one way starter gear

The sprague gear in my '75 Norton had it's cage broken so I installed a new one following the installation procedure of the service manual to the letter. (Sprague "teeth" pointing to the left)
However, I can start till the cows come home, the sprague gear does not want to engage into the gear that is mounted on the engine shaft (and drives the chain to the clutch).
What could be wrong or what do I wrong? I did the installation procedure now 4 times with the book in my hand,but no go. All the starter gears are working great but the actual Sprague gear just doesn't want to grab the engine shaft for some reason. HELP!!!

Maybe you installed the sprague backwards. Can be done. It's a piece of crap anyways , maybe some so-called "engineer" can produce a unit that works a bit longer? Just a stupid musing.

I don't know if you're watching it not work with the primary cover off or not but is it possible that the anti backfire/overload device is slipping? I have changed the sprag in my bike years ago and it was a straight forward fix. I also had to service the backfire device quite a few years ago too and although I can't remember exactly what the symptoms were, I think they were similar to the failed sprag. Wish I could be more help, all I can remember is something was broken in the antibackfire mechinism allowing it to slip with ease, mimicking a bad sprag.

dezwatj, Go to the Old Britts site Fred has some good info about the stock E Start

Phil