In article ,
Ron Wanttaja wrote:



I think you'll have trouble with the generator, and very possibly the
starter as well. Since the units are gear-driven, the cases have to have
the appropriate hardware for mounting to the aircraft engine. If you've
got a pull-start C-85, I suspect your chances of finding an automotive
replacement are even lower.

But if you do, pullleeeze let me know. The units on my C-85 aren't of the
best of shape, and I'd love to pick up something automotive that'll work.

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 12:40:55 -0500, Big John wrote:

]] Owned a shop where we wholesale repaired auto starters and generators
]] some years ago. Used to get a number or pilots bringing in their
]] starter for repair. Word of mouth got around.

When I took my C-85's generator to the local auto electric rebuilder, the
shop guy took a look at it and said, "DON'T tell me what that came off of."
His management didn't allow him to work on aviation units. I told him it
was from an "Off Road Vehicle" and he was satisfied.

One bit of warning, the auto and aviation regulators look very similar, but
apparently don't work the same. The aviation regulator has the three
terminals unevenly spaced, rather than evenly spaced like the automotive
units. When my airplane wouldn't charge, I replaced my regulator with an
automotive one before going through the work to remove the generator. I
eventually had the generator rebuilt, but when I put it on the airplane, I
still didn't get a charge until I restored the original aircraft regulator.

Ron Wanttaja


Thanks for the comments and info. You are almost certainly right about
the slim chance of finding a bolt on automotive replacement for an
aircraft starter. I also doubt that one could easily build a workable
adapter. I'm extremely ignorant of the particulars of aircraft starters,
but I've learned a bit in the last few days. I can see that my original
question was naive to say the least. It's just that aircraft and
automotive (and lawnmower for that matter) starters look similar and are
usually made by the same companies.

For my particular application, I wasn't planning on installing a
generator.The weight of a starter is just enough ballast up front to
take care of C of G concerns (passenger, bags, fuel burn interaction) in
my little plane. I only need the starter to work two or three times at
most during a day. The battery can be charged overnight. My C-85 starts
pretty easy by hand propping if I'm careful not to flood it.

I'll keep on investigating the possibility that there is some automotive
starter(s) out there that is the parent of the starter(s) used on C-85s.
Even if it turns out that there is such a beast, it probably has been
out of production since 1950.

Fly safe,

Wallace
Glasflugel H301 N301BW
Stits SA6b N5423M