I have a 2001 Honda Prelude SH (Honda H22A4 engine). I am about to tackle replacing the timing belt and the cam/crank/balancer shaft seals on my own.
However, the one tool I don't have is a torque wrench (impact or otherwise) suitable for the 170 ft-lb torque spec on the crank pulley bolt when reinstalling it (I've got an electric impact driver with a 125 ft-lb spec, and a cheap torque wrench with an 80 ft-lb max). Also, I did order Honda's crank pulley bolt removal tool, although I suspect I'll have to take it to a shop to get help cracking the bolt anyways if I can't do it by hand.
My crank pulley has splines and a key, or something -- I don't know the terminology so here is a picture:
The bolt just fits on the end of the crankshaft, nothing exotic (the special tool has a hole in the middle and sits in the large socket so you can hold the shaft still while cracking the bolt):
So, my question, which I've probably hyped up too much, is simply this:
Assuming I have to drive (just a few blocks) to the shop to get help cracking the bolt and then drive it back to get help tightening it to 170 ft-lb when I'm done, this means I'll have to do this driving with the bolt tightened to a significantly lower torque. Can I do this? If so, should I take any special precautions? I don't have enough experience to predict whether or not the speed of the crankshaft will cause the bolt / pulley to slip off, or damage the splines or key, etc.
The crankshaft spins counter clock-wise and the bolt is not reverse-threaded so I do know that at least revving up will naturally tighten the bolt (but maybe revving down would loosen it?).
If I can't drive the car with a loose pulley bolt I'm not really sure what else I can do. I suppose I could rent a compressor and impact torque wrench. That'll make reinstalling the bolt no problem. I'm not looking forward to cracking it though.