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Losh's VR Ute build thread

MR.HG

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How do you lock the engine to undo the flex plate bolts?

Many ways mate. You can put a spanner on one bolt to hold the flex plate while you undo the rest then jam a screwdriver into a hole on the outer diameter where the torque converter bolts on to the flex plate to get the last one or you could use a breaker bar with a pipe extension on the harmonic balancer to hold the crank in place.
 

vs-lover

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Many ways mate.

What he said !!





I can't believe anyone would require a rattle gun to undo a Flexplate to Torque Converter bolt.

Now if you were talking Harmonic Balancer bolt then I'd agree with you, but it'll have to be a strong one to undo 300 Nm which is really tight.
Not quite sure why they do it that tight as I've never done one back up to the same, in saying that I've never had one come back loose.

200 Nm should surely be enough.
 

losh1971

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All of the above sounds like i need two people. As for the rattle gun it would probably undo 300nm if I had 130psi from the comp. It won't tighten to that though, reverse is always stronger than tightening. My gun got the HB bolt off no worries. When i tightened it i just had the comp on 110psi and rattled it for 15 seconds. I finally got the ute up on the hoist and the mech couldn't confirm where the leak is. He is going to remove the lower cover and have a look at the main. Chances are it is leaking from the main. He said 4hrs trans in and out and new seals all round. Was thinking of doing it myself but I don't really want the hassle.
 

MR.HG

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Not at all mate, you can hold the flex plate with one spanner on a nut while you ratchet the rest. Someone once told me "with a big enough bar you could lever the world" hence the breaker bar with a pipe over the handle method. Put the 3/4 (from memory) socket on the balancer bolt, attach the breaker bar with a pipe over the handle and support the handle with some stacked up bricks(if your working on the ground) so the pipe is resting under the drivers side chassis rail. This will hold the balancer while you apply opposite force to remove the flex plate bolts.
On a side note.... to remove a stubborn balancer bolt simply use the same setup (breaker bar with leverage pipe) but place the end of the pipe on the ground on the passenger side with a chock under the end (so the end of the bar doesn't dig in) remove spark plug leads and crank the engine.
 

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Hi HG,

You don't have to remove the spark plugs, just pull out the EFI relay and that disables any spark or computer activity.

By the way all the Holden dealers always used the cranking method to crack loose the HB bolt. Must admit I personally have never been a great fan of this method as it puts a high load on the starter but I've been assured that it's not that much of a struggle on the poor old Bosch unit underneath.
 

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To add to the above I asked my mate the other day about undoing the hb bolt with the starter, we now have a small strong rattle gun to do it but before he got that he reckons hes done over a 100 with the starter motor and never killed a starter motor doing it. The cheap rattle gun I have would never undo the hb bolt the few Ive done at home was with the starter motor.
 

deserthead

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Agreed with all the above. Pull the Fuel Pump/EFI relay. Breaker bar resting on the chassis rail and just hit the starter. I've done this a few times and its cracked first go everytime!
 

vs-lover

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It's all about leverage and the longer the lever the easier it is to do. If it was much easier to lock up the flexplate / Flywheel then all one would have to do is attach a 4 foot pole over the breaker bar and you could do it by hand. That's the power of leverage I guess.
 

gtrboyy

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It's an old ute...let it be an old ute with character.

The vp ute was similar except poor sod lived a hard life,smallest weep that looked like sump gasket...degreased everything spotless & it would take months before seeing oil drop on ground.Rinse/repeat ;)

Sometimes just except old jalopy will never be 100%

*steering rack was cursed with leaks despite being reco unit from grrrrr
 

losh1971

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Yeah but I really want to fit the Vette Servo and the other day the mech showed me how there is no way enough room to extract it with the trans in place. Even dropping the trans won't give it enough room. I only have 2" of space between the body and the trans.
 
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