Miata crank.jpg
When I got my blue 90 NA it had a bad case of the short nose disease the key way was over twice the width of what it should be. I got all the correct loctite products to do the job but instead I welded in a piece of steel and file down the weld to make the key way like new again I tried it this way so I didn’t have to wait the 24 hours that the loctite fix required.
Another reason why I went this way was IMO I think with the loctite way you stand a good chance of moving the pulley/woodruff key as you start to tighten the crank bolt, because the tool to hold the pulley does not stop the crank form turning until the bolt is tight enough to lock the pulley on the crank itself.
If I did the loctite fix, to stop the crank from turning I would use the old rope trick which is remove the # 1 spark plug, well it could be any of the 4 plugs as long as that cylinder is coming up to TDC on the compression stroke. When all 4 valves are closed insert a piece of nylon rope in the spark plug hole 2” before TDC feed in what ever will go in but make sure that you have one end left out long enough to hold on to when you go to remove it again. Now turn the crank clockwise and the rope will lock the crank from turning you can then do the loctite fix without worrying that the pulley/woodruff key will move as you tighten the bolt. To remove the rope put the car in a forward gear and rock the car back this will turn the engine counter clockwise then you can pull out the rope
I did the above work in September 2006 and have not had a problem with that fix, that is over five years now so I am very happy with that.
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Originally Posted by itzzspencer
