Brake lights, Fuel gauge, throttle........

[jaglover842]

I have been quoted £500 by a specialist classic car garage to just get the head off. Any further work will obviously be extra.
I have heard that the head removal can be problematic and can be known to be seized on.

Is £500 a reasonable price for doing this job?

If it comes off easy, they are quids in. If it's stuck, that's where they earn their money.

I should have mentioned that the engine will be staying in the car.

[piman]

Hello Jaglover,

The first thing I would do is remove the inlet camcover and see what has happened. It is unusual for a valve to drop. From that you should be able to detrmine what to do. I just wondered if there is a problem with the drive chains or sprockets.
Obviously the head will need to come off anyway and I don't know how much time £500 buys you at this garage, but I would have thought two to three hours to remove the head, but it's a while since I've done that now?

Alec

[B87UL]

JAGLOVER

Beware that the rubber buffer may have detached from the hydraulic timing chain adjuster. If that is the case it is possible for the adjuster piston to come out and jam besides drastically altering the valve timing. I have seen two adjusters fail recently, however in neither case did the valves touch the pistons but I believe that if the adjuster piston comes out of the bore completely valve/piston contact may happen.

When the rubber buffer drops off the noise of the hydraulic piston on the chain just sounds like a loose tappet and not half as noisy as you might think. Big job, and I hope that is not the cause of your valve crash.

[jaglover842]

Thanks for the advice B87UL, I have forwarded that to the garage.

Cameron Racing Engines in Malvern are fixing the car at present. They removed the head and found the valve had broken off at the base of the neck. The damage to the piston head is seen below. There is quite a gouge taken out. BTW - reference the writing on the piston head, it says +030L. I presume this means 30 thousanths of an inch. What exactly does this refer to?



They said the valves breaking off in these engines is a rare event, but could be caused by a number of things. To be on the safe side, they recommended all valves and seats were inspected. The damage to the piston head could lead to the head cracking and it was recommended this was changed.

So it has escalated into an 'engine out' job, changing all valves and piston heads. After removing all the valves, they discovered that several others were slightly bent.

They said it was only a matter of time before these would break. We acquired the car in 1988 and it has probably only done about 500 miles in that time and about 60 miles in the last twenty years.

The garage suggested that at some stage, the head was taken off and some work was done. They said the timing for each valve with respect to the cam cover was not done correctly.

Apart from that, the engine was in very good condition.

I 'll hopefully get the car back in October, with new piston heads and valves.

More photos below:













..... and one of the garage's racing cars in for some work below

[jaglover842]

Engine is now back in and car is back on the road, hooray.
The overdrive is now fixed, problem with the solenoid. £150 to fix. Don't know why the previous garage could not fix it.

Issues to sort out:
1. Ammeter now shows discharge when revving and slightly below neutral when idling. Something as simple as ammeter connections the wrong way around?
2. Petrol level sender still frozen. I am swapping for a new one.
3. No heat from heater in cabin, but fan works. I suspect blocked heater matrix. Is this simple to resolve?
4. The steering wheel hub in the cabin has failed The steering column is a bit wobbly now.
5. The front side doors lock with the keys, but do not unlock with the keys. I will buy new keys and barrels. The ignition key switch has already been replaced.
6. The radio does not work, investigating.
7. New tyres. The current ones are over twenty years old, dangerous.
8. Slight thumping noise behind driver when I accelerate or decelerate. Must be a loose cable loom of fitting somewhere.
9. Front right fog light does not work.
10. How much would inertia reel seat belts cost to fit?

Dan

[piman]

Hello Dan,

as there was no reason to disconnect the ammeter, it is unlikely to b ethe problem. The dynamo output needs checking, fan belt is the first easy check.
It's possible rthat there is an air lock in the heater, normally when refilling the heater control should be set to hot. Disconnect the return hose from the heater and see if any coolant comes out with the engine running.
Try some wd40 spray on the locks, it's peculiar that they lock and do not unlock?
The noise you refer to, see if the rear gearbox mounting is soft. The propellor shaft is close to the handbrake linkage I seem to remember?
Check the fog light earth first.

Alec

[jaglover842]

Thanks for the advice Alec.

I am working through the list gradually (but more to the point, when I actually get time).

Let's get the most embarrassing out of the way first - I was reading the ammeter incorrectly and assumed that 'Charge' was on the same side of the gauge as the E Type After a 10 mile run the other day, the ammeter works fine.

I have fitted a new petrol sender unit in the tank (bought from SNG). Gasket material sound and using a good gasket sealer gave no leaks.
However, I think the sender unit needs 'calibrating' since it's giving odd readings. I did put the float arm in the same orientation as the old seized one and made sure all connections were the same.

The gauge started off reading Empty. I don't know how much fuel was in there - should have done a dip test when I was changing sender units
I then put a gallon of fuel in and it read between a quarter and a half full. I then drove to the garage and put 8.8 gallons in. Fuel gauge now reads beyond Full. Tank capacity is 12 gallons.

Has anyone else had odd readings with replacement gauges?
Do I need to bend the arm on the float to calibrate?
Is there any other adjustment elsewhere?

I have bought a new upper steering bush (plastic) to hopefully stop the steering wheel wobbling around inside the column. I am getting conflicting messages - do I need to remove the whole steering column to fit it, or can I just take the steering wheel off and fit it from the top?

A Jag spares chap has given me some second hand/new door barrels to try.
I presume the whole mechanism has to come off to fit these?
Has anyone removed the inner door panels before?

I have decided to stick with the original seat belts, since putting inertia reel ones in would just not look right.
There are no seat belts in the back.
If I was to hire this car out (say to take a bride to a wedding) am I legally obliged to put seat belts in the back?
The whole issue of Hire and Reward is a nightmare - I was just asking the above question first.

I am fitting new 10 and 5 way electrical connector blocks in the engine bay soon. The old ones have literally disintegrated. That will allow me to find out where a wire goes that has been hanging of the 10 way connector for a few months now.

My biggest worry at the moment is the starting of the car....
When cold, the engine turns over nicely and starts.
I then go out for a nice long drive, checking the ammeter for normal behaviour and no discharging (reading it correctly this time).
Back in the drive I turn the engine off, wait about 1 minute, then turn the key again.
The engine barely turns over but did start - just.
This happens a lot and I don't understand why.
Does the starter motor get more sluggish when hot?
Are there compressed gases in the engine after a long run?
I still have the original dynamo - is it worth changing to an alternator?

Regards
Dan