Crankshaft Pulley ….. and what!!

I now need to get the front end off the engine block to extract and replace the camshaft. So off with the radiator which was pretty straight forward once I realised it is removed from under the car.

Again following the workshop manual line by line I removed the fan belt and had a go at the crankshaft pulley bolt which as expected was solid. I found a couple of bolts and cut and filed them as per the instructions in the manual. Jacked up the car on one side and fitted them which locked the crankshaft in position. Prior to locking the crankshaft I set it to TDC on no1 firing stroke as an initial datum.

With the crankshaft locked by the “official” method the crankshaft pulley bolt was easily removed with a breaker bar.

With the pulley removed it was then I discovered a piece of stud tucked up in the pulley rim. I initially thought this had got there accidently by then I noticed it had been clamped in place by indenting the rim edge.  I wonder if at some time in the past there had been some kind of balancing been done.

I am tempted to leave as is considering it seems it was done intentionally ……… Will do some more research.

Update: I posted the photo onto the Rover V8 Engine Appreciation Facebook group where it was strongly confirmed that this is actually the factory balance method ….. and is normal on these engines. That flange is called the balance flange for the purpose of gripping the studs used to balance the pulley.