The Lotus Grand Tourers

Good morning. A question for experts. I have a problem changing my Excel's timing belt. I need to disassemble the crankshaft pulley, but does the bolt unscrew clockwise or counterclockwise? If you also give me a tip to lock the engine to unscrew.Thank you

The bolt unscrews anti-clockwise, as normal. It is done tight, so use a good-quality 6-point socket and a long bar!

You can lock the engine by removing a spark plug and feeding some rope (clean, that isn't likely to leave shreds behind) into the hole. Make sure it's in a cylinder that is coming up to its firing point, so the valves are closed.

Even with the bolt off don't assume the pulley will come off easily. Even with the engine out of the car my pulley put up a fight.

Thanks for the reply. It seems strange to me that if the engine turns clockwise, they put a bolt that unscrews counterclockwise. If it's as you say, I could lock the bolt with a good wrench and give the engine a starter blow, after disconnecting the ignition coil.

Or put it in gear and bump the car, having locked a bar as you suggest.

The engine turns clockwise so it would be tightening bolt which unscrews anticlockwise. I always jam the flywheel with a large screw driver. If you stand on the right hand side of the engine (drivers side in the u.k). reach down to the bell housing from above you find a hole. A bit tricky to find but if you persevere you will find it. Insert a large screw driver between the teeth. Don't forget to remove it when you start the engine!!

There are some youtube links in this thread
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1660

Car on ground, in gear with handbrake on. Breaker bar from above, sharp tugs to shock it free worked for mine. As mentioned above getting the pulley off may well take plenty of effort too.

I do not agree with Richard about putting rope (or anything) in a plug hole.
As others mention first try handbrake, fourth gear (direct), breaker bar to tension up and a smart heavy hammer blow.
Otherwise a long bar to the ground and a sharp engine start on.off (coil disconnected).

The pulley has two threaded holes which take a small puller. You can rig this with two bolts and a flat steel plate.
All of this with the bonnet off, an easy one man job, no weight.

Dave the cog.

DavidOliver wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:36

The pulley has two threaded holes which take a small puller. You can rig this with two bolts and a flat steel plate.
All of this with the bonnet off, an easy one man job, no weight.

Dave the cog.

Check the condition of the 'teeth' as they wear sharp and cut the belt

Have a look at this thread for some examples of wear.

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=11428&start=15

thanks everyone for the advice. however it is the V pulley that I have to extract to change the belt. for now the toothed pulley is fine there.

Goodmorning everyone. I fixed it, put the fifth gear in and then with a good wrench and an extension tube the bolt counterclockwise unscrewed immediately, then the V-pulley came off effortlessly. Thank you