1974 Jaguar XJ12

Truly a pleasure to read about with both the standard of work and the car. I'm not an expert on corrosion but how about a coating of lanoguard or similar on those inner sections to aid keeping it rust free?

I can't remember any trouble with the handbrake (calipers? cable? mechanism?) but the exhaust-manifolds are almost impossible to get off with the engine in-situ

brachunky   said

Truly a pleasure to read about with both the standard of work and the car. I'm not an expert on corrosion but how about a coating of lanoguard or similar on those inner sections to aid keeping it rust free?





Sorry, just noticed this.
I used phosphoric and the etch primer. It'll be fine. It’s been ok for nearly 50 years, and I'd wager it will see less water in its next 50.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’m a big fan of lanolin stuff.

Removed one of the thermostats, mostly to see what the temperature is ( 74 degrees ) but also to see what the condition of the housing is like.
This one is in very good condition - no corrosion problems at all. I don’t think I'll disturb the other side.










Made a start on the carbs, though I’m still waiting on the rebuild kits.
The slide and butterfly freed up after a spray with carb cleaner.
But removing the float chamber made it obvious that a bit more thorough clean would be needed.













And after washing out the fuel residue.








Before I get any further into these, I’ll wait and see what the kit contains.


Thanks

Carb kits arrived, so I finished cleaning the carb that I’d partially dismantled.
Decided that I was only going to replace the diaphragm, needle and seat and the three main gaskets. That is, not remove the butterfly shaft in order to replace the seals in each side.
So in the scheme of things that means it took most of the day to do about 2.75 of the four carbs.
The upshot is that they’re very clean on the inside. And all the passages are clear.
The outside difference is this.






I also took out the thermostat housing bolts to put some antiseize on the threads.
Evidence:















I might add that the tin of 'Kopr-Kote' is older than me. Seriously. It was my father's.
Unfortunately it is nearly empty, so I may have to replace it. One day.

Finish the carbs and reinstall them tomorrow, hopefully.

Thanks.

Yes, I chose to ignore that yellow plastic thing, along with other screwed on bits that I’m fairly sure are to do with the anti-pollution stuff. There are hoses all over this that have been blocked etc. Don’t know what they all do. Will be trying to get rid of as many as I can.
I only just caught up on your thread, used to read it a few years ago and somehow lost it. Glad you beat those headstuds and hope you can get back to it soon. A good read.

not sure about the carb engine but the early efi ones had an incredibly complicated vacuum system feeding the distributor which used thermo switches to switch the vacuum through various restrictors and bleeds such that the timing could be varied through warm up for emissions, I dumped the whole lot and replaced it with one tube from the manifold to the dizzy, seemed to work just fine....

Ah, the blood sacrifice is made. Probably the first of many. Very large, knobbly lump in a rather too-small hole….

Enjoying watch your steady progress - keep up the good work!

Thanks for the encouragement men. Much appreciated.

With the carbs now firmly attached, I decided I’d do something about the plethora of hoses/ clamps on the fuel supply/return side of things.
The two carbs on each side are supplied with this setup.




If you can make it out, it’s difficult to get a good pic - the red boxes are where short ( 30mm ) pieces of hose go.
And 4 clamps.
The hoses are impossible to get in - they must be put in place then the two carbs offered up to the inlet manifold as one.
I was determined to make this easier, hopefully better.
So I decided to do away with the tee piece that I’m holding.
This meant making another fuel supply pipe.

Started with a piece of 1/4 inch. Bent up a u shape.




Drilled a hole in it.





Soldered it to a piece of 3/8 tube with the end filed into a half circle.





And another piece soldered for the main supply.





Same at the other end, except this is for the return side.
This whole pipe goes across the top of the engine to the lhs bank.
Original pipe plus my contraption. Mine still needs a bend at each end, which I probably should have done before soldering on the u shaped bits.





One end, showing the tee that will be eliminated.





There will now be a longer piece of hose going from each end of the u piece to one of the carbs.
So I’m only getting rid of one hose and two clamps per side, but it will be able to be assembled with the carbs in place. And I think it will look less ‘busy’.


Thanks