<VV> No Corvair Mechanical Question

[Garth Stapon]

Hi:

I bought my 16 year old a 98 Chev Tracker 4X4. It is a 1.6 L sohc - 4 cyl motor.

It has 85,000 miles and I am not sure if the cam belt has been changed. I want to take off the cover to inspect. GM suggests replacement at 60,000 miles.

I bought the GM factory manual on e bay and followed the directions. Kind of like baking a cake.

I am on step 14 and it instructs me to remove the 5 bolts on the exposed crank shaft pulley. I did this. Because of the location at the bottom of the engine it is filled with road grime. I did manage to get all 5 bolts off.

The manual specifically states that it is not necessary to remove the large center bolt on the crankshaft as the pulley can be removed without removing it. I tried to loosen the pulley after removing the 5 outside bolts including using a socket wrench on the center bolt.

I haav applied liberal amounts of WD40 to the pulley and now it sits. Time for a coffee and to send this note.

Without taking off this pulley, I can not remove the cover to inspect, so I am lost at what might be the next step. The shroud is plastic and I worry that heat might melt it (or worse yet ignite it).

Assuming that I can not get it off with lubrication or heat, what can you suggest to stop the motor from rotating if I reef on the center bolt? I recall a couple of creative types suggesting a rag down the spark plug hole to stop piston rotation on a Corvair but in this case, the spark plug hole is recessed approximately 8 inches so I do not think that this would be practical.
Thanks in advance for your help.

There is no better way to spend Memorial day weekend than wrenching on a car.Even if its not a Corvair. 9 Year old bolts are much easier to romove than 42 year old bolts!

Please send ideas off line.


Regards, Garth