Hi All,
As I had to remove my engine for removal of a broken head stud, I have decided to clean up while I have good access with the bonnet removed and the engine out. I have removed most of the items under the bonnet and cleaned up a lot of oil and grime and now think that it would be a good idea to paint the engine and bulkhead, you see where this is heading…
Anyways, just wanted to check if there is anything to measure or make note of before removing the frame rails from the bulk head ?
I also have a couple of other questions:
does the engine frame just bolt into the bulkhead i.e. captive nuts, or are the nuts on the inside of the bulkhead ?
I have moved my axle stands from under the front suspension bushing to the chassis rail just behind the reaction plate in preparation for the frame removal. Once I remove the frame I will no longer have my main jacking point under the picture frame so assume I would need to jack from the same area as I have the axle stands so need to allow enough space to place some wood in front of the axle stands. Is this correct ?
why take the frames off? You can paint them on the car. Putting them back was a pain.
Take note of which bolts must be put on at certain times in the trapeze. IIRC, e.g., the upper outermost bolts of the trapeze have to be inserted into the trapeze and that is offered up to the picture frame.
Make sure you have some kind of support–a safety-- behind the IRS, if still installed, and/or sand bags in the foot wells, to keep it from tipping off the front jack stands.
Make lots of photos! There are nuts on the inside so you’ll have to remove the under dash to get to them. The upper frame legs are all nuts and bolts. The lowers are captive.
If they’re original, I’d wire brush and chase all of the fasteners and have them replated or blackened.
Note, the bonnet frame and picture frame are attached and removed as a unit. You should have a car again in 1-2 years.
If you click on the (i) symbol a sidebar will open up with a description of what is going on in each photo. I supported the tub of the car on two home made wooden plinths under the front edge of the bulkhead during this operation. You will note from the photos that I built the frames around the engine/gearbox which were supported on a dolly.
Thanks for the feedback guys. So it sounds like there is nothing special I need to do before dismantling them except to make sure the car is balanced with respect to the IRS. I have decided to remove the engine frames completely so I can clean all the nooks and crannies and do a proper job.
David, many thanks for the link to the photo’s. This is exactly what I would like to do and looking at the finished article in the original blue gives me a great incentive.
I removed all the carpet and underlay over the weekend so now I have good access to the upper bolts on the cabin side of the bulkhead. I am not that far off having 2/3 of the car stripped down now so full restoration is now in my thoughts. Decisions, decisions…
I had a book, printed in England, covering an E-type restoration. The restorer completely filled all of the tubes with Waxoyl and then hung the frames vertically over buckets for a few days to drain out the excess.