Hey guys,
I'm trying to determine the correct starter motor to use on a friends G16B EFI conversion into his Suzuki Sierra. His neighbour offered to do the conversion, but then packed and left half way through the job, leaving him with a pile of parts and with little idea of what to do with it all.
So am currently in the process of getting the starter onto the engine. The frame has been removed from the car, so the G16B EFI engine, flywheel and clutch kit - bolted to the G13BA transmission, are currently mounted to eachother with an adapter kit from Suzisports, and the engine and transmission are mounted to the chassis using said kit mounting bracket and other standard mounts. It is uncertain whether the G16B EFI was sourced from a manual or automatic Vitara, if this matters. The Suzuki Sierra that the G16B EFI is going into is a manual 4WD SJ413.
The starter motor that my friend's neighbour has given him is shown in the following picture. It has a sticker with a part number on it which is 31100-8301. It also states 'Type' as M3T38981. From searching this part number on the internet it has led to a few sites which list it as a 1.6L Vitara engine starter motor. Not sure whether EFI or Carb - Manual or Automatic. Please note there is a plate on the front of the starter in the pictures, this is from the Suzisports adapter kit. It is unsure why this is required. The holes on that plate do line up with the flange holes on the starter motor, even though it does not look like they do in the photo.
I have contacted Suzisports to talk to them about what starter motor is meant to be used with the kit, but will not get contacted back until the kit designer returns to work in a few days. So I thought I would get some info from forum members in the mean time.
We have tried to fit the starter but it does not fit on the engine and would require grinding to fit. Also the lower starter motor bolt hole on the Suzisports adapter plate (main gearbox to engine plate, not the plate on the starter motor) was slightly offset so I had to drill the hole larger to get a bolt to thread properly as shown in the following picture. This may have been an error with the cutting of the adapter plate, but I included this info in this post in case it is relevant (for example if the adapter plate was perhaps meant for a 1.6 transmission?) If it's not relevant please ignore.
From all the forum searching I've done I have come across a lot of conflicting information. From what I have read there seems to be a narrower bodied 1.6L Vitara starter motor that will fit without the need for grinding. It is unsure if this is from a Carb or EFI - Auto or Manual Vitara 1.6L. I have also seen many mentions of a reduction gear starter motor being the correct one to use. It also seems that there are issues with gear meshing/engagement between the starter motor and flywheel teeth when using certain starter motor and flywheel combinations and this can lead to failing starters and damaged flywheels.
So based on all of this, the questions I have are;
- 1. What starter motor does this look like in the above photo? (Please give as much info as possible please, ie. 1.6 Carb, 1.6 EFI, Auto, Manual etc.)
2. What starter motor is required for this setup (the setup being a 1.6 engine/flywheel/clutch on 1.3 transmission)? (Once again as much info as possible would be great.)
Thanks in advance,
Let me know if I can provide any more info that will help answer the questions.