Tightening flywheel

[Kez]

Working on a nostalgic project and the power plant is a HP .40 Goldcup. The flywheel has no holes and I am relying on my grip to hold the flywheel to tighten the cable nut. The engine is one of my vintage collection and I hate to modify it by drilling holes in the flywheel. I refuse to take a pipe wrench to it. Any suggestion?

Thanks,

kez

 

[TimothyJones]

Kez,

If you can get to the exhaust port(with the head on),stick a piece of hardwood between the piston and the liner.

Rotate and tighten the nut without breaking the wood.

 

[big_makdaddy]

what also works is to make a strap wrench out of a belt. just put the belt over the fly-wheel with enough tag end on each side to clamp the two ends together with a vise-grip pliers. or wrap fly-wheel with a old auto serpentine belt to protect the fly-wheel while gripping with pliers/vise-grip.

Good Luck John

 

[RodneyPierce]

I use a pair of channel locks, with the jaws covered in about a dozen layers of masking tape. This keeps the teeth from digging into the aluminum.

 

[Walt Barney]

An old starter belt works best just wrap it arround the flywheel twice and hold the belt with vicegrips

Walt Barney

 

[Terry Keeley]

I never use the holes.

Take the piston/sleeve out and put a piece of wood between the crank pin and the case from the top, tighten away.

 

[Al Hobbs]

I prefer to use the wood methods.

I have a piece of oak, 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch. With the piston and sleeve removed, I use this piece of wood to keep the crank pin from turning over. Just stick the wood through the top of the crankcase and rotate the crankshaft until the crankpin is held in place against the wood. Tighten the collet with a wrench.

If I am in a hurry, I stick a popsicle stick through the exhaust and rotate the crank until it stops against the stick. Then you can tighten the nut.

Al Hobbs

 

[moparbarn]

i've used both the wood & the strap/belt methods with good results. i prefer the strap/belt method, but use a vise to hold it.

 

[Daniel's Racing]

When working on a engine best held by part nearest the part you are trying to tighten. One wrap of electrical tape around the flywheel the install a hose clamp around the flywheel as tight as you can and hold the clamp with pair of channel locks and tighten the collet. Just like that better than holding the piston or crank if you can. IMO.

 

[Kez]

Thanks all for offering your suggestions and experience. I got it tightened finally.

This vintage engine has a ringed piston and the aluminum appeared not to be of high silicon content. Also, because of the piston ring, the exhaust port has two little windows instead of one single opening like the modern ABC engines. This limited the size of wood I can use in the exhaust port. Futhermore, the rod looks weak to me. Because of all these concerns, I do not want to put a lot of stress on the engine by sticking a piece of wood in the exhaust port. I never tried a piston lock tool but I guess it would put a lot of stress on the crank pin, rod and wrist pin. Today's engines with beefy rods and crankpins may be able to take it but not this one.

Removing the piston and liner is one option but I tried not to remove a ringed piston if I can avoid it for fear of distorting the ring.

So I took on old leather belt and fashioned a strap wrench and got the cable nut tighten. I am sure protecting the flywheel with leather and then use a hose clamp or a channel lock to hold the flywheel would work as well.