Airco Pump / Spark Plugs / Belts and Fan build up

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.com/2019/01/aircopump-harrison-a6-spark-plugs.html

So, here we are again. Although I was fairly happy last time with the aircopump supplier I have to say I got slightly annoyed by them. Reason being is the lack of response on my request to get the pump sorted out due to the different bolt thread used. I left them voicemail, email and what's app messages which simply did not got responded on. When I called their main number it got diverted to a mobile number. Which was a different number which I previously used to send him a whatsapp message. So when I whatsapp'd him I finally got a response back late in the evening. I was told to ship both pumps back so they could remount the backside. But the frontside also used different threading and I was told they would fix that as well. As I did not fancy to pay twice expensive shipping cost and the return of one I searched at another DIY shop with a more assorted bolt/nuts department. So I found the bolts with finer thread. But when trying today it still appeared to be a different size though, sigh! So I figured to remount the backside myself and fix the front screws. Not sure what to expect I obviously first dismantled the backside of the seized aircopump.

This went fairly easy and no surprising (nasty) things happened or became visible.

I noticed these typical (3) drill holes in the centre - not sure why that was done?

But since all looked good I went ahead and dismantled the refurbished pump. This was one was properly oiled and with a new seal:

 To my surprise this one had also the typical (3) drill holes in the centre:

In any case, I simply could place the cover backside with the proper threadings onto the revised pump. As for the front screws I simply forced them which worked out quite well. That threading was somehow not that fine but still slightly different. It only required slight force to adapt them. Glad that is sorted now!

And two decals that were on the old pump for the records. I only now noticed the remark regarding the metric threads for the mounting holes on the Original decal:

Still I had those 2 seized spark plugs to sort out as well before I could place the pump. Previously I used WD40 and them soaked. This time around I used penetration oil (kruipolie) which should be better. Although I doubt if it had any effect (don't think so). Effectively they came out using strong force. On the below you can see the threading just survived but it shows how stuck the lower part must have been. A pitty I don't have a good camera to make it more visible

In any case, the new ones all went in fine. Glad that's sorted as well. The remaining 6 ones will be done a different time. Likely that will require some work as well! To start with some dismantling to reach them. Who designed this!?

Now with the aircopump mounted I finally could fit all the belts and properly adjust and tension them.

And yes, I used all new Original Jaguar belts (4x), no immitation:

And last but not least I did mount the shiny yellow fan:

Nice to see it's slowly coming together again. I'm still awaiting the back order for all the new hoses. Maybe it will come next week. Hopefully the other paintwork is finished as well. Let's see.

Sandblasted parts

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.com/2018/12/parts-sanding-spraying.html

Well, today I got a call from the sander/painter. Bad news, when sanding the reservoir tank it revealled tiny holes which requires welding. Nice, another task to be fixed. He nevertheless ground painted it to stop any aditional rusting. 

Nice connections visible:

Rust protection  2k PPG epoxy primer  :

Aircopump Harrison A6 & Spark plugs replacement

Long story short, yesterday a revised aircopump was delivered at home. I was very happy with this service (company: www.aircoherstelservice.nl). The price was € 286,- with 2 year waranty, so a good deal in my opinion.

And today I was looking forward to continue my build up. The old one I could return once completed. It still had some hoses connected to it. Turns out these were very easily mounted, but I'm glad I still had the aircopump with me.

When mounting the hoses on the revised pump I found out by surprise the main bolt did not fit. In fact all the other mounting bolts did not fit either.

Turns out the threading of the revised aircopump was slightly different and using a finer thread:

The bolts used are having a common regular thread. So I'm unsure why the revised pump is using different finer threading. Clearly I'm not going to mess around with it. So I will seek contact with them in order to solve it.

So this meant I still could replace the spark plugs today (which had to be done prior to placing the pump). I had them double checked to be sure they are the right ones, and they are.

The first 4 spark plugs went ok and came out fairly easy. The next 2 however felt likely to be stuck. Although with force I could move them a tiny bit it did not felt right. So I stopped to avoid damage. I have them now soaked with WD40 hoping that will do the trick.

The other 6 spark plugs behind the other side of the distributor cap seems to be pretty difficult to reach as well. But I leave them for now until the front 6 six are all done. Hopefully no nasty surprises.

Fan cleaning

Well, I'm still waiting for some parts to be delivered by SNG Barratt. I'm also waiting for some parts to be sanded and painted. And more annoying, I'm awaiting for the airco shop to open up. Looks like they took off this entire week as well. I really hope I can source one next week so I can continue to build up. But I'm busy enough with firming up the garage. All lights are now finished and I'm now tidying up other electra. As I wanted to focus on something different I took to the effort to clean the fan. It's quite dirty but with help of WD40 and some clothing it is easily removed. See below a snapshot of a partial cleaned fan. Nice to see the bright yellow again. I quite like it.

Doug DuMuro : The Jaguar XJS V12 Is the Cheapest V12 Sports Car On Earth

Parts sanding & spraying

Last saturday I brought some parts away to get these properly sanded and resprayed. As you can see these items are in a very poor state. I have no intention to make my car in a concour state but still like to get it nicely put together. Besides these parts are very visible in the engine bay. Hence I would like to have this professionally done rather than doing a bit of sanding myself and spraying with a can.

I do happen to know a company nearby who will get this done: https://www.vocor.nl/ They are only a 5 min drive from where my car is located. When bringing these parts they were interested for which car it was. Once I told them it was for a XJS they were quite enthustiac. It turns out they had some Jags in their workshop so I got a little tour. Nice!

