locking the engine

[daeron]

okay, i found a 92 loyale in the junkyard with a complete motor, and was trying to get the crankshaft pulley off.. i only grabbed a handful of tools, and when all was said and done i couldnt stop the engine from spinning.. i thought on my car that the handbrake ran the front wheel brakes, so i put the transmission in gear, and pulled the handbrake, but the motor still spun. I was by myself so i couldnt confirm that the wheels were spinning, but my basic question is this:

 

how can i stop the engine from spinning on this car in the junkyard? its sitting up on blocks, its a five speed, and the whole drivline is there. the handbrake felt like it was functioning when i pulled the lever, and it seemed tight, but i couldnt confirm this.

 

Im no dummy, i shouldnt have had any problems with this.. but i was out there alone, and didnt have anything i could use to stop the wheel from spinning (bar in the lug or something). how can i immobilize the engine? i looked in the peephole in the bellhousing and saw only a clean flywheel edge, nothing to bite onto with a screwdriver... do i need to pull the starter out and wedge something in the teeth of the flywheel? im trying to do this as quickly and with as few tools as possible, so the more of a detailed answer i can get, the better. thanks all.

 

incidentally, how hard would it be for me to take the driveline out of this 92 loyale (5spd 2wd) and put it into my GL10? (auto 2wd) and the gauge pod? i have the digital gauge pod, and hate it...

 

 

thanks for the help.

[revbill]

There are holes in the flywheel you can put a "special tool" in (or a screwdriver.) Just keep turning the engine over and you'll see them.

 

Or you can put the front wheels on the ground and put the car in gear. Or, you can feed some nylon rope into a cylinder through the spark plug hole to keep the piston from moving. And someone else can give you more detail but you can use the starter to bump the motor with a long breaker bar on the bolt, and it'll free it up (I can't remember which side to put it on, so someone else will have to clarify. I'm too chicken to do it this way, and I've never had any trouble just putting the car in gear.)

[nvexplorer]

I stuck the short end of an allen wrench in one of the flywheel holes and wedged the long end against the stabilizer bracket (the one that connects from the engine to the firewall).

[keltik]

From what ive heard the digital gauge to analog swap is a PITA. As for stopping the engine, 5th gear with the handbrake on should do the trick.

 

KELTIK

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Take some rope with you next time.

 

Remove a spark plug, rotate the crank until that piston is at the bottom of its rotation.

 

Feed the rope into the cylinder through the spark plug hole. Fill the cylinder with rope.

 

Rotate the motor until the piston tries to compress the rope. It wont be able to, and it will lock the motor in place and allow you to remove the crank pulley.

 

-Brian

[daeron]

get a rope, huh? I suppose i can try to spin the flywheel some more and see if i can find anything on the surface, but i noticed nothing to notch into on whatever amount of the flywheel i actually saw. the rope idea i think might end up being my best option, but thanks for the advice, it was exactly what i needed.

[calebz]

get a rope, huh? I suppose i can try to spin the flywheel some more and see if i can find anything on the surface, but i noticed nothing to notch into on whatever amount of the flywheel i actually saw. the rope idea i think might end up being my best option, but thanks for the advice, it was exactly what i needed.

 

The hole in the flywheel is there. Thats how soob mechanics back in the day locked the motor in place.

 

On mine, I used a trick I learned from moosens. I drilled a hole near the inspection hole at the top of the bellhousing. from there its a straight shot to drop a screwdriver (best if its one you don't really care about) into the hole. Works like a charm....except now I have to take off the intercooler to do it. second choice is the rope thing. Have done that before as well, it works.

[idosubaru]

socket wrench with a hammer. pound that handle hard and it works like an air impact wrench.

 

if the starter is still in place you could give it 12 volts if you can get a battery to the car. put the socket on the crank pulley and rest it against something solid. bump the starter and that'll knock it loose as well.

 

you won't have one but a long crow bar or digging bar placed between the lug studs will keep the wheels from spinning. a similar item, but thin, can be wedged through the rear ujoints to keep the rear output shaft from spinning.

[daeron]

no, i actually brought a piece of pipe and tried that in the lug studs, but there was too much play in the drive train, and the bolt had been rust-locked in place. rope in the cylinder worked best, i wound up using said pipe as a five foot cheater bar to do the trick :- )

 

i saw holes, but they were not directly accessible.. on the auto (my car) there is structure on the front face of it, that CAN be approached at right angles... but it wasnt sufficient to hold it in place to torque it down, or else my pulley never would have loosened in the first place :- ) I used a piece of rope there too. thanks for the help.