Got the lenses off and cleaned up the panels and taillight housings.
Progress Thread Komo's 1990 GT - Parts Gathering Purgatory & Home Remodel
- Thread starter gkomo
- Start date
Man, in the days of Amazon Prime, waiting any longer than 2 days is like waiting an eternity. Still waiting on LMR parts to come in.
That sucks, living in TX it is basically overnight delivery for everything I've bought from them... Or worst case I could drive there in like 1.5 hours.
Man, in the days of Amazon Prime, waiting any longer than 2 days is like waiting an eternity. Still waiting on LMR parts to come in.
Man, in the days of Amazon Prime, waiting any longer than 2 days is like waiting an eternity. Still waiting on LMR parts to come in.
With traffic where you live, you're lucky to get across the county in two days.
Ok got all my parts in to do the harmonic balancer and front main seal. Couple questions as I got stuck in my initial try. The balancer puller/installer came with these instructions:
So I thought I set up the puller the way the diagram goes… is this correct?
Couple things. Directions say to thread the appropriate threaded adapter into the crank… I’m assuming this adapter goes into the hole the crank bolt comes out of? I matched the correct size adapter, but it’s too short to catch any threads in the crankshaft hole. That is the very top piece in the pic above. Second, so I put my puller together as shown and just put it in the hole, unthreaded the puller shaft flanged nut as far away from the balancer as possible where I could still get threads from the puller plate into the balancer, but it sits too far inside the balancer to get a wrench on the flanged nut to keep it from spinning. Any suggestions?
Second and unrelated, how do you remove the alternator pulley since the nut and pulley just spin together? I don’t see a hole that you could like stick a screw driver through to keep it still.
So I thought I set up the puller the way the diagram goes… is this correct?
Couple things. Directions say to thread the appropriate threaded adapter into the crank… I’m assuming this adapter goes into the hole the crank bolt comes out of? I matched the correct size adapter, but it’s too short to catch any threads in the crankshaft hole. That is the very top piece in the pic above. Second, so I put my puller together as shown and just put it in the hole, unthreaded the puller shaft flanged nut as far away from the balancer as possible where I could still get threads from the puller plate into the balancer, but it sits too far inside the balancer to get a wrench on the flanged nut to keep it from spinning. Any suggestions?
Second and unrelated, how do you remove the alternator pulley since the nut and pulley just spin together? I don’t see a hole that you could like stick a screw driver through to keep it still.
Ok well I got the alternator pulley figured out, watched a video and just held it while using my impact, popped right off. New one went on smooth, but maaaaan it’s tight. Spins freely though after being torqued down. I just gave it a couple zaps with the impact getting it back on… didn’t go overboard. Per LMRs instructions, I wasn’t able to use the lock washer so I used blue loctite on the threads instead.
Looks like you have it on backwards if you attached it the way the photo goes. The pointed end goes into the crank and will center itself. Once you install the 2 other bolts on the balancer, you use two wrenches...one for the center nut and one for the outer nut (you will only turn the outer one).Ok got all my parts in to do the harmonic balancer and front main seal. Couple questions as I got stuck in my initial try. The balancer puller/installer came with these instructions:
So I thought I set up the puller the way the diagram goes… is this correct?
Couple things. Directions say to thread the appropriate threaded adapter into the crank… I’m assuming this adapter goes into the hole the crank bolt comes out of? I matched the correct size adapter, but it’s too short to catch any threads in the crankshaft hole. That is the very top piece in the pic above. Second, so I put my puller together as shown and just put it in the hole, unthreaded the puller shaft flanged nut as far away from the balancer as possible where I could still get threads from the puller plate into the balancer, but it sits too far inside the balancer to get a wrench on the flanged nut to keep it from spinning. Any suggestions?
Second and unrelated, how do you remove the alternator pulley since the nut and pulley just spin together? I don’t see a hole that you could like stick a screw driver through to keep it still.
Take the instructions and wipe your ass with them.
Then just look at the parts and put the thing on so that it makes sense to your balancer and your brain.
Then just look at the parts and put the thing on so that it makes sense to your balancer and your brain.
Hmm if that works for pulling it off then I still feel like I’m in the same predicament when I go to install the new one, the adapter thread won’t be long enough to catch threads inside the crank. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.
Do I need to drain the oil before removing the front main seal if the car has been sitting for two weeks?
When you install, you may need a longer bolt to ensure it engages plenty of threads. Does your kit come with different ends? Can you remove the pointed end and thread on anything different?
No oil will come out. Make damn sure the crank and timing cover are spotless. I put some RTV on the outside of the seal and also on the inside of the balancer to ensure nothing leaks.
Ya the one that matches the width of the crank bolt isn’t long enough to catch any threads inside the crank.
Well wtf this kit was supposed to be Ford 302 specific. Figured the correct bolts would come with it. It does come with a few different thread adapters but only one matches the width of the crank bolt.
