Blimey it's been 3 weeks! I should explain that it stayed in the garage for a week while I stewed over what to do, before taking a hammer and chisel to the head of the bolt. This really didn't work, with the head merely disappearing a little more with each bash and not giving in. It then went to a local engineering place and, for £30, they have removed the head of the bolt and drilled down through that side of the casing - he had to leave the rest of the bolt in as he couldn't be sure he was drilling it straight. I also had the weld removed from the gear shift lever malarkey which has revealed a clamp missing it's splines and a shaft completely devoid of splines.. Hrm. Anyway, in the excitement of having my project back I set to it with a Big Screwdriver™ (only at the outside of the rubber mounts!) and a rubber mallet/block-o-wood combo, and finally prized it apart at a dowel pin with a toothbrush ground down into a wedge at one end - I wasn't about to shove screwdrivers between the cases! Lo and behold, the cases appeared to be full of mysterious gubbins..
Lookit the size of them main bearings! And they're still not beefy enough!? In the last picture you can also see, at the far left, what is left of the troublesome bolt. Luckily my Dad knows a bloke who knows a bloke who does spark erosion so it shouldn't be too much of a difficulty. There are also some cases for this engine on ebay amazingly, so I could go that route too.. Whatever, eh? Oh, and the black gasket means someone else has been here before - I really do wonder what kind of mileage this engine is.
So, how do I get the old bearings out? Since I don't know this engine's past I want to replace them all, but can I just knock them out or is there a trick to it? I haven't played with it since it came apart, decided to go for a ride today instead before the snow comes in.
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