[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

I've got aircon issues - I need to split these 2 pipes that come through the bulkhead, which will allow me to remove a load of aircon pipes and make spraying the engine bay far simpilar

View attachment 600769

I've been trying the coke bottle cap game for the last hour, nothing moving - HELP...

I would just cut them, but I want aircon on the car when its done so really want to re use

THx - Al

Hi All,

These are the things I need, but I can't find - help please

THe green bit

Thx - Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Well, i've spent nearly 45 mins trying to get the high pressure feed hoseout of this rack, return popped out no problem

I've had enough tonight

Al

 

[^netghost]

Spring Lock Coupling tools
One of two options Pardon our interruption...
or possibly Pardon our interruption...

Martin.

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Spring Lock Coupling tools
One of two options Pardon our interruption...
or possibly Pardon our interruption...

Martin.

Hi Martin,

Found a set

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

As the weather in W.London today isn't great decided against using electrical power tools in the rain and started removing the gearbox.

I'd never taken an ST box out before, but all the bolts came out pretty nicely. I had to angle the engine over to get at the ones at the bottom, but once they were all out, blocked under the sump and the box seperated pretty easily.

I was a bit dubious about doing a gearbox swap, but after seeing the amount of "black stuff" around both driveshaft oil seals and inside the bell housing, it was the right thing to do.

I want to try and get the engine mounted into the "cradle thing that lets you rotate it " later.
I'm sure if the Eygptians can build pyramids I can utilise some slaves ( neighbours ) to man handle the engine onto it.

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Well, they say every days a school day, and today has been.

First job was to remove the driveshafts from the old gearbox.
O/S came out sweetly.
When I've done n/s driveshafts in the past ( they were zetecs ) i've just put a big screwdriver though the o/s driveshaft hole, through the crownwheel, tap, yay.
Not this time, tbh I only wanted to get the old box moved down the garage, but could not get the driveshaft free.
Ended up splitting the inner cv joint #

I'm hoping I can get more progress with the gearbox on a bench

Next Job was to get engine on the cradle, tried to line everything up but couldn't get fitted with clutch in place, so removed clutch.

Still having no joy,

Arms arn't long enough to go round the flywheel. not sure if spacers are required, or I'm doing something wrong

Any Ideas

Thx Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Well, I know its hard to believe but I had an idea and charged my old snapon 3/4 drive impact gun. I bought this from a friend who was a bus fitter and have had nothing but issues with it.

Charged for an hour and flywheel bolts out

I'm sure I wont be able to reuse these bolts, or how I will secure the flywheel to retorque them - that can wait

Found a bolt missing from the rear main oil seal

After the state of the inside of the bell housing its not as bad as I expected, but will probably replace

Finally, engine carrier thing lines up

A speed awareness course will disrupt my fun tommorrow, hopefully it won't take tooo long.

I know speed in the wrong place itsn't good, but 78 on the M1 - really

Al

 

[^netghost]

Yes, I was going to say you need the flywheel etc. off. The bolts are a replace them item anyway. You'll want to replace the rear seal anyway, so it was going to have to come off.

112Nm isn't all that tight, they have a locking compound on the bolts which is one reason you can't use them again. (The other being they stretch ever so slightly)

Speed awareness course, yes I remember the answer to EVERY question was "Only a fool, breaks the two second rule" The day I did it it was all about driving too close, something I don't do and wish they would police more aggressively.

Martin.

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Yes, I was going to say you need the flywheel etc. off. The bolts are a replace them item anyway. You'll want to replace the rear seal anyway, so it was going to have to come off. View attachment 600783
112Nm isn't all that tight, they have a locking compound on the bolts which is one reason you can't use them again. (The other being they stretch ever so slightly)

Speed awareness course, yes I remember the answer to EVERY question was "Only a fool, breaks the two second rule" The day I did it it was all about driving too close, something I don't do and wish they would police more aggressively.

Martin.

Hi martin,

Thanks for this, ordered some bits
Flywheel bolts

REar Main OIl SEal

OIL Cooler to block gasket

Flywheel locking tool

Not 100% that the flywheel locking tool is correct as it looks nothing like the pic in the workshop manual, but the advert says it fits, so we'll see.

Al

 

[^netghost]

That looks exactly like the one I got in the kit for my Mk7.
The seal has an insert in it that you don't remove until you mount the seal, think it helps get it over the crankshaft.

Martin.

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Phew wot a day, sitting in a classroom for 3 hours did nothing to help my sciatica, but speed awareness course done now.

