How in the world do you tighten this.

daveforty said:

Isn't it the case that if you have a good engine, you can change the van in a couple of hours?

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I should think so. Maybe an hour with 2 guys that already know the drill, and if you have a rolling "base" jack like a motorcycle jack.

grandpaul said:

I should think so. Maybe an hour with 2 guys that already know the drill, and if you have a rolling "base" jack like a motorcycle jack.

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When I was 15, I had a summer job, working as a junior mechanic for a VW specialist.
He showed me how to have a VW beetle up on jack stands, engine unbolted and rolled out on a floor jack in 20 minutes.
He had had a great job as the lead engine rebuilder in a big VW dealership. A couple guys working for him. Big shop. Special 1200 sq ft rebuild room.
Alcoholism got him. They had to let him go.
He lived in a rented mobile home, with a ramshackle 1 bay garage to work out of. Kind soul, taught me a lot. Wouldn't ever let me touch a drop of booze, even though he was.

I ended up getting it on by thinning the nut to 13mm, modifying a 13mm box wrench and still had to remove some meat from the cylinder. No idea how they put it on at the factory. Head was off when I bought the bike. Now to touch up the paint and on to the next item.

I never had to do any special mods to my tools to work on that nut...had an old Craftsman 7/16"(?) Ring wrench on my tool box that fit perfectly with enough clearance. I have the Motion Pro torque wrench adaptor thingie to permit use of my torquer at 90 degrees. Bit of a fiddle to make it all work in the tight spaces but i get there.

Tornado said:

I never had to do any special mods to my tools to work on that nut...had an old Craftsman 7/16"(?) Ring wrench on my tool box that fit perfectly with enough clearance. I have the Motion Pro torque wrench adaptor thingie to permit use of my torquer at 90 degrees. Bit of a fiddle to make it all work in the tight spaces but i get there.

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Sounds like someone changed your nut to 7/16" AF sometime in the past. It is not a 7/16 SAE nut and not SAE threads.

Torque: I restored a '51 Ford 8N and the rear axle nuts called for 450 ft-lbs. Way beyond any torque wrench I had. I weigh 150#, so I made a 3ft cheater and sat on it for the final torque.
Never had to touch it again.
Jaydee