Electric starter on the Mk.lll

Hi Mark.

It is possible to do this conversion. However, I have had it done by an auto electrician, and he told me that it is a real pig of a job and would NOT be willing to do it again. It does make a difference to the performance of the motor, but also it has been said that using the largest battery possible, ie a 14ah, and a better solonoid,( old style Mini car) and thicker cables will also improve things. Hope that helps. HT

Mark,

I've actually done this in and researched this great detail but instead of trying to install the extra coild (from ACCEL)I used a Prestolite casing from the Harley Sportster from the early 1970s. These are available on e-bay as new pattern motors for aboiut $100. The advantage of doing this is that the Harley prestolite casing is almost identical but already carries the 4 field coils. (there is a small anount of end packing required as the Harlet casing is ever so slightly larger diameter but I used a piece of code 75 bullhead model rail to pack.

Here is one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-HIGH-TORQUE-STARTER-MOTOR-HARLEY-DAVIDSON-SHOVEL-HEAD-1200cc-PRESTOLITE-TYPE-/400287685183?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d33015a3f&vxp=mtr

All that is involved is to take the Norton Armature and end caps and put them on the Harley body. You will however need to totate the brushes by 90 degrees relative to their plate since the armature in a norton SM rotates the other way. To do this you may need to solder extensions onto some of the brush leads and put some new insulation round them.

At the same time I binned the oilite buses in the end caps and installed some Torrinton Needle Roller bearings (B-116 I think) in the ends and this helps enormously. In any event you will need to relubricate the Oilite buses by boiling in oil and let sit overnight. I would advise replacement after all these years.

It wasn't super easy but it has resulted in a staggering increase in performance of the starter motor which now easily strats the bike from stone cold. I did also fit a bigger battery, mini solenoid, big cables and so on but it wssn't until I did the casing that the motore becase 100% effective.

There are a lot of articles on this on Access Norton and this moderately useful Australian one.

http://carritek.com/Norton%20starter.htm

Alternatively just buy a Dave Comeau starter motor from Norvil!!

Cheers

Luke

''Alternatively just buy a Dave Comeau starter motor from Norvil!!''

This seems to be the best route to me. Proper bearings, lighter weight. Not 'original' perhaps, but so what?

Its hard to disagree with that conclusion - although note that Dave (See the ATliantic Green website) has had a couple of these units'unravel spectacularly'in action ( I saw one in that condition at Norman White's place a couple of years ago). Overall however the concensus is that they're very good and well worth the cash. If I was starting again I would probably go that route to be honest.

I happened to have the Harley casing lying around (I live in Canada at present) and bought the brushes and a new brush plate for just $10 so it really wasn't that big a deal for me, although the bearing upgrade was somewhat more effort.

I'm told however that to fit the field coils in the standard Norton casing (it does have the pole pieces) - you really have to take the thing to a specialist starter motor refurb shop - which they certainly have over here but I haven't seen in the UK, as the screws are totally impossible to remove normally. Apparently its no use trying to spot weld the coils to the casing - you need to drill and tap and fix with screws, which is much easier, but in all events the job is, as Hans says, and absolute pig.

Its hard to disagree with that conclusion - although note that Dave (See the ATliantic Green website) has had a couple of these units'unravel spectacularly'in action ( I saw one in that condition at Norman White's place a couple of years ago). Overall however the concensus is that they're very good and well worth the cash. If I was starting again I would probably go that route to be honest.

I happened to have the Harley casing lying around (I live in Canada at present) and bought the brushes and a new brush plate for just $10 so it really wasn't that big a deal for me, although the bearing upgrade was somewhat more effort.

I'm told however that to fit the field coils in the standard Norton casing (it does have the pole pieces) - you really have to take the thing to a specialist starter motor refurb shop - which they certainly have over here but I haven't seen in the UK, as the screws are totally impossible to remove normally. Apparently its no use trying to spot weld the coils to the casing - you need to drill and tap and fix with screws, which is much easier, but in all events the job is, as Hans says, and absolute pig.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ACCEL-FIELD-COIL-SET-40113-HARLEY-XL-FL-FLH-FLT-FXR-/120735179728?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c1c60a3d0&vxp=mtr

BTW - if you do fancy trying it - the field coil;d set is available on e-bay for just $10!

Hi Luke. My problem is that my Mk3 came with all its electric start gear removed. I've now collected together all the parts to fit inside the chaincase, but I still need to buy a motor. The Comeau/Norvil seems the obvious way for me, particularly when Norton starter motorscost silly money, even when virtually scrap and needing rebuilding/re-engineering.

Allan.

Mark - its hard to recommend the Prestolite when Dave Comeau's Hitachi motor is just so much more modern and not that expensive (considering). Let alone its reduced weight and much higher cranking performance.

Just make sure the whole system is up to snuff. I use a 19 AH battery in the Mk 1 battery tray (although one of the new smaller Li-ION batteries in the Mk3 tray would probably do as well). I use Dave's cable set - a great investment for $30, and a Mini solenoid although anything that will fit can be used (like for small cars) as the Mini unit is really quite pricey. I also use a Sparx 200W alternator.....but I like daytime running lights so any good alternator would do.

Good luck - it will work but you may have to try a bit. Also - don't worry if the sprag occasionally fails to catch..they all do that, but it sounds alarming, just bump the bike and try again.

Cheers

Luke

http://www.accessnorton.com/sprag-clutch-t13400.html

This Austrailian guy, Dave - has replacement sprags from Steiber for $50 to Access Norton Board members.

L