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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Behold! The Boscharelli starter.

Jan. 15, 2012 5:02 p.m. ditchdigger Dork

Take the nose piece from one Bosch VW ABA starter, cut the mounting tabs off of it and turn a recess into it

Take the nosepiece from a Marelli Fiat 850 starter and cut away everything after the mounting flange. Machine a lip so it will center itself in the bosch piece.

As best as you can, weld the oil soaked cast aluminum pieces together

and reassemble

Yeah it is ugly, but it works! Strangely the VW starter has the correct gear and rotation direction for a fiat 850. The shaft is even exactly the right size to fit into the support bushing on the fiat nosepeice. It just happened to be on my spare parts shelf since an ABA swap I did back in '05.

Stock 850 starters are getting very hard to find and are pretty weak. This gear reduction unit can spin over a high compression 2 liter with ease and has no issue with my little 843.
Jan. 15, 2012 5:12 p.m. Curmudgeon SuperDork

Nice work! I bet the starter makes more torque than the motor does.
Jan. 15, 2012 5:12 p.m. aeronca65t Dork

Now ~that's~ grassroots!

Two thumbs up!
Jan. 15, 2012 5:13 p.m. Woody SuperDork

You are awesome.
Jan. 15, 2012 5:49 p.m. Trans_Maro Dork

Is it safe to let the Germans and Italians get that close again?

Shawn
Jan. 15, 2012 6:29 p.m. ditchdigger Dork

Curmudgeon wrote:

Nice work! I bet the starter makes more torque than the motor does.

Lets see. 1.1KW is 1.5hp....Hey! now that is just rude.

Besides I am up over 120hp 100lb/ft now

Last year I did this with a Subaru Legacy starter

But it had the wrong diameter gear on it so I turned the teeth off of it leaving a splined sleeve and then bored out the fiat gear, pressed them together and welded it up. I didn't think it would make it through the first turn of the key but it lasted over a year of hammering on it 20+ times a day and then friday morning it went clunk and whirr.

Trans_Maro wrote:

Is it safe to let the Germans and Italians get that close again?

Shawn

Italian car loaded with german and japanese parts. This thing here is the original axis of evil.
Jan. 15, 2012 6:31 p.m. Toyman01 SuperDork

Nice work!!
Jan. 15, 2012 6:38 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork

Italian car loaded with german and japanese parts. This thing here is the original AXLE of evil.
Jan. 15, 2012 9:17 p.m. thunderzy Reader

Thats foookin awesome.
Jan. 15, 2012 11:53 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

so.. how hard is it to weld greasy aluminum parts together?
Jan. 16, 2012 1:29 a.m. curtis73 SuperDork

I'm a mix-n-match freak. I have used recycled radio-controlled parts to operate a power mirror.

... but this is grassroots gold, my friend.

I wish we had a :hatsoff: smilie
Jan. 16, 2012 5:20 a.m. Knurled Dork

You'll never get your core charge back now.

I wonder if you could hack a Mazda rotary starter to work. They are also transmission-side starters, and the nonturbo manual trans units come in 8, 9, and 11 tooth models, or something like that. And they're quite strong. The 11-tooth models are gear reduction to boot.

Here's the part that always makes me woozy when I think about it. All three starters use the same flywheel size/tooth count, the same transmission mounting point, and the same case dimensions, and are in fact 100% interchangeable. I am not quite sure how that even works. I had an 11-tooth (FC) starter and a dead 8-tooth (SA) starter, looked at 'em carefully, measured, said no way in hell this would work. People on The Internet said it'd work, but I had micrometers and stuff, it couldn't possibly work!

So, just to show them, I bolted it in. Naturally, it worked just fine, aside from my SA sounding like an FC when I cranked it, which is just wrong. SAs should have a geary grindy crank, not a turbine spooling up crank!
Jan. 16, 2012 9:34 a.m. erohslc HalfDork

Hey ditchdigger, maybe you just started a new cottage industry ... ;)
Jan. 16, 2012 9:35 a.m. erohslc HalfDork

mad_machine wrote:

so.. how hard is it to weld greasy aluminum parts together?

Just use greasy welding rods ....
Jan. 16, 2012 9:42 a.m. J308 Reader

In reply to Knurled: Wow. What the berkeley.
Jan. 16, 2012 10:40 a.m. ditchdigger Dork

In reply to Knurled: The mind reels.

This makes me wonder just how much gear mesh is needed and actually set. It also makes me wonder if the 11 tooth denso gear would fit when the 9 tooth didn't.

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