The lonely starter pinion...no spring and no thrust washer.

[johnnymot1]

I got around to pulling out my starter solenoid assembly on a bike I've started working on to do the necessary solenoid clean/tune up, and low and behold there was/is no pinion spring or thrust washer in there!  This bike had been rebuilt and bored over for/by the previous owner, so no doubt the engine has "been into".....just not all the parts put back in........I assume basically the starter/pinion/solenoid can operate without them, but of course they are there for a reason!

Nothing like left over parts on the work bench after a "professional" rebuild huh. There are other ways to shed weight and simplify that bike. I'm paranoid at what other vital organs may be missing now.

Anyway, I've yet to look, but what are my odds those parts are still available new?  I may have a spare spring laying around, and can probably produce a thrust washer, but my first thought is to just find a honda part for each maybe....Those expectations may be unrealistic, but I'm not going the $30 route on ebay for a spring either. Time to search the parts bin and compatible substitutes.

[J6G1Z]

The only thing that I can recommend is trying Bike Bandit & Service Honda.
http://www.bikebandit.com
http://www.servicehonda.com/parts.html

I've used Bike Bandit in the past & prefer them over say Partzilla. I've never used Service Honda, but have heard good things about them.

Good luck
J.

[johnnymot1]

For now I have a few spares  in a few extra engines, however due to OCD, I have a weird thing of permanently robbing my good engines of parts, so I looked around at those links and nothing....I finally found the genuine parts at www.lawnmowerpros.com.  No kidding, and not sure why, but the part number for the thrust washer and the spring are the genuine part. I may end up putting an FT500 motor in a lawn mower, but at least for now, looks like I found my back up parts to replenish the robbed washer and spring for the build I'm doing on this machine. The 4-5 week delivery time makes me think they are coming from over seas.

Hopefully the internet has come through again on these little, but necessary parts.

[Lefty]

I love it when I find a part from a different machine and it fits like it was OEM, very cool!

[johnnymot1]

Unfortunatley those jacklegs emailed me today and cancelled my order. Doooh.  The quest continues for a spring and thrust washer. I think if I just keep a spare of each to take to a parts store, I can physically find a suitable replacement.

[johnnymot1]

This story has an interesting ending. I looked everywhere for that spring and washer....Specialty shops, etc....Nothing.

I finally ended up at a semi local MC shop. The guy there had no idea what an "Ascot" was, but said he had a "honda guru" in his shop. A tech emerged and told me he actually had some spare FT500 starter parts at home, and to give him an hour to go check.....About an hour later I got a call, and he had my precious spring and washer....The price....Free! How cool is that. He was glad to see the parts used to bring a machine back to life.

[J6G1Z]

That's awesome!

It's so cool when these types of things take place.

J.

[johnnymot1]

They definitely won a customer and future work I can't do at home. Definitely nice to see someone who wants to see a part that has sat unused for years, used to bring a machine back to life. The sign of a true enthusiast with a passion for bikes.

[Luke]

That is so cool ... great karma all around!