New hoist cylinder arrived this morning so I really wanted to get the engine on the cradle

I'd underestimated how bent the hoist upright was, but after a load of mucking about, got it working and engine now on carrier

now to get it off the grass and onto some proper hardstanding

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All.

Couldn't get phone link to work last night to upload pics ( so here goes )

AS you can see engine is propper rubby

I'm still in two minds just how deep to go with this "refurb" as engine has 79K on clock, so not massive mileage, but is grubby as hell.

My initial thoughts are to replace :

Coolant junction box gasket
Oil Cooler Gasket
Rear Main oil seal
Timing chain cover is rank to want to clean up, so will remove tensioers & idler pullys
May replace water pump ( is there a normal life on them )
Sump Gasket

Is there anyting else I should be considering doing (now) whilst the engine is out ?

Many thanks
Al

 

[ydnA]

Do the chains on these have a service life? It might be worth doing that, or at least looking at it?
I’d replace the water pump whilst access is as good as it is, might as well.

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Had a few objectives I wanted to achieve today:

Get Engine off grass and onto concrete hardstanding
Get aircon off car

As you may have seen from previous pictures, my garden is far from level, so I decided to carpet it in 12mm ply.
This worked pretty well, only sketchy bit was when the wheels in the cradle came to a join, but made it, with the help of my better half, ( who didn't complain once ) - YEAH RIGHT

Anyway, took @Marv_st advice to use brake fluid to clean up engine casings, rotated engine on cradle to find out bolts I'd used to secure lower mounts were Too long and only gave me about 20 degrees of rotation (back & forth ) so I'll have to change them ( at least engines stable )

So, with engine soaking started on onjective 2

Aircon kit arrived this morning

I used the second and third largest white rings to seperate the bulkhead connections.
I got nowhere to start with but then unbolted the airdryer and chasis pipework clamp, and with a bit of rotation the bulkhead connections popped out.

so, objective 2 achieved, I'll have a go at cleaning up the pipework and will replace the airdyer efore I all goes back in

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Do the chains on these have a service life? It might be worth doing that, or at least looking at it?
I’d replace the water pump whilst access is as good as it is, might as well.

Hi ydna,

I don't know if the chain has a service life,
I've never seen a post about one going pop and my red ST has 135K with the same chain
When I got my first ST150, this was something I was concerned about as I remember the Granada 2.8 or 2.9 chains self detructing around 80,000 miles as the damage was so catastroupic, we never got to the bottom of wether it was just a case of the chain breaking, or it jumping due to knackered tensioner.

I am changing the cams on this engine, so logically now would be a logical time for new chain/guides/tensioner, but as with the water pump I could end up buying parts of £200+ for no real reason.

Furher info required

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

The thought of spending cash got tooo much, so I reverted to cleaning CR*P off the block

The annoying thing is a friend of mine works for audi ( aqua blasting ) but I'd have to supply him bare parts - ah well back to the wire brush

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

Did some shopping @ autodoc

Rear main oil seal
flywheel bolts x 6
water pump
idler pulley
tensioner assy

Roughly £100 posted, I can live with that

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi ydna,

I don't know if the chain has a service life,
I've never seen a post about one going pop and my red ST has 135K with the same chain
When I got my first ST150, this was something I was concerned about as I remember the Granada 2.8 or 2.9 chains self detructing around 80,000 miles as the damage was so catastroupic, we never got to the bottom of wether it was just a case of the chain breaking, or it jumping due to knackered tensioner.

I am changing the cams on this engine, so logically now would be a logical time for new chain/guides/tensioner, but as with the water pump I could end up buying parts of £200+ for no real reason.

Furher info required

Al

Hi All,

Did a bit of homework on the cam chain service interval and the general consensus appears to be their isn't one.

A lot of the comments on sites appear to be around "Ticking", which I would cermise is from a loose chain as opposed to a knackerd chain.

I'm thinking its the tensioner which is the weak link

Anyway found this :

TBH I only posted it as I'll be changing the cams over soon and its the best video I've found

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

The shopping list goes on:

Timing Tool

Assembley Grease

FRont Crankshaft oil seal

Serpentine Belt

Al

 

[alan ST Bentley]

Hi All,

I fancied an easy day today so started cleaning the enginebay

Its in pretty good nick. I'm not sure if what I'm removing is road grime or some kind of protective layer. There are some rust areas I need to treat but its not that bad.

Want to remove the brake servo as thers loads of CR*P behind it

Same for ABS pump

I'm a it concerned about removing the abs pump as I've heard horror stories about re bleeding, but the rust on the n/s of the engine bay needs attention, so I guess I don't have much choice.

Al