I’m not working as fast as it looks by the way. I had these brackets out weeks ago but have been cleaning them for ages. I went to see if these aluminium parts could be anodized and it sounds like not really.
The alternator bracket I soaked in petrol then thinners for days. the grime didn’t want to budge. It was like a solid lump of grunge.
The servo mount has been cleaned and given a dusting of chrome paint to bring it out a bit, as has the alternator mount. It looks good on the servo mount but I’m not sure about the other.
The power steering pump mount was etch primed and painted silver. Chrome didn’t work on that. The idea is just to bring a bit more life into the engine bay and have everything super-clean.
I really am a bit scared at the prospect of making sure all my gaskets and hoses are as perfectly installed as can be. I don’t want any leaks of fuel, water, oil, to spoil my day…
Even if I wasn’t doing the cylinder heads that engine HAD to come out. Otherwise how could you ever have access like this? I was really pleased how much of the wiring I could get out of the way for painting the inner wings. And the wiring is really in great condition too. Only the fuel injection loom is not good, having insulation cracks all over it. I have sourced repro connectors for that and I will be rebuilding it soon.
Only thing that upsets me at the moment is the prospect of going back to that old Borg Warner slushbox…My intention was to convert to manual and this would be a perfect opportunity especially having the servo out to swap over.
4 speed auto would also be good with 4HP22 being the top choice at the mo. I had 700r4s in Corvettes and I didn’t like them that much. Different engines though: L98 and LT1.
Trouble is lack of paid work in lockdown so a transmission swap may be a bridge too far for the time being.
I like everything about this! The chrome is too blingy, though, I think. The second, third and the last photo. You could glass bead blast it (like apples‘ computers) and I‘m in love with the finish - but that would attract dirt. You could use aluminium paint, or silver, and clear coat or just have it vapour blasted or even leave it hand brushed and then clear or not. It will look clean and good for a few years.
Makes me wonder how one goes about keeping the non-reachable parts as clean as possible, is there a high temperature clear coat that won’t yellow?
As for the rust on the brackets, citric acid or something like evaporust might do, else a very fine wire brush…?
You’re doing better than I. When I started on my 1977, which had sat since 1995 last year, I found two mummified field mice in the V. Another behind the headlight.
When you delve into the less accessible parts of a car you can find all sorts of things that have been dropped and abandoned. Wonder why there are mismatched screws, nuts and bolts on the top of the engine? Drop the front subframe and you’ll likely find the culprits. Searching for that missing piece from the cruise control switch yielded 15p in change, a couple of pens, and some sticky boiled sweets. Best find was a very nice Swiss Army knife behind the dashboard of the SAAB.
Thanks folks may change the chrome bracket to plain silver. Have some paint stripper in the way as leaving parts in thinners isn’t working
as well as I expected.
Not much to report apart from more hours flatting down the primer for top coat which should be happening next week now. Trying to get into every corner. Man there are some angles in this car!
Circular cut out is for left hand drive cars’ steering column. I’ve removed the covering plate but will polish it and replace it after paint. You guys with left hand drive cars will have one on the other side but unless you want to remove your heatshields to check it out you can take my word for it!
Lots of welding splatter from the factory. I’ve ground some off where it can be hazard to rubbing down but really if it’s factory that’s how it came.
Progress for this week so far involved prepping more for engine bay top coat. This was going to happen today but because I’ve now decided to paint some of the front end as well prep wouldn’t have been completed in time. Hopefully it will be this week or next weekend now.
For those who haven’t been reading my amazingly exciting cylinder head posts I had some incredible luck by removing both heads in very little time: not including removing the multitude of nuts the actual lifting off of Bank B head took about 30 minutes and Bank A took even less.
My technique was to tap each end with a hammer to break the seal of the gasket then spray carb cleaner and penetrating oil down the stud holes and around the gasket line. Then I lifted and rocked the head on the studs, dropping it down and tapping lightly occasionally with the hammer. I can’t imagine it was the technique that did it as the heads have clearly been off before and the studs are really in great shape.
Next with the heads: the tappet blocks came off ok, I cleaned and marked all the tappets and shims and measured them. I plan to get the valves out and take the heads to be hot tanked and rebuild them myself apart from the stuff I can’t do like valve guides. I’ll have to replace some exhaust guides as there’s a different type in each head…Started cleaning the faces with a scotchbrite and one head is coming up well but the other one has some surface rust that’s harder to remove due to a rotten head gasket. Unfortunately for me, trying to trace a white smokey Bank B I don’t think the gasket was the cause, It will probably turn out to be brake fluid, trans modulator or one of my faulty injectors or dead auxiliary air valve. I have anew AAV ready to go on.
Also spent some time taking the lower front panel off and getting it to fit better for paint, primed bonnet hinges and removed and cleaned my behind-headlight vacuum tank.
The exhaust guides might be different to look at but as long as they do the job and not be seriously worn no reason to change them.
Surface rust might be an insult to your eyes but it should only be in the coolant contact area, not a sealing area. In which case it is not a critical issue.
Sorry I meant “the exhaust valves are different types” and I think this may affect combustion and / or combustion chamber volume?
Thanks, Malc
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
33
I suspect that difference in valves would result in a slightly different compression ratio. As long as the same type valves are used for an entire bank, it’d be OK. The V12 is truly two six cylinders, as long as each bank runs uniformly the assembly will run uniformly.
Few things done this week with the biggest news being a friend painting my engine bay after my prep work which took ages. He suggested I flat and polish some of the more conspicuous parts especially as we’re working in my garage so whatever you do you can’t avoid every bit of dust. We also prepped and painted the lower front panels and windscreen motor area and top panels in front of the screen though there’s some contamination on one top panel which is a shame so that will have to be done again. The finish you see and shine is straight out of the gun. He’s been painting a few years.
Also started stripping the front subframe and took the brake calipers off. Nice to see new pistons and good pads in there. Stripping the horrid matt black paint of them and will repaint them. For now I’m staying out of the garage for 2 days so I don’t drop something on the paint.
Cylinder heads being blasted and hot tanked and I’ve commenced cleaning and polishing the valves. I’ll replace the incorrect exhaust valves. The shop is checking the valve guides but I think he other head work I should be able to do. Anything I can’t do I’ll pass to them.
Although I didn’t think my engine bay was too bad at first it certainly looks horrid when you see the representative photo below:
Quick update: still waiting for the cylinder heads and some more parts to come back from being hot tanked.
Meanwhile I’ve been wet-sanding the engine bay, something I’m not really comfortable with as bodywork has never been my thing. Just trying to get dust bunnies out. I’m finding it a bit tricky to do, even with a 3" polisher. In fact I’m going to confine the flatting down to areas that really are in line of sight. After that everywhere will get a coat of wax polish before parts start getting refitted.
Also started stripping the subframe as that will have to be done in time to put the engine back. I thought my simple spring compressor was clever enough but the angle of the lower A arms is putting the springs at a scary angle so more threaded rod on the way so I can wind the spring seats out…
The threaded rod through the lower pan method for removing the front springs is “interesting”. I didn’t like it so much the first time (XJ12) and opted for the single, big threaded rod through the centre of the spring for my XJR-S frontend rebuild. I now need to do it all again to put in some spring packers, I would like to try the official tool as that seems to be the better way to do this.
