Hi everyone,
I’m 17 and don’t have much prior experience to working directly on cars and engines. I am starting to get my late grandfathers 1953 xk140 roadster running again. So far I think it’s an issue with the fuel system. I am taking the carburetors (HD6 type I believe) off the body to take them apart, clean them, and replace any necessary parts. however bolt 40 (as shown below) is completely stuck and causing me to not be able to take the carbs off.
I have let it soak in wd40 and blaster, tried to scrap any rust off and tapped it with a hammer. I’ve put all my weight on the bolt and it won’t come off. I was able to get Bolt 43 out and it came out with a ton of dirt and was cracked. Looking at the hole in bolt 40 is there a pin that goes through that I need to pull out? Should I apply heat? Let me know if you have any suggestions, thanks!
The XK140 originally came with H6 carbs, so yours may have been changed at some point, or you may have mis-identified them. The first step is to determine what carbs you have.
If you do indeed have HD6 carbs, Bolt 40 does not need to be removed in order to take the carbs off the engine. Instead, undo the pipe from the bottom of the starting carb and remove the carbs all together as a unit.
As Mike said, its best to remove the entire carb & pipe assembly if you want to dismantle and clean all the parts
As you have stated you are new to this, I should advise the threads within the alloy carb parts are often seized via bi-metallic reaction to the steel bolts which can very easily result in the female threads self destructing, which can render the carb part virtually unusable
This is to be avoided at all cost as you actually have to acquire used carb parts at great expense
Therefore, I would not even consider putting a wrench on them till they removed as a unit, had penetrating oil applied for days, and most certainly not ever without my butane torch (lightly but repeatedly)
Even the main pipe bolts can be nasty and tight in there, but they are seized, not tight, so do not apply excessive force, or you will get the unfortunate moniker of passionfingers
If you ever use heat in engine bay (or anywhere) take all safety precautions, and have fire extinguish capabilities on hand. I advise remove assembly and work on bench in this case
Welcome Leonardo. Always glad to hear of younger people coming into the hobby.
The XK140 was produced from Sept '54 to Jan '57 so yours may be titled with the wrong year. We can identify it by the chassis number.
Here is a picture of the bolt you are trying to remove.
The picture you show is for a different model, perhaps the 3.4 Mark I.
You will probably have to disconnect the other end of the tube 85.
Best to get the carbs off and on a workbench where you can put a propane torch on it and go through a few heating and cooling cycles before you try to loosen it.
