Bill,
Yes. I didn't originally start out on an engine bay clean up
project. I had a lumpy idle that I was not happy with and once I
determined, through a compression check, that I had a valve problem on the
#1 cylinder I removed the head for a professional rework and started the
engine bay cleanup.
In order to remove the cylinder head I had to remove a lot of stuff
from the engine bay, leaving it quite open for the clean up. Once I got
started, I just kept going. It’s important to point out that this was the
first time I had removed and replaced a cylinder head myself, or done such a
thorough engine bay cleanup (but not the last). Early on I decided that I
was not going to put anything back in unless I had cleaned, polished, or
repainted it. Those pictures show the result. I have never regretted that
decision.
It took about 6 months from the compression check that revealed the
bad cylinder until the day that I pushed the car out of my garage to start
it up for the first time again (it started the first time). During this time
I used my 1969 E-Type FHC as my daily driver, which was probably the best
thing for that car and me since I put a lot of miles on it in 6 months and I
had to fix everything that came up with it right away because I knew that
the 1984 VdP was months away from running.
I compete my 1984 XJ6 VdP in JCNA Concours d'Elegance Driven
Division competition and it tied for first place in 2010. I entered it
into two concours so far this year with perfect 10.0 scores each time.
Here's a link to some more pictures on Jag-Lovers of my 1984 XJ6
VdP, now with over 186K miles on it.
http://www.jag-lovers.org/snaps/snap_view.php3?id=1186879292&n4=
Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1985 XJ6 Vanden Plas (parts)
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA
P.M.Novak7@gmail.com-----Original Message-----
From: owner-xj@jag-lovers.org [mailto:owner-xj@jag-lovers.org] On Behalf Of
slofut
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 11:58 AM
To: xj@jag-lovers.org
Subject: RE: [xj] pressure washing engine bay?
In reply to a message from Paul Novak sent Thu 26 May 2011:
Thanks for the reply Paul,
My engine bay looks about like yours but I wanted it a
little better. …Ha! Not hardly, just kidding!
Your pics are incredible, I’m sure my bay will never look
that good but I just love all the attention to detail on
your car! The polished pipes, man, just too cool. Beautiful job.
Was this (cleaning) precipitated by the valve job? ie, most
of it done with the head out and hood off etc…?
Bill
The original message included these comments:
The archives of this list as well as many other Jag-Lovers list are
full of posting from those who pressure washed their engine bays with
water
and had numerous problems afterwards.
When I cleaned up the engine bay of my 1984 XJ6 VdP in 2003 I did it
all by hand with Simple Green and Mineral Spirits. Here’s a link to some
–
'75XJ6C about to be unlumped, '86 XJ6, '67 FHC, '75TR6
moultrie, ga, United States
===================================================
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