Thread: making a starter motor water tight

lots of sealastic when you put it together and tap a small air fitting to it.


run this air fitting from a LP regulaotr off of an aircompressor resivior tank.

(1-2 psi is ample)

As Blknight said positive pressure from a air pump. Once I am back on my feet this will be the next thing to do on her, as well as the diffs. ALL the competitive mud runners do that to their vehicles for exactly the same reason you identified.

Buy a cheap air compressor from Super cheap, autobarn, repco etc. and a heap of good quality flexible air line. I am going to drill and tap into both the diffs and the starter motor.

For the diffs this will make the air come out of the breather stopping any chance of water getting in, with the starter moter drill and tap into both the solinoid and the starter motor body to keep water out of both. Then all you need to do is to connect them up to the pump, and put a switch into the cab so that when you are going to go near water you can turn on the pump and you know you are safe.

Also I am giong to do the same to the dizzy to try to water proof it as well.

Cheers Blythe

you cannot make the starter water proof.
you can make it splash resistant, but if you dunk your truck deep enough to get water into the bell housing then your starter will fill up also.
the single most important thing is to let the water out of the starter.
if you traverse deep water you will get water in the bell housing [yes - even with wading plugs in] some of this water ends up in the starter, if it cannot drain out when you get to dry land then your starter will fail sometime down the track. it may take a month, but it will fail.
let the water out, it doesn't matter if it goes in a bit as long as it can get out, the starter lives in a pretty hot enviroment and will dry out very quickly, but if the water cannot get away it hangs in there and corrodes all sorts of things [i had to make new brush springs to keep one of mine going after they rusted away]
best thing is to avoid deep water and mud, well mud is evil to everything.

Originally Posted by harry

best thing is to avoid deep water and mud, well mud is evil to everything.

Where's the fun in that. Might as well buy a toyota or patrol.

ok, do as i say, not as i do!!!!!
i didn't say i didn't play in water or mud.

grump, after last w/end's play at rover park - guess what?

I would not of thoght that the starter was under water at the time of the crossing.
According to the auto elec the gear that comes into contact with the fly wheel (excuse the lack of technical terms) of the starter was rusted in place.

I like the idea of the positive pressure but I am also worried about adding in another thing that can go wrong.

How did they do the Camel trophy in the Series 3's, things would not of been that sofisticated back then

I like the idea of the positive pressure but I am also worried about adding in another thing that can go wrong.

This is the challenge when we start to modify from standard to go further than others. the positive pressure gig is not foolproof nothing really is at the end of the day but it does prolong things massively. I guess the more you modify the more you need to check things yourself so you are happy things are working right. I have reached the point where I no longer take my vehicle to a "landrover expert" only to the mechanics who race in the mud larks as they are used to working on very modified vehicles then it is mostly to bounce ideas off of them and do it myself.


How did they do the Camel trophy in the Series 3's, things would not of been that sofisticated back then [/quote]

Series III, II's and I's were not designed to the exacting tollerances of modern 4wd's they were design to be the best 4wd landrover could develop, nowadays all 4wds are made more for the city than real bush work - obviously there is some exceptions to this but generally all 4wd's are becoming softer.

So the older 4wds were designed to take the rough but at a cost of being hot, noisy and slow. This is why they have such a loyal following, and why I regret selling my series IIA.

Also things like starter motors are now sourced from 2wd's to keep the cost down. the old ones were made for the job.

A bit long winded but I hope that helped.

Cheers Blythe