Nasty Crank Pulley Bolt

JPS Europa · 15 March 2003

I am starting to lose my cool. I am doing my timing belt change. No problem. I have been working on cars since dinosaurs ruled the earth, been a pro formula car mechanic and engine builder, yak, yak, yak. I can not get this darn bolt off. First I tried my 1/2" impact wrench. I did not really expect that to work and it didn't. I bought a pulley holding tool for a Honda/Acura from Schley Products PN 60100. Turns out that is a 50mm instead of the 45mm I need. They said it would fit aany NSX...grrr. Well it fits my Integra so I will keep it. Put the car in 3rd, got a helper to stand on the brakes and put about 400 Ft-lbs into the nut. Hah, it says. Do not want to put any more into it that way as I could hurt my trans. Borrowed a 3/4" electric impact wrench. My hands hurt from holding it but that nut is still on there. There is nothing weird about it, like a left hand thread or something. Suggestions welcome!!!!!
Well the feeling is coming back to my hands. Back to the garage.

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Happy Motoring At all Costs!

sjs · 15 March 2003

Not all impacts are created equal. The typical budget model is good for only a couple hundred Ft-lbs and requires a lot of CFM to accomplish that. (inefficient). Really good ones can generate over 600 Ft-lbs and on less CFM than the cheap ones. You need a really good one as well as a compressor/tank that can supply enough CFM at the rated pressure. I’m not sure what the electric one is rated at but I doubt it’s enough.

The first time I didn’t have such a thing so I used a 1/2 inch breaker bar with a 4ft pipe. To hold the crank I bought a very large hex nut with outside dimensions to fit the hex shaped recess in the crank pulley. I uses a giant crescent wrench to hold that nut, stopped from rotating by the frame or floor, I forget which. The socket with a long extension then reached through the hole in the giant nut and onto the crank bolt.

OK it sounds gruesome, but it actually worked very well. The one headache was that the closest nut I could find was of course SAE and I needed to grind all the sides down ~1/6 inch to make it fit, but you could probably get by with one size smaller (1 ¾ wrench size) if the socket still fits through the center.

sjs · 15 March 2003

BTW, what you do not want to do is prevent rotation my pinning the cams with the provided holes. That risks spinning the crank past the belt teeth while the cams remain fixed, which is a sure fire way to bend valves.

JPS Europa · 16 March 2003

I won't do anything silly like restraining cams. The electric 3/4 inch has 700 ft-lbs of torque and broke the 3/4 to 1/2 inch step down adapter made of impact quality steel. Yow, that thing is on there! I was also hitting the four foot cheater pipe with a sledge while putting about 400 ft-lbs on it.
I have to give this a rest for a bit. I am starting to notice my oxy-acetylene rig which can only bring bad things. Who makes the correct holding tool?

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Happy Motoring At all Costs!

matteni · 16 March 2003

You need the Acura wrench. Go down to the local Acura dealer like I did and crawl across the shop floor till they take it down off the shared tools board. BTW - the NSX wrench is the same one as the previous gen TL in case they have it labeled as such.

It is a near impossibility without and very quick with it.

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Nick M

91' Red/Black with Many Mods
99' Honda Odyssey with Many Kids

JPS Europa · 16 March 2003

Originally posted by matteni:
You need the Acura wrench. Go down to the local Acura dealer like I did and crawl across the shop floor till they take it down off the shared tools board. BTW - the NSX wrench is the same one as the previous gen TL in case they have it labeled as such.

It is a near impossibility without and very quick with it.

Where do I buy one?
The "local" Acura dealer is 100 mile round trip and I would like one in my tool inventory.

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Happy Motoring At all Costs!

DanO · 16 March 2003

remove the flywheel inspection cover, have a friend jam a huge flat-blade screwdriver in there to hold the crank and then use a 3/4" breaker bar with 7' of 1" pipe on the end. That's what finally worked for me.

DanO

Kinan · 16 March 2003

I had a similar problem changing the timing belt in my Integra.
I drove less than a mile to the nearest transmission shop, he put it on the lift and spun the bolt off for free.
Couldn't have been easier!

DanO · 16 March 2003

Originally posted by Kinan:
I had a similar problem changing the timing belt in my Integra.
I drove less than a mile to the nearest transmission shop, he put it on the lift and spun the bolt off for free.
Couldn't have been easier!

or do that

matteni · 16 March 2003

I would check with Nielo "parts guy" - I think it is like $110 (don't quote me). If I am not mistaken - someone on this list has one and might loan it to you too.

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Nick M

91' Red/Black with Many Mods
99' Honda Odyssey with Many Kids

JPS Europa · 16 March 2003

Today is another day. I will draw up the tool I want today and take that down to the machine shop tomorrow. WOTAAPAIN.

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Happy Motoring At all Costs!

4AU4LIFE · 16 March 2003

Originally posted by Kinan:
I had a similar problem changing the timing belt in my Integra.
I drove less than a mile to the nearest transmission shop, he put it on the lift and spun the bolt off for free.
Couldn't have been easier!

