am seeing at about the 10 minute mark of the video..

https://youtu.be/_HkFdHD12i4

Interesting video. Those screws holding the field coils usually need an impact screwdriver to get then loose (the sort you hit with a hammer). Has always worked for me.

Worth taking them out as wear in the cloth wrapping is one of the failures I have encountered in these otherwise very robust starters.

 

[TRTEL]

Probably Healey, the only differences mechanically are (between the AH & TR) are the pinion drive gear and the shaft nut. Someone just bought a good Healey starter and switched out the drive gear. George H. is right on about checking the field coils, that original cotton wrap is going away on most of them now, but I've found that you can safely add an outer layer of something like the 3M high temp glass cloth electrical tape (type 27). They have a 1/2 inch wide that works perfectly if you cut short pieces to wrap around twice tightly around the original wrapping. If you want to be certain of armature clearance, then just carefully unwind the shredding old wrap to place the new tape. Unfortunately, unlike the generator field coils there isn't enough room in the hole of starter coils to wrap the entire thing properly unless you obtain original cotton wrap.

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Thanks very much for the replies guys.

I went ahead and painted the body black and use an Eastwood spray grey on the nose piece and the band.

Cheers
Tush

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Just a quick picture of the painted starter and generator. Not concourse but 100 per cent better than what I started with.

Cheers
Tush