Starter Motor Rebuild - Ducellier 6182A

There are a number of jobs you should take the chance to do while the engine is out - like making sure your starter motor is going to serve you well in the future. A good place to start is with a replacement of the starter motor brushes.

Although my car had been laid-up for many years, I was confident that the starter worked consistently - even if I couldn't get the engine to fire in those first few weeks! Like many things, I tacked this job from the point of view of 'opportunistic maintenance'. However my starter looked very tired so was going to benefit from a good spruce up anyway.

A Tired Looking Starter

The Terminals Were Very Rusty

With my engine build underway, now I had the time to tackle the starter and set to work on some research:

You can find the basic instructions for removing a solenoid in Operation D.533-2 in Section 3 of Volume 2 of Manual 814. However it doesn't cover a full overhaul.

I found a very useful three part video that covers the full strip down and rebuild procedure. Although the starter featured in the video is a Ducellier 6201A, it's close enough to mine to prove very handy. You can find the first part of the video here:

Ducellier 6201A Rebuild - Part 1

I also found a very useful picture guide to rebuilding a Ducellier 6200A on the 'HD19' site:

Ducellier 6200A Overhaul

(When you are there, click on 'Restauration' at the top, then when the page loads, click on 'Emises En Etat Des Organes Mecaniques electrifies ornamentation' at the bottom).

I set to work. The first step is to split the starter. I disconnect the wire between the starter body and the solenoid/ relay piggybacking on top. I removed the two nuts from the domed bearing back cover plate. From the nose of the solenoid, I unscrewed the four small screws and removed the central cap. Some are a simple rubber grommet, mine was a threaded metal cap. I used a drift to take out the locking pin from the 'neck' of the alloy nose.

Drift The Locking Pin From The Nose Cone

The body and solenoid were then separated from the nose cone, by sliding off the long insulated bolts.

Splitting the Starter Motor

Solenoid Plunger and lever Fork: Detail

I hadn't managed to work out what size bushes were fitted to the nose cone - it wasn't clear from the parts books. Mine looked fine anyway and, as the motor only spins briefly, I reasoned it did not get a lot of wear and tear, so left well alone. The insulated bolts were removed and the nose cone was then vapour blasted, taking care to avoid the bush.

The next task was remove the armature from the starter body: To remove the starter pinion from the armature I used a long reach socket to release (push down) the locking collar, which then gave access to the circlip within. This proved quite tricky to remove.

Push The Collar Down To Reveal The Circlip

Once the circle is off, the starter pinion assembly and plate underneath were removed. The pinion teeth were checked for excessive wear and chips.

At the rear end of the starter, I winkled out the spiral spring clips from the motor brushes, allowing the armature to be released.

Using soft jaws I carefully clamped the armature in a vice to remove the bearing plate.
Removing the end bolt (IT IS REVERSE THREAD) and locking washer from the plate revealed a number of thin washers and insulators. I made a note of the order of removal and carefully removed the bearing plate.

Bearing Plate and Washers. Bolt is Reverse Thread

Under that was another series of washers and insulators. Again I made a careful note of the order in which I took them off.

Washers on the Armature

The solenoid was carefully dismantled. The large bolt that passes through the pivot on the lever connects to the solenoid plunger and is adjustable to give the correct 'throw'. Hence the removable rubber or metal end cap. I made a note of how many turns it took to separate the bolt from the solenoid. Be careful when removing the operating lever as it is made of plastic.

Solenoid Lever Fork Dismantled from Plunger

There is a also a shaped metal collar that looks like the boss from a Yale door lock. This has a similarly shaped paper gasket attached to it. This is a sealing plate that keeps dirt and dust away from the arm and pinion. Try to retain, or be prepared to replace the paper gasket with something similar.

All the parts were de-greased and cleaned of rust. 

I couldn't remove the inductor windings from the body. I couldn't budge any of large screws holding them in, so left well alone. With the windings still inside, I carefully cleaned the body using a wire wheel and then applied phosphoric acid to kill any remain rust.

Cleaning the Body

I did the same with the solenoid. 

Solenoid Ready For A Clean Up

I gave the body an initial couple of coats of paint before further re-assembly. And did the same to the solenoid.

I'd already bought a replacement brush set from Der Franzose. Four brushes for the 6201A: two are soldered into the body of the starter........

New Brushes on the Inductor Coils

.....and two are soldered on to the bearing end plate. It turned out that my old brushes were not badly worn, but some of the insulation was missing and damaged. So I removed and replaced them anyway - having first added some extra heat shrink. 

New Brushes on the Bearing End Plate

The armature shaft was gently polished to remove any rough spots and the commutator were carefully cleaned. I used a cocktail stick to clean out the grooves.

Commutator Was Polished with Emery and the Grooves Cleared

The nose end of the armature shaft was greased and the pinion replaced. The collar and circles were fiddly to refit: the collar compresses the ring and holds it in its groove. It took a couple of sharp taps with a hammer to get the collar to lock back over the clip without simply pushing the clip out of it's groove.

On the other end of the armature - and being careful to replace the washers and insulators in the right order - the bush of the bearing plate was greased before it was fitted on to the armature shaft. The brushes were located in place with their spring clips. The bearing plate and armature assembly were then inserted into the outer case. The remaining two brushes were fiddly to refit because of the limited space. 

The solenoid was reassembled and the pivot on the plastic lever was greased. With the armature now through the starter body, the starter pinion was liberally greased and the plastic operating lever fork engaged it it's slot. The bush in the nose was greased and the nose was then slid onto the solenoid and main body. 

The Solenoid and Body Were Mated to the Nose Cone

When I was happy that the dust shield and its gasket were correctly located, the holes through the nose cone and operating lever were aligned. Without using excessive force, the locking pin was then pushed through and home with a gentle tap.  The solenoid screws were tightened. 

The nuts on the long bolts were initially tightened down straight on to the bearing end plate - just to pull all the main parts together. I then removed the nuts, put back the domed bearing cap over over the rear end and loosely fitted the nuts again.

Following the recommendation in the HD 19 reassembly pictures, I briefly powered the starter using a car battery and, while it was running tightened the bolts. This is meant to ensure that the armature is 'true' to the bushes and can spin freely, but I felt uncomfortable putting a high current through the starter for anything more than a few seconds - the time it operates when you start your car. Hey, ho - it's done now.

Reassembled

Nuts, half-nuts and washers on terminals were replaced.

Clean Terminals

The terminals were then masked off - as was the tip of the nose, before I gave the whole thing a final few coats of paint. Half-spraying the nose cone and spraying over wires and grommets may sound odd, but that's what it seems to have been like when new.

Repainted

FOOTNOTE: Some years on from this, some asked in 'comments' how I adjusted the screw on the solenoid so I'm editing this post to include this note. Four years on, I can't remember how many turns it took to dismantle they nylon fork from the solenoid, and don't know how many when I put the solenoid back together. The adjustment is about turning the screw enough so that the pinion only goes forward so far when it's thrown forward. the adjuster fork on the solenoid fork controls that. The instructions for this are in Operation D.530-0 in the back of the 'Electricity' section of manual 814, but rely on the solenoid being off the car (so that you can measure the pinion position. Good luck!