Question on starter motors & flywheel rings
Turbo Mini Forums

Hello All,

I've recently bought a MED lightened, pre-verto flywheel with pre-engage ring gear. I am now in the process of assembly and noticed that the two pre-engage starters I have available have different pinion gears; one with 10 teeth and one with 9 teeth. I asked MED which kind of pinion is compatible with their pre-engage ring gears and to my amusement, they said 11 teeth. I think I've never seen 11 teeth on a standard mini pre-engage starter. Can I just buy an 11 tooth pinion gear and change it on my starter ? Would it damage the flywheel ring if I just use a 9/10 tooth starter ?

Cheers

How many teeth does the ring gear on the flywheel have? 129?

I was always under the impression that a 9 tooth starter was correct for a mini.
The 10 tooth is from a metro, it will appear to work but doesn’t turn things over at the correct speed and chews itself up over time.

I never understood why it isn’t suitable for use in a mini when everything else is the same, but I have been caught out.

Hi Barrieri, I have had similar conflicting/confusing advice ( to me anyway).., ,so i am no help with the number of teeth. I had a Med lightened ( pre-engaged type) flywheel and found I needed a 2mm spacer to back off the starter motor. it could have been my flywheel sitting down the crank taper or the flywheel or the starter,, so not knocking the product at all,,,, just pays to check the ' bendix throw

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a lightweight starter motor with the correct pinion. Pretty sure for the pre-engaged it’s 11. If your using one you have perhaps put the flywheel in a vice and see how happily they mesh. 10 teeth is probably more correct than 9.

Correct me if I'm wrong but don't the A series and A+ flywheel ring gears have different Tpi so will grind themselves to dust over time?

Own the day

You are right; A series and A+ series flywheels and starters should not be mixed.
I have seen people do this because, "hey it works" and it will.
However for longevity it is the wrong thing to do.

I had a quick look to confirm the A+ starter (the one with integrated solenoid) has 9 teeth.
I don't have an A series near unfortunately.

Dazed and Confused....