Alton Installation

Finished an Alton starter installation this weekend on a 74 850. It took me forever, but if I was to do another, it could be done in about 4 hours. I have a neighbor who is very knowledgeable who helped me when I ran into roadblocks. The biggest was the fact that the end of the crankshaft was .003 bigger that the sprag clutch/ magnet. With his guidance, after 30 minutes with emory paper, it fit. The starter kit seems to be very well built and comes with a good installation book and Alton has a 16 min installation video. Have not been able to use the starter as my battery proved to on the way out and would barely turn the engine over.

The Alton is an excellent kit in the current version. I had the same issue when I installed mine several years ago re the crankshaft/rotor and the installation took, as you suggested, around 4 hours. FWIW, I have been using the Shorai 18AH battery since I installed the Alton and it has been great other than one instance where I accidentally left either the ignition on or the key in park overnight which drained the batt. That was totally operator error. But a couple hours of charging with a standard battery tender put it all right.

I also had the crankshaft/rotor problem. Decided to open up the rotor bore using a Dremel fitted with a sanding drum. Worried about swarf getting where it shouldn't and so first wrapped the rotor in cling film.