in-car crank removal

[heyitsrama]

Do you guys think it’s possible to drop the crank out of a car without removing the motor? I would assume the automatic gearbox would need to be removed, not sure if there is anything special about its removal; just drop the driveshaft, bell housing bolts and anything that is connected to the crank.

It seems like the only questionable thing is if the crank can clear the subframe..... seems a bit risky tho. 

anyone ever do something this dumb? 😇

remind me of any tools I might need to bring besides the whole garage.

[Zed Head]

People do crazy things, see attached link.  With an automatic you might even have room to drop it with the flex plate attached.  Who knows.  It will be heavy.  

https://forums.hybridz.org/topic/81528-replacing-piston-rings-with-the-engine-in-the-vehicle-l-series-faq/

Edited February 4, 2021 by Zed Head
Oops.

[heyitsrama]

$^!# I forgot how heavy the cranks are, I’d be worried about smacking it on something on the way out. Hopefully maximas don’t have annoying subframes. 

[Racer X]

6 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

Do you guys think it’s possible to drop the crank out of a car without removing the motor? I would assume the automatic gearbox would need to be removed, not sure if there is anything special about its removal; just drop the driveshaft, bell housing bolts and anything that is connected to the crank.

It seems like the only questionable thing is if the crank can clear the subframe..... seems a bit risky tho. 

anyone ever do something this dumb? 😇

remind me of any tools I might need to bring besides the whole garage.

My first question would be why?

The transmission would need to come out so you can remove the flywheel (or flexplate for automatic transmission). Then the motor mounts undone and the engine raised so the forward end of the crank will clear the front cross member.

Even then it will be difficult to remove without the help of a friend.

And at that point, removing the engine, and placing it on an engine stand will be a lot less work.

Going back in will be quite complicated, as the connecting rods will all need to be positioned to line up with the journals on the crank, taking care not to damage the journals with the big end rod bolts (6 pairs of hand to hold each one, can you fit yourself and 5 of your closest friends under the car?).

 

[dutchzcarguy]

Just take out the engine ..less work at the end and no heavy lifting under a car..  Did you lift a crank lately? they are heavy!  

When the engine is out you can give the engineroom a clean and the engine some paint if needed.. and so we have a lot more work hey?

[Zed Head]

Might be that he's just picking up a crankshaft from a car in a wrecking yard.  We've all probably seen what people will do to get their parts there.  Pretty common to see a Z engine leaning against the firewall, on the valve cover.

I'm sure the details will come out.

[heyitsrama]

What a strange motor, a lot of work for one dude.

Not much space to pull it out from the front, removing the motor would be the easiest approach. At that point might as well keep the block too.

too many projects, going to have to throw the towel in on this one for now... got a nice rear view mirror though. 

with a demolition saw this would be fast... 

[Zed Head]

Are you going to tell us why?

[heyitsrama]

Why? 
 Why I did not pull it out? Or why the demo saw is going to help?

[Zed Head]

What the heck are you working on?  Is it in a wrecking yard?  Is it in your driveway?  Is it yours?  Why do you want to remove a crankshaft from a Maxima?  Are you going to repair something and put it back together?

Stuff like that.

[heyitsrama]

Ohhhh!

yeah I think both these maxima were on Craigslist for a while, but they ended up in a yard on Monday, one a 78 l24 and the other the 82 ld28.

I wanted to grab the crank to potentially use for a motor build. But it’s going to take a while for just 1 dude to pull a motor in a wet junkyard (it’s been raining for a week). If I had another set of hands to help it would be fast.

It looks like people use the blocks to make l35 motors which require custom billet internals aka mucho pesos... but for a street/light track use, the crank would be a nice to have. Apparently there are some forum postings from the web saying that Nissan was selling these cranks new 5-8 years ago? 

 If it was in my driveway I would not have a problem with pulling it out, but I don’t have any space for more cars.... 

the rear view mirror I got has a really nice glass, I wonder if I can swap over the glass into the black housing on my Z, or if I should just paint the grey housing, the plastic on the mirror housing really starts to flake out, 40 years of UV light I guess.

[Zed Head]

Those LD cranks seem to be worth a lot of money.  Might be worthwhile to pull it just for resale.