Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Hi guys- I had some non motor related delays. Starting the motor for 1st time went excellent. I did (3) 10 sec intervals of turning it over without the plugs, inj wires unplugged and also the crank sensor. It primed really fast. When I went to start it for real, it started as if I just shut the thing off seconds ago...

Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time around the block BUT.... I need to get the crank bolt torqued to spec (87 lbs). I just torqued it with my cheapy impact that wouldn't even break the same bolt loose months back. So anyway, i limited my ride to just around the block. I would have thought that having the front wheels on ramps, back wheels on the ground & blocked, car in 1st gear, e-brake on...that I would have been able to tighten that bolt. When I torqued it the whole motor wanted to turn over, yet the car wasn't moving when the crank pulley was turning which I thought was really odd. Is that something to do with the Diff or something? While in gear, I couldn't push the car at all so why is that I couldn't tighten it?

So how do you guys tighten that bolt? The book shows a spanner type wrench holding the pulley while using the torque wrench on it. I don't know anyone around here that will have that spanner wrench.

Thanks guys...

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Hammer the crap out of it with the impact.

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Use the impact! The reason your impact wouldn't be able to take it off is because of heat expansion.

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

So, you put together your whole engine and transmission and things aren't fully tightened? What's going on?

And you can use a screwdriver to hold the flywheel in place while tightening the bolts, or have someone with some gloves hold it so it doesn't spin. Unless you're talking about something else?

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Actually it was likely due to rust between the bolt and the crank pulley. Even a cheap impact should be able to tighten it fine.

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Try putting it into 5th gear instead of 1st gear.

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.. I will be working on this tonight after work. I was just looking it over at lunch eyeing it all up. It's been so long since my motor was together, I forgot what timing belt tension felt like to the touch. When I put it all together, I did the "if you can put the gernade pin back in, you're good". It just seems loose to me but I don't know....

I realize that this is by no means a valid test, but if I push down on the belt in between the cam gears, then pull up, I have just a hair over 3/8" of up/down play. From the neutral/untouched position of the belt and then up only, it's 3/16" of up play. Does that seem decent to you guys?

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Yep, that sounds about right.

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Thanks alot JET....and thanks for all the help you've give me throughout the build. You and about a handfull of others have really helped me out.

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

Bolt is tight. Wasn't that hard after all. Someone suggested to me to put it in 5th gear instead of 1st. Made a big difference. I was able to torque it to spec. I just had a buddy hold the cam in place with a wrench. He said it barely moved. Who would have thought 5th gear would have done the trick vs. granny gear 1st.

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

It's all about torque multiplication. ;)

Re: Took car for a ride tonight for the 1st time BUT....
 

No problem, I always try to help others out.