I may be finally nearing the home stretch. Already prayed plenty for the timing cover. I think it might hold OK, all except for one oil pan bolt (into the oil pump) - it's possible that one crossthreaded, but it's hard to tell. It'll be a miracle if it starts, much less actually holds oil. But at 147,000 miles - if I get another couple of years before rebuild I'll be pretty happy. question - torqueing the crank bolt. Instructions say use a screwdriver against the flywheel while torqueing - that would obviously be a two-person job. No problem, but just checking if there is a better way.
What I do on crank bolts is I wait till the rest of the job is done. This way you don't move it from #1 and having all the accesory belts hooked up makes the engine harder to turn.
I snap a vise grip onto the ring gear and let it bump up against the block-it works ok for a one man operation-good luck
