I am going to be installing a cam in my 99 A4 next week and I have been reading some threads regarding the crank bolt removal and what a PITA it is to get off. I am going to be doing this in my gradage without air power tools. My cam is not going to be delivered from TSP until the 28th so i want to get as much stuff out of the way so i can put it in when it arrives and would like to know if using the starter to remove the crank bolt is a good way to go. I am doing it by myself and it seems like it will be more diffcult to try and jam a screwdriver against the bellhousing and undo the bolt. For those who have used this method can you chime in on if it worked out well for you along with some tips on how to do it correctly. Thanks

 

Find one of these Kent Moore LSx locking tools.
Remove the starter, & it bolts in place there to hold the crank.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/GMRULZ/017.jpg

 

Shoving a big enough screw driver or pry bar into the peep hole of the bellhousing will work. You will also need a breaker bar of some sort to snap the bolt loose. It ain't happening with a regular ratchet wrench, I can guarantee you that.

 

+1 on the srew driver. it works fine. just unplug the battery and drop the starter(you can leave the wires attached) and put a screw driver in. it should take you about 30mns max with getting the car in the air in all.

 

Electric Impact gun.....I have done it prolly 10 times and it has worked perfect......Or wedged a pry bar in the pulley and used my snap on ratchet to break it loose.

 

Doing the starter method is a good way to snap that chunk of the block off, possibly other parts/tools/bodies

Screwdriver method works great, just use an expendable one. Use the biggest breaker bar possible and pull on it from above. More leverage that way and you dont have to jack the car up 8 feet

 

I dont have access to a lift so I am going to try and do this from the top. So just jam a screw driver against the flywheel and the belhousing and this will hold?

 

It will hold

 

We used a crank pulley removal tool and then wedged a pry bar across the bolts on it and then a 4' cheater bar on a half inch break over bar. When it finally let loose I thought I broke something. We even bought an electric impact and it wouldnt even touch it.

 

I wedged a socket on a breaker bar on the crankbolt against the ground. Had someone tap the starter. Broke the bolt loose.

 

I've impact it off. But used a threaded rod and some appropriate sized washers and nuts and sunk the pulley back on properly. Do not use a crank bolt. Arp or not. I've seen too many snapped off in the crank because they did not catch. Enough threads

 

agformula did you have any issues hitting the transmisson cooling lines when using the starter method. I am planning on doing this tomarrow and i was peaking at the crank pulley and the transmisson lines look like they are pretty close to the pulley.

 

You are going to have to lock the crank to tighten the bolt back even if you use the starter method to loosen it.

 

Yea i figured it might save me some time getting it off with the help from the starter and not having to jack up the car and try and made sure the screw driver is in there why I am muscling the crank bolt. I was looking at the pictures on ls1how to for the cam install and there doesent appear the be transmission cooling lines infront of the crank pulley. On other model years besides the 99 have the coolent lines routed differently?

 

Yea, cars with M6 transmissions. You are going to have to move those trans cooler lines anyway to install a cam.

 

Key word 'move', not remove.
See other thread for info on the bracket removal, then you can simply get the pulley off by 'moving' the A4 transmission lines out of the way momentarily.