Happy T-Day/Crank Pulley Tech

[bam-bam]

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day. We hung around the house and I played in the garage.

Despite my best intentions of going absolutely no where today I ended up spending half the day fighting crowds trying to find M6 screws to fit the crank pulley "Q" reactor.

The worst part is I ended up not even needing them. After getting home I promtly grabbed my brand new genuine expensive BMW tool and went out to finish up Brians MINI. After 5 minutes trying to get the second bolt in the crank pulley I get the flashlight out and the tool doesn't fit. After a few minutes of utter dibelief and some new cuss words I go inside and verify that they sent me the right pulley.

According to BMW they have swapped manufacturers and I do have the right pulley. Well unfortunately the new manufacturer made the bolt holes slightly further apart so of course the advertised tool doesn't work. However according to BMW this the first they heard of it even though they have sold several of them. Whatever after 25 years as a mechanic I know when the tool isn't right. However to give them the benefit of the doubt I tried again to verify I wasn't crazy.

Well after a few more new cuss words I just crewchiefed it, threw the car in 5th and used a pry bar between lug bolts as a "Q" reactor to install the bloody pulley.

So after my first pulley install I have the following advice. The only special tool you need is the installer that worked like a charm. Everything else the book calls for can be worked around. The "Q" reactor is a waste of money since you never know which pulley will be installed. But hey it looks cool hanging on my wall. Maybe Iwill make it into clock and sell it on EBay.

Cheers
Shawn

[Silverbullit]

Good Morning bam-bam,
Glad to hear you had a good holiday and got all the "Gremlins" back in the bottle while working on Brians car. Do you know if there is a meeting this Sat.?? I e-mailed Shaun a few days ago but haven't heard back. I'm supposed to drive the MINI in a Christmas parade early afternoon on Sat. in Gordon but should be able to get to W/R by 5:00PM. If you hear anything let me know