Tell me Crank is"designer drug"/old Muppet..but NOT BLOWN?!!?!

[Guest jjohart]

Hi, if you like to get off on other Z restorer's pain when something goes to hell, read my earlier post (same forum)..I did (duh!), and e mailed to Mr. Jeff, who responded 1X. While I can't get him to clarify, I'll ask you helpful hardware (nightmare) folks....my shop got the woodruff key, the harmonic balancer and bolt for pulley, etc (I'm waiting for a washer for that bolt that will cost me $8 for the part and $32 for shipping O/N!!)..

The short question is....how likely is the crank to be found to be wasted/ruined, even after they get these other parts on? Is there any way to check to see if its ruined before they put on all the rest of the parts that were ruined? The engine only ran for about 45 seconds total time before we shut off/determined the bolt came loose.

More importantly, Mr. Jeff didn't reply to my mechanic's question as to what specialized tools would be needed to repair the crank. I'm not even sure what advantages he's referring to about the Volvo and Nimso Euro pieces...are they for racing, a more durable repair, or something to fix the crank with. Please try to give me a ballpark estimate of crank repair costs, as my mechanic has no idea what sort of proceedure/tools are used in a crank repair. He has basically told me if the cranks' gone, I would have to ditch the engine, or trade in/toss the car....he seems to think it's astronomically hard to repair, so I'm probably looking for another repair shop in N.England! At any rate, it'd be nice to hear something positive, but I suspect I am yet again taking myself to the cleaners!!

Thanks

John Hart-83 280ZXT, I/C, other goodies expendable...(as Captain of the Nostromo in Alien the movie asked-on the computer)....."What are my chances?"!

 

P.S., here's a copy of the reply, much of which I don't understand the point/purpose of....is it all about crank repair?!?

 

Mr. Jeff has been kind enough to inform me further of the dire likely circumstances of my bolt's impact on said damper...he will hopefully not kill me as well for lifting/repro here (for the benefit of all), FWIW (I ask members who kindly read to consider a reply here as to whether its really likely killed my whole motor, and what advantages this Volvo/weird Euro Nimso part replacement has on durability..I simply don't understand (!):

TEXT BELOW REPRO'D W.O AUTHOR'S PERMISSION for non-commercial purposes only..with gratitude from J.Hart, replicator!

Well sorry to hear about your problem. Generally if the engine is run that

way for a time the damper will end up eating the crank shaft, and possibly

shearing the woodruff key.

Most of the time the crank can be repaired, I have even heard of cutting a

slot in the opposite side of the crank snout to fix the damage to the crank,

but that is extreme cases.

You will want a Volvo damper washer that you find on the B200 and B230

engines, which is just about every Volvo until 1990. You will have to

machine the washer to size on the washer OD to get it to fit the Nissan

damper. I haven't verified the bolt yet, but I do believe the Nismo bolt for

the Euro damper is what you want. I have to call them and order one, I tried

ordering a stock LD28 damper bolt from Nissan but it was only 35mm so I am

still not totally sure what application the bolt came off of. I do know it

is a Nissan part, I just need to find the part number.

I found a long bolt (45mmlong) when I was pulling an LD crank one time the

bolt looked exactly like the stock bolt except it was 45mm long in stead of

the 35mm standard length. I had to shorten the bolt to 40mm to use with the

Volvo washer and it worked out perfectly. I have torqued the bolt to 160

foot pounds, but have changed the torque to 140 foot pounds with RED

locktight and that has turned out well. Anyway, if you go that route with

the damper bolt and washer you will not have any further problems.

One thing though, don't go for the impact wrench, or anything like that.

Pull the starter and wedge a good screwdriver in the flywheel teeth to

torque the bolt. NO put it in gear, apply the brake, or anything like that

to try to tighten up the bolt, it will not work. You need a good positive

torque, and to do that you need to hold the crank fixed to tighten down the

bolt and get accurate readings.

hope that helps, and you can repair your engine.

[RedNeckZ]

Most of the time it will not mess the engine up that bad. As long as the chain between the cam and crank didn't come off. You should be ok. You can get it (the crank) fixed at a (good?) machine shop. I seen them fix a stripped key on a crank. It took out both the key and balancer, they had to cut a new path for the key. So they cut it (one long cut) for both the timing chain gear and the balancer and made one key for both. Start checking out the engine by putting the engine back on top dead center #1 (by hand) and check all of the pistons with a flashlight. Fix anything you find wrong.

 

To tighten up the bolt on the flywheel, do it the same way you did it before. I have done the screwdriver in the flywheel system before to get it tight. They do make a special tool to hold the flywheel, it does cost some. Just take the time to check everything out, before trying to restart it.