Defender 2.3 petrol engine to series 2a vehicle.

Hi All,
I have a lovely late 5 bearing 2.3 petrol engine that I am installing in my old series 2A landrover.
The engine runs fine when started and looks to be fitted with a series 3 flywheel housing and a new flywheel.
The guy who supplied me the lot fitted a 9 tooth starter motor which works but is not compatible with the flywheel, making an appalling screeching noise on start up. I have tried fitting the traditional 11 tooth starter as the flywheel tooth spacing would match it, but it wont go into the housing properly and the Powerlite unit just hits the flywheel outside and does not engage.
Can somebody tell me the housing/ flywheel configuration I need to match the engine to the gearbox and I wonder whether the flywheel is a series 2 or 3 and how I could tell, if that would make any difference?
At the moment the guy who supplied it is overseas and difficult to get hold of.
Any help would be very much appreciated

there is 2 types series starter which pulls drive gear from rear to front,bendix type . and later 2.5 that uses a pre-engage starter ie solenoid pushes drive gear from front to rear,the leading edge on flywheel(chamfer) will be on front or rear of ring gear depending on which stater is used

jamesmartin said:

there is 2 types series starter which pulls drive gear from rear to front,bendix type . and later 2.5 that uses a pre-engage starter ie solenoid pushes drive gear from front to rear,the leading edge on flywheel(chamfer) will be on front or rear of ring gear depending on which stater is used

Click to expand...

Hi James,
Thanks for the fast response. This flywheel has no leading edge on either side and is a new one. The problem I currently have is that I have already mated the engine, gearbox and everything together. It is now obvious that I have to split it all again as the flywheel is too far up in the starter area for the normal series 2/3 starters to fit and engage properly, as the bendix type starter will not slide on the fixing studs properly and the teeth pre-engaged unit just rub on the edge of the flywheel As a matter of interest, Powerlite actually make a starter for the Series 2 and 3 engines that is pre-engaged.
Question is do the series 2 and 3 flywheels have the same dimensions? or is there a later housing that looks like a series 3 one that was fitted to the very early defender and how do I tell them apart?

flywheel teeth must have a leading edge on one side,you cant fit a later 5 bearing flywheel to a 3 bearing crank, or flywheel housing correctly,ring gear for the 3 bearing egine is the same regardless of whether its 2 dowel 9 inch clutch or 3 dowel 91/2 inch clutch,5 bearing are 91/2 inch too, all 3 bearing will have imperial bolts, 5 bearing metric bolts, series 5 brg will have ring gear chamfer on box side ,later defender 2.5 or 2.3 on engine side,any pics of teeth and housing

jamesmartin said:

flywheel teeth must have a leading edge on one side,you cant fit a later 5 bearing flywheel to a 3 bearing crank, or flywheel housing correctly,ring gear for the 3 bearing egine is the same regardless of whether its 2 dowel 9 inch clutch or 3 dowel 91/2 inch clutch,5 bearing are 91/2 inch too, all 3 bearing will have imperial bolts, 5 bearing metric bolts, series 5 brg will have ring gear chamfer on box side ,later defender 2.5 or 2.3 on engine side,any pics of teeth and housing

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H james,
this shows the teeth. will do a second one showing the flywheel through the housing aperture

Hi James,
The teeth are the same on both sides.
regards
Mike

The engine is an 11H, the flywheel housing has been added later and starter access is under the exhaust manifold,
hope this helps, regards
Mike

88lr63 said:

The engine is an 11H, the flywheel housing has been added later and starter access is under the exhaust manifold,
hope this helps, regards
Mike

Click to expand...

ive yet to see a ring gear without a leading edge but first pic is out of focus so hard to say, as it looks it should fit a bendix type starter ie seperate solenoid type

Sorry to jump in.
I think it’s chamfered on the back (gearbox side) but might be the focus of pic.



If you stick your finger in you may feel it.

J

Thanks guys,
I believe I know what the problem is. As this was a very late series 3 engine fitted to a 90 landrover, the flywheel housing is slightly different to accommodate a 9 tooth starter motor to fit the flywheel (ERC6408) that fits both the 2.3 and 2.5 engines and someone has put a normal 5 bearing flywheel on the engine. Physically goes in, but not compatible with the 9 toothed starter motor. Since the petrol 2.25 and 2.5 defender flywheel appears near impossible to obtain, does anybody know whether I can fit the normal 5 bearing housing (ETC5927) straight onto the block, because I could at least instal the more normal 5 bearing flywheel (ERC6392).
Any advice would be most welcome

whats the engine number,series use bendix starter have you tried one,def 2.3 pre engage

I agree the engine is an 11h that was fitted to a defender 90 and was fitted with the 9 tooth pre engage starter. unfortunately it has transpired that the flywheel is an earlier flywheel probably ERC6392 and although the 9 tooth starter will start the engine, it does not mate correctly with the flywheel and it is grinding on them causing undue wear. The flywheel housing itself is for the DEF model and the spacing is not correct for mating an 11 tooth starter to the model of the fitted flywheel. I now have the problem of either getting hold of a 2.3 or 2.5 def petrol flywheel which appears extremely difficult, or changing the flywheel housing to that of the earlier 5 bearing engines where replacement flywheels and housings are still available. My inclination at the moment is to do the latter,
Regards
Mike

Hi All,
Now restripped the flywheel and flywheel housing of the 2286cc 5 bearing 11H engine
The flywheel is an ERC 6392 and the housing is actually an ETC 5927 (ETC6393).
Can someone confirm that these are ok together and that the standard 2M100 starter motor should fit okay. Looking at my copy of the series 3 parts list they should do. If not, what do I need to change.
Any guidance here would be most helpful ,
Regards
Mike

Solved it.
The two new parts (listed previously) from a well known vendor in Birmingham fitted perfectly and the 11 toothed starter motor fitted as it should.
The problem was the flywheel housing that had previously been fitted, even though it had identical casting numbers to that of the new one, that came in a landrover box incidentally. The differences were very subtle and were not easily visible to the naked eye.
I have now consigned the original casting to the refuse tip.

Hi 88lr63 - just seen this thread and see you also have an 11H (2.3 from an early ninety). I am also having issues with the starter (I understand the correct part is the M78R type, 9 tooth). I still get grinding on starting. Given you’ve fixed your issue, can you see if my thread on the same topic makes any sense to you pls: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/starter-grinding-timing-conundrum.344714/#post-4635335. Thanks Tom