Zomerset Zed wrote:Thanks Zed1015, i suspected this may be the proper and maybe only remedy. Don't suppose you have a keyed rotor in your vast hoard of parts?
Re. the damper washer - some parts diagrams seem to have these in and others don't there is not one fitted to my engine at all and i see there are several options listed as well - 6.3t, 7.3t, 8.3t. I suppose the "t" denotes the thickness of the washer? Any ideas which one i should try first?
There is only a steel plated thrust washer fitted to mine which sits in the recess in the back of the starter gear. Confusingly the starter pinion lines up perfectly as is.
Thanks for your advice
Sorry! Haven't got a spare rotor.
Have never had any starter gear fitted with anything other than the dished rubber damper so would be interested to see a pic of what you have got there.
I have seen some very badly worn or hacked about ones though so maybe what you have is the remains of one if a previous owner has had a go at it or maybe it's a home brewed solution.
The rubbers come in 3 thicknesses denoted by 1, 2 or 3 stars moulded on the inside lip.
I would get a 3 star one and then it can be gradually reduced in thickness until you get the correct fit.
Make sure you get one from Z1 up to the first Z1R that has the same alt rotor set up.
The damper rubbers from the later MK2 motors onwards with the dished rotor have a bigger hole in the centre and won't sit central.
It only needs to be thick enough to stop the starter gear from dragging.
This means being able to freely turn the gear clockwise with very light pressure .
Forgot to mention that in extreme cases, overlapping can cause the whole assembly to nip the bearing and/or the gear hub between the bronze thrust washers on the crank and lock the starter gear and produce the same results.
Very unlikely but I've dealt with that a couple of times and had to resort to either light machining of the face of the starter hub and /or reducing the thickness of the thrust washers to get the clearance back.
