Coming within the next couple of months will be an electric start conversion for pre-1975 Commandos. This starter is a modified version of Bob Oswald's (Quiet Power Drive) that he has developed and sold for a number of years. This is the starter system that Kenny Dreer used on his VR-880 Commandos.

Old Britts modifications to the QPD starter design are:

• How the starter motor is mounted on the engine cradle. We want to be able to use MK3 engine cradles and provide both right and left hand shifts. Since the MK3 engine cradle uses fixed centers for the gearbox mountings, we had to use the MK3 positioning for the gearbox top bolt. The MK3 engine cradle provides several benefits over the pre_MK3 engine cradle like:
  • Allows removal of the gearbox without unbolting the rear engine bolts.
  • A superior way of securing the swingarm spindle with two locating pins instead of the 1/4" top bolt.
  • A superior lubribation system for the swingarm bushings.
  • Better oil sealing.
  • Allows for left hand shift conversions.

  We are in discussions with Andover Norton about having them manufacture our modified engine cradles. This would provide all the above features for pre-MK3 Commandos at a cost savings over having us modify a new engine cradle.

• The starter bracket has an outrigger bearing built into it. This guarantees the proper alignment between the starter gear and the clutch ring gear. We have used a Steve Maney outrigger bearing on our race bikes for years which helps eliminate the flex of the main shaft. The counter shaft sprocket and clutch assembly are cantilevered off the sleeve gear bearing in the gearbox. Placing a bearing between the counter shaft sprocket and the clutch helps eliminate a lot of the causes for main shaft flexing. We have found that bikes with outrigger bearings shift better due to reduced main shaft flex.
• A one-piece starter bracket milled from billet aluminum. We are currently using 7075 aircraft aluminum for our brackets.
• The inner primary cover fits around our starter bracket and is secured to this bracket.

We have the starter bracket, engine cradle and inner primary cover development completed. We now have this starter mounted on our engine dyno and have used it on a freshly built Combat, 10 to 1 compression, engine. The starter turned over the engine with ease, almost like the spark plugs had been removed. We want to continue testing a couple of engines on our dyno that we need to test and tune. We have a customer's Commando that we will use to install our first starter and also use it to develop the starter switch, wiring harness and battery tray. The battery tray may also be something that we may have Andover Norton help us with once we come up with a final design. We also need to design an attractive cover for the top of the inner primary.

The starter motor in the first picture has a black body where the starter in the next picture has a chrome body.

These starters are the ones used on the Harley Sportster and have proven to be very dependable. We will be using the QPD belt drive and ring gear system.

For pre-MK3 engine cradles, the drive side adjuster slot needs to be filled in by welding a blanking plate into the slot and then drilled for the correct top bolt placement. The timing side slot does not need to be filled in due to the fact that the starter bracket fixes the alignment of the starter to the clutch ring gear.

This bracket is one piece and has an outrigger bearing pressed into it.

We have modify the inner primary cover to fit around our starter bracket. The center mounting stud piller has to be removed for clearance for the ring gear and allow a cross shifting shaft if left hand shift is desired. Two screws were added that screw into the starter bracket as shown in the third picture below. The stock three bolts that screw into the crank cases along with the two starter screws secure the inner primary. The outer primary cover will be altered where the two locating pins fit the two cases together. The outer cover will have the locating pin holes drilled through the case. The inner cover locating holes will be tapped and two allen head bolts will secure the outer cover to the inner cover. Old Britts 1972 race bike with left hand shift has had the two primary covers attached this way since it was built and it has never given us any problems.

One more picture of the chrome starter mounted on the Old Britts engine dyno.