Editor's Note:
Harry Pellow, aka The Maestro, contributed a wealth of information to the 356 Registry Talk List. This is one in a series of his contributions, all informative and all written in his inimitable style, that we're publishing here in the 356 Registry site.
REMOVING A FLYWHEEL GLAND NUT
Did I ever tell you about the time the proto-Maestro met a flywheel nut he couldn't easily remove by his then usual technique of having a wife/girlfriend/Big Baby Brother, (not at the same time), stand on the other side of the engine stand whilst the Maestro used a 4 foot brass pipe that fit over most of an 18" long Sears 1/2" breaker bar attached to a 1/2" 36mm socket.
Big Baby Brother weighed about 275 back then, but even he was lifted skyward, as Archemidies would have predicted had he been there, as the proto-Maestro stuck a 3 foot long pipe of steel pipe OVER the brass pipe and got on the end of that.
But still the Flywheel nut budges not.
At the time, in his Silicon Valley Garage, the Maestro had pallet-like shelves therein, constructed of 4"x4"'s going from the garage floor to the ceiling joists, joined with 3/4" plywood (now he'd use 1" or 1 and 1/8" plywood) shelves, each shelf shaped to hold two complete Porsche Engines, or three long blocks.
Big Baby Brother grabbed ahold of the 4x4 vertical supports and hung on- TIGHT!
The proto-Maestro stuck a random piece of 3-foot pipe inside the 3 foot-long steel pipe that was outside the 4' brass pipe that was over the 18" 1/2" breaker bar, and lifted himself off the ground.
Only to find himself flat ON the ground, on his butt, when the 1/2" Sears Craftsman Breaker Bar Broke!
Sears reluctantly stood by their Craftsman warranty- the one they used to have with Craftsman tools: "If it breaks, we'll replace it."
The proto-Maestro returned to his famous Silicon Valley Garage, with a Brand New Sears 1/2" Breaker Bar in hand, to attack the Recalcitrant Flywheel Nut again. Again had Baby Brother assume the previous position wrapped around the 4x4's, re-set up the slightly arching series of 10' long pipes that made up The Dissimilar Metal Flywheel Nut Removal System.
This time, he applied Force more slowly, but still tried to move heaven and earth and lift himself off the ground. When allofaSUDDEN!
SNAP! The Brand New Sears 1/2" Breaker Bar broke.
And it was Back on the ground again for the Maestro.
That was the last straw. The proto-Maestro, earning a few points towards ordained Maestrohood, went back to Sears and BOUGHT a new 3/4" Breaker Bar! (And necessarilly, a 3/4" drive 36mm Socket too! And that was a damned EXPENSIVE socket back in 1975!)
And he STILL has both of 'em. And the Pipes! And they still work just fine.
'Course these days, the Impulse of a good Impact Wrench backed up by a MILLION Frenchmen, er, Pascals of pressure gets about 99% of flywheel nuts. Them that that Impact wrench don't get, the 'Mexican Hot Wrench does. (No, you don't MELT the Nut off, you heat it up enough to fail the Rust/Lokitie interlocking interface, and try again with the impact wrench. Or the Big Hammer & the Blunt Chisel. Ve haf our vays.)
Oh, and did that jury-rigged piping system with the 3/4" Breaker bar and EXPENSIVE Sears Socket, did the Flywheel Nut finally come loose? Did Monica swollow?
It could (and should) be easily calculated by the Student, as part of a PhD in Art History, that the Torque Applied to that recalcitrant Flywheel Nut, by the most Conservative of Assumptions, exceeded 1000 ft-lbf.
(The cause: a most generous coating of Red Loktite, followed by the Application of yes, Admirable Torque.)
Keep the 356 Faith Maestro
Compiled by John Audette - 7/12/03
