Michael, is your friend saying this operation can be done on an XK engine, or that it can be done on other types of engines?
Tom
I tried to do a “Sneaky Pete” reseal, on a 6- banger.
Once.
Out came the engine.
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Sure glad I never knew it couldnt be done with a crank…
Ahh… No!
A phrase I used when I wore my engineering hat, with clients I got close enough to, to be able to insult without retribution, springs to mind. “Never enough time to do the job right, but always enough time to do it again.”
Perhaps my comprehension is rubbish, or Bob is only 17. No, that can’t be right; you’re saying that he was 14 in 1962.
So when exactly did Bob do it to his race race; circa three years ago, or back when he was 14?
How do you glean that from the car/race on line? Most only discover their car has an oil leak from the oil left on the garage floor and I didn’t see any of that detail recorded. Accordingly, “There was not a resultant oil leak” is hearsay at best.
As Geo suggests, feel free to have a go and do (attempt) it Bob’s way; it will give you great insight as to why you won’t do it that way again.
Regards,
Bill
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I have never changed a rear seal on an XK engine, but I agree with those who say the engine needs to come out.
Access to the rear bearing cap with the engine in-situ is not very good. The cap can be removed and lock-tabs set, and so on, if changing main bearings. But it’s a bit fiddly and a little hard to reach everything. That’s OK, because the access doesn’t need to be all that good if you only need to change the bearings. However, the idea that the old seal will cooperate and the new one go in and seat itself and do its job well, with imperfect access, along with all I have read about the difficulty of doing the job with the engine out of the car, makes me disbelieve that it can be done engine in-situ.
What can be done on a different type of car is barely relevant. I can change the rear disk brake pads on my Honda Ridgeline in 10 minutes a side, so the same must be true of an XKE. Q.E.D. (??)
Bill,
The reason I said to look up the race car is b/c it’s also a magnificent car in every detail. Gorgeous, & you’d immediately glean what level this guy is on. Not b/c I thought you’d see a leaking rear main on the track in a 9.1 second car.
Also, seems many missed my stating that I recently learned that the oil was not coming from the R.M.S. but the banjo bolt @ the bottom of the block that feeds the cam shafts. It’s in a response to Terry, inline 6.
I’m not a mechanic, nor engine builder, etc. & I can’t answer to what I don’t know. But I always appreciate the feedback from you folks. Do I hear all you sigh in relief knowing that I do not need to address a leaking R.M.S.? Can I get an amen from the choir?
Bob owned this 69 E-type since April, 1970 & has done everything on it since selling it to me in 1978, sans machine shop work.
Ciao
Michael Caro
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Hi,
Yup, when you have done it a couple of times, it’s not that bad, especially on the six bangers, the V12 is more challenging IMO.
Cheers!
I actually thought pulling the V12 was a tad easier because you could remove the upper picture frame at the front, just lift and it bring forward. YMMV as Jerry used to say 
Cheers,
LLynn
Hello Michael,
And I’ve seen some magnificent E Types and other makes that leak oil and are full of plastic filler. One was a close to USD1,000.000.00 Aston Martin I was commissioned to inspect for a client; it had a drip tray under it that stretched from front of engine to differential and it was serving its purpose.
A recent example is a spectacular looking U.S. delivered S3 E Type, shipped to me by the new owner for no other purpose than to convert it to RHD. Its now undergoing a full nut and bolt restoration, many pictures of which I’ve posted on this Forum showing the extent of the rubbish work previously carried out. With a lot of these glammed up cars, its nothing more than lipstick on a pig.
Your Post regarding the banjo joint wasn’t lost on me, but your parting comment of that Post was
Next plan was to drop the crank & put the seal in from the bottom. Think that would have worked?
Its a pity Bob didn’t do a better job nipping that joint up.
