I had to wait for a few test drives since I fixed this, just so I didn't jinx myself.
First, here are pictures of the pulley itself.
1.
Plain pulley
2.
How the crank bolt goes in. The bolt could hide the "locating hole" that has a dowel pin go through it into the crankshaft. It's pretty soft and sheared when I removed the bolt, I wonder how well it holds on the way in.
3.
Close up
4. Then I had to
remove the hex bolt/key to see what it's holding. Nothing. Just a bolt and a bushing.
5.
Back side.
6. Showing the
insulator through the back. Had me scratching my head trying to figure out why the hex is there. Everything looks like it was press fit. I suppose the hex bolt is a form of counterbalance. The outer ring also has dimples for the same purpose I believe.
I did go to a Nissan dealership close by and told them I wanted to tighten my crank bolt on the M45 and that it would require the Armada tool. They said they had it on hand, and it could cost approx $100 for them to tighten just the bolt. They wanted to know if the dowel pin was still there for balancing purposes (fair point) and I said no. So that's another possible $100 to
get another pin
So far, nothing that warrants a $100 upcharge that I can see.
Part 2 is me trying to tighten the bolt again without going to the poor house. Some of these pictures didn't come out looking too pretty, but hey noone that I've known looks pretty at 2AM either.
I tried using a serpentine belt on the pulley wound up on a piece of wood then wedged to a crossmember like I had done it before. It worked well enough to snap 2 belts.
[No pictures here]
Next I got another belt and wound it on itself and hooked on a pin jutting from the engine (this time on the junk engine)
This works perfectly to hold the outer ring but after seeing what could happen, I will avoid such methods for this type of assembly. The insulator ripped and the inner part started spinning against the pulley as I turned the bolt. But it has a strong hold, and I can vouch for that.
I am glad the belt snapped on my first wood-jamming attempt or that pulley would have ended up like this one too.
I am also glad I didn't find a strap wrench/chain large enough for the job because I'd probably be right there in this unpleasant situation.
Remember those 6 metric holes around the crank bolt in the pulley pictures? This is where they come into play.
3rd, on my trip to Autozone & OReilly's, mainly seeking out recommendations for a machine shop, I spotted this tool:
tool # 67065from OReilly's
Approx 60 bucks to rent it and that is refunded when you return it. I found some hard-looking bolts in my stash and even went to Lowe's for some Grade 8.8, but they are
M6x1.0 bolts so bending was kind of inevitable.
The idea was to hold the inner disc stationary without messing with the outer ring, then turn the bolt to pull the whole pulley assembly even closer to the crankshaft.
Anyway, this is how I used it:
I jammed the red handle on the ground and stepped on the breaker bar with the 19mm socket as gently-yet-firmly as I could. After a few attempts and adjustments, it went an extra approx 120 degrees beyond what I had done with the belt earlier. When the engine started lifting, I decided to stop, not wanting to damage my motor mounts.
Anyway, I haven't attempted another 0-60 sprint yet, but I kept jabbing the throttle to about 4,000 rpm - something that was sure to spin it loose before. So far at 6,000 rpm, so good.
Happy motoring.