01/10/2003

3hrs

Rear  Upright / Hub

I continued painting the Disc brake covers. While they were drying I began assembling the RH rear upright. I cleaned the old grease and paint from the bearing sockets. Greased all the bearing cages with Castrol LM.  I drove in the outer bearing cage with a hammer and drift, pressed the rear bearing cage with the bench press and the old bearing.  Cleaned the fulcrum bearing sockets and greased the bearing cages and pressed them in place.  Whilst I  worked on the upright I pieced together the fitting order and the position of the various seals, distance pieces and shims of the drive shaft bearings.  There are two distance pieces. One on the drive shaft and the other on the hub. Each piece has a plain side and a chamfered side.  The outer one is placed on the hub, first.  The inner one is placed on the drive shaft, first. Whilst fitting the outer one it became obvious that the correct fitting was chamfer side next to the hub and the plain side facing the bearing.  Remember that when the LH   rear upright was removed from the XJ6 It was found to be damaged, the aluminium socket for the bearing was badly worn. This was the same one where the hub was held in place by a bent nail and not a split pin.  I had questioned in my mind the reason for this wear and the position of the inner spacer and shim. I could not determine which way round it should be fitted.  By the time I got round to making a comparison with the RH side I had already disturbed the spacer, so that was no help.   To cut a long story short, the fitting of the spacer to the outer hub, led me to question the fitting of the inner space. I am now fairly sure it was incorrectly fitted with the chamfer side facing the bearing. This would have misplaced the shim allowing too much end float with the resultant wear on the bearing socket as the spacer rotated with the bearing.

02/10/2003

2hrs

Rear Upright / Hub

I had soaked the felt seals of the outer fulcrum bearings in engine oil for 24 hrs and was now ready to fit them. The fulcrum kit contains the bearings, new felt seals, seal locating cups, and seal spacers / retainers. You need to keep, and use again or replace the bearing spacers and shims. The shims set the end float.  Lightly but generously grease the bearing and insert them in the outer shells (fitted yesterday). Press in the seal cups (facing outwards) until just below surface level. Be careful not to press them in too far and trap the bearing.  Best thing to do is press them in slowly and keep checking the bearing is free until just the slightest end play can be felt. Check the bearing is still free to move and does not feel slack. Fit the felt seals in the cups. Fit the bearing spacer and any shims, retained from the original, in the centre of the seal. Then fit the seal retaining spacers to the outside.   Do one side completely, then from the other side insert the central spacer (also retained from the original). The assemble the bearing and seals as before Once assembled and fitted to the wishbone it  will be necessary to check the end float and grease the fulcrum via the central grease nipple.

08/10/2003

2hrs

Rear Upright / Hub

I finished re-assembling the RH rear hub.  It took a couple of attempts to press the rear inner bearing in place.  Jaguar use a special tool with a collar to position the bearing.  Then test the end float and calculate a spacer to bring it to acceptable limits.   With no special tool you have to guess far to press the bearing on to the hub shaft.  My first attempt was too tight.  I pressed the hub slightly out but this was too loose. I Pressed the bearing in again in easy stages checking the end play by hand. I took a further attempt before I was satisfied. Using the old spacers removed from the XJ6 (providing they are in reasonable condition ) will get you in to the ball park.  With the RH hub reassembled I dismantled the LH hub.  Having done it once before it was easier the second time around. I had no qualms about destroying the outer bearing and driving out the bearing centre.  Cleaned and degreased the hub for painting

10/10/2003
2hrs

Rear / Front hubs

At last, as a relaxation from work I went in to the garage to do some work on the car.  My head has been so full of computer upgrades that by the time today came I needed to do something completely different.  I stripped the outer fulcrum bearings and shells from the LH upright. Cleaned out all the old grease. Gave all the machined surfaces a a coat of grease to protect them and sprayed the upright with silver "Hammerite" paint.  prepared the hub for painting.  Fitted the front brake discs to the hubs.  Clamped them in a vice with cardboard protection and torque tightened the bolts to 35 ft lbf.
 

11/10/2003
3hrs

Front hubs

12/10/2003
1 hr.
Rear Hub

17/10/2003
2 hrs

Rear hub

From the very early days of this project I have been thinking  about how to get the correct end play in the rear wheel bearings. Reading the HM,  gave me cause to think. Jaguar use a special tool with a 0.150" shoulder to press the bearings in place. Measure the end play, then subtract the shoulder thickness and replace it with a special shim to get the end play within tolerance.  Needless to say I don't have the special tool. I tried trial and error earlier and I think I got it pretty close but my desire for good engineering practice and accuracy kept me pondering about a better solution.  I finished painting the water  shield (for want of a better name) and tried refitting it to the hub  During he process I slightly bent it and it looked like it was impossible to get a secure fit. The chances of getting a replacement about zero.  More thinking deemed it actually was not necessary to refit it, another example of Jaguar over engineering, especially since I intend to fit splined hubs and wire wheels after SVA.  I also know that the RH one, I fitted earlier was loose and  not a good fit.  I was concerned at it being loose during SVA inspection and rubbing slightly on the upright  the noise would cause the` bearing / hub into question by the inspector.   So decided not to fit them and to dismantle the RH hub and remove the water shield. Now the thinking about the end play has paid off. I think the special tool presses the bearing in until the bearing is 0.150" proud of the top of  hub shaft. Releasing the tool will allow shims to be inserted (0 .109" to 0.151" in 0.033" increments are the standard sizes) until  the correct end play is achieved. Using either the shim or a 0.150 washer as a packing piece when I press the bearing in place. Then fitting the spacer that came with the hub and the car should get the end play within tolerance and remove the guess `work.  Now the search is on for a suitable washer.