Did you then drive the car back home???
I had the same task with my Integra and it was a real pain.

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92 RED/BLACK 5-SPEED

Kinan · 16 March 2003

Originally posted by 92NSX:
Did you then drive the car back home???
I had the same task with my Integra and it was a real pain.

Yeah, he broke the bolt and then just snugged it back to drive home. I had an electric impact wrench for that.
Since it was so close I didn't really care about power steering or charging the battery.
When I pulled up he had the air driver already in his hand and asked if he coud help me...I pointed and said I needed his impact wrench. Kinda funny. I was in and out in 10 minutes.
It still turned out to be a long job since one of the bolt heads was real thin and my wrench had this little recess before the 6 points and the wrench couldn't get enough bite. Had to find a thinner wrench in the middle of winter and my only other ride was a motorcycle. Now that I think about it, I should have ground the edge off the wrench and bought a new one later but hindsight is 20/20...

JPS Europa · 16 March 2003

I never had a problem with my Integra. The 1/2" air wrench I have always did that one without too much trouble. Done it 3 times now. That car is indestructible. Runs like new with nearly 200K miles on it. I am washing the cars today in the nice weather. NSX is still sulking in the garage. Once I get the tool made, local folks are free to borrow it. Of course if someone wants to lend me one, I could do my car now and clone your tool for the next time.

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Happy Motoring At all Costs!

4AU4LIFE · 16 March 2003

I have air tools now. YIPEEE
Will make the job a lot easier next time.
My Teg just hit 100K and it looks inside/outside and drives like the day it drove off the lot. I love it.
My NSX however too is sulking in the garage with issues.

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92 RED/BLACK 5-SPEED

Kinan · 17 March 2003

Mine has 189k and still runs like new. Too many Chicago winters has been rough on the body and moving to SoCal was not soon enough for it.
Just put some new Sumitomo tires on it yesterday. Bike rack still hauls the mountain bikes around. Still a great car!

4AU4LIFE · 17 March 2003

Mine is a 95 GS-R. Red/Black to match the NSX!

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92 RED/BLACK 5-SPEED

CFNSX · 17 March 2003

JPS Europa; you need to goto Acura and pickup the correct tools ( crank pulley universal handle, #07JAB-001020A (which you appear to have) and crank puller wrench tool #07NAB-001030A. Next you need to ditch the electric impact gun.....regardless of the alleged torque rating(the electric guns are notoriously optimistic), and use an air impact gun......you will find that that the crank nut will come right off (with the crank properly restrained).

Larry Bastanza · 17 March 2003

JPS,

Private me. I have the tool.

HTH,
LarryB

DanO · 17 March 2003

Hey, I know the special tool is cool an all, but the flywheel trick works, plain and simple. The flywheel cover is three easily assessable little bolts and there you can lever a big flat-blade or pry bar between the flywheel teeth and fix the crankshaft that way, it doesn’t take much pressure to hold it in place so there is no damage to the flywheel. I learned this trick from one of the best NSX techs on the planet.

DanO

sjs · 18 March 2003

Originally posted by DanO:
Hey, I know the special tool is cool an all, but the flywheel trick works, plain and simple. The flywheel cover is three easily assessable little bolts and there you can lever a big flat-blade or pry bar between the flywheel teeth and fix the crankshaft that way, it doesn’t take much pressure to hold it in place so there is no damage to the flywheel. I learned this trick from one of the best NSX techs on the planet.

DanO

I've done it that on my old Datsuns forever, but I'll admit to being skittish about doing it on the NSX for fear of chipping a tooth. You're probably right that it's safe, but working solo I'm concerned that the blade won't stay fully in place the way a proper tool would.

DanO · 18 March 2003

Originally posted by sjs:
...but working solo I'm concerned that the blade won't stay fully in place the way a proper tool would.

Agreed! I’ve done this myself but it is not pretty, the tool is THE way to go solo.

SpankyPop · 18 March 2003

I'm not sure if this would work on honda engine that spin totally the wrong way, but I have head of people attaching a breaker bar to it, then setting or bracing that agaisnt the floor. then using the starter to pop the nut. I'm not sure how applicable that is to the NSX, or how just in generally applicable it is, but just throwing another idea...

BryanZublin · 20 March 2003

To remove the aluminum pulley from my BBSC kit, it took a 1" air impact wrench from Snap On tools ($600). The 1/2" and 3/4" tools did not work.

Acuraphile · 20 March 2003

Spankypop's method works great if the engine turns the right way, but I guess the NSX does not, or JPS Europa would have done that. I have used that method three times, twice on a '94 Legend, and once in 1965 on a '59 Ford, but I braced against the frame. It only takes the blink of an eye on the cars I have done.

Always had to take my Integra to a shop, and they have spent as long as 15 minutes impacting the bolt out, or failed altogether, but now I have a 500 ft-lb impact wrench for the next go-around. The 500 ft-lb wrench easily takes off the front axle nut, when no non-impact method, including a 5-foot bar, worked.

Regards,

Bill

Nasty Crank Pulley Bolt

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