Author Topic: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?  (Read 677 times)

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Offline thehackmechanic

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Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« on: Saturday,March 21, 2020, 12:24:50 PM »
Looks like my TCS may need a starter. I'm looking at the ones RD and BritishStarters sell. RD's website says "Based on a top quality rebuilt Japanese starter. " I think I read somewhere that's Denso. Britishstarters.com doesn't specify whether theirs is new or rebuilt.

Any opinions? Cost is similar, with the one from BritishStarters a little cheaper as it includes shipping.

--Rob
'74 TCS, 24k miles, up and running after 40 years
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Offline buzzer

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #1 on: Saturday,March 21, 2020, 12:46:23 PM »
Dave,

Other cars. Westfield SEiW. BMW E90 Alpina D3. BMW 325 E30 convertible and Range Rover CSK

Offline BDA

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #2 on: Saturday,March 21, 2020, 12:53:01 PM »
I have a stock TCS starter (less than 10,000 miles old) for $75 + shipping if you're interested.  :)

I don't have any experience with either of those (I have a Tilton's Super Starter I got from Dave Bean probably in the '80s. I would imagine they still sell them or an equivalent), but gear reduction starters are nice. The one draw back is trying to get oil pressure before starting a fresh motor because it spins the motor much slower.

I don't think you can go wrong with either of them.


Offline jbcollier

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #3 on: Saturday,March 21, 2020, 02:35:33 PM »
RD's worked well for me.

Offline dakazman

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #4 on: Saturday,March 21, 2020, 03:15:28 PM »
Installed mine from R&D but on a wedge. Can’t wait to test. The original was just to far gone.
Dakazman

Offline Certified Lotus

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #5 on: Saturday,March 21, 2020, 06:06:40 PM »
I’ve bought RD’s gear reduction starters for all my historic Lotus’. Never had a problem.

Offline Type 74

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #6 on: Thursday,March 26, 2020, 03:36:44 AM »
Hi


I bought mine from British Starters. Has worked well for six years.

Offline E Paul

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #7 on: Thursday,March 26, 2020, 06:58:27 AM »
RD for quite some time. No issues at all. Much lighter too.

Offline 1970EuropaGuy

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #8 on: Thursday,March 26, 2020, 07:11:04 AM »
Using the RD as well. Lots of power, a huge improvement over the original.

Offline surfguitar58

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Re: Gear Reduction Starter: RD Versus British Starters?
« Reply #9 on: Thursday,March 26, 2020, 01:47:52 PM »
A while back I was having intermittent starter engagement and thought it was my RD starter, so I replaced it with a new one. Turns out it was a grounding issue. (Engine ground strap was missing entirely, so for over a year my starter ground connection was made through... what... the shift linkage? Everything else is rubber isolated.)

Bottom line: I have an extra RD starter with maybe 30 starts on it, though slightly disassembled. Happy to let it go cheap.

Tom
"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
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