my son is working on his 93 firebird optispark in boces his teacher said the pulley and balancer can't be pulled off without first using a special tool that can only be had by a gm dealer i can not find any refrence to the dealer tool in this forum from what ive read in the forum is that everybody uses a regular puller can any one verify that we will need the tool or not does it only apply to 1993 engines or what thanks jim

 

I just unbolted mine and pulled it off by hand.Try that first.

 

I used a jaws puller and a hammer.

 

On my 94, I had the best luck using a 3 jaw flywheel puller. I bought some 4" grade 8 bolts to thread into balancer, and then used a allen head bolt that threads into crank so the puller tip has a place to stay centered. It came off very hard but it came off with no damage. Good luck.

 

He just needs to pull the pulley.

This works if the pulley is stubborn:

http://shbox.com/1/pull_pulley.jpg

 

IIRC you just need the pulley part of and you can leave the hub on the crankl snout. I got mine off and several others by tapping it with a rubber mallet. One even came right off with no persuasion. You will find it is a verty tight fit and if you use a piece of emory cloth on it when you go to put it back on it will help

 

Also be very careful with your spark plug wires when you remove them ! Number each wire and where it goes on the optispark. You might also think about replacing the water pump if it has a lot of milage on it, now is a good time to do it. Good luck.

 

I wonder if he has one of those aftermarket "under drive pulleys?" I had one, it was an extra hour to get it off to get at my Optispark. I forget if I used a 3 legged puller or a harmonic balance puller. For that reason I didnt put it back.
The original Harmonic balancer went on with no effort and the huge center bolt went on nice. My alternator was back putting out more voltage at idle. GW