E-type cookery class
The evil E-type decided to throw in an extra challenge, just for fun, while I was fitting my reconditioned water pump.
Despite tightening all of the fastenings progressively and stopping when the crushable washers were flattened, I felt one of the threads strip. My thoughts turned to drilling out the damaged thread, re-tapping it and fitting a helicoil – but to access the damaged thread in the cylinder block, the timing cover would have to come off and before that the cylinder head and sump. And it would only leave just over six inches of clearance between cylinder block and the pesky upper crossmember.
If that wouldn’t allow sufficient access it’d be an engine-out job. So I asked Angus Moss, who runs local E-type specialist E-conic. He suggested measuring the depth of the bolt hole to see if there was any unused thread beyond where the old bolt had reached, and there was – just over 1/4in. I doubted it was enough to hold a new, longer bolt so Angus suggested cutting some 5/16in studding to length, winding it right in, then fitting a nut and washer to hold the pump. That 1/4in of thread in the block would only have to cope with clamping force, but not turning force at the same time.
The worst part of the job was cleaning out the grease and bits of damaged thread from the bolt hole so that the studding would wind in smoothly and the Loctite thread lock would hold. Tightening the new nut in place was one of the most tense moments in my E-type relationship, but it easily flattened the crushable washer without turning the studding.
Bomb successfully defused, I was tempted to crack a beer in celebration, but the E-type had another test of my nerve. Rather than risk another crankshaft damper failure – it’s a steel/rubber/steel sandwich – Jaguar specialist Ken Jenkins recommended a Pro-race damper which has a failsafe design. Unlike the original, which slips onto the crankshaft via a steel cone, this is an interference fit directly onto the crankshaft. The instructions talk of heating the damper in boiling water to expand it, applying a smear of engine oil to the mounting surface, and fitting it quickly before it cools too much. As I stood in the kitchen timing the boiling damper, I tried to remember who bought us the stainless steel pans as a wedding present...
After hoiking the hot damper out, I donned welding gloves and slipped it onto the crankshaft. It slid over the Woodruff key, then jammed halfway on. Drifting with a mallet and wood failed, and it was too tight to remove. Yikes! And all the time the damper and crankshaft were merging temperatures. With a two-foot torque wrench at 125lb ft I somehow managed to tighten it all the way home before slumping into a heap. A pint of Adnams Ghost Ship has never tasted so good.