Do Cobras Really Need a Starter Motor

As mentioned at the end of my last post, the started motor has proved to be quite troublesome.

Prior to installing the engine I fitted the starter motor and then tried to lower the engine into the chassis and it became quite obvious that the starter was going to foul up on the foot box so we lifted the engine and removed the starter. Once we went through all the drama of getting the engine to sit right, I tried to reinstall the starter motor again and noticed that there was at least 20mm interference between the solenoid and the foot box. it would not even come close to lining up with the mounting holes.

At this point I new that another solution needed to be found so I jumped on the web and started to search for starter motors and googling clearance problems until I came upon a forum discussing rotating starters which I had heard of before. There were a few to choose from and I came across a starter specifically designed for the Coyote engine when it is being used in hot rods and areas where clearance is a problem so, doing some research and checking dimensions I reckoned this is the unit for me. The starter is a Power Master 9532 and has the added benefit of not being effected by heat which I was concerned about and that it has the capacity to crank engines up to 18:1 compression ratio. With the Coyote being 11:1 which is quite high, this starter should have no problems cranking over so I ordered one through Car Shop Inc in Illinois USA.

Once I received the starter motor I worked out how it works and started to set it in the correct orientation for my situation. From the moment I tried to mount it I new I was in trouble. To get the right orientation, the body of the starter had to be rotated to the bottom which in turn fouled up on webbing on the engine block and to rotate it upwards fouled on the foot box just like the previous one I had.

After quite a bit of jiggling about, I could see the point on the block where the starter was hitting so with the help of a mates reciprocating saw, I cut a portion of the webbing out and the starter slide right in. The black lines are the cut lines in the pics below and you can see the lack of clearance

The next issue I faced was the lack of clearance to get a socket on the bolts as the orientation of the starter had the wiring connections in line with one of the bolts and the solonoid in line with another but we got one right, at least that was 33% correct. There was v ery little clearance between the body of the motor and the bolt head and getting a socket on was almost impossible so I ground down a cheap socket but still needed more clearance. After a bit of thought, I just went and got in hex bolts and made up a hex drive with 40cm of extensions and the job was dome.

When the engine was first fitted I noticed that the oil pan sat 35mm below the floor level of the car and this was to be expected as the standard Coyote oil pan is quite deep. When I ordered the new starter, I also ordered a Canton Low Profile Oil Pan to fix this issue.

My next post will have the fitting of the Canton pan so until then, see you next time.

Cheers

Russell