WTF! I hate you Honda! So here I am with my fit completely tore down. I got the clever idea to just remove the camshaft sprocket instead of removing the whole timing cover so I could pull the head. So I pull the headbots and the head is stuck to the block. The damn thing is binding against the timing cover. So shit, I guess I have to pull the timing cover. First off, who at Honda thought it would be a good idea to make the timing cover also function as the motor mount? WTF is that? Second, I would formally like to issue a big fuck you to whatever team of engineers thought it would be a good idea to make a crank pulley bolt that requires a fucking 1200 lbft impact wrench or 6 foot cheater pipe to remove. Now I'm stuck waiting a week for the special Honda pulley removal tool just to hold the pulley from spinning so I can use a monster pipe on it. Rage! All this to pull a head which may very well end up making me buy a new engine anyway.

 

Have you tried going to TDC in #1, pulling the spark plugs and coiling some rope in there? Or find something on the back of the flex plate through the inspection cover, and put a pry bar in there while turning the socket on the other end of the crank?

if that won't do it let it soak in gratuitous amounts of PB blaster and/or hit it with a propane torch for ten minutes and then hit it with the impact gun?

Or any combination of the above?

Sounds like they used locktite or something similar from the factory...

 

Aye I've torched it, read about the rope trick but the spark plug recess is just too long to get anything in there. I've already ordered the tool so I'll just end up waiting, thought I would complain in the meantime besides the shaggin wagon (96 escort) is a blast. And by blast I mean mind numbingly slow.

 

It's torqued at 135 ftlb from the factory...

 

Damn, that is a pita!

Too bad its not a manual trans, that makes it a whole lot easier.

 

Hell yea! I made that thing my bitch. I guess I'm not as patient as I thought. Snapped a cheap 1/2 extension in the process but it took my snap on extensions a 7 foot cheater pipe, 20min with the torch, my best breaker bar, and an aluminum bar wedged between the pulley and the block. Thought I broke the extension again but the bolt finally let go instead.

 

Just for shiggles I should call Honda corporate and ask them to reimburse me for my (lifetime warranty anyway) 1/2 extension. Also need to cancel my order for the tool since it still hasn't shipped, lazy ass amazon sellers.

 

Even though it doesn't meet my cost to value standards I'm thinking about getting a lightweight pulley now for all the work it took. Probably should make sure the head/block isn't toast first...

 

Damn!
20 minutes on heat, a 7ft lever and a broken socket was what it took?

Well done... so what'd you find on the head? Or you takin' a breather after all that?

 

A lighter/underdriven pulley might help make up for that slushbox on the other side :P

 

When we work basing on assumptions... expect surprises. Poor bolt got the shock treatment and it was only torqued tight at 130 lbs from the factory.

 

pulley holder is always needed to remove the bolt. in the case of honda, you need a 50mm (65 offset) crank pulley holder on a breaker bar and a 19mmx90L socket.

 

Thank you thank you thank you! I don't know if I'm the first person to say this after pulling a head, but thank you lord Honda, it's just a blown headgasket. Blow out between cyl 1 and 2, the same cyl that nitrous melted plugs in. Block is NOT scored, but the head is scored. There are solutions to this. Do you know any reputable machine shops in the area dsm?

 

resurfacing?

 

Gotta take like .005 - .01 off the head to get the hairline 'scar' that was eaten into the head or else the gasket will more likely than not get blown again.

 

Lol but I found a head for $200 at scrapyard a few hundred miles away...

 

^^ I would get that (would never know when you need another haha) and worry about resurfacing later. There's a number of machine shops that do on Morse Ave in Schaumburg between Wright Blvd and Mitchell Blvd.

 

John over @ Advanced in Wheeling! I'll see if I can find you a link!

They do what I don't have the tools for!

Remember if you have to get it decked you will need a fatter HG, or if the VTP clearances are big enough you will get a bit of a compression bump!

 

.01mm should be well within the service limit

 

HaHa! On my second time around today I had it off in less than 15 min (This is still a first time removal on the second engine). Now that Ive got my alluminum bar in the pulley, jackstand supported breaker bar, and 7 foot pole technique down, it's a cake walk.