How am I suppsed to get this balancer bolt torqued down to the "min. 200ft/lbs" the service manual calls for without the engine turning? I've had people tell me to use somethign to hold the flexplate, which could mean cracked or broken teeth. Some says to use an impact, which means I wouldn't really know how much torque was on it. I was hoping to get this all buttoned back up today, but I might have to wait and let a real mechanic finish it off. I want to be sure this thing is on tight enough so I don't have to go through this crap again! ou:
Do you have the heads on yet? If not, cut a block of wood and sit it on top of one of the pistons, then temporarily put the head on with a few of the bolts (don't need to torque them). Once you are done, take the block back out and proceed with the engine assembly. Another way is to get some longer bolts that will screw into the crankshaft where the flexplate bolts (assuming the engine is out of the car). Put two longer bolts in opposite from each other and stick a long crowbar between them. Have someone hold the crowbar while you torque the bolt on the damper. By the way, the flexplate bolts are fine thread bolts, so you will have to look a littler harder to find some longer ones to use. Where in NC do you live?
engine is complete & in the car, I had the balancer come off and bust the timing cover due to it not being torqued enough. Now I'm trying to get it back on the road since it's my only ride. I was told about a trick of putting a length of rope through a spark plug hole on the #1 cylinder, leaving a length hanging out. It's supposed to keep the assebly from rotating, and the rope will also keep the piston from hurting the valves or something. I don't do much mechanic work so alot of this is foreign to me!
Where do you live in NC? The rope trick will work, just make sure you do it on the compression stroke of the cylinder you put it in (as in both valves fully closed when the piston is coming up and squishing the rope against them). Another method is to take off the torque convertor cover and stick a crowbar into one of the cutouts in the flexplate and turn the engine until the crowbar hits on the bottom of the block. Have someone hold that while you torque the damper bolt. Yet another trick is to take out one of the three bolts holding the torque convertor to the flex plate and temporarily screw in a longer one (like 2 or 3" long). When you rotate the engine, that bolt will hit on the bottom surface of the block and not let the engine rotate. If you do that, be sure to put a nut on the bolt, thread the bolt all the way into the boss on the torque convertor, then tighten the nut up against the flex plate. That way if the bolt bends, it won't damage the threads in the torque convertor.
I'm in Polkton, about 20 miles east of Monroe down Hwy 74. I don't have the means to get the car high enough in the air here at home to get to the flexplate, it being a wagon kinda makes it a little hard to get up in the air in the driveway, and maxes out my little floorjack REAL quick!
There is one more way, but it is kind of a redneck method. Find an extra crank pulley like is on your engine (like the engine you got the new timing cover and damper off of) that you can sacrifice, weld a long piece of pipe to the pulley, then bolt it onto the damper. Use it as a lever to hold the engine while you torque the bolt. Make sure you don't weld it across the center so you can still get the socket/extension in there to torque the damper bolt.
Most air impact wrenches have the torque rating on their original packaging. If not, you can look it up on the web. If it says "300 ft-lbs developed on maximum setting", you can bet it will put the balancer bolt on tight.
Got the timing cover & balancer back on today. Borrowed a big ass torque wrench from a buddy, went about the rope trick as it was described to me and it went perfect. I torqued it to 100 first, then 150, then I went up in 10lb increments until I was at 200. Red threadlocker on it just for a little extra hold. Now I just have to put everything else back together, gonna try to clean up the engine some while I'm working on it. Cleaned and repainted the balancer, pulleys, and fan while I had them off. Anyway, thanks for the advice guys.
