Finally got the front engine bolt out of the project Le Mans 2 - a mate had suggested an acetone and ATF mix after having read about it on a forum somewhere. Well, cheap nail polish remover was the nearest I could find to pure acetone, so mixed it up with just as cheap red ATF to make a foul-smelling but fascinating potion. Slapped it on all over the bolt, left it to soak, slapped more on, etc. etc. for a week or two, also painted some on the stator housing that had rusted solid to the timing cover.
After about 10 days, went back, lots of heat, big lump hammer, scaffold bar on my breaker bar, and the bolt came out easily, having had to grind off the shite end nut that had begun to spin on the thread (probably after me whacking it in frustration so many times...)
The stator also dropped off just by me giving it a dirty look. Motor finally out of frame, progress made. I'll be using acetone/ATF from now on
3 comments:
Great tip thanks! The words "big lump hammer", "scaffold bar" and "whacking" seem to figure quite often when discussing Guzzi maintenance.
Victory!
To be fair though Guy, this is the first time in 22 years of owning big Guzzis that I've come across a seized engine bolt. Never usually have to use big hammers, only when crushing self's fingers upon seeing the current going value of the more interesting Guzzi spares on Ebay the last couple of years...
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