Second daft question of the day (V8)

[Junglie]

So you know I said it was going back together? Yeah, I spoke too soon as a quick check of the oil pump resulted in a sheared bolt. So I now have to take the front cover off. 

I have a challenge though. The engine is on a stand - no flywheel - and the cylinder heads are off. How does one safely lock the crank to undo the crank pulley bolt?

What else do you reckon is going to bit my arse while I do this? Just so I know what extra bits I need to budget for...

The Good News is that the oil pump appeared to be in fine fettle. Though the water pump has some witness marks at the back of the chamber suggesting the impeller has been hitting it. Though there's no sign of damage to the impeller blades - maybe it failed and was replaced?

[Junglie]

Well I sorted it - bolted the very large transmission wrench on using one of the flywheel bolts and locked it off that way. Appalling misuse of a tool but it worked so no foul, right?

Now I need to ask about a couple of things but I'll do it on a different thread to avoid confusion...

 

[Paul C]

That works, also bolting something on across the top of the block with something for the piston to come up against  will work too, or just a block of wood between the crank journal and block, lots of ways to get it done. 

[Escape]

If the front pulley is still on, you can use a strap wrench on that. Often that will give just enough resistance for an impact to loosen the bolt.