Tonight I split the crankcase to get at the crank, cam, and tappets. I decided to leave the engine mounted on the nose stand. I used some soft nylon rope to tie the cam and crank to one of the case halves so they could not fall out as the case halves were separated. Luckily my friend Rich was around to help manage things! I used a slide hammer attached to the large fixed cylinder hold down studs near the main bearing journals per Lycoming instructions. The case began to split fairly easily (not to much force from the slide hammer). The front crank seal was really glued in well which slowed progress! With the nose of the case separated about 1/4 inch I took a razor blade and cut the seal at the split line, top and bottom. Once the seal was cut the case came apart easily. Rich and I negotiated removing the case half and cam, we left the tappets in place in the case for now. I then untied teh crank from the remaining case half and removed the case.
I will box up the crank and get it sent out to AEA in Dallas to have the crank inspected for sudden stoppage. Once the crank is determined to be good I will start sending the other parts out for NDT, and overhaul.
