Straight after the show on the weekend, when the car was running the best it ever has, I pulled it into the garage, and pulled it apart. *sigh*
This is it, Speeduino has begun. Pulling the car apart when it was running so well, instead of just enjoying the car kills me, but I can’t put this project off forever.
The first job was to remove the radiator fan, as I needed that off to remove the fan shroud, and radiator, in order to get the crank pulley off. This was a real pain in the arse to do, it just would not come free. It is a reverse thread 32mm nut, I used a huge spanner, a long pry bar, and a hammer. Lots of CRC and Freeze spray was used too.
I did eventually get the damn thing off, after fighting it for ages. I ended up putting a longer bolt through the pulley so that I could use my super long pry bar to wedge it solid.
I can now also confirm it is the wrong fan and clutch, so that’ll not go back in the car.
With that out, it was just a matter of draining the coolant for the 3rd time in as many months, removing the fan shroud (which has someones idea of a sick joke for lower shroud bolts. They don’t use captive nuts, and you can’t get a spanner at the nuts. Not sure how I’ll get it back together, but that’s for future me to work out), and then pulling the radiator out.
Of course it wouldn’t be a British car without pouring coolant everywhere. One large coolant tray, and two ice cream containers couldn’t catch it all. Who needs a drain plug on the radiator anyway?
Lots of room for activities with that out of the way.
So out came the rattle gun, an extension and my 15/16″ impact socket, and off came the crank pulley bolt. It is NOT reverse threaded. This was actually a lot easier than expected. Go Go Cordless Rattle gun.
And then it was a case of removing both belts, finding the PS belt stuffed, removing/breaking the diagnostic sensor mount and then removing the pulley. The pulley just slid off, didn’t need to lever it or anything.
Being a silly sausage, I didn’t think to set the engine to TDC before taking it off, so had to refit it, set it to TDC and then remove it again. I did find that the markings on the distributor cap (that someone had written) for each cylinder, didn’t actually match up to the ignition leads 😑
Mounting the Crank Position VR sensor was a pain. I went with the universal bracket in order to ensure that I could make it fit. Unfortunately if the sensor is located where its meant to be, it tries to occupy the same space as the power steering pump pulley. Obviously this is an issue, so that wasn’t going to work.
There was just nowhere else I could fit the universal bracket, so this means I had to put my special hat on, and get my fabrication juices flowing. Keep in mind, I’m not skilled at this and this is really the first time I have ever properly designed and fabricated something….
I knew where I wanted the sensor
And I knew there was a bolt hole right there too….
The trigger wheel is going to be installed behind the thick part of the pulley, so if I could locate the sensor there, it would be perfect. I got some cardboard, and got my CAD on again. Which in turn got transferred to alu plate.
And cut out, and folded. And then I had a mount.
It’s a bit rough around the edges, but I’ll tidy that up. I also want to weld or braze that triangular brace to the base of the mount, to give it some strength (and hopefully reduce vibration). It looks really close to the PS pulley, but there is a few mm clearance there, which is plenty.
With the sensor located, I could then mark on the crank pulley where the sensor is in relation to the TDC marks. This allowed me to pull the pulley apart, and install the trigger wheel. The missing tooth needs to be 5 teeth passed the sensor.
And bolted back together, ready to install tomorrow.
Hopefully that is one of the harder bits out of the way. It’s really the part I have been stressing over. Next up is the coil mount (which will be a prick to cut out of the 3MM plate, like the sensor mount), and then wiring.
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