Hey Gunnar,

nice job with your Jag. I only wish we could be at your stage, nut time will come. We are biuilding the garage for our Jag at the moment, annd we will probably start reviving her next spring. Can hardly wait!

 

Building ones own garage is a great stage too. In the premises we do wrenching the landlord have announced an over 100% increase in rental fee so after Sept 2014 when the contract expires the enthusiast community will look for other playgrounds.

The XJ6 was at its traffic inspection yesterday (first time since 2004) and it went better than expected. Only issue was my own installation of catalyst downpipe was not perfect. I had hammered some dents on the downpipe to have it clear the steering shaft joint but it turned out it was still rubbing against the catalyst tubing when the inspector took his turns, noticeable as some jerkiness at the steering wheel... The steering rack flexes in its mounts and can come closer to the cat pipe than I expected.
But I am permitted to drive it in traffic until 20th of January at the latest without re-inspection.
I found out the night before the inspection that the signal horns were both dead. Only donor available was the Suzuki GSXR sportbike.. but it sounds almost like a car horn so inspectors did not notice.

But I got compliments for the low CO emission figures, around 0.1 where 4.0 is the limit for a non-catalyst car (this vehicle was imported with non-catalyst excempts). But installing a catalyst downpipe and lambda sensor like I did is really something to recommend. In some U.S installations they use a secondary catalyst as well part of the Y-pipe. I will look at getting one of these as well, they are not expensive. The ride transformed as well with the Kent alloys and new tires. There is a distinct klonk! sound from the front right
when riding over bumps. Probably a shock bushing is gone. But that did not reveal itself during the inspection.

I also have an engine sound that sounds like a manifold exhaust leak from one port. Does anyone have advice of how to best remove a manifold with the engine in the car ?. Those lower nuts that sit under the manifold and bolt it to the cylinder head seem hard to get at.

 

Removing an exhaust manifold isn't too hard. In fact, it can all be done from above if you so desire. Just remove all the bolts, lift away and remove manifold....presto!

The lower bolts....well....you have to stretch your arms a bit and work entirely by feel but, I assure you, it's quite possible.

A word about the manifold-to-pipe seal:

Surprisingly these hold up very well and after removing te manifold you might find that yours is is good condition. That's a good thing because they can be very difficult to remove from the pipe!

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks I will study the sound that sounds like exhaust spitting out from one port. By pulling a spark plug lead one by one I will find out if it goes a way and if so I have found the culprit. If not then I am hearing something less of an easy fix.