Sera_

Thanks for cheering, crxguy406. Oh you can be sure I won't let this car die, I've spent unbelievable amounts of money and work for this already

StreetsideStig

Sera, I'm digging this thread, man. I really appreciate your detail and I'm learning alot. Keep it up!

Sera_

StreetsideStig, thanks. I'm also learning a massive amount of car mechanics while I'm fixing this. It's my first dive into any car's engine, so this is the first round of fixing for me.

Sera_

Tried removing the crankshaft pulley bolt with the impact wrench today... no luck. I'll have to try blowtorching it.

Sera_

Finally got that SOB off. Needed two one hour sessions of impact wrenching, torching, spraying all kinds of greases and such. I also lost my temper once, and tried putting a bolt in one of the holes in the pulley, and then used a 60 cm breaker bar. Actually twice. This happened:



So it's a new pulley or expand the two other holes lower so it becomes harmonized

StreetsideStig

Oh dang. Yep, new pulley. Harmonic balance is definitely something I wouldn't mess around with. Maybe if you know a good machinist.

Sera_

Dang indeed. I'm trying to find the pulley somewhere, one potential place is the scrapyard I bought my camshaft from. I just hope they have this...

letank

Aaaack, I did the same thing in 1990 at 70Kmiles.... but I only did it once.... and never bothered fixing it .... the engine gave up at 224Kmiles with the same pulley.

The best penetrating oil as you cannot get the PB blaster on the other side of the pond is a 50/50 mix of acetone and automatic transmission fluid such as dextron or mercron for US automatic transmission, I think that even Honda uses the same inexpensive fluid.
The most expensive cordless impact driver from snap on at 650 lbs of torque for $600 does work....

Time to build your wish list.... big air compressor, air tools, air impact driver, welder... 2000 sq ft garage.... so about 200 sq m.... Sam e here.... no space... too many projects.

Sera_

A real house with some garage space is definitely on my wish list. I could fix (= break) cars all day every day, dammit!

I've read about PB Blaster, they say it's a lot better than e.g. WD-40 which has just hit the shelves over here. I'm using now a brand called CRC and CRC gun oil, sprayed those bastards like a maniac on the bolt.

PB Blaster would be nice to try but I can get acetone and I have Dexron automatic tranny fluid so I'll make a mixture some day. Thanks for the info.

Sera_

The scrapyard doesn't have the pulley. But if letank was able to drive with an uneven one, I can too I'll just have to do some modifications to it, namely balance it with my eyes and Dremel.

letank

If I can find one a the local yard.... I can try to pull it up.... especially if the guy with the snap on cordless impact is around.

StreetsideStig

Go for it. At least the two existing breaks are in the same direction. You can just tell everybody it's a custom job to save weight!

Sera_

Thanks man but I think I can settle with this... One of these days I'll Dremel it even.

letank

or use some "jb weld" or the local 2 part epoxy to smooth it up.... It is aluminum so it is lightweight.

Sera_

Actually that's not a bad idea at all. I tried it with Dremel just now and I gotta say it'd be easier to splat some epoxy around the holes.

Sera_

Changed my mind

StreetsideStig

Nice.

Sera_

The car will be at least 2,5 grams lighter than before, massive advantage!

StreetsideStig

Haha, weight savings, indeed! Just replace your shift **** with a carbon fiber one, and you'll be good to go!

Sera_

Dayum! I can almost feel it

letank

I found this tool on the redpepperracing site, the home made tool to unlock the pulley, scroll down to the middle of the link.

http://www.redpepperracing.com/forum...st=15&start=15

Cheers

Sera_

Looks quite handy, next time I'm doing this I will definitely make that kind of thing.

Now the engine is cleaned very thoroughly and probably tomorrow I'll clean the water trench from the dust created when I sanded the block. I removed all water from the trench with a hand suction pump. I also cleaned the head bolt holes with a Pasteur pipette (a job perk ) and some solvent because any liquid in there would be bad news.

Here's a random shot I took ten minutes ago.



There's a completely new timing belt (14,10 € = ~$20) and tensioner (26,50 € = ~$38) on the right side, so the moment of truth is soon at hand. I gotta admit the first start after all these tens of repair hours scares me. I'm planning to do that two or three weeks from now.

Sera_

I lowered the head onto the block today, and while I was tightening the last head nut onto the dowel seen below in red, surprisingly yet quite expectedly the dowel snapped. Half of it occupies the hole in the head, and there's no way I can tighten it from there. I'll probably drill a smaller hole into the dowel, install a Helicoil in it and use a common bolt.





My plan:

letank

Aaaaack. Sorry to read that Murphy has struck again. It is not that bad.

The helicoil should be in the head. You need to pull the head and drill the head bolt out, how deep is the brocken bolt threaded in the head?

Avoid at all cost, the bit called " easy out", they are more likely to break inside the bolt that you want to remove and they are hardened steel.... impossible to drill out, I have done it:

https://picasaweb.google.com/jeepmr/...66832026266194

In fact there are better choice than helicoil.... I have used full thread inserts on the motorcycle head.... 2 out of the 4 bolts are keensert or similar. You need the matching drill bit and tap, the engine block is aluminium so it can be drilled very easily, you will have to figure out how to drill a straight hole.... on an inclined engine sitting on shock absorbers, so you can put the body on blocks on the wheel rims... and do it free hand

See my adventures here, broken valve, then busted threads, then bent valves....

https://picasaweb.google.com/jeepmr/Valve#


http://www.newmantools.com/kee.htm

We have this great resource here, mcmaster.com

http://www.mcmaster.com/#threaded-inserts/=c7ukk9

But your best bet is to find the local car repair place that is not the big dealership and find the local machinist, they may help you for a modest fee (yeaaaah right) or give you some hints.... come w the pictures.... so they understand what has happened.

To clean the thread use a tap of the right size to remove the junk, the pipet is not the easiest.... I used cotton swabs dipped in acetone from the lab... Toluene is a good extractor of junk...

Sera_

Nice reply letank, thanks a lot for the info and the pics!

Yes, Murphy is always present when I even touch this car. But I think eventually I will win the battle.

Luckily the bolt/ dowel/ stud doesn't thread into the head at all, it's only threaded in the block and the head is tightened with a nut, using the upper threads in the dowel. So I can remove the head bolts, take the head off and begin to plan how to screw the broken dowel out of the block. I'll post a pic when I'm in there.