But I was replying to your Post regarding Bob’s suggestion as to how the job of replacing the rear seal can be carried out. I doubt you’ve replaced this seal before, or looked at the cross section of the groove the seal has to fit into. If so, you would understand how difficult it would be to do it Bob’s way and hope that it didn’t leak. Further, nearly all the seals available today need to be trimmed to length and those that are the right length appear not to be unless fully seated. Trimming the seal to length correctly with the crank in place and the engine in the car is not one I would confident in getting right and I’ve rebuilt 100s of XK engines.
In my opinion, you would have a better chance of replacing the seal using a “Sneaky Pete”, as commented on by Paul Wigton, than Bob’s method. Paul is one who’s opinion I respect and he had to do it again.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks, Bill.
I was the one who put the oil feeds on the block during the time we mounted the JT 5 tranny. And that is why I tell him: “you can’t leave me alone”
which I actually hope is not true.
So, Bill, you’re saying that a “Sneaky Pete” is an actual thing? And not as I suspected, a clever use of words to describe a behavior?
Michael
Hello Michael
Its an actual tool used to remove and install the rear main bearing seal; not too successfully.
Regards,
Bill
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Let me tell ya…on many an old Ford, Jaguar, or MG, if the sneaky Pete would have worked, I’d have made a MINT.
In every case, the ~best~ result was a slight decrease in oil leakage.
I tossed the tool.
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Hello Paul,
Another case of being tantamount to a one legged person being a better dancer than a double amputee.
Regards,
Bill
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Well, Wiggles, you sure have a lot of information/ knowledge, and you are a gentleman.
Don’t suspect that you remember that I mentioned that I lived in Co. for a few years and my sister lived in Englewood. Jim Rickel became a friend of mine & was my E-type guru while I was there & when I moved back to the East Coast. All my N.Y.C./Jersey family still live in Co.
Ciao,
Michael Caro
I can’t find the pictures of the 12 cyl. E-type that you posted on Forum.
Can you direct me to them? Maybe by date? Or are they in Archives?
Wrt to the knowledge/information? Some of it is even correct.
Now that you remind me, I do!
Rickel was a helluva good guy… miss him.
Hello Michael,
I’ll see if I can find the Threads they were Posted in. However, in the recent Thread “Quick Series 2 Bonnet Question”, the metallic light blue car with Sable coloured bonnet was brought to me, straight from a repair shop after a full nut and bolt restoration (cough), sorry I meant F… Up, had been completed, for me to check it over mechanically before it went for a Road Worthy Inspection. Its now undergoing a proper restoration, with floors, sills, foot well closing panels, support structure for and including the Radius Arm domes, both side for all, being replaced thus far.
The Bonnet had been repaired so poorly and so much filler used, that there was going to be more cost in the repair of the original than the AUD8,000.00 paid for the good used bonnet you see in the picture. The glue on strips and air ducts had been attached 50mm (2") too far to the rear, to the extent that it was impossible to attach any of the inner mud guards and be able to close the bonnet. Solution by the repairer, don’t fit the Inner Mudguards and throw them away.
When the bonnet catches were released, the bonnet popped up a good inch above the scuttle panel in front of the wind screen. The LH Wing had been shortened by circa 30mm to get it to mate with the poorly repaired Lower Valance (see the following picture of the bird shit weld where the wing had been cut and shut).
This car, when it arrived at my shop, looked great with its shiny new paint job, but was in fact, just another pig wearing lip stick. My point here and in earlier Posts, is that appearance is no judge of the quality of a repair and I would never buy a restored car, no matter how good it looked, unless there was overwhelming evidence, by way of pictures, detailing the restoration as it progressed, or that I knew the restorer very well.
Regards,
Bill
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One of the things I admire about you, Bill: your genteel nature.
I’ve been out of the car repair game, now, almost as long as I had been in it: I have no skin in this game.
Despite that, I recall the bodged-up piles of…stuff, folks brought me from other “high end restoration” shops… and my blood still boils!
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