Guys. I am Going to have to remove the rear section of my exhaust to remove my fuel tanks. Looking at the section that passes through the rear IRS cage it’s not obvious how the support bracket fixed to the top of the cage works. It seems to have a rubber donut with a rod fixed to the pipe. Now as far as I can see it’s not going to be possible to remove this rod from the donut easily. Any clues would be appreciated. It’s on a lift but it’s not fun working over head at my age !
You pull the rod forward out of the bushing. It’s not so difficult, what’s difficult is screwing it all out and backbin again. The mount is relatively straightforward. Mark your positions (you can probably see how it was from rust, that makes it easier to align).
I believe you can keep the IRS part in and just remove the silencer by removing the rearmost bearing, and then I think I remember that the tailpipe must come off so you can get it out. It rarely comes off easily. I may be mistaken but you can try.
Andrew,
I removed the fuel tanks from a few Series III XJ6s ( three parts cars and two running cars) and I don’t remember having to remove the over axle pipes. What year/Series XJ12 do you have? Perhaps your car is different than mine?
I did remove the rear silencers and tail pipes to get access to the bolts holding the fuel tanks in place. Are you certain you have to remove the over axle pipes in your car?
Paul
Thanks very much David. I will take another look today. The slight issue I have is the previous owner had a Stainless Steel system fitted to the car and it is possible that its not identical to factory in every way. I think the rear silencer will not slide backwards far enough before fouling the rear bodywork to allow it to come off the IRS curly pipe. I am sure its original design would be to allow that to happen, but maybe that was lost in the new systems build? I shall report back.
hi Paul as in my reply to David , thank you for taking the trouble to respond. I would have expected that the IRS pipe would not have to be removed, but I think on my non original Stainless system it may have been made slightly incorrectly. I shall check later today. Many thanks Andrew
Andrew,
I replaced my stock system with a standard stainless set (Bell, Falcon?) a few years ago and while I remember it was serious trouble to find a position for the over-axle pipes where they both fit Y-pipe and rear silencers without fouling the springs or clong-ing upon acceleration, there should always be play enough in the over-axle pipes to free the rear silencers. From my description you may have guessed already that I’d do everything to keep the over-axle pipes in their places …
Good luck
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
The trick for reassembly is to also turn the rear silencer until it fits. As well as the front silencer.
Thanks chaps. Due to other commitments I still have not been able to get back into the workshop. I hope to have a look tomorrow. There would be no play on the IRS pipe unless released from the front and the back as far as I can see.