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So, first update of the day. The plugs are out. They fought and they do have anti seize on the threads which means the last guy put them in too tight and pulled the threads in the head... They are Autolite 3924 Xp's with the iridium tip. They are carbon'd up so I guess the O2 codes are legit. Current plan is to burn them clean with a popper torch, set the gap, goop them up with anti seize and put them back. I bought regular 3924 PP's for replacement and will be taking them back since these wear so much better.
I took a couple pics of the rub through on the hose for you viewing pleasure and as a FYI CYA:
The retaining clip is in position even though it's not latched to the fan shroud. I assume as it ages that the hose expands and shifts towards the blower belt idler pulley. What I don't understand is why they routed it so close when it's a straight shot from the vertical section at the clip to the horizontal angle at the wonky plastic fitting. It clears the cross brace by a couple inches. Engineers...
Rubbed through to a pin hole. Curious stuff. The water pump looked like it was leaking and was pretty rough on the outside. The three bolts for the water pump pulley are visible at the top. Makes me wonder if the coolant wasn't just spraying up in that area?
If so, a combo of the rubbed fan control wire and leaking hose condemned the car to the PO and that's why they sold it...
Keep up the great work. It pains me when someone does not take care of such a beautiful automobile
Feeling the same way watching this thread (which has been entertaining, BTW). My emotions rise and fall with each new update, but I still want to drive up to the hills and slap the previous owner. Dayum, what a way to treat a fine automobile.
Honestly I expected worse, and may still find it. It's the curse of running something exotic as a daily driver. I'd do head gaskets on my blown Mustang annually because I'd get to aggressive with the timing and lift the heads.
Small update, burned the crud off the plugs, gooped them with anti seize and used a short length of vacuum tubing to help lower them in the bores. Good news is most went in a couple turns with just the rubber. The two middle ones on the drivers side didn't and had me concerned but they ran in fine with the ratchet.
For some dumb reason #8 valve cover is tight and I struggled the extract the coil. A couple others were more snug than need be so I sanded the edge off the plastic end of each coil on the belt sander. Coils are FoMoCo btw.
Current state is valve cover area work is done. The hose for the front has two differing diameters so I'm going to turn an adapter tube for it on the lathe. The section that cut through did indeed have a wrap to stiffen it so I guess Jaguar had troubles there in years past and the stiffening cover was the 'answer'.
More to come. One thing I need help with is the diameter of the exhaust at the tips and some detail pics of them would help a lot. I want it to look stock but perform / sound better.
OK, end of the night. With the exception of the hood lifts, the front end is back together. Powered up the car and the fan did not run away even with the P0480 code present. Reset all the codes with the laptop and the battery gave out. While waiting for the paint to dry on my chafed hose replacement pipe I removed the mufflers and started thinking about the exhaust. I'm going to try and use most of the OEM stuff with the exceptions of the cats and resonators. Going to have 200 count cats with o2 sensors front and rear, some flavor of X pipe and I'm not sure about the mufflers or active exhaust. Listening to the F-types, they sound like a chambered exhaust like a flow master, not the glass pack style that I put on the kids LS. Raspy says X pipe and chambered exhaust but I need to figure out how to get rid of any drone.
Great thread. The closest thing to automotive **** (excuse the analogy) I've seen around here in some years. I wonder if Ranchero will rent me a cot in his garage?
Is your avatar the headlight bucket of a Ranchero? The image is so small I'm having trouble figuring that out?
It's the nose of my 34k mile '68 Fairlane fastback, same as the Ranchero, just nicer looking.
Originally Posted by tarhealcracker
Great thread. The closest thing to automotive **** (excuse the analogy) I've seen around here in some years. I wonder if Ranchero will rent me a cot in his garage?
No cot needed. In the heat of summer I'll just spread some cardboard on the floor under a car and nap as needed.
OK, good news time. Powered the car up and damn near everything works. I did need to some up with 'something' for the broken fitting for the burp line to the expansion tank. After struggling to find something that would work and have some strength to turn on the lathe and insert in the broken fitting stub I ran out of good ideas and resorted to buggery as I think our British members would say. I had some 1/8" NPT fittings in the plumbing drawer and yes, if you push hard enough, the 1/8" NPT coupling will thread the stub of the plastic fitting.
Yes, it does rub pretty hard on the brace and I'm not terribly happy about it but it hold pressure and should work until I find a replacement tank. I could have painted it black but I think the brass shows a little redneck and not terrible for what it is.
Fired it up, No leaks and the fan runs normally. Took 1.25 gallons of antifreeze and 3/4 gallon of water to top it off as it ran. I filled it through the blower port (17mm Allen). Engine is hunting so I know the puter's not happy. Some codes eventually popped up but I didn't take the time to read them. Most likely still the front drivers o2 and no change between the front and back. I will say that the exhaust note is flat out nasty with gutted cats and both resonators in play.
Overall I'm really, really happy to have made this much progress. Now to order the cats, o2 sensor and get this thing back on it's feet.
It's the nose of my 34k mile '68 Fairlane fastback, same as the Ranchero, just nicer looking.
I haver a 69 Ranchero that belong to my great grandfather. Maybe one day I'll have the metal skills to bring it back to life, but it has lots of rot and not much available as replacement panels.
I look forward to reading your progress updates. You're certainly not one afraid to 'Getrdone'…. I now find that I don't have the patience anymore to pull engines, do brakes and on and on……. Kudos to you! Nice work so far and excellent detailed thread you have going on here.
Thanks, been spending my free time today (very little) looking up exhaust parts and figuring a strategy. I have some basic dimensions for the back and need to see what I can fit. I'll add more tomorrow as I flesh out the ideas. been a struggle to find something that doesn't lead me to eBay for generic stuff. Magnaflow sells cat pipes for $370-ish per side. Trying to find the specific mid sensor sample with the bent bottom end has been a challenge. I think I can fit a standard or I can lop off the OEM cat bottom and graft it to the replacement but I'd rather just buy one that's built correctly. PITA.
Last edited by Ranchero50; 03-28-2017 at 08:54 PM.
Ranchