Engine: 2.8 F/Inj B28E: Crank Pulley Removal

[Bertoni1980]

Hello everyone. I am a new member. I own a beautiful 1980 automatic Bertone with 88k original miles registered on the B28F V6 engine. I got it in 1990 with only 60k miles on it. I ran less than 30k miles then it broke. It really torn my heart when I found coolant in the oil about 7 or 8 years ago. I have since parked it. I did drain all the coolant and oil and filled it with clean oil before I parked it. I just checked it. The engine is not frozen. Thanks god. I am finally going to fix it now. I know what I need is replacement of the head gaskets (hopefully).

I have done things like this before on a 264(B27F engine). I am not a total stranger of the B28F engine. It's difficult but not impossible with the engine still in the car. It will take a lot of time and careful work. I am confident I can do it. Of course I need the luck that the heads are not warped. If they are I know the engine will need to be tossed. I am hopeful because it has only 88k miles on the engine. The engine wasn't overheated or anything like that. I noticed a unusual noise coming out of the vacuum pump. When I checked the oil I found coolant in it (milky). I already checked my camshafts. They are not damaged.

I have removed all the intake and fuel system from the top of the engine. I have also removed the water pump and cooling fan. The next thing I am going to do is to unbolt the large nut that holds the crank pulley on the front end of the engine. This is necessary because the pulley needs to be removed in order to remove the timing chain cover.

I need to lock the crankshaft so I can apply torque to unbolt the large nut. Here is my question. Does anyone know how to lock the crankshaft? I had a Hayne's manual but I have lost it somehow. I know that once the pulley is removed I will need to remove the timing chain cover then remove the timing chains. I will need to remove the exhaust heads then unbolt the head bolts to lift the heads. I have done all these on a 264 engine. But I don't remember how I locked the crankshaft. I hope someone here has the information about it.

By the way, my Bertone is really still in a very beautiful shape except the broken engine. There is almost no rust in anywhere I can see. Well, after being parked for so many years I am sure the break rotors have rust on them. But other than that there is no rust on any body panels. The paint is still shiny, no dent or scratch. The front windshield has a crack on it but I already have a replacement windshield waiting to be installed. There is no tear in all the leather seats. Everything on this Bertone, except the radio, is original. The exhaust pipes and the muffler is still original. It has lived its entire life in California. This is why it has no rust. All the trims and chromes are in excellent shape. I really like to restore the engine. I don't have much to spend. I have the luck that the engine only needs new head gaskets and nothing else is broken. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks a lot everyone.

[honestjoe]

Hi bertoni!...quite few of us have done this job..in my case it was a matter of putting the car in gear and applying the handbrake..you can either shock release the nut with a suitable t bar and socket and tapping loose with a hammer..or use an extention bar for leverage and cracking it that way..good luck..hj.

[Mike_Brace]

You will need to have the heads skimmed anyway as they will almost certainly not be compleytely true. Without all your work is likely to be wasted.

The above suggestion will not work with an automatic. Pull off the starter and you can lock the flywheel from there. If you can borrow a cordless impact wrench then the above would not be necessary.

Mike

[honestjoe]

oops ..my bad!..I still think shock treatment would work though.

[Bertoni1980]

Originally Posted by Mike_Brace

You will need to have the heads skimmed anyway as they will almost certainly not be compleytely true. Without all your work is likely to be wasted.

I would love to have the heads checked and ground by a machine shop. However, these cylinder heads can not be ground. If warped they have to be replaced. The reason is if they are ground the deck height will be lower. The timing chain will become too long and can not be properly tensioned by the tensioner. The timing chain cover will not fit any more. If warped the cylinder heads will have to be replaced. This would certainly mean death to the engine. This is why I will keep my fingers crossed. Hope they will come out OK. If they are OK I will have the valves lapped or have a valve job done in a machine shop. This is a must. I will need to remove valves to see if there is any crack on the head anyway. Does anyone ever had B27/B28 V6 engine cylinder heads successfully ground without problems? I would love to hear about it if yes.

Originally Posted by Mike_Brace

If you can borrow a cordless impact wrench then the above would not be necessary.

Mike

I have a corded electric impact wrench. It is a powerful one. I thought of it yesterday. But I am not sure it will be powerful enough to loosen the big nut other than producing loud knocking noise. I will give it a try. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Bertoni1980]

Originally Posted by honestjoe

I still think shock treatment would work though.

This did remind me that I have an electric impact wrench (Sears brand) that I can try. I have only used this tool a few times after I bought it new more than 10 years ago. It is too powerful for most small jobs. I never found a need to use it. It has a variable speed trigger for speed but not for torque adjustment. I don't know if it is able to unbolt the crankshaft pulley nut.

[brodgar]

lock the flywheel.

that is the right way

done it recently

[Bertoni1980]

Originally Posted by brodgar

lock the flywheel.

I know. But my question is how. I am not sure taking the starter off and lock it from the flywheel is the only option and it is a difficult one. On a Volkswagen Passat V6 there is a screw to remove and reinstall with a longer one entering the crank case to lock the crankshaft. The B28F engine should have something like that too.

[Bertoni1980]

I found out how to lock the crankshaft. There are two plugs at the bottom of the V of the engine block near the front end. It is directly beneath the water pump. The water pump needs to be removed in order to see them. I already had the water pump taken off so I can see them there. One of the two is taller than the other and the plug looks exactly like the oil drain plug the the bottom of the engine. I used the square shaped socket which (used for the oil drain plug) to loosen it. Once it is opened I can see the crankshaft turning inside. I saw a slot passing by when I was turning the crank. I stopped the crank right there and inserted a flat head screw driver in there. It was able to keep the crankshaft from turning when I applied quite a bit of torque counterclockwise to the crank pulley nut. I was able to take the pulley off.

What a relief! I already had the exhaust headers unbolted and removed. My next step will be to remove the timing chain cover and remove the timing chains. Then I will begin to take the cylinder heads off. Lots of work to continue. It's time to look for my missing Haynes manual. I will need it to find torque specs when I am ready to reassemble the engine.

[Paul240480]

Seems like you are making some headway

Any update? We's love to know how it's going & be sure to get some pics up soon