So I've got the motor & tranny on a dolly in my driveway. I've removed the engine tin and have gotten the front half of the impeller housing off. How do I remove those 12-point bolts without turning the motor? I remember reading somewhere that jamming a screwdriver between the fanblades is a serious no-no.

Also, I'm about to split the transmission off the rear... is that straightforward?

I'm not totally clear about the bolts you are refering to. If they are the ones on the fan itself, you don't need to remove those, only the 3 bolts that secure it to the crank end.

also, you don't have to open the blower housing to remove it, at least I didn't.

dr

I'm swapping the housing and other gear over to a longblock, so it all needs to come apart. There are three bolts around the center of the fan that appear to hold it in place.

hold the flywheel.......there are a few holes in the back of the flywheel that can be accessed thru the hole in the case on the top of the engine on the opposite side of the starter.

Unless you want to clean the inside of the blower housing, you don't need to take it apart. Just remove the 3 bolts in the center of the fan, pull it out, remove the 4 nuts that hold the housing to the case, and the one holding the oil cooler bracket to the housing, and pull it off. Oh, don't forget the thermostat wire ............... HTH, The Cap'n

I have used a screwdriver through the fan blades. I kept it toward the back where the blades are joined to the body of the fan, not up front where they are unsupported. I figured that they weren't getting much force that way. Plus the direction of the load doesn't change the way it will if you're trying to turn over the engine with the screwdriver....

Hopefully this isn't anything you're going to be doing every 6000 miles, either!

--DD