Re: locking engine without part 2084

[meiss@tequila.com (Mark Eissler)]

>From: Paul.Heneghan@bbc.co.uk (Heneghan,Paul)
>
>Final question - how do you lock the engine without the special tool.
> Can you wedge a screwdriver against the teeth on the flywheel?
>

The screwdriver trick is what the Haynes service manual suggests. But I'll
tell you right now that you're likely to injure yourself with the
screwdriver when it goes flying across the garage floor!

Since there was no way that I was going to put down $100 (or whatever it
is) on yet another specialized tool that has only one single use... I came
up with another way.


Tools:

You'll need a piece of angle iron (the angle is 90 degrees, the piece I
used is about 7.5 inches long and each of the two surfaces are 0.5 inches
wide). You will also need medium Vise grips.


Application:

Disconnect battery negative lead. Next, remove the starter. With the
starter gone, slide the piece of angle iron into the starter opening in the
bellhousing. The angle iron should be positioned so that it looks like the
top left corner of the outline of a box. So that a leading edge is jammed
inbetween two teeth on the starter ring gear and that the other leading
rests on the bottom of the opening. (Flipping the iron the other way--so
that a flat edge rests on the bottom of the opening--does not work, it's a
physics thing.)

With the piece of angle iron positioned, jam it in there by locking a pair
of vise grips tight up against the angle iron. If the angle iron is set
properly, you'll be able to stick one of the vise grips' jaws on the bottom
of the opening and the other jaw will be stuck in the bottom hole where one
of the starter's bolts slides in.

You'll probably have to fiddle to get the positioning just right. Not only
is the crankshaft pulley bolt tightened to about 300lb/ft, but there's a
massive amount of thread lock on that same bolt. In short, it's in there
real good.

So, if the angle iron/vise grip setup isn't set up quite right, you'll find
that the angle iron will pop out quite readily as you apply the strength of
one grown elephant to your lifetime warranted 1/2" drive ratchet that's
been inserted into at least a two foot breaker bar!

When set up properly, this trick will allow you to place the weight of a
fully loaded space shuttle on that breaker bar and the crankshaft won't
budge.

Installation is reverse of the above. And I mean reverse, you'll have to
jam the angle iron to the top of the starter opening in the bellhousing.




--
Mark Eissler         |  Tequila Films Inc.
meiss@tequila.com    |  info@tequila.com