14 replies to this topic

[ellensmini]

Hi everyone, been sticking a metro engine in my girlfriends mini, so ive been changing the flywheel to suit the different clutch setup, well my problem is i cant move the flywheel, its stuck on there that hard it snapped the center bolt in two.

any ideas?? heating the flywheel??

any ideas would be great!!

thanks
dale

[ellensmini]

anyone? hoping to get it removed today :erm:

[The Matt]

I assume you mean that you snapped the centre bolt on the flywheel puller?

If so, then:

Leave the flywheel puller under a load of tension, sometimes the puller will induce a little 'creep' and the flywheel (though it may not look like it) will slowly come off. I have heard stories of people giving up and going for a cuppa (leaving the puller attached) then coming back and finding that the flywheel has come off of its own accord. I have also applied tension to the puller and smacked the centre bolt on the puller a few times (though not too hard) and again left it for a few minutes, then re-tensioned the puller.

I would avoid heating it too much, this could damage the seals in the transfer case etc.

If not then:

Buy a Sykes Pickavant (spelling???) flywheel puller, they are great and made specifically for this job!

[ellensmini]

thanks mate, yeah the center bolt in the puller snapped, it took some serious grief, so it is still under tension now, and has been left over night now, im thinking some sorta heat is going to be required thou :sad:

what sorta damaged could be caused?

[ellensmini]

but thinking about it, the old mini engine is shot anyway, i only want the flywheel to put in her new metro engine, so i suppose i could heat the mini one but not the metro engine

[The Matt]

Well, you need to think about what else is around there really.

It could cause no damage, but it could damage the crank seal, which would then need changing.

I personally would try and find a new bolt for the puller and keep on 'tweaking' the tension bit by bit. I have done it once and it took a couple of hours of tweaking, leaving, tweaking,leaving, but I tried to avoid using heat or hitting it with a hammer, it came off in the end!

[minimole]

i snapped 2 flywheel pullers taking my fly wheel off, i was about to tie the engine to a tree and the flywheel to the pickup and drive off but then i got me new engine

[Dan]

Sound's like it's either fretted on (welded itself in place) which is rare in non race engines, or you have either left the lockwasher in place or don't have the flywheel in the correct removal position.

[ellensmini]

well the lock washer is out, and the timing marks are set to 3 oclock

[Dan]

Well then I don't know.

The slots in the crank are actually horizontal aren't they, not just at 3 oclock in relation to the engine? I mean you don't have the engine laying on it's side do you? I only ask because someone on here did that before.

You can try tapping it with a ball pein hammer around the rim while the puller is loaded up. If you can get it to ring then it should loosen. (don't hit it again while it's ringing, that's a great way to shatter lumps of cast iron!)

[a7peh]

I removed my flywheel by heating it up using a blow torch. I also had exploded the flywheel puller bolt. It eventually came off using some heat, but the flywheel had been welded to the crank, some chunks were missing off the taper end and were welded inside the flywheel bore. I don't know it they are both scrap? I wonder if you can metal spray and machine the taper and rebore the flywheel or is that a waste of time?

[Parker]

I removed my flywheel by heating it up using a blow torch. I also had exploded the flywheel puller bolt. It eventually came off using some heat, but the flywheel had been welded to the crank, some chunks were missing off the taper end and were welded inside the flywheel bore. I don't know it they are both scrap? I wonder if you can metal spray and machine the taper and rebore the flywheel or is that a waste of time?

Waste of time mate

Try a liberal spraying with cocacola

It may sound daft but that stuff eats its way through most things and may just break the seal

I've not tried it with a Mini flywheel before but I've used this trick with other stuborn things before and if it dosn't work you at least get to drink the rest of the cans contents while you look on scratchin yer ead

[Guess-Works.com]

Try a liberal spraying with cocacola

Bye bye clutch plate...

As has been said previously keep the load on the wheel, and leave it, go back 10 minutes later and load it a little further...

Use a high quaility flywheel puller, not the cheap sh*te you get on ebay... and use a socket and breaker bar.. making sure you also have the flywheel locked securely..

[Dan]

Also remember that you should leave something under it to catch it. Something made of softwood is good like a pallet or some scaf boards and put a thick rug over it. If you leave the flywheel like this it will more than likely be on the floor when you return and you don't want to dent the ring gear on the concrete garage floor.

Speaking of ring gears, have you taken the gear into account regarding the starter when fitting the Mini flywheel to the Metro engine?

[Sprocket]

I agree with the use of genttle heat. Trick is not to heat the flywheel too much

Use a genttle flame blow torch and heat the flywheel evenly about three quarters from the outer edge and quarter from the center. Guage the temperature by heating it until when spitting on it will start to sizzle, then stop the heating. At this temperature no damage to seals, clutch or distortion of flywheel will result as its only about 100 degrees C. Just enough though to cause the flywheel to expand releasing it from the crank. oh and yes you still need to apply the pressure with the puller.

If this fails as well, then I'm afraid the flyweel has welded itself to the crank and short of cutting it off, the engine is scrap. Even if you do cut it off the crank and flywheel will need replacing.