1974 Daimler Double-Six VDP (higher axle stands)

Just stick one up lol. Am sure ppl won't mind. This thread has been short of eye-candy for some time now

I finished the dismantling last night by getting the flywheel off the crank. Think I mentioned above it is held tight by some dowels even after you remove all the fixing bolts. I needed some sort of draw-bolt arrangement or a slide-hammer. These things always end up turning into side-projects, which I don't have time for, so I tried backing them out with a large (thin) washer under a bolt. The washer pressing against the original mounting bolts (standing proud). Might've worked if the washer was thicker but it clearly wasn't so I grabbed the rough tool I used to draw the damper off the crank and put that into action. It actually worked quite well as the curved outer-ring sat on the line of the bolts. Basically as you tighten the bolt against the tool it pulls the dowel up. The dowel being internally-threaded. Ideally the tool would allow you to do both at one time but I just did a bit on each side back and forward. You could probably even use a big nut or socket for the dowels to retract into as long as there is something smaller than the head of the bolt in between.


rough drawbolt arrangement



dowels start to pull out of crank-flange as bolt tightened



gap emerging



sorted


Next up was a bit of cleaning. Everyone will have their favourite solution to this but I tried GUNK in its new Green incarnation (£6.99) and it seemed to work fine. Tbh I used it sparingly as the (cheap) Daz was at hand and this also worked well with lots of water and scrubbing with small brushes. I did the sandwich-plate first then the block (which I was really pleased with). I will do it a bit more thoroughly but for starters the result is fine



green GUNK




sandwich-plate before




and after




LHS



RHS



RHS partially cleaned



LHS partially cleaned

I've also been cleaning the pistons and removing the rings. It's probably a good thing the engine seized as practically all the rings are stuck solid and I wouldn't have found this out if the engine wasn't dismantled. Pretty sure it wouldn't have run well with stuck rings. I've found that the best way to free them is to tap inwards lightly with a hammer and they will eventually start to spring out and you can then get some fluid behind them and the tapping gets much more effective. I'm sure I'm (microscopically) damaging the faces of the rings doing this but plan to get new ones anyway.


couple of pistons cleaned with rings freed-off


I also got one of the lower-wishbone pivots out. No pics but took a couple of video clips of the issue where the inner bushes were stuck to the shaft while the outers were free. One tapped out with a soft hammer and the other I have soaked with ATF. I don't think it's stuck really badly so should be out next visit.

inner bush stuck to shaft


outer bush moving freely on shaft


shaft being pulled out

Yeah the interior of a Consul is basic compared to the Granada. The range went: Consul, Consul L, Consul GT, Granada XL, Granada GXL. In 1975 they were all rebadged Granada, The GT becoming Granada S, and the range topper becoming Granada Ghia

Those 2 pistons you cleaned came out a treat The only downside of a v12 is there is another 10 to go - ouch!

Good to see some fantastic progress. 👍

I found a seal pick invaluable to break up the carp i found in mine, as well as a cunning grind on a ring end.
the pistons I did spent atleast 30 mins in the sonic bath at 80deg about a week before I cleaned the grooves out, aiming for 2 a day was an achievable goal, as i found it sooooo boring.
Nice work love the car.
Dan

Retires to a safe distance and engages safety squints.
carry on this looks intriguing.
Dan

How far into the block do the head studs go? Just thinking, you could possibly saw off the studs close to the block face, centrally drill into the remaining stubs and use Eazi-outs or similar to extract them. Failing that, gradually increase the drill size until you're near to the width of the stud thread, and extract the remainder with a tap & die and maybe some compressed air to clear out the block threads...

fascinating experiment !

re easy outs , before they get the thing out they tend to snap , then you get a cobalt drill to drill the easy out...e.r...out , and that snaps , then you drill all around the whole mess , and end up making a m6 into a m10 hole , like my fs1e moped when i was 16...not that i have baggage at all.

Spark erosion is the way to get stubborn studs or broken easy outs out!
A machinist friend did this for me on the occasions l needed it.
Maybe there is somewhere local to you offering spark erosion?
It's not wildly expensive and a totally safe method.
Chemicals always seem so messy to me......