Originally Posted by
whitey56
My understanding of the pinion drives is when the starter is cranking a motor it's Rpm is around 300 when the motor fires it will be doing up to 700 Rpm with no accelerator which will force the pinion backward to the free wheeling side and there will be no increased revs to the starter if the key is held on a fraction longer.
The pinion slides on a spiral bush to help the pinion teeth mesh with the ring gear teeth, they are quite a efficient bit of gear.
I hope that explains it better Mclaren