I still wasn't sure what kind of black paint had to be applied; matt, satin or gloss. So for this I made a FB posting and got some interesting feedback:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4185237245/permalink/10156878779562246/

So all parts will become black with satin finish. Only the bleedpipe will be done in grey satin. Due to the current workload it will take them up about 2 weeks. Which is fine because I still need to get my new waterhoses. Plus I hope to source a refurbished aircopump meanwhile ...

Veikl : the biggest online archive of automobile documents

Another nice online vault with cool car documents, including the XJS:

https://www.veikl.com/documents/jaguar/xjs?Page=1&PageSize=25&Sort=2

Auto Classics : Jaguar XJS Buying Guide

Another buying guide:

https://www.autoclassics.com/posts/buyer-guides/jaguar-xjs-buying-guide

I read this interesting remark in this article:

"The smoother Model 400 three-speed General Motors unit (fitted from 1977) and four-speed GM400 (from 1993-on) can often produce a knocking noise from the gearbox mount, a common problem after the spring holding the gearbox in place collapses. "

Perhaps it's the same issue "knocking noise" I'm hearing as well? I tend to believe it might be related to the U-joints:

https://erwinxjs.blogspot.com/2017/04/u-joint-diagnostics-propshaft-xjs.html

https://erwinxjs.blogspot.com/2017/04/u-joints-propshaft-replacement-attempt_29.html

Clearly I first need to build up the car before looking into this again, sigh.

Smooth

Thought this was a funny advert - being Dutch after all. It's only a wink to Jaguar - and not XJS related. Have to admit, I like this Daf Coupe though. Italian design (Michelotti) And the transmission is worldfamous. And recently I found out that one of the DAF co-founders was once a Ferrari 400 Automatic owner as well (http://erwin400.blogspot.com/2018/11/for-sale-nl-ferrari-400-automatic.html).  

I'm back! - The build up - part 1 - spark plugs, thermostat, alternator and waterpump

It has been a while! And I have been surprised to see that my blog still got many visitors globally during my absence. Judging on the stats it seems like the majority does like the "technical" blog updates. Reason for my absence is due to a variety of things on which I will not bother you. Now I finally have a bit more time on my side I want to get the XJS roadworthy again. So last week I made the first order with SNG Barratt for some parts to build it up again. Last time I checked they did not had the refurbished waterpump on stock. This time around they ran out of the complete hosekit. So now I have to wait till mid January untill they are on stock again. Which is okayish as I still need to have some parts sandblasted and powdercoated. So earlier this week the parts arrived under our Christmas tree.

And today I made a start. In fact last week I wanted to started already with new spark plugs so I went to the local carshop. Turns out these were not available and rarely used. So I had these included in my SNG Barrat order.

These are Denso T22EP-U, part nr EBC4021

It makes sense to replace them now, mostly because the aircopump is removed, so the front ones are easy accessible.

And they look a bit rusty now as well.

But on closer inspection it seems like the new spark plug is slightly longer on the ignition part, sorry, it's not really visible on the photo. The old spark plug is a NGK R BR7EF.

So I checked on the Denso website and found out a different spark plug is being used for the 1st HE model (1982-1985).

http://www.globaldenso.com/cgi-bin/global/plug/au/4w/plug.cgi?action=search&filename=4w-29.txt

Effectively the only difference is in the Iridium power T20 vs T22

XJ-S	5.3L		HE V12	1982.1	1985.1	T20EP-U/T20EPR-U	IT20	VT20	0.8
XJ-S	5.3L		HE V12	1986	1999.9	T22EP-U	IT22	-	0.8

Apart from that no other differences. Still I'm unsure about the correct length. The NGK is slightly shorter though. Need to look into this later. For now I parked this job.

So on to the next job, replacing the thermostat. Part nr EBC3576 and a new gasket with Part nr C33281.

The old one definately needs replacement. It's a relative cheap item and makes sense to replace it now since it's easily accessible. On closer inspection it no longer closes properly. For demonstrating purposes I put it on top of the white box. You now can see clearly through it. The white inner circle at the plunger is clearly visible. So good choice to have it replaced:

The old thermostat is making using of some kind of plastic floater on the air bleed hole.

While the newer version is having a small ball clamped in a holder.

And just another photo for comparison.

The location of the Thermostat holder

The housing removed and cleaned off the old gasket

And putting the new thermostat in. Note that the airbleeding hole needs to be on top. The Thermostat is also marked with "TOP". Click the picture to enlarge:

Another photo with more distance

New gasket and adding the housing back (of course, cleaned and sanded):

This was a very easy task and very rewarding.

Next item is putting the revised altenator back on.
(see blog https://erwinxjs.blogspot.com/2018/06/alternator.html).
Another simple task with only 2 bolts and 2 wires to connect up.

And adding the new belt. I figure this must be quite an expensive job is this one snaps as it requires all other belts to be removed first. Must be a nasty job. But in my case all is open and easy accessible.
Using the tensioner to firm it up. Not sure what is an appropiate measure for the right tension on the belt. Hope it's fine though.

Next job is placing the new waterpump. Again a clever job to do now as all is open. Besides I noticed a very slight movement meaning a potential bearing issue coming up. If not then I consider it preventive maintenance.

Old and new, front side:

Old and new, rear side:

Removing old gasket,dirt and the cleaned it with sandpaper:

And putting the new waterpump in place. I did very little cleaning on the front side of the engine, it was almost entirely black/greasy. This shiny new pump looks a bit out of place now. But once all other parts are build up it's likely hardly visibile though.

That's it for today. I still need to sort out the new aircopump. get some parts sandblasted and powdercoated, order some other parts I overlooked. and still need to do some paint spraying. Hopefully that can all be arranged in the coming 2 or 3 weeks. Fingers crossed.