moving a car using its starter motor

i read once about a guy who said he moved his stalled car a few hundred meters away to a safer place by removing the plugs and using the starter motor. do you think it would work in a desperate situation?

thx

Reply to
beerismygas
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Yes battery and starter surviving long enough. I've done it to move a few metres off a junction when the car died.

But if i was doing it i'd stop every couple of seconds for a good couple of mins to let the starter cool down - it will NOT enjoy it.

Tom

Reply to
Tom Burton

========================================= People used to do something similar using the starting handle to get a car out of snow or mud. Starting handles began to disappear shortly after the Mini arrived although I believe a few Minis had retro-fitted starting dogs and handles.

Cic.

Reply to
Cicero

would have been rather hard as the radiator and wheel are in the way IIRC

Reply to
Mrcheerful

I have often moved cars like that, sometimes up on to trailers, often into the garage. yes it is hard on the starter but that might be a cheap option compared with causing a crash for instance.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

========================================= I know that, but it was done or seriously proposed. The lack of a starting handle was one of the criticisms made against the Mini but it seems to have been quite successful despite the prophets of doom.

Cic.

Reply to
Cicero

Yes but I'd hate to think of the condition of the motor and battery afterwards.

For moving you ten yards off a road to the verge it's fine. To move that distance... well I'd not like to try myself even with the plugs out.

Reply to
Chris Street

It was possible to retrofit to a Mini. The wheels had to be turned onto full lock to use it, but it could be done.

The bottom of the rad is higher than the centre line of the crankshaft.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

IIRC from mis-spent youth, there were one or two of the current day car enthusiasts who did such a thing by getting a radiator made with a hole in it at crankshaft level and had an 'extra long' starting handle made to suit.

The principle of using the set-up was to turn the wheels onto a full lock and insert the starting handle behinh the the wheel and then turn like the clappers to start the engine - mind you I was only around 15 at the time and blood car mad and eventually became quite a D-i-Y expert on the old Mini and

1100 range. The were bloody fantastic vehicles!

Anyone still remember how to change the little by-pass hose between the water pump and head in around 20 - 40 minutes - or change the fanbelt without dismantling half the radiator mountings to do so?

Or how to stop the bloody engine from stopping when driving in the rain - and the 'spray' that was invented around then to help get the engine running again?

All great fun.

No prizes for correct answers

Reply to
Unbeliever

========================================= It was also possible to fit an electric cooling fan there as well, but I think I had to cut out a small section of the flitch panel to improve air flow.

Cic.

Reply to
Cicero

did you manage to do this with plugs on? or did you take the plugs off for this? since the starter doesnt stall i take it that you are not restricted to using 1st gear?

Reply to
beerismygas

---------------------------------------- Compress hose (later corrugated) in a vice for about 10 minutes. Slide fan belt through special slot in radiator cowl - can't remember exact location.

---------------------------------------- Fit a deflector plate behind the front grille / smear the mating faces of the distributor cap and body with Vaseline. Swear.

Reply to
Cicero

with plugs in use 1st or reverse (if you can blank off the intake there will be very little compression), with plugs out you can use up to third on the level, change gear as normal!! The furthest I have moved a car on a level road is about 200 yards, I would usually be pushing as well as use the starter. For several months I wound a sierra in and out of the garage on the starter, recharge the battery every few repeats.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

reverse works as well.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

Well done and showing your age now Cicero - used to be great jobs on wet and cold days eh?

The other b*****d of a job (one of a few) was keeping the rear handbrake quadrants free - now that did cause me a little trouble!

Reply to
Unbeliever

There was actually no need for a starting handle on an early 850 Mini. Simply jack up one wheel, select top gear and spin the wheel by hand. And it would start.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I remember changing the fan belt when I took the dynamo out to replace the brushes. The belt had to be pushed behind each vane of the fan one by one all the way around. Then you could get it onto the fan pulley and around the dynamo and crack pulleys. I was about 15 at the time so it's 35 years ago, but that's what remember.

Mark

Reply to
Mark

IIRC, there was a notch in the fan surround to allow you to fit the belt over the blades. Earlier cars had more blades so not a big enough gap between them.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Later model Minis (1990 on) have these as standard anyway.

Reply to
asahartz

More common method was/is to cut the fingers off a rubber glove, thread the plug leads through and fit the glove over the dizzy cap. Personally I prefer to use a section of old inner tube and a tie-wrap - it's neater and easier to slip out of the way.

I still run a '78 Mini as a daily.

Reply to
asahartz

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