Saw this approach somewhere

 

I bought a pair of 12" needle nose pliers that helped a huge amount with the crankshaft position sensor, and have ended up being very useful for other jobs on this truck.

I now call them my "Land Rover pliers".

 

That was me.

I tried the pliers, didn't work.

Tried dropping the exhaust, broke a bolt, and the rest of the bolts were also seized.

Said "**** it" and cut the hole. Took all of 5 minutes after that.

 

Yeah, just saw yer way through the side, then you can reach in and give it a go real easy.

Well, still not easy, but after it's done you feel like you got your money made for nothing and your chicks for free.

 

I store away these ideas for when it's my unfortunate turn to change a CPS. I'm thinking I could use a nibbler and be able to leave a piece of wheel well metal across the bottom and then make an aluminum cover for the hole that would be held with screws. If I were real ambitious, I could mount nutplates for the attaching screws in case I had to do it again sometime.

 

AH, one of those Roanoke rover guys, makes sense!