Engine out

Hi Y'all,

The engine is out and I'll let the pictures do the talking....

Had to remove as much stuff from the front of the engine to get the space necessary to bring the engine forward and past the tabs for the reaction plate at the back.

The engine is free of the car but the hardest part is working the engine back and forth, up and down to get it past the front frame rail

Down and out

Well that's it for today, with the Holidays coming probably won't do much again until after the new year.

Happy Holidays to you all and thanks for your interest!

Cheers,

Lynn

4 hrs

Removing the engine, part 3

Salutations Friends! 

Continuing the process of removing parts and pieces from the engine to facilitate dropping it out.  I might have been able to do it today but the boss who is much wiser than me said "Nope!  You need to be fresh so wait till tomorrow!".

Tomorrow's plan:
1) Set up the engine hoist and get it in position
2) Remove the crankshaft pulley
3) Place the floor jack under the transmission and remove the 5 bolts that hold the transmission mounting plate to the frame
4) Raise the engine slightly with the engine hoist, remove the engine mounts from the chassis and engine
5) Raise the engine about 3 inches and pull the engine forwards enough to clear the 'torsion bar tabs'
6) Cuss a fair amount when the engine won't clear the frames till it magically drops out like the manual says it should.
7) Roll the engine out into the light of day-Yeah!

Well, that's the plan, we'll see if it's close.

Had to pull out the interior to get to the gear box so I could release the driveshaft from the transmission.

Releasing the ball joints on the suspension so that the torsion bars could be freed from the torque plate that goes across under the engine.  There's a lot of force on the torsion bars and it could be quite dangerous if it came loose in an uncontrolled fashion-not good!

Passenger side 

Drivers side 

Well that's it for today, I'm going to need some guidance from Jennifer pretty soon with regards of how to proceed with the engine.  I'll try to offer her some options each of which has advantages and disadvantages-stay tuned for tomorrows exciting conclusion!

Cheers,

Lynn

5.5 hrs

Pulling ancillary's preparing for dropping the engine

Greetings!  Today was spent pulling parts off the engine.
1) Intake manifold and carbs-what a PITA to get at the nuts on the under side.
2) Water pump and pulley- can't get to the water pump bolts without removing the pulley
3) Alternator
4) Oil filter, and mounting housing
5) distributor and ignition harness (engine set on TDC)
6) coolant hoses attached to related parts

I spent a fair amount of time trying to loosen the upper starter mounting bolt, very frustrating and looks like I'll have to try to get at it from the transmission tunnel-yuck!

Tomorrow I'll be pulling out the interior which will allow me to get the transmission tunnel off and access to the drive shaft bolts.

Parts and pieces pulled off today, wish it looked more impressive!

Well, that's it for today.

Cheers,

Lynn

6.5 hrs

Removing the bonnet and exhaust system

Hi Fellow Jaguar Lovers!   Having moved cars around so I could start the project of replacing the clutch on Jennifer's car yesterday, today I was able to get started.   I thought I share a pictorial of how to remove the bonnet safely as a one man operation.  

I've learned that the easiest way to remove the bonnet is to prop it up against the wall, sounds pretty easy and in some ways it is but there is always just a touch of anxiety and fear that you'll damage someone else's bonnet heaven forbid!

The ramps are about 3 3/4" high and long enough that I can roll the car up to the wall.

The car is about 44" from the wall, I've put some pads under the front to protect the bumper guards that the bonnet will rest on.

The bonnet spring mechanism and the license plate bracket have been released from frame and the bonnet  plug removed from the bonnet

Protective pads and straps in place, preparing to bring the bonnet up against the wall.

Removing the bolts and the bronze bushing, note that the car raises up just a bit when the weight is taken off the car, when reinstalling the bonnet I'll deflate the tires just a bit to get them to line up.

Separated from the bonnet

Bonnet supported against the wall

The first step in removing the engine requires removal of the exhaust system,  on a 50 yr. old car it's always a challenge as everything is corroded together.

An area of concern,  both sides of the block have had staining from leaking coolant-not good!

Removing the old exhausted exhaust system

Another view of the coolant staining after removal of the exhaust headers

We're going to have to make some hard decisions pretty soon, I was thinking that we wouldn't have to open the engine but the coolant leaking from both sides of the block suggest that the head gasket is leaking.  If that proves to be the case then at a minimum we'll have to pull the head and replace the gasket, if we do that we may want to have the head rebuilt so we are likely to be seeing some significant 'mission' creep both in time and money.

That's it for today,

Cheers,

Lynn

6.5 hrs

Replacing the clutch

It's been awhile since the last post but Jennifer has been driving 'CD' this summer and now it's time to address some things that we didn't last time.  I asked Jennifer if there were any issues and the only thing she mentioned was that the clock wasn't keep time.  Dang, I sent that off to have it reworked so it should work!  I'm hoping  it the battery and I won't have to send it back to Mike Eck.

If you recall, when I replaced the clutch hydraulics last spring the clutch was so far gone that I had to adjust all the play out of it, a short term 'fix' that allowed Jennifer to enjoy her car this summer.  Now's time to replace the clutch and take care of a few other things along the way.

Replacing a clutch on an E Type is a big undertaking as the engine and transmission have to be removed from the car which means the bonnet has to come off as well.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll chronicle this process.  One of the first things to do is a compression test to get a feel for the health of the engine

I would have liked to see higher readings but they are within 10% of each other on both sets (typically if the pressure goes up with a couple of teaspoons of oil it suggests that the rings are worn).  I'll have to think on this but part of me thinks leave well enough alone....

The plugs looked pretty good too

So, tomorrow I'll have to move cars around and I'll remove the bonnet weather permitting.

Cheers,
Lynn

1.5 hrs