I am sure you will find some easily when you are in the UK. I had my Daimler 2.5 V8 SU carbs rebuilt by a local-ish guy called David Lonsdale (who trades as Classic Carburetters) who did a fabulous job and is a real SU nerd. I think he often has complete setups for sale.
Thanks Patrick, I'll contact David and see what he has. For the first few months of production they used XK150S air rails (3 throttle link supports) and those are very hard to find. Last night I finished putting in all the pistons/rods and while rotating to find TDC with my dial gauge the #1 sleeve (liner) lifted a bit so I took out the piston/rod and sleeve and will clean it up and put a little high temp RTV on the top again and hold it in with a torqued-down head. The pistons are fairly tight in the un-deformed sleeves and there is nothing holding the sleeves in except a thin film of silicone. When I removed the gearbox shafts a few weeks ago, the inside part of the double angular contact ball bearing (the half on the end of the input shaft) came apart and I couldn't get the shaft back in last night despite a lot of wiggling and using grease to hold the balls and cage in place and together. Any suggestions? Do I need to pull the lay shaft out to move 1st and reverse out the way a bit? If that doesn't work I might try pulling off the inner race, assembling the bearing into place and pressing the shaft through the race in situ. You can see in the two bottom photos the outer race in the case. Image Unavailable, Please Login
"Some days are diamonds, some days are turds..." this evening was definitely the latter. First I dropped one of the balls into the diff. I shook, rattled, and rolled but no luck. I fished around with a magnet on a stiff wire... Nada. So I took off the diff cover and had to reseal it and the seal carrier, and the one flange. Next I pulled the lay shaft and 1st/Rev gears and reassembled them with the main shaft. Worked fine but no amount of creativity and long-nosed pliers would get the balls into the cage once it was all together. I turned the gearbox on its side and used a socket to hold the balls in place (second photo) while I fed through the main shaft along with the 2nd/3rd gears (all on my own mind you!) Still no luck. Tomorrow I will pull off the inner race as I had suggested last night and if that doesn't work I'll lengthen my ring nut socket and remove the input shaft ring nut so I can take it completely apart (wish I had done that in the beginning!) Image Unavailable, Please Login
You really should replace that bearing... I know it's not a cheap bearing but it's also not supposed to come apart like that either. The cage is deformed and more then likely the bearings and races are worn, hence the increased gap and subsequent auto 'fall to bits'.
The races and balls are in great shape but the cage caught on something when I was taking it apart. I'll pull the race and check it properly. They are worth changing if marginal-- half the price of a synchro ring so not too bad
Yes I had a day like that last year. Dropped a nut down the throat of an SU on my Daimler V8 and couldn't retrieve it. Ended up having to remove dynamo, carbs, manifold, coolant pipes before I found it sitting on an inlet valve. Still, it gave me an opportunity to get the carbs rebuilt and renew all the coolant pipes and hoses. At least it was too big to end up in a cylinder.
.. but a rocker cover washer can fit past a GT6 inlet valve if you are lucky enough to drop it at the right angle and have it hit something and bounce into the port of the one valve that was wide open at the time...
So I pulled the inner race from the end of the input shaft and the balls popped back into the cage/race no problem. You can fill most of the cage from the outside easily but the last few balls have to be pressed in from the inside (small side of the cage.) You have to tilt the cage and press them in with a click. The cage is quite springy so any hard push on it makes it flex and come apart. Once that was in place I took the layshaft out a bit (until the central cylindrical roller bearing was out of its race and allowed the shaft a lot of radial movement which was needed to get the input shaft into place. The 2nd/3rd cluster has to be fed onto the layshaft at the same time as the input shaft is going in otherwise the gears won't get past the 4th/5th sliding sleeve. I was very pleased with myself once it was all back in place, snug, and turning smoothly. Then I realised that the 4th/5th cluster gear would never slide onto the layshaft without removing the 4th/5th gears and selector group. Bugger! So now I have to take off the fourth and last ring nut but my home-made ring nut tool was only made to undo the other three so won't go over the long input shaft. Story of my life-- only one nut and a tool that is a few inches short. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Derek, do you mind posting a larger view as in zoom it out photo of this part of the gear box as I would like to have a better understanding of the exact what part or where in the gear box this islocated? Thank you.
