In it goes and fasten down the two 6mm bolts into the recommended threaded holes - start winding it up while tapping around the outside witha block of wood, - nothing - keep winding up - bang! one of the 6mm bolts has stripped, - bugger1 - and not a sign of any movement.
After a fair bit of cursing and swearing and wondering what to do now I come up with a cunning plan, - I rule out trying to retap the stripped 6mm as the flange seems that stuck it might just strip again - decide to try tapping out the three larger holes for inserting the stator plate fastening bolts. The problem is that the taps I have got start at a pointed end and wont start to cut a thread as theres only around 5/6mm thickness of flange and I dont want to ruin the threads on the casing side.. Plan B - ream out a shaving from end of the holes - place a 8mm bolt over the hole - and give it a good whack with a hammer - this causes it to get a bite into the alloy flange - then with brute force drive in the bolt to cut a thread as far down as the engine casing - works surprisingly well and do all three with relative ease, - nice!
This means drilling three appropriate holes in my tool (ow!) - duly done and insert the thing in to try. Start winding up, nothing - keep winding - getting bloody tight but still nothing, - use a bit of steel tube for more force - the steel late and tube on the tool starts to buckle and bend but still nothing, not half a millimetre of movement, - daren't wind up any more otherwise somethings going to break! - Give up for the day and retire to curse and have think.
Following day .......enter the garage with grim determination - that bloody mag flange is coming off today!
Start winding up the tool as far as I dare - there must be a huge pressure, just hoping the 8mm bolts will hold, - then get an old (well, it is now) kitchen bread knife with plain cutting edge and hammer it into the gasket between flange and casing hoping to break the seal or whatever, - keep at this for a while daring to have another quarter turn on the tool now and then - nothing! Getting pissed off now - grab a piece of 3x2 and use a hammer to knock around the edge of flange - eventually give it a few almighty wallops risking the casting - bloody hell - a very small gap has opened up! Only just enough to get the knife in but its moved - wind up a little more, wont budge, - get a wide blade wood chisel and tap that in - more wallops with the 3x2 - hey, were up to about 2mm of seperation! - anyway - more wallops and keep winding up, it eventually comes out - fantastic, - chuck it on the bench - off for a well deseved beer or three!
Flange with home made tool in place, - the immense pressure has buckled the steel base and pulled in the sides of the steel tube and its pretty thick solid stuff, its as if the flange was glued in place. 2 of the 3 8mm bolts visible, - theres a nut on them to spin down onto the baseplate when theyve gone far enough in to reach the engine casing, - theres no way I would have got the flange off without this - I reckon even the official tool would have stripped the two 6mm bolts. What a b*st*rd that was!
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