18/10/2003

3 hrs

Rear Hub / Upright

I am feeling pleased with today, despite it being a bitty day working on the car between other jobs. I had come to the conclusion that the end play for the hubs could be set by pressing the bearings in place and using the spacer that came off the car to determine the correct position.  I reassembled the LH hub and placed the spacer in position and pressed the bearing in place until the top of the bearing was flush with the top of the spacer.   The finished result perfect. I dismantled the RH hub and removed the water shield  and reassembled the hub using the same method , again a perfect result.  I will check the actual end play later, but it feels right, and I expect it to be well within tolerances of 0.002" and 0.006".   Much of the rest of the day was spent with fitting the LH fulcrum bearings and seal. A trial fit to  the upright to the wishbone showed they needed pushing in to fit. I tried several ways without success and eventually pressed each bearing seal assembly in place,  with the hydraulic press, until it was flush with the casting.  Then I was` able to fit it between the journals of the wishbone and drive the fulcrum pin in using a soft mallet.

Rear Hub
 

Fitted the RH hub to wishbone.

4hrs

Rear Brakes

Brake Shims

Definitely a step backwards day today. I started by fitting the rear brake callipers. This is a straight forward but fiddly job. The lower mounting bolts are not easy to reach. Once the callipers were in place I could see that the brake discs were not central. The RH side was particularly bad.  The position of the disc is controlled by shims between the drive shaft and the brake disc.  There. was nothing for it but to remove the calliper  drive shaft and brake disc and check  and replace the shims. To remove the brake disk it was necessary to remove the diff mounting plate ,drive shaft and suspension spring.  Lower the wishbone and withdraw the brake disc.  Once apart I could` see the problem and finally understood what the HM had been trying, unsuccessfully, to tell me. I had noticed whilst refurbishing the drive shafts and diff that there were 2 different patterns of shim. The ones between the diff and the brake disc were rounded. The ones between the brake disc and the drive shaft were rectangular. I ordered new shims and received rectangular ones. I mistakenly thought that the rounded ones were just an older version.  It turns out that the rounded ones are the disc brake centring shims and the rectangular ones are the camber shims.  I mistakenly fitted rectangular shims all round hence the disc was not central.  Luckily I had taken note of the position and number and size of shims as well as keeping the old ones.  I found the old rounded ones duly labelled in a plastic bag, they were in good condition. Having treated them with Kurust, I  fitted them to the diff flanges. Refitted the brake disk and fitted the correct number of camber shims. Bolted on the drive shafts. I then went back to fitting the brake callipers, this time they were central. Reconnected the suspension springs to the wishbone. Refitted the diff mounting plate  and torque tightened all bolts. After all that the backward step has become a tiny step forward. But I feel more positive about the engineering standard, having used the original shims to centralise the brake discs and used exactly the same number of new shims for the camber angle we should at least be in the ball park for setting up the suspension geometry if not spot on.
 

3 hrs

ARB

Handbrake

I started work on refurbishing the anti roll bar keeper plates.  These were retained from the XJ6 and need working on before I can fit the new anti roll bar.  I already had new bushes but the plates themselves are superficially rusty but otherwise in good condition. Degreased then and placed them in the anti-rust bath.  With "new" rear brake callipers fitted The handbrake mechanism needs refurbishing to complete the installation. The handbrake mechanisms is a system of levers and springs that bolt to the calliper and operate two mini brake pads to park the disc. Reading he MOT reports from the XJ6 it would seem that this is a bit of an Achilles heel, since there are several reports of it failing MOT inspection and requiring either new pads, or  "freeing" because it was seized. So, it  is doubly important to completely refurbish it. I already have new pads so it is a case of stripping the mechanics, replacing any worn or broken parts, anti rust painting the exterior and greasing all the internal components and rebuilding  (twice, once for each side)  I stripped the RH  Handbrake mechanism . There  is a  a decent drawing in the HM to assist with dismantling and refurbishing. Again some superficial rust and one of the handbrake pads came adrift from it's backing plate. Cleaned up all the internal springs, pins and levers, degreased them in white spirit. Placed the external components and covers in anti-rust fluid overnight.
 

Total Hours this Month = 26

Total hours to date = 413.5