Hi, I'm new. I have recently acquired a 1988 coupe which is a non runner. It has an MG Metro engine which is only half plumbed in and has not run for about 5 years. I will no doubt have lots of issues which I may require help from folks on the forum to solve, as I endeavour to get the car running. I have been lurking for a while and reckon this to be a friendly and helpful community! First issue is I can't get the starter motor to spin whilst it's in position, but it will spin freely when it's just resting on the engine. I can turn the engine over by hand so I know it's not siezed, and have tried different batteries- admittedly both are a bit old. I haven't tried jump leads yet, as I don't have any long enough at present. Does it sound like it's just not getting enough power, or is it possible to fit the starter incorrectly..? Sounds like such a simple problem but it's foxing me at present. Any helpful advice and or encouragement will be greatfully received.

Ed

Hi there, and Welcome!

For your starter motor woes, which starter do you have? And what type of clutch?

If you have the early type starter without the in-built solenoid, it could be you have verto ring gear on your flywheel which will cause the starter to jam almost immediately. If you have a later starter, the opposite may be true, but note on the later starter you have to energise the main pole and the starter pole on the starter simultaneously to make it work.

Also, where in the world are you?

Edit: Typo

Hi, thanks for the quick response..! Interesting- I have the old type starter I guess, it doesn't have an in built solenoid. How can I tell what sort of clutch/flywheel I have...? And what is a verto ring gear- sorry for all the questions....
I am in Basingstoke Hants by the way.

Ed

I had this problem when I changed the engine on my old Coupe. The pre verto starter has a seperate solenoid (contactor), but I'd guess that the metro engine is going to be verto, so needs one of the starters with a built in solenoid. There are two types, one with the solenoid mounted at 9 o clock and the other with the solenoid mounted at 10 o clock. One of them is for the metro and the other is for the later minis, from what I remember.

Make sure that if you need one of these, that you get the ones that has the solenoid at 10 o clock, otherwise it won't fit in the engine bay. I know this from experience. It will need a slight rewire, but means that you can ditch the separate solenoid.

The way of checking which flywheel you've got, is to count the number of teeth. I'm sure someone will come along and say what the teeth counts are, they escape me at the moment.

Oh, and welcome to the forum

107 tooth ring gear for the old type inertia starter, 129 teeth for the pre-engaged verto set-up

Thanks everyone- that sounds like the answer to me. I'll be trying to find a metro in a local scrap yard.

Ed

I think you want a late Mini pre-engaged starter to fit in the Coupe not Metro

Yes, I think it is the mini one which has the solenoid mounted at 10 o clock.

I managed to swap a pre verto starter for a mini verto one. A local guy who reconditioned them took it as an exchange. Might be an option if you can't find one.

Or swap the flywheel etc on the engines. I always think that you need to go pre verto if you are tuning the engine.

Oh ok, late mini- got it. thanks.

Hi, I'm watching this starter on the bay-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/classic-mini-pre- ... 7C294%3A50

Does this look like the one with the solenoid at 10 o'clock?
Also Tim, you say it would need a slight rewire- is it just a question of lengthening the existing cables and plugging them up or is there a bit more to it..?

Ed

Sorry it took so long, I've been on my hols!

The pre verto starters have got a separate contactor, where the verto ones have it built in. The main feed goes straight onto the starter, so your cable may need to have a longer power cable to reach the starter. I personally won't extend the cable if it is too short as it can cause a whole heap of problems.

The smaller cable that controls the remote solenoid needs to be connected to the starter, it's been a while since I did a swap of this type, but I remember I needed to change the end of the cable.

It isn't a big job, by any stretch of the imagination.

I bet you've got it fitted already through.

Thanks Tim, I couldn't get it to work to start with, then swapped to a different battery and hey presto. Turned the engine over for the first time in at least five years... I might borrow a compression tester from my neighbour soon. Do you know what pressure I should get?

Ed

I'd check that they are all the same for a start. It would depend on the compression ratio for the figure though.