Engine: R1 Starter vs Regular Starter

[tsurich]

While at the South Bend Swap Meet I overheard a conversation on someone looking for an Avanti (R1/R2) starter. Not realizing there was a difference, I inquired what they were talking about. Through the conversation I found out that my '63 GT Hawk with 4 speed has a regular starter, meaning it has only two fields. Beings that I am the third owner,who knows what the previous owners replaced parts with either to cut cost or parts availability. The R series starters had four fields to spin the higher compression engines faster. Is this starter (Prestolite MDV 7025) still available from any of our vendors. (This number is for manual transmission car, I think 7026 is AD). Or can I take two starters, steal the fields out of the one and make one 4 field starter. If this is possible, how are the fields connected electrically to one another and to the terminal? Are there any other options as I'm rebuilding the engine at present and wonder if the old starter will even be able to turn the engine now that it will have compression.

[Alan]

? When going through mine a few months back, I thought there were 3 Field poles on the Avanti starter. Maybe I should go and drop it on my foot and see.

[Bellingham Studenut]

If you open it, you will either see 4 fields used originally on the Avanti, or 2 fields of same size and a smaller 3rd field.
The extra cranking power makes a difference in cold weather, but any good working one will do fine otherwise (earlier Delco ones are also fine).
You can change either of the Prestolite units from auto trans to manual, simply by switching the end that covers the starter drive.
Make sure you have good cables, good ground, etc, or neither will work well.
You can also contact Fairborn Studebaker about an even better high performance starter that will bolt right in.

James

[tsurich]

The starter in the Hawk does have the three fields as you mentioned, two large one small. I guess the reason I questioned the starter was that it matched a starter that I had pulled out of a six cylinder engine. Of course the metal tag was missing off the Hawk starter so I had no way to identify it's manufacturer and model. Thanks for the Fairborn contact. If my original starter after a rebuild seems too slow with this new engine I'll check with them.

[bezhawk]

The Avanti Starter is a MDY. If you can find an older pre 61 delco starter, they are better. The starter drive is a better design, and four field coils can be added as many GM cars had them, and they are easier to find.

[studegary]

This reminds me of what I used to do for V8 cars with six volts. I took the Studebaker starter and used a GM straight eight starter case with four field coils and made a conversion. This required no drilling, wireing, mounting, etc., except some had to have the alignment (case to end plate) pins relocated/redrilled.