Help Please, 251 Chysler Spitfire Starter?????

[garbagestate 44]

If you do wind up taking the bendix apart, keep in mind that there are spring loaded guide pins between the gear and the shaft that will take off if you are not ready for it after you remove the retaining ring and slide the gear up the shaft.

[skiviskaves]

Update.  I filed, and filed, and filed the ring gear teeth to remove rough edges, burrs, high spots and clean up.  After 5 hrs of filing I was ready to reinstall my repaired starter.  Extending the 3.250" male starter fit an extra 1/4" into the bell housing made me confident in the strength.  I shimmed the starter 1/8" back with custom made washers in an attempt to get just the right amount of full engagement. 

Moment of truth, Friday night at about 11:30pm I turned the key...grind, grind, start.  Again...grind, grind, start.  Ok, at least the car is starting now.  Got to take my first ride in her.  Took the car to the Blue Ribbon Beer Run at the old Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee on Saturday, awesome event!  The car has a 3-speed with push button OD, connected to a 70s Mopar rear with 273 gears (I'm told).  She idles down the interstate at 65-70. 

Feeling good to be able to drive the car a bit, but this starter issue is still there, just not as bad.  By the amount of wear on the ring gear I think it will have to be replaced.  I'm hoping I can limp this setup through the summer and do the ring gear over the winter.  Next step is finding the right ring gear.

Some photos of the car: 

 

 

[DefEddie]

1946 -1948 and early 1949 models for 250.6cu.in. engine:

Starter No. # MAX4050

They are hard to come by, on e-bay I saw one get away from me for $250 a month or so ago.

They regularly go for the $350 - $450 range (Rebuilt and clean looking).

These Starter Rebuilder's are roaming e-bay snapping them up and rebuilding them and selling them

to overseas Mopar owners in the $750 range. I know because I spoke to one of them on the phone, up in N. Dakota

Auction House are on there buying them also, they are also snapping them up cheap and auctioning them off.

So your competition on a Starter is most likely going to be a real bother. That MAX4050 only comes up once or twice a year on ebay

When opportunity knocks don't try to be cheap on your bid. Timid won't win it.

Good Luck!

Tom

PS. By the way your picture doesn't look like the MAX4050.

So if i'm about to ebay a clean used max4050 I should put it on ebay with bidding starting at $250?

Or should I spend $30-40 and rebuild it then list it for $450?

[rtuhk]

I ran into a similar issue on my 49 spitfire.  First the solenoid wasn't strong enough to push the bendix into the ring gear so it would start to crank the motor then grind.  I replaced the solenoid and you have to adjust it correctly to make sure it is meshing fully with the ring gears.  None of this solved my issues,  finally I figured I was losing so much voltage through my ignition key that the electro magnet was not working properly in the solenoid and didn't have enough strength to fully engage that bendix all the way into the ring gear.  I ran a wire directly from the battery to the starter to test my theory and it worked!!  I ended up mounting a relay on the firewall that is operated by the key and it works perfectly.  The larger wires that run to the starter only power the starter motor itself.  it is the smaller wires that energize the elctro magnet in the solenoid.

[greg g]

Maybe this is another one for the old tech not necessarily being obsolete.  I like my P15 Starter button. 

[Young Ed]

What I'm getting from this is I should start pulling these in the local junkyards.

[Don Coatney]

I have a couple spare starter buttons. One I have attached alligator clips to for use under the hood when doing compression checks and such. The other I carry as a spare. I also used one when I made my test stand controll panel.

 

[skiviskaves]

So if i'm about to ebay a clean used max4050 I should put it on ebay with bidding starting at $250?

Or should I spend $30-40 and rebuild it then list it for $450?

 

I just saw one of these max4050 starters go through on ebay.  The starting bid was $25 with $18 shipping, nobody even bid on it.  

[Frank Elder]

[DefEddie]

I just saw one of these max4050 starters go through on ebay. The starting bid was $25 with $18 shipping, nobody even bid on it.

Really?

I've been watching/searching since I read the previous post and after checking Canada,UK and Australia as well the only one i've seen is the $250 one that was mentioned.

I also found out how strong these starter motors were(1.1hp?),thinking about just using one of mine to power a go-cart my kid is rebuilding.

*I take that back,there is one listed now for $350 buy it now/best offer.

Edited July 30, 2013 by DefEddie

[Plymouthy Adams]

ever get the feeling folks listing on E-bay do their homework on the forums?

[DefEddie]

I'm sure of it.

I generally try to sell it ON the forums first,hate ebay.

[Tom Skinner]

Skiviskaves,

You should have jumped on that Max4050 for $25.

Keep watching ebay you'll be hard pressed to see one for less than $250-$350

If you know of salvage yards with them, there probably is money to be made there???

First you gotta crawl under the car and get it. That's the part us older Gents don't want

at a salvage yard with the car laying flat on its belly.