Mike, The hole is in the intermediate plate so can be done when you change the clutch. This is a photo from ebay that I put an arrow on (can't get to mine right now.) Image Unavailable, Please Login
Suggest you do what Alfa engine builders do and make sleeve hold down pieces of pipe that go over the head studs and sit on the edges of the sleeve/liners. You might need a large washer on the bottom end. You definitely do not want to turn an engine without holding down the sleeve/liners! Pete
I "ported" the input shaft hole in the intermediate plate so that the shaft with clip in place can fit through. I also clamped the cyl 5-8 cams at the TDC lift with a piece of paper under one cam cap and then checked the clearances between valves and pistons. The side clearance of the inlets was a bit too close for my liking at 1mm so I'll open the pockets up a little more. Exhaust valve clearances were fine. I got the last ring nut off (the input shaft nut) so will finish putting the gearbox back together. The difference between men and boys... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
... is the size of their toys! So we got the gearbox back together. In the end I didn't take off the input shaft outside bearing as it was tight and before I took the shaft to have it pressed off, Mat and I tried for 45min to wiggle it all back together. It definitely takes four hands, a rubber mallet and patience. As the various parts are moving in to place together you have to keep backing up a bit wiggling, turning, in a bit more, feel which gear is binding, lift pull back turn, wiggle, tap etc. etc. You have to have the ball bearing from the end of the input shaft in place in the case, put the 1st/Rev group into the case in order (check the parts diagram), feed in the layshaft with 2nd/3rd group in place but don't go far enough for the central cylindrical bearing to enter its race. Then simultaneously feed the complete input shaft into the case and the 4th/5th cluster gear onto the layshaft. Now all the wiggling and turning and lifting and backing off starts. I found it helped to have assembly lube on the synchros to stop them falling off the cones when you back off. Be patient and if it is stuck, try rotating each part to see which part is catching. Often it is the selector groups not getting onto their shaft splines or teeth of the various gears not meshing. It is all very tight fitting. I was away for a few days picking up some Jaguar parts and trying to prise my next project away from a serious hoarder. Barn find does not do it justice as there were about 100 cars including some early Rolls Royces, factory TVRs, Ginettas, Jags, Lotuses, and a few I have never seen before. I noticed after the engine test assembly that the 348 crank has a different bolt pattern for the flywheel and it needs a 3.5mm spacer behind the cam gear on the crank (see how the sealing surface on the gear barely comes through the front seal.) The front main journal on the 348 is 3.5mm narrower than the 308 crank. I will get plugs pressed into the flywheel then new holes drilled and might add a dowel hole to match the 348 crank dowel. I'll also get a spacer machined this week. I spent some time opening the inlet valve pockets in the pistons about a mm more and refinishing the Fuchs wheels on my '70 911E (previous owner had painted the center "petals" black.) Tomorrow I'll flush out the gearbox with synthetic oil, spin it a lot and get most of the assembly lube out. I doubt it will make a difference but cheap insurance against LSD shudder. Mat has been detailing the engine bay, painting various parts, and adjusting the front bumper shocks. They needed to be adjusted so that the two worm screws were exactly level and then cut some reliefs into the sides of the rubber mount sleeves. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
For anyone doing the bumper shock straps, I realize in hindsight that it would be easier and neater to position the two worm screws closer to the rectangular mounting flange.
We have been cleaning, soda blasting, and painting lots of small parts in preparation for the reassembly. The valve covers are quite different castings, with the front one being very smooth and possibly die cast, while the rear cover appears to be sand cast and very porous. The purple cleaner is eating off the oxidation (see the bubbles) but the porous finish may look better sand blasted or painted. What was the original finish? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Funny just found the same issue with my cam covers. The rear cover is terrible quality compared to the front. I bead blasted and will paint to try to hide the difference in finish quality.
I wonder if there is any silver paint that will fill the porosity and match the rest? I was thinking of blasting a bit more with soda and carb cleaner and then find a silver paint that matches, spray on and wipe off, leaving the pores filled. Might work if the colour matches.
