HELP starter motor overheating !

[Geneman]

Hi peeps. getting my race car back together last week ( 1977, RSR backdate 3.2, 915 race gearbox) started and ran well, it had a new IMI hi torque starter.. within 15 minutes the starter began smoking and literally burned itself up.. huge smoke .

well i removed , it was totally burned up inside the armature, contacts etc. just figured it was a old starter that went south.

bought another one.. installed. now its doing the same exact thing. the starter motor casing it self gets extremely hot after 5-10 minutes of running..

i checked the yellow ignition wire, its working properly meaning it activates the solenoid ( 12 v seen on a meter) then goes off when the key flips back.

i cannot tell if the gear is popping back into the starter. the motor is too loud for one thing. even just cranking it, ( withput motor on) cannot tell

i am also having what look like mechanical sparks coming a bit out of the bell housiin. which could be that gear stays engaged to the fw and then the engine turns the starter motor resulting in burnout?

its hooked up properly... i only have the 12v battery wire and the big red wire from the alternator going to the big post. then the yellow ignition wire to the tab. its bunfock simple

what am i missing? how could this starter be heating up... even the bell housing and trans is cool

please pease help. trying to leave for sebring HSR race tomorrow AM

[Walter_Middie]

Geneman,

It does sound like the starter is engaged when the motor is running. You say there is no voltage to the solenoid, so that must be OK. The only other possibility is that the drive gear is not retracting - or with your custom setup with 915 race trans and 3.2 engine, your starter is always engaged - even with the drive gear retracted. Is there some shimming you need to do to get the started the correct distance from the flywheel?

[Geneman]

good point walter did not think of that.. i could shim it. i am taking off starter now to carefully measure where the gear is when fully retracted. is it possible the ring gear is on the wrong way?
this is first time i have reassembled a 915 clutch and gb. usually g50 for me.

will report back

[T77911S]

does it only get hot with the engine running?
I assume you have a battery cutoff switch. turn the switch on and see if it gets hot.

any chance you connected the battery directly to the post that the motor (starter motor) is connected to.

with it running (or in a condition that the starter gets hot) remove the yellow wire and check power with the wire removed.