Spent another few hours in the garage with the 200TDi last night.  The main aim was to find out whether the 24v starter motor from the Series III would fit into the flywheel housing of the 200TDi.  The answer was, sadly, no.  Starter motors:  new 12v 200TDi starter on the left and old 24v starter on the right. The main problem with the starters is that the holes on the new starter’s mounting flange are further apart than those on the old one.  The shape of the flywheel housing itself means that it would be next to impossible to drill and tap holes for new studs.

In addition to this, the starter gears on the two motors engage from different directions.  On the 12v starter the wheel spins out from the motor body to engage the flywheel.  On the 24v starter the gear spins back towards the motor body.  The teeth on the flywheel are shaped on one side to allow the starter gear to engage easily, but flat on the other side.  I’m not 100% sure, but I suspect you’d see the same difference when comparing the 12v and 24v Series III starters, so maybe it’s not a massive problem.  I haven’t got a clue why the military starter engages from the opposite direction.

Finally, I also noticed that the curved cutout for the starter in the 200TDi flywheel housing interferes with the bizarre spring on the end of the 24v motor.  With a bit of crafty filing it might be possible to sort this, but the other problems mean it’s probably not worth bothering.

Oil seal on the crank shaft clearly never leaked before! Flywheel housing removed.

One of the biggest modifications when fitting the 200TDi (with or without the turbo) onto a series gearbox is to adapt the flywheel housing.  This means removing a couple of pins and one stud then drilling and tapping new stud holes as well as counterboring holes for some allen head bolts.  If I didn’t have a milling machine this would be a scary thing!

First step was to remove the extra stud, which turned out to be reasonably simple.

Removing the extra stud using two bolts and a spanner.  Tighen the bolts against each other and then put the spanner on the inner nut to undo the stud. Test fitting the flywheel housing on the gearbox.  Fits well. To be honest, I’m not worried at all about the flywheel housing modifications.  I have the right tools knocking about and the process is pretty well documented on the internet.  Far more worrying is stuff like the custom exhaust I need to make up (can’t afford the manifold swap option as they come in at £100+ these days) and the continuing saga of the 24v/12v electrical system.  More on these issues soon I hope…