Swapping engines

[LoneWolfGal]

Thanks, you guys. I already tried the socket/screwdriver method yesterday, but I can't seem to get the nut tight enough so that the stud doesn't turn. It needs to be fairly tight before it can be torqued. I'm going to try again, turning the socket with vice grips, protecting it with a shop rag. The problem is that only a small screwdriver will fit through the socket, seemingly too small to hold the stud. Nevertheless, after working on it all night in my dreams, I'm going to have another go at it. The hopefully thinner-walled box ends won't be here until later today anyway.

[piper6909]

Originally Posted by LoneWolfGal

Thanks, you guys. I already tried the socket/screwdriver method yesterday, but I can't seem to get the nut tight enough so that the stud doesn't turn. It needs to be fairly tight before it can be torqued. I'm going to try again, turning the socket with vice grips, protecting it with a shop rag. The problem is that only a small screwdriver will fit through the socket, seemingly too small to hold the stud. Nevertheless, after working on it all night in my dreams, I'm going to have another go at it. The hopefully thinner-walled box ends won't be here until later today anyway.

Were you using a 7/16 with a 1/4" drive or 3/8"? You'd fit a larger screwdriver if you have one with a 3/8" drive. And the passthru sockets from Harbor Freight have an even larger opening.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I suspect the thinner box wrenches may not me much help in this situation.

[LoneWolfGal]

Originally Posted by piper6909

Were you using a 7/16 with a 1/4" drive or 3/8"? You'd fit a larger screwdriver if you have one with a 3/8" drive. And the passthru sockets from Harbor Freight have an even larger opening.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I suspect the thinner box wrenches may not me much help in this situation.

The screwdriver won't quite fit through my borrowed 3/8"-drive socket. There's a structure halfway down, no doubt to add strength, that won't allow a screwdriver of sufficient size to go through. Also, it has a shoulder on the outside that won't quite let it seat all the way on the nut due to the narrow notch. A friend is coming over with a 1/2"-drive 12-point 7/16" deep socket, which might be just the ticket, if it's slim enough to fit in the notch.

UPDATE: My buddy's 1/2"-drive deep socket won't fit in the notch. I'm checking Amazon for a 3/8"-drive deep socket with overnight delivery. If that doesn't pan out, I'll make a run to Harbor Freight and Home Depot. And I will drill that sucker out if that's what it takes to get a screwdriver through it and on the stud. By the way, all the pass-through sockets I've seen have shoulders that will make contact with the notch and prevent them from seating on the nut.

I could grind the shoulder off the 3/8"-drive socket I have, and enlarge the inner structure. I have the technology. However, I borrowed the set it came from and it's owner might not appreciate it.

[LoneWolfGal]

Found this individual 3/8"-drive 7/16" 12-point deep socket on Amazon for $5.99. It looks perfect — except delivery is Mar 1-4. I don't want to wait that long. Stymied again. I tell ya, this is sexism and rank misogyny, pure and simple! Why, I oughta...



UPDATE: After giving it some thought, I realized I could leave the flange and nut untorqued and complete the rest of the Solution installation and perhaps install the rear main seal while I'm waiting for the socket to arrive. If the $14 box ends are a bust, I'll order it.

[LoneWolfGal]

Originally Posted by piper6909

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I suspect the thinner box wrenches may not me much help in this situation.

You weren't wrong, Al. The wrench from the $14 set had even less clearance than the one I had. My friend, who's been scratching his head along with me, said he could use a set of SAE wrenches and offered to buy them. But he's been generous to me, so I gave them to him. I proposed grinding down my wrench until it fit, but he talked me out of it. It didn't take much talking, because I agreed it would ruin the set. I stuck the 1/4"-drive deep socket from the Supplemental kit on the nut and examined it again. It's tight, maybe half a millimeter clearance. No wonder I'm tearing my hair out. I just ordered that Capri-brand $5.99 3/8"-drive deep socket, and if it doesn't fit into the notch I won't feel bad about reducing its diameter with a grinder until it does. And I can clamp down on it and turn it with vice grips without worrying about marring the chrome. It's just a one-off, after all.

ADDITION: That said, there's something inherently beautiful about sockets and other chrome tools. My torque wrench belongs on an alter. The Chinese company that made the little socket dubbed it a "Capri." As lovely as it is, I won't hesitate to modify the Capri to get it in the notch and on the nut.

[piper6909]

Originally Posted by LoneWolfGal

I just ordered that Capri-brand $5.99 3/8"-drive deep socket, and if it doesn't fit into the notch I won't feel bad about reducing its diameter with a grinder until it does. And I can clamp down on it and turn it with vice grips without worrying about marring the chrome.

You can get this set today for $12.99, which you also wouldn't feel bad about grinding, and you can have all the other sockets as spares or whatever you want:

https://www.harborfreight.com/38-in-drive-sae-high-visibility-deep-socket-10-piece-61291.html

[LoneWolfGal]

By the way, the manual states, in Step 38: "Using assembly lube, lubricate IMS Solution bearing and install IMS Solution flange into bearing by hand. Then using a soft face hammer, lightly tap the IMS Solution flange until is is flush with crank case."

Right. But when getting it the last quarter-inch or so to make it flush, I forgot about "lightly tapping." Making it absolutely flush required a couple dozen mighty blows with my 45-oz rubber hammer. After driving in the bearing and now the flange, my right arm is beginning to look like Popeye's.

I did everything I could to facilitate an "interference fit," as my friend the metal fabricator calls it. I kept the flange in the freezer overnight. The place I'm working in is unheated, but I placed a heater to direct heat at the opening for a couple hours, until the crankcase felt warm to the touch. I coated the appropriate surfaces on the flange liberally with assembly grease. I don't know what else I could have done. I think I was bitten by the machining-variance situation.