Thread: Crankwheel removal tool LRT-12-080

Chasing a crank wheel removal tool if anyone could steer me in the right direction?

Managed to get the harmonic balancer off thanks with a little help from Rangie Heaven in Cranbourne. However the bad news is that the wobble in the balancer has damaged the key way, and a replacement was imminent. Then we noticed that the engine had a variable advanced timing kit in there that wasn't suppose to be there, it must of been installed by Orger engines when the engine was rebuilt while the vehicle was under Sean (Davidsonp38) ownership.

However the net effect was that timing chain was sitting out proud further than a standard kit, and slowly but gradually was wearing through the timing cover, and the block. It was lucky that we discovered this in time before wearing all the way through, destroying the block and cooling galleys with detrimental results as well as a replacement engine block. I therefor had the timing kit replaced back to a genuine standard unit, which seated much better in a very compact space. The advanced kit would be ok in an older 3.9 or 3.5L V8, but not in the reworked 4.0/4.6. So i guess the moral of the story is be cautious when you start to alter the internals of your engine from stock standard without being 110% sure that it is compatible, and will not cause any long term damage to other components.

Now i'm not having a go at Orger engines or anything, as everything else the motor is built to perfection and runs beautifully, however just because a company says they're a professional engine builder, does not always necessarily guarantee that they fully understand a Rover V8 (as we all know from the common gremlins of the slipping liners, porous blocks etc, etc.) and pays to know exactly what's been done.

While the timing case was off, the oil pump was replaced too which was showing signs of stress and wear. It was replaced by a competent high quality aftermarket one with a better oil pick up.

Now with the standard timing kit back in, the engine does run slightly smoother, and uses even lesser fuel. the only trade off is slight reduction in mid range torque. But then again that was to be expected, as P38's with the GEMs never really had strong mid range anyway as they're a workhorse engine not a racing one.

So all back to normal, and still running with that beautiful V8 burble.