OK, so the first bug has appeared on the '33. The starter (early 283) has been laboring more and more and has now given up. It turns REAL SLOOOOOOWLY and is apparently drawing down my battery. Good battery, and good charge system, that all checked out fine. But all I get is ruh....ruh.....ruuuuuuh when I crank it. So I yanked the starter out and figured I'd open her up to see if I can find the gremlin and perhaps rebuild her. What can POSSIBLY go wrong, right? So I got it all apart and found that the armature has some significant (?) surface rust. But more importantly the brushes are worn. One of them was worn down to the little plastic holder, which has signs of rubbing the commutator. No bueno. So I ordered up a new set of brushes. The brass bushings are both in good shape, very little clearance, so I eliminated worn bushings as the cause. (Yeah, I used the Search feature to edumacate myself on these issues. ) So while I wait for the Big Brown Truck to arrive with the new bushings, I figured I'd better polish the commutator, clean the gaps between the contacts too. Now what about the surface rust on the steel armature? That can't be good for it, right? So how should I clean it? Now this ain't no request on how to wash dust off a barn find Buick, so don't even go there! But how should I clean off this surface rust? Wire brush? Wire wheel? Vinegar bath? All advice is welcome, as are wise-cracks. TIA. Here's a pic....
It ain't safe, but here's what I would do... I'd find a hole in the workbench to stick the one end in, chuck the other end in a drill. Wrap some emory cloth around it, and go to town. Works good for re-surfacing the commutator too. Unless of course you have a lathe to put it in.. but if you did you wouldn't be askin what to do.
OK, the rust looks bad but it don't hurt nothin. If the rotor was hitting it would have rubbed the rust off already.
Can you chuck it up in the drill press. Don't soak it in vinegar. It might take the lacquer off the windings. Careful not to cut the commutator to deep
Magnetic fields really don't care if there is a bit of rust or not. Buff it off with emery cloth, clean up and lube (or replace) the bendix, put the new brushes in, and use it. FYI, for those of you that chuck these in lathes and then use emery paper to clean the rust off or polish the commutator, the abrasive dust from the emery cloth will raise hell with your bed ways after a while.
You can polish it by hand just using plumbers roll.It doesn't need to shine. The rust shown here is just a cosmetics problem on the outside of the segments. I'd polish the commutator and add new brushes. a small dab of light grease in the bushings and put it back together.
Tommy, and others; that's my plan....a little clean up, new brushes, and back into the shitbox for another stint of service.
I'm sure someone on here can tell you how to check it "electrically" , in otherwords that it isn't shorted internally , been a long time but I think we used to use a "growler' ?? dave
That sounds painful. I plan to test it by turning the key. if it smokes up, I'll grab a new starter from the parts shop down the road.
When I went to GM School (1970) we learned to do all that stuff; 15 Years later it was a lost art....
Remember the old show 'You asked for it"? A growler is an electrical device used for testing insulation of a motor for shorted coils. A growler consists of a coil of wire wrapped around an iron core and connected to a source of AC current. When placed on the armature or stator core of a motor the growler acts as the primary of a transformer and the armature coils act as the secondary. A "feeler", a thin strip of steel (hacksaw blade) can be used as the short detector. The alternating magnetic flux set up by the growler passes through the windings of the armature coil, generating an alternating voltage in the coil. A short in the coil creates a closed circuit that will act like the secondary coil of a transformer, with the growler acting like the primary coil. This will induce an alternating current in the shorted armature that will in turn cause an alternating magnetic field to encircle the shorted armature coil. A flat, broad, flexible piece of metal containing iron is used to detect the magnetic field generated by a shorted armature. A hacksaw blade is commonly used as a feeler. The alternating magnetic field induced by a shorted armature is strong at the surface of the armature, and when the feeler is lightly touched to the iron core of an armature winding, small currents are induced in the feeler that generate a third alternating magnetic field surrounding the feeler. With the growler energized, the feeler is moved from slot to slot. When the feeler is moved over a slot containing the shorted coil, the alternating magnetic field will alternately attract and release the feeler, causing it to vibrate in synch with the alternating current. A strong vibration of the feeler accompanied by a growling noise indicated that the coil is shorted.
I'm glad I hadn't "misremembered" That growler , it's kind of sad that alot of old tech is being lost , Btw , I was at the GM tech center in Hinsdale ' Il. in '68 & again in'69, first for high-perf engines second for TH350 trans.. dave
I would throw it in the trash and get an LT1 gear reduction starter for way under $100. 283 will use the smaller 153 tooth flexplate so this will bolt right up. Lots of suppliers, this is just one. If you have a standard trans you would have to see if the nose will fit your bellhousing, works fine with automatics and T56 bellhousings. http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHEVY-CAMAR...995|Model:Caprice&hash=item27d29cfe86&vxp=mtr
That type wont bolt up to my bell housing. I'm running a Saginaw 4-speed. Besides, it's way too modern looking.
All put back together. I'm happy to report that it's now working as good as new! Total coast of the repair: $2.38 for 4 new brushes. Don't toss away that old starter, folks. Sometimes it's nothing more than a good cleaning and new brushes.
I just this week had a similar issue with a vintage Chrysler starter. All it would do is groan! I disassembled it, cleaned everything up with emery cloth. lightly buffed the brushes and washed it with wd40 spray to remove the grit. A little lube on the bushings and back together it went. I admit I was not all that confident it would function properly. It was not going on a road vehicle but a motor I was trying to crank. The local re builder wanted 150 to go through it. If it was for a driver I would have had them do it. Any way I was pleasantly surprised when it spun the old Hemi over quite nicely.
Had same issue on '68 Camaro , I did the whole cleaning thing and replaced brushes and bushings , good as new , cost like $3 at the time .
Reminds me back in the day. Was young dating a girl, and my starter motor failed at her house. Removed it, and the bushings were shot. I didnt have any money at the time, and it was late, but her father took me down to a machine shop he worked at. Chucked the armature in a lathe, and shaved down a few thousandth, so it would quit dragging and shorting across. Put it back together, worked good, and got myself home. Didnt have a clue at the time what was going on, or even what he was doing. Was sure happy though. (Completely random, I know.)
....let's see...a guy with a name like yours....I can honestly say those words in red, were what your GF's father was thinking about YOU
There are other factory high torque starters that look basically the same. If you have to end up getting another starter.
small point - motor rotors are laminated, made of many steel plates stacked up. Usually the steel plates have insulation on their surfaces so each one is insulated from the others. Motor manufacturers warn about the possibility of "smearing" the OD when machining the rotor, which would short the laminations and reduce efficiency. "Reduced rotor surface losses are accomplished through a two pass machining process which reduces the possibility of shorted rotor laminations due to reduction of smearing caused by normal single pass machining." http://www.toshont.com/ag/nrgefficiency/ag_18_effy_part2.pdf
That's interesting. I wonder if the accumulation of the surface rust I had was bridging the plates and drawing more amperage? I gave the rotor a light pass with a wire brush to remove the rust. Now the starter spins my 283 like a top, and my battery doesn't draw down like it was doing before the refresh.
Ya done good. Most people would never open up a starter in the first place. You basically have what the discount parts stores charge you $29.99 for. Bob
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