[V8] V8 - back on the road, almost.

[Jason Wilkerson]

Gentlemen,
  A few months ago I posted about taking my car off the road to do all the seals, TB, hydraulic, suspension, exhaust, Paint, headliner, etc.  I am in the process of 'buttoning it up' and I came across a slight problem.     

About a month ago I used a pry bar to hold the ring gear so that I could remove the crank bolt.  This method has worked in the past flawlessly for countless cars including this one.  It would have worked in this instance too, except for the fact that when I started to lower the car off of the jack, I forgot to remove the prybar!  I about had a heart attack, raised the car, removed prybar, turned engine full 360deg to inspect ring gear teeth to make sure no damage was done.  I found none so I continued on my way with the rest of the project.  

I completly forgot about the above incident until I went to start the car to no avail.  At first I thought I had timed the engine wrong, or the fuel pump siezed from sitting for 3 months.  I then remembered this little 'incident' and proceeded to tell myself that there was no way that when I dropped the car on the prybar that it could have been in the 1deg window it would have had to break the reference pin.  I proceeded to spin the engine 1 full revolution, and guess what - I found no reference pin!

My first thought of course is - great, now the tranny has to come out!  My second thought is - how can I get around this?  I quickly remember that the starter is in line with this pin - so out comes the starter.  Sure enough the pin was sheared off at the surface.  Luckily I had a replacement ring gear and pin.  I remove the pin from the ring gear on both and proceed to install the replacement in the car.  

I am currently about half way in with a small air chisel (don't ask - think of a space the size of the starter, with two hands, a light, a hammer and a chisel - at 10deg F)  I got tired at about 12:30 last night so I will resume tonight.  Just wanted to share my frustration with the list, in hopes that it will someday save someone else heartache.  Thanks for listening if you got this far!