Unexpected

The old Lucas starter motor on the Morgan sometimes does not start right away. Last year I tried to find a replacement and ended up buying a Wosp LMS064 – which was listed as suitable for the Ford CVH in the Morgan. My MGB has a Wosp starter and that works really great. The unit came without fitting instructions and the ones I found online are generic. The holes on the mounting plate align perfectly, but there is an additional distance ring fitted. With this ring – the Bendix gear does not engage.

Two 65mm long DIN912 – M6 bolts attach the flange to the starter. Without the distance piece these are too long – so I had to get to 50mm long bolts. But I ran into the next problem. There is only one way to positioning the starter. This way one of the M10 bolts to mount it to the bell of the gearbox is covered by the starter casing. So I ended up attaching the adapter plate with a screw in place – which in turn makes it really hard to install it.

With a lot of patience, I got it mounted. I finally also got around fitting the Lucas battery Breaker switch and replaced the old battery cables. My expectation was that with a few turns of the starter, the engine to start easily. But to my surprise – the Wosp starter does not have to seem sufficient power. I took everything apart to check if I made a mistake – but no matter what I tried – the engine would not start.

After reinstalling the old Lucas starter, the engine then fired up on the first turn of the key. The entire back and worth took cost 4 hours in the end. With a slightly difference base plate – the Wosp starter should also fit on the MGB engine. In both cases the type is “Denso OSGR *r”. I just hope that the old Lucas starter will hold up for a bit longer – I will see if I can find another replacement somewhere.