I will make sure the seal surfaces are clean and also put RTV on them.
According to a Twenty-something year old Chinaman that's never seen a Ford Windsor [in his life] and then translated by somebody else.
I've heard of people using the crank bolt to install it...not sure I would do that...good way to strip out your threads in the crank.According to a Twenty-something year old Chinaman that's never seen a Ford Windsor [in his life] and then translated by somebody else.
WARNING...this is long and involves math so if you don't "do" math skip the first four paragraphs...
Install the crank bolt and count the number of turns to where it is finger tight. Back it off about four turns. Install the puller tool so that the bolt on it will push against the head of the crank bolt. When you get it to move then remove the tool and back the crank bolt off and see if you can remove the balancer by hand. Most of the time you just have to get them to move a little bit and then they slide off.
The balancer bolt is utilized for clamping force to hold the balancer onto the end of the crank. Typically the minimum thread engagement of a bolt into a nut is the diameter of the bolt. In this case the balancer bolt is a 5/8-18 bolt so the diameter is 5/8" and there are 18 threads per inch. With that the number of threads to get the minimum thread engagement would be 0.625 x 16 = 10. Stick with me here...
So above I asked that you install the crank bolt and determine how many turns it takes to get to finger tight. You take that number and multiply it by 0.056 (distance traveled by a 18 TPI bolt in one turn) and that will tell you how far the bolt travels into the crank. So to get the minimum recommended engagement you will need to turn the bolt 0.625/0.056 = 11.2 turns so call it 12 turns. This will determine how far out you can turn the bolt before you get into the territory of damaging the threads in the crank while removing the balancer.
I will say that I have done this a handful of times and been successful every time. I am not guaranteeing this so do so at your own risk.
Another option is to use a solid piece of rolled steel that will slip down into the balancer and cover the end of the crank. I have seen this done and it worked very well. Its all what you have on hand and like Noobz said think though the problem and apply practical problem solving skills and you will get it.
It could also be that your puller is junk......
Install the crank bolt and count the number of turns to where it is finger tight. Back it off about four turns. Install the puller tool so that the bolt on it will push against the head of the crank bolt. When you get it to move then remove the tool and back the crank bolt off and see if you can remove the balancer by hand. Most of the time you just have to get them to move a little bit and then they slide off.
The balancer bolt is utilized for clamping force to hold the balancer onto the end of the crank. Typically the minimum thread engagement of a bolt into a nut is the diameter of the bolt. In this case the balancer bolt is a 5/8-18 bolt so the diameter is 5/8" and there are 18 threads per inch. With that the number of threads to get the minimum thread engagement would be 0.625 x 16 = 10. Stick with me here...
So above I asked that you install the crank bolt and determine how many turns it takes to get to finger tight. You take that number and multiply it by 0.056 (distance traveled by a 18 TPI bolt in one turn) and that will tell you how far the bolt travels into the crank. So to get the minimum recommended engagement you will need to turn the bolt 0.625/0.056 = 11.2 turns so call it 12 turns. This will determine how far out you can turn the bolt before you get into the territory of damaging the threads in the crank while removing the balancer.
I will say that I have done this a handful of times and been successful every time. I am not guaranteeing this so do so at your own risk.
Another option is to use a solid piece of rolled steel that will slip down into the balancer and cover the end of the crank. I have seen this done and it worked very well. Its all what you have on hand and like Noobz said think though the problem and apply practical problem solving skills and you will get it.
It could also be that your puller is junk......
Ok ok the issue with getting the puller tool on was my fault. I was messing around with it more today and I was unaware there was the crank bolt washer RTV’d to the inside of the old balancer. I was fidgeting with the puller getting frustrated and removed the puller and the washer finally came out with it, all gummed up with some kind of RTV. Once the washer was out the puller thread adapter easily threaded into the crank.
Ive removed the balancer!
It was that damn washer to the right causing all the issues:
I then cleaned up the area around the crank the best I could:
Does anyone see anything that looks off? I’m kinda fed up with this job I sort of just want to install the new balancer and be on my way, and not do the front main seal.
Ive removed the balancer!
It was that damn washer to the right causing all the issues:
I then cleaned up the area around the crank the best I could:
Does anyone see anything that looks off? I’m kinda fed up with this job I sort of just want to install the new balancer and be on my way, and not do the front main seal.
Not only that but they have been known to go on just crooked enough to cause galling. Must be mindful when using that method.
Do the seal, you've done the hard part now finish the job!
Learning opportunity.
You're welcome
Learning opportunity.
You're welcome
Well I can’t argue with needing to learn how to do this stuff and it is part of the reason I bought this car.Do the seal, you've done the hard part now finish the job!
Learning opportunity.
You're welcome
So what’s the best way to get the new seal in? Buy like a piece of pipe the same diameter as the seal and use the pulley installer to push it in?
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