Jim,
As the anonymous responder to your question suggests, that would seem to be
the oil pump cover. A few years ago, during a summer in which my Midget's
starter would frequently just spin, and not engage the ring gear on the
first couple of attempts, and the engine emitted a slight, high-pitched
whine, sometimes, I discovered that the ring gear had, gradually, been
pushed forward on the flywheel to the point at which it began to rub the oil
pump cover. It had worn completely through before I got around to pulling
the engine and investigating (don't worry, there's no oil contained by that
cover). Bottom line is: I think there should be more than a few thousandths
clearance between the ring gear and the oil pump cover. I've god a 32,000
original mile 1275 sitting under my workbench. I'll take a look at it, and
post the clearance on the List, in an hour or so.
You may want to consider sending your flywheel to your favorite machine
shop, for a check-over. The ring gear CAN be welded to the flywheel, for
safety. That is the route I took, with my new ring gear.
Bud Osbourne
-----Original Message-----
From owner-spridgets at autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of dmeadow@juno.com
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 10:13 PM
To: bmwwxman@gmail.com
Cc: refisk@chartermi.net; spridgets@autox.team.net;
midgetsprite@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Bolt and thread question...
That round area houses your oil pump. Are you sure it is brazed on? It
typically is held in with a sealant of some sort, but not brazed. The
clearance is probably OK.
On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:45:31 -0600 Jim Johnson <bmwwxman@gmail.com>
writes:
>
> Have just about all my parts and will hopefully have the Midget
> back on the road in a couple of weeks. One thing is a little
> bothersome... on the back plate, there is a round raised area
> with the MOWOG emblem on it. This is the part that looks like
> it has been brazed back on. While the flywheel isn't exactly
> hitting it, the clearance between it and the flywheel is probably
> in the area of a few thousands!! You can barely see light between
> them! Should it be that close??
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