Churchill, still defeating evil

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For the past couple of days I've been struggling to change the cam belt on the 5. This should be simple because access couldn't be better, but I couldn't get the crank pulley bolt to loosen because the crank kept turning. Even in 5th gear, handbrake on, Mrs B and Russ in the car with the brakes hard on, it would still move. Even the breaker bar on floor/starter motor trick wouldn't shift it. I got bored after a bit and went off and had a barbeque instead. Did the same again the following day, now thinking about putting it back together and taking it to the garage.

That night, Winston Churchill came to me in a dream and reminded me to never give up, and that evil crank bolts would prevail when good men did nothing. He gave me this solution... and it worked immediately!
  • Obtain some rope, washing line or thin electrical flex (about 3 feet)

  • Turn the engine clockwise until No1 piston has gone a little past TDC (he told me to stick the dipstick in the spark plug hole to view the piston position)

  • Ensure the valves on No1 are all closed (you may need to turn the engine again to find the right position), else you're going to bend them. Having the cams visible makes this easy.

  • Feed in as much cable as you can through the spark plug hole.

  • Now, get your big breaker bar and get that bolt off. As you turn it (anti-clockwise) the piston will attempt to compress the cable and lock the crank.

  • Remember to take the flex out before turning the engine again!
Cheers Winnie! The car is all back together now and it even seems to work (well, it starts and idles, too dark to do any testing tonight). All ready for me to wreck it on Friday, when I take it to an airfield day at Abingdon.

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