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05/01/2003 3 hrs Flywheel / Drive Plate |
The weather has been so foul. and the holiday celebrations, have kept me out of the garage. I’ve not been idle, but mostly in thought rather than deed. Before Christmas, I read on the Internet that some XJ6 flywheels have some locating dowels that need to be removed to release the flywheel. Series III engines are not supposed to have them but sure enough my engine has. (Another indication that the engine has been replaced at some time). I got some 3/8 UNF x 1.75” bolts and using a socket as a spacer and a penny washer used the bolts to pull the dowels out of the flywheel. Unfortunately it did not release the flywheel. I’m reluctant to apply to much force to the flywheel bearings, by pulling and hammering on the flywheel, so over the holiday I devised a plan to make a flywheel puller. Today I cut a metal bar to size and measured where to drill it. My 1/2-inch drill is too fast to drill the bar so I’m waiting for the new bench drill to arrive.
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11//01/2003 2 hrs. Flywheel / Drive Plate |
The new bench drill arrived and I spent my time today assembling and mounting it. I needed some larger drills and some angle iron to make work clamps for the drill table so I took a trip to B&Q. Once back and set up, I started drilling the metal bar to make the flywheel puller.
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12/1/2003 3 hrs Flywheel / Drive Plate |
Not much to show for today and really just accounting for my time. The bench drill and the new CSC drill bits are excellent and made short work of drilling the flywheel puller. A flat bar 30x 4.0 mm bolted it up to the flywheel, drilled at the centre with a M12 bolt and nut to provide the pulling action. Tightened up the nut and bolt and tried to remove the flywheel. No such luck the puller just bent. I drilled another bar and bolted it to the puller (doubling the thickness). But this bent also and the flywheel refused to budge. I’ve checked and double-checked there is nothing I can see holding it on. Back to the drawing board.
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16/01/2003 4 hrs Flywheel / Drive Plate |
Over the past few days I have thought about how I could make the flywheel puller stronger. I realised that if I used the bar (30x 4 mm) edgewise instead of flat it would be stiffer. I was Working on this solution when I realised I was creating a problem. The length of the bolts attaching the puller to the flywheel would need to be longer than the ones I had. At this point I reverted back to an idea I had earlier of extending the arms of a hub puller I already had, to fit the flywheel ( I keep saying flywheel but really it’s a drive plate, it’s just that incorporating the starter ring it’s a pretty substantial drive plate). I cut and drilled the puller so that it would fit as extension arms to the hub puller. Bolted to the drive plate, using holes for attaching the torque converter. Tightened up the central puller bolt and off it came. Success at last! On inspection it just seemed that age and old grease with a small amount of corrosion was all that was holding it on. Cleaned and degreased the back of the engine and investigated the best points to attach the engine stand mounting. Before I can do that I have to get some 3/8” x 3” UNF bolts
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17/01/2003 1 hr
Engine |
I got some bolts today and tested the mounting of the engine to the stand. The length of the bolts is just right. Before mounting the engine on the stand I cleaned the back end with a wire brush to remove the last vestiges of loose paint and dirt. Made sure it was clean and dry, then treated the block with “Kurust” taking care not to get any on the mating surfaces for the drive plate and the transmission. Left it to cure overnight. Also degreased and cleaned up the drive plate with “Gunk” and a wire brush and left it to dry
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18/01/2003 3 Hrs
Engine |
I began today with a final degrease of the back of the engine before painting it with black engine paint. Whilst waiting for it to dry I made 4 sleeves for the engine mount bolts. Then fitted the mount to the engine. Mounting the engine on the stand , single handed, was a bit of a game but soon achieved. I left the engine hoist in place, but slack, for a while as safety measure. Then it was time to be brave and disconnect the hoist. The engine stayed in place but is almost impossible to rotate on the stand due to the turning moment and the offset weight of the engine hanging off the stand. Still I only need to be able to get access to all sides of the engine and this can be easily achieved without rotating it. The last part of the day was involved with tidying up the garage and putting the engine hoist away.
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19/01/2003 5 hrs.
Engine |
It was a pleasure to see the engine hanging on the engine stand this morning. The task was to get the engine block ready for painting It looks surprisingly good under all the dirt. I carefully removed the ignition leads and the engine-wiring loom. Making sure I noted where all the connections went. I removed the water rail and auxiliary air valve from the inlet manifold then set about removing the manifold itself. Undoing all the bolts was easy enough and I noted and bagged any clips bolts and screws I removed to assist reassembly later. The manifold is long held on by 18 studs and nuts once they were removed the manifold was still stuck fast in place, held by the gasket. I managed to free it after about an hour working from with a putty knife and a hammer to slide the blade between the manifold and the cylinder head to break the seal. It’s awkward for two reasons. You have to work from underneath, because the cam cover gets is in the way on top, and you have to be very careful with the blade because the head is aluminium. After the inlet manifold I removed the alternator and its mounting bracket and both engine mounts. Next I taped up inlet ports and blocked the oil cooler connections to prevent water and dirt getting in. Time to get the “Gunk out and plaster it all over the engine. Once washed down and dried the engine looked much better.
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23/01/2003
6 hrs.
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Lots of fiddly removal and cleaning jobs. Continued degreasing and cleaning the engine. There was still quite a bit of dirt in the nooks and crannies. Washed the engine down with white spirit and then cellulose thinners as a final degrease. Masked off the aluminium areas (timing cover, cylinder head, oil filer mount.). Painted the cylinder block with “Kurust”, left to dry. Degreased the water rail. De-rusted the engine lifting brackets.
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30/01/2003 1 hr Engine |
Just to record the time spent. Painted the engine block, with Halford’s satin black engine paint, today. Also did some experimental polishing to see if the rocker covers could be polished to a satisfactory standard or whether they would need to be chrome plated.
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Total Number of Hours this Month = 27 |
Total Number of hours to date = 163˝ |
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