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Replaced the oil pump cover seal and o-ring a week and a half ago; not entirely a fun job, suggest draining oil and removing filter first with ample time for draindown, as block (filter?) kept weeping oil down all the time the cover was off. Townsendimports site instructions don't mention it tho I guess it's obvious to any fool but me.
So have oil drain pan, newspapers and speedy-dry handy.
For a socket, I bought a six point 1 3/16" 1/2" drive socket at Sears, which equals 30 mm. (They didn't have metric sockets in larger sizes.) If yours is the newer smaller bolt, metric 27mm, you can use 1 1/16". Then I cut around 1/2" off it with a sawzall, holding socket in a vise, so total depth when I was done was about 1 1/8". Make a notch in the chrome plating first with a file at the right point to cut, then the Sawzall blade won't skate all over the place.
Then I followed Townsend and had starter motor break the bolt free. I used an old Snap-On long 1/2" drive ratchet I have, 14" long to end, which I was able to just work in above the shifter shaft and between rack and its fluid return hose and car body, to a point where I could catch the last few inches of the wrench handle with a cheater I made of a piece of 3/4" EMT conduit, bent about 15 degrees for 3 inches at the end. You need a ratchet and an angled cheater to get above the shifter shaft but below the frame rail. Otherwise I don't see how in the world Townsend's idea works.
First I had to get the AC pulley off the crank pulley. Pulled AC idler pulley right off its shaft to make more room. Townsend says he uses a flex-head 1/4" ratchet and a shallow (ground down) 10mm socket; I tried this but no way could I hold the flexing head ratchet square onto the bolt to get any loosening going. So I used a common 1/4" ratchet and standard socket to crack one of the bolts, then just a 10mm box-end wrench to crack the other two, and they spun out totally free with just fingers the rest of the way.
On the main crank bolt, DON'T run starter too long. I had put a block of wood behind my ratchet to keep the socket square on the bolt head, and ended up jamming that block into the firewall I loosened screw so far. So I had to drive the wood out with a carpenter's bar, reverse the ratchet, then hand spin the socket till bolt was in enough to get wrench out of the way. Bolt also came out with fingers.
Crank pulley didn't want to come off and I had to drive a couple pickle forks up between it and oil pump cover bolt heads to get it moving; at end it came easy - - loctite by an earlier assembler?
Oil pump cover also took lots of coaxing off as oil rained down - - dowel pins are nearly exactly at 3 and 9 o'clock, which Townsend didn't say, if it helps knowng just where to pry.
After cleanup and new seal, driven to slightly different depth than original, and new o-ring (Saab's clever 3-offset-prongs at various points in the groove held mine in well) cover didn't want to go back on too easy. I screwed in bolts to suck it on, though a short pine board with a hole cut out for the crank could probably be used to pry it back on smoothly.
Townsend's trick of grabbing the flywheel and pressure plate at passenger side with the jaws of a needle-nose pair of Vise Grips worked well to hold it and get crank bolt reasonably tight. He doesn't list a torque value on his site.
posted by 64.222.25...
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