I believe the original finish is natural, ie with two different appearances. Others more in the know should be able to confirm
I haven't posted for a while as I have been very busy with packing for the move, getting some cam pulleys machined, anodized, and sent off. We have also been getting a lot done on the 308. The machinist milled the flywheel bolt holes to suit the 348 crank and added a dowel hole and dowel for me. He also made the spacer that goes behind the gear on the front of the crank since the 348 front bearing section is 3,5mm shorter than the 308. The nose of the 348 crank is within a millimetre of the 308 crank so I’m not worried about that. Matt was very helpful with putting the gearbox back together. The 20kg/m on those ring nuts were too much for my homebrewed socket. Surprisingly, my four lugs held out but my bird-dropping welding tacks did not. Actually, if you had seen the welds, it is not really that surprising. Matt welded it up beautifully at home and we got all the ring nuts on and then put all the shift forks and rods in. I will try to do a DIY on the gearbox reassembly soon unless there is already a good one out there? The steel capsules (tictacs) in the centre wall are to lock-out the movement of other shift rods when one is engaged. It took a while to figure out how they went in but there is a small picture in the manual (D14.) Coat them well with grease to stop them moving when they are not supposed to! We did a test assembly, adjusted the forks and 3 levers while pressing down on the springs that press on the detent balls. Having four hands helped! Once we were happy that all the forks were perfectly centered between gears and the three levers all lined up, we locked them all down with blue Loctite (and bent the tab on the middle lever.) While we were waiting for the flywheel/spacer and cam pulleys, Matt took off the rear A-arms to fit new bushings and they were in good shape, just very dirty. He Dremelled off the tack welds, pressed out the bushes, pressed in the new ones, and tacked. The lower rear right A-arm mounting bolt was seriously stuck but came out with a soak with PB blaster and some heat. It is near the exhaust so that may be why. I did a few test assemblies/rotations with playdoh/plasticine as I didn’t have enough valve/piston clearance once I torqued down the heads and checked from 15 degrees before TDC to 15 degrees after TDC with my higher lift cams (and my nice new adjustable cam pulleys!) The Webcam site suggests a minimum of .050" intake, .080" exhaust and most other sites suggest .070 and .100”. Mine were both around .040” and piston to head was similar. I’ll take off another 1mm from the exhaust pocket and .5mm from the inlets. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Derek, An amazing amount of work going in to this - you really don't want to buy me that beer, do you. Just a small point - the suspension bushes should be tack welded in-situ, with the car on its feet, so there's no torque on the bush at rest.
Thanks Patrick, I didn't know that. Some of the factory tacks were hard to reach but at least the ones Matt has done are very accessible so we'll grind them off and tack in situ. Deepening the valve pockets by .5-1mm is slow going by hand. I'll try to get them milled or try an end mill in my drill press which has an adjustable angle table for the 23 degree valve angle.
Tack welded yes. But with the car on its feet: No. It can be performed conveniently on the workbench. It's just important to torque down the wishbone bolts with the car on its feet. With the bolts not torqued down the wishbone can rotate inside the suspension forks without applying any torque onto the bushings. After having removed and reinstalled the wishbones I even drive around a few kms with loose bolts, because the car's suspension doesn't set completely after it was on a lift. This is a situation when a 4-post lift is really helpful. Lifting the car on its feet. Best Martin
Last week we were busy packing and our 40 foot container left Friday filled to the brim. Matt and I have been dismantling a jag engine for the trip back across the pond after 55 years. Matt timed it and we had it in pieces in an hour and 45 min! I have been deepening the valve pockets in the pistons since the play doh tests with the belts on and rotated a few revolutions showed they were too close for comfort. I've finished the first one and will make a few measurements and copy the shape on the other seven pistons. I'll put a small end mill on my drill press, set the table to 23 degrees and push the pockets down .5-1mm. There is plenty of meat in the domes of these JE pistons so no worries there. This week we should get the motor back together and next week I'm shipping the 308 and 911E to the UK. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
