OK, I've replaced all the timing components, waterpump, etc. and I'm buttoning things back up. I managed to get the harmonic balancer off without having to jam the flywheel, but now that I'm putting it all back together I don't see that I'm going to be able to put 250ftlbs of torque on the crank bolt without locking the flywheel. I've been up under the car and I'm at a loss on how to get to flywheel. I keep seeing posts on removing an access cover but I'm not seeing anything that looks like a cover. All I see is what appears to be the bottom half of the bell. Any ideas, directions to schematics (it's tight under there) or other options to lock the crankshaft down to torque the bolt back would be appreciated.

 

It is really tight under there.

If you found the lower half of the bell, you're in the right place. On the forward part of the bell (facing the rest of the engine), there's a black rubber plug roughly trapezoidal in shape, maybe about 2-3 inches wide and 1-1/2 to 2 inches tall, close to the lowest point of the bell. It's fairly close to a cross piece in the suspension/frame forward of it, so there's not much room to work. I had to use a mirror to see the flywheel through the access port when I was examining it for a timing mark (which turned out to be nonexistent on that model).

There's a rectangular access plug on the rear (transmission) side, but I don't remember if there's anything grabbable in that port.

Hope this helps.

 

The pictures below are of a tool my buddy made up for me a bit ago. Worked like a charm. It has two tabs that fit the gaps in the interior well of the harmonic balancer (similar to the sprocket tensioning tool). Despite the name (for now) it's not designed to lock the crankshaft as much as it is to hold it in place to reinstall and torque the crank bolt. We made the handle long enough so that it would catch the underside of the frame on either side of the motor, once you get it inserted in the balance pulley and snug it up to the frame it's a one man job to torque the bolt.

 

On my XJR, I removed the black rubber plug and put a bolt throught 1 of the threaded hole in the flywheel.
Make sure that you use a NEW bolt/washer on the crank, those crank bolt are really a 1 time use.
250 lbs is a lot and I had to buy a huge ( but cheap at HB) torque wrench

 

DO NOT USE THE LOCK TOOL TO HOLD THE CRANK FOR LOOSENING OR TIGHTENING THE DAMPER BOLT.

You need to hold the damper NOT the torque converter drive plate. I have posted the story about the guy in the Jag shop next to me when I worked at the dealer. He got done with a chain job and had a CMPS and CKPS sensor mismatch fault. He replaced sensors, retimed the engine, etc.etc.etc. and after 2 days we convinced him that the timing notches in the flywheel were damaged and he finally pulled the gearbox to check.

The notch for the crank lock was BENT and elongated so the CKPS saw an incorrect sequence of segments. He SWORE that he used a tool to hold the damper and NOT the crank lock tool to hold the crank but he was lying to us and himself. The evidence was there.

He went to parts to price a NEW one and was horrified to discover how much it was. Another guy in the shop said he had a good used one and saved his ***.

You can wrap a section of drive belt around the damper and get a 24' chain wrench to hold the damper. There is a slight chance of pulling the outer section off the damper if the rubber is weak, but a new/good-used one is cheaper/easier than a torque converter drive plate.

bob gauff

 

So you wrap the piece of old belt around the pulley to cushion it from the chain wrench?

Speaking of wrapping, I am trying to wrap my head around this......lol