Captain Koz
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2008
- Messages
- 47
Hello Everyone,
I made a discovery today (i think??) that hopefully will save you alot of time someday. I restore late 80-early 90's crossflows and loopers as a hobby so I am quite familiar with them. Lets say i am a professional amateur. So I got this 1986 225 Looper. The scary thing was it was lowered by the flywheel from a 20ft loft only to discover that there wasnt even a flywheel nut on it! My blood drained to my feet for a second at the thought of what could have been. Well my fear was short lived as I attempted to remove the flywheel. Puller, heat, freezing, acetelene torch, soaking in PB Blaster, hammers, wedges, pry bars, all while the motor was 2 inches off the ground lifted by the flywheel and NOTHING! I had a 20 inch pipe wrench on the base of the puller and a 1/2 inch drive with a 24 inch extension on the center bolt, to the extent that I bent the center bolt a bit and NOTHING.
Well now the flywheel was trashed anyway so it was time to get mideval. I tried a grinder with a cut off wheel thinking I could some how score it near the nut to at least cut the bulk of the flywheel off so I could get the stator and timing base off and work further. That didnt work out well.
So what worked? A 2 inch hole saw with the middle drill bit removed. Took a while but turns out its only .55 of an inch thick of aluminum at that area. Yes, I still have to get the nub off of the crank, but at this point I am not concerned as i can get the stator and timing base off, and if I cant save the crank I have about 3 others. I didnt want to open the cases on this one but If I have to it wont hurt to throw in a new set of rings and de carbon the pistons.
obviously this is a last resort tactic but man was I relieved to see that piece of flywheel come off. I wasted HOURS trying to get it off and the thought of junking a very nice restorable motor because of a flywheel was bothering me. I hope this helps someone someday.
I made a discovery today (i think??) that hopefully will save you alot of time someday. I restore late 80-early 90's crossflows and loopers as a hobby so I am quite familiar with them. Lets say i am a professional amateur. So I got this 1986 225 Looper. The scary thing was it was lowered by the flywheel from a 20ft loft only to discover that there wasnt even a flywheel nut on it! My blood drained to my feet for a second at the thought of what could have been. Well my fear was short lived as I attempted to remove the flywheel. Puller, heat, freezing, acetelene torch, soaking in PB Blaster, hammers, wedges, pry bars, all while the motor was 2 inches off the ground lifted by the flywheel and NOTHING! I had a 20 inch pipe wrench on the base of the puller and a 1/2 inch drive with a 24 inch extension on the center bolt, to the extent that I bent the center bolt a bit and NOTHING.
Well now the flywheel was trashed anyway so it was time to get mideval. I tried a grinder with a cut off wheel thinking I could some how score it near the nut to at least cut the bulk of the flywheel off so I could get the stator and timing base off and work further. That didnt work out well.
So what worked? A 2 inch hole saw with the middle drill bit removed. Took a while but turns out its only .55 of an inch thick of aluminum at that area. Yes, I still have to get the nub off of the crank, but at this point I am not concerned as i can get the stator and timing base off, and if I cant save the crank I have about 3 others. I didnt want to open the cases on this one but If I have to it wont hurt to throw in a new set of rings and de carbon the pistons.
obviously this is a last resort tactic but man was I relieved to see that piece of flywheel come off. I wasted HOURS trying to get it off and the thought of junking a very nice restorable motor because of a flywheel was bothering me. I hope this helps someone someday.
