I noticed recently jeff said this was quite common. Anyway I fired the car up today and it made a horrific tapping noise, after starting to worry I started looking over the engine and discovered it was bottom end. More worried face. Then I pressed the clutch and it stopped, ah ha. After an inspection and a poke the starter has come loose.

 

So I know the bottom fixing bolt was partly stripped on the gearbox female side. So, what's the best way to do it? Do I;

1. Pop the starter off the car, re drill the the holes on the starter to 12mm. Then tap the block at m12 and then install two studs and Locktye them in.

2. Same as above but use some m12 bolts.

3. Helicoil the box and refit the stock size bolts.

 

Obviously without removing the box space isn't infinite, but it's by no means tight.

id have a go at helicoil, then no drilling required! i cant remeber the angle of the starter but the 5 o clock position rings a bell?

 

Ive been staring at my adapter plate for the last few days and still cant remeber :yawn:

Thats weird..... have also had similar sound and sticking starter a couple of times lately....... will have to check this after my holiday....

id have a go at helicoil, then no drilling required! i cant remeber the angle of the starter but the 5 o clock position rings a bell?

 

Ive been staring at my adapter plate for the last few days and still cant remeber :yawn:

 

 

I Spose that depends where your stood lol, looking front the engine towards the rear of the car it's about 7 o'clock the bottom ones pretty accessible the one above the trans tunnel is in the way a bit if you were gonna drill it. Being aluminium though, and only 2mm less really as you don't drill at 12 to get a m12 thread, It's likely about 1mm of material to remove.

If you need to look at a bell housing off of the car for ideas I have two in my garage buddy

i striped mine a little while ago somtimes it was a problem starting so i just replaced it.

If you need to look at a bell housing off of the car for ideas I have two in my garage buddy

 

It's pretty well logged in my brain :D

id have a go at helicoil, then no drilling required!

You have to drill the hole the correct size for the helicoil to work properly.

Helicoil kits come the the right size drill and insertion tool in them.

The drill thickness for a m12x1.75 is 10.2mm so seeing as it's stripped I've already got a 10mm hole, just about the right size for the m12 tap to run through ;) hence why I suggested it.

You will need to enlarge the starter motor flange slot if you go for M12. An alternative is to go for a longer M10 bolt as the

original bolt only goes part of the way into the bellhousing. I found that the AC compressor mounting bolts are long enough

to do the job without protruding beyond the bellhousing material.

 

 

Edited May 25, 201411 yr by AndrewG

;) sadly been there done that. The remaining thread was obviously insufficient, and at least the lower one is hanging out I recon the top one as well now, I will have to inspect it to find out.

In terms of the starter slot, a file will quickly remove 1mm off each side to allow the starter to accept the new thread. The other advantage of doing it with a pair of 12mm studs, aside from the fact I've got two lengths of m12 threaded bar sat in my utility, is the fact the starter can be slotted on and is less likely to fall off and hit me in the head during maintenance, it already hit me in the chest previously when the bottom bolt fell out and the whole starter came crashing down like a tonne of bricks on me, ouch.

The drill thickness for a m12x1.75 is 10.2mm so seeing as it's stripped I've already got a 10mm hole, just about the right size for the m12 tap to run through ;) hence why I suggested it.

 

Silly me for forgetting you are an expert on everything.:biggrin:

If it were my car, I'd helicoil it. Everything stays standard and there will be no future problems with fitting replacement motors... You can buy locking helicoils too so you'll not have to worry about them shaking loose.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

tapping a hole with remnants of an old thread in it isnt a brilliant idea, so drilling it is a nice way to get a good tap, wether or not its ally.

 

Helicoil steve ;)

Edited May 25, 201411 yr by Hollings

Silly me for forgetting you are an expert on everything.:biggrin:

 

Expert, no. I know just enough about anything to get me in trouble haha. The Zeus book holds the answer to things like drilling for taps though which is all stuff I was taught when doing my apprenticeship. I can do all the bits I suggested, I was just after the way that's most logical from those who have done it previously because of the location. I really can't be bothered to pull the gearbox to sort it out and I doubt there's any need too.

It may well me the the head of an m12 doesn't even fit because it fouls on the starter, haven't checked yet. Then were confined to the helicoil.

A longer bolt works wonders Steve,sorted many like this,quite few mm of thread in there the stock bolt wont reach.

A longer bolt works wonders Steve,sorted many like this,quite few mm of thread in there the stock bolt wont reach.

 

Cheers Jimmer, I already tried that. I used a depth gauge to measure the maximum bolt length and made an M10 to suit, that grabbed about three threads, I did this when I was doing the other work recently. Obviously it wasn't enough as its now resting on the slave lol, that's why the noise goes away when I depress the clutch the slave moved the starter, I doubt it would work if I tried again. Thank god I didn't make it to Japfest as that could of been a PITA, one of the reason why I aborted I hadn't had any sort of dry run before it. I was gonna look at it today but went to the Bournemouth car show this morning and its been horrid out there this afternoon. Hopefully I'll get a chance to sort it one night this week if I'm at home. might get some helicoils in so I can do it that way if needs be, better than a weekend of not being able to use it for a silly little bolt.

Edited May 26, 201411 yr by Stephen

Expert, no. I know just enough about anything to get me in trouble haha. The Zeus book holds the answer to things like drilling for taps though which is all stuff I was taught when doing my apprenticeship. I can do all the bits I suggested, I was just after the way that's most logical from those who have done it previously because of the location. I really can't be bothered to pull the gearbox to sort it out and I doubt there's any need too.

It may well me the the head of an m12 doesn't even fit because it fouls on the starter, haven't checked yet. Then were confined to the helicoil.

 

Just use a hex cap bolt Steve:yes:

Sorted, after inspection I found the top one whilst a little loose was fine, the bottom however was completely stripped. So I sorted out a longer bolt for the top. The bottom I took a 10mm drill bit and ran that down the old stripped thread, there was actually enough room to do this with my drill, spot on, (There wouldn't be enough space to do the top one in this fashion.) tapped it at m12x1.75. I then used a depth gauge to gauge the material thickness of the box and the starter motor, 20mm and 15mm respectively. Then shortened the Allen head bolt to 35mm the 2mm thick washer helps to stop the bolt popping out the back.

 

Obviously I had to open up the slot on the starter to accept the new bolt, a set of files soon sorted that. So that's it done...

 

The Allen head bolt makes getting the starter on and off much easier, being nurled it's nice and easy to wind in. Next time the box is out il do the upper one I think just for symmetry.

Sorted, after inspection I found the top one whilst a little loose was fine, the bottom however was completely stripped. So I sorted out a longer bolt for the top. The bottom I took a 10mm drill bit and ran that down the old stripped thread, there was actually enough room to do this with my drill, spot on, (There wouldn't be enough space to do the top one in this fashion.) tapped it at m12x1.75. I then used a depth gauge to gauge the material thickness of the box and the starter motor, 20mm and 15mm respectively. Then shortened the Allen head bolt to 35mm the 2mm thick washer helps to stop the bolt popping out the back.

 

Obviously I had to open up the slot on the starter to accept the new bolt, a set of files soon sorted that. So that's it done...

 

The Allen head bolt makes getting the starter on and off much easier, being nurled it's nice and easy to wind in. Next time the box is out il do the upper one I think just for symmetry.

 

Nice fix Steve :thumbup1: