Better The Devil You Know? Now, I'm not so sure

Another fresh light bulb moment!

Ah, 6 complete disks. Laid flat. They semi-fill the combustion chamber!

Apparently, you are a little younger than me. My youngest child was in the 4th grade when Wikipedia went live.

I’m still gonna build the install-it-once (actually 2x, intake & exhaust) spring compressor.

Nope! Close. It’s a half moon that fills the chamber and bolted in upright. Best search for photos.
I‘m 23, so yes, young. Looking forward to what you come up with and how you like it! I want to build a better valve tool soon, but I think we got the basics right, it’s just flimsy.

Look at the drawing and in both views, you’re looking at the rounded surface.

If you put it in the head and turn it on the exhaust side, looking from the front, it looks like this:
(I. Valve)
| /
|D <- that is the semi-circle
|
(E. Valve)

Wood=bold
The D fits the valves in the chamber, try a piece of cardboard and make 6 in ½“ wood, something like that

Garden variety valve spring compressor with an OHC adapter I fabricated from a scrap piece of 1" OD CroMoly tubing. Works fine.

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THAT is a whole lot closer to what I saw the pro use when I was permitted to watch the heads from my 1967 Mustang get serviced (I was 17 when my dad stepped me through the top-end rebuild).

The machinist had a similar shaped too the pressed against the valve’s face and compressed the (very exposed) Ford springs. The tool used shop air pressure. Position, flip the air valve. 5 seconds and two hands available to grab the keepers. Release air pressure. Gather the bits in to the basket for cleaning. NEXT!

I’m looking at your tool… It looks like you can lock it in the compressed position? Does it ratchet down like a jack or are the steps jut to preset for head thickness?

The height of the pin is adjustable to compensate for head thickness. The compression is by the lever at the top. There is a sliding tab that locks to the steps in the compressed position.

Major League Cool!!!

Any ideas on where to buy one?

In the old days I would say Sears, but I guess these days that would be Amazon.

Make sure you can return it because some are not large enough. I maintain that the lever is better.

Sat down to lap all the valves… and ICK!


Two bad exhaust guides, requiring valve replacement as well.

AND


Two intake valves with pitting in the seat area.

#2 and #4 intakes were probably stuck open since the engine got stuck in the mid-1990’s.

Luckily there’s no pitting on any exhaust valve and all 12 seats are intact. (whew!)

Gonna call Terry’s on Monday to order the bits…

Got lucky!

I went searching for a tool to modify into a piloted drift as described in the directions and look what I discovered in my “Things acceptable to hit with a hammer” drawer:

Cleaned it up a bit. When done, it’s going in the Jaguar Special Tools bag.

I am fitting a ser3 XJ6 3.4 engine into my RHD 240 (Mk2) I was trying to find a shorter spin on oil filter but now realise the steering will occupy the same space as the filter soooooooo I can refit the 240 oil filter but where do I take the oil feed for the cams from? somewhere on the 240 filter casting?

I am not an expert on the takeoff point for the cam feed, on a 2.4: I was always under the impression it was from the last main galley, on the exhaust side, same as a 3.8/4.2.

Idea: these cam feeds are also available as flexible lines.
Instead of tapping into the rear main bearing on the exhaust side, what about using the other side directly from the oil gallery?

I think the drillings are the same. I hope that it doesn’t starve the bearing but I don’t really think so?

The 240 was from the back of the block but the XJ6 engine has the feed from the filter housing and I cannot use that housing so now have no obvious feed point, must admit that I have not studied it that much, don’t want to overfeed the cams or starve somewhere else of oil,

Thr XJ6 has the galley plugs on the carb side: you could gin up your own banjo fitting for that side.

That’s what I mean, it’s not drilled on the exhaust side, but of course from the inlet side where the oil is fed to the bearings. It should not cause any problems but then what do I know.
The flex line takes care of the routing.

That’s what I have used for fifty years. Most recent advance, perfect for three XK heads in succession, was to hang the head from my engine crane by the front timing chain tunnel. Adjust height to suit your favourite workshop seat and you can do all 12 valves by spinning the head round. Use a rag or towel directly underneath to catch dropped split collets.

Finally! Got the 3 worn value guides swapped:

Took buying a smoker and converting it into a sauna:

A pan of water on an electric hotplate eventually raised the temperature to 200F. New guides tapped in nicely.

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Car sold on 2/27/21.

10,000 less headaches to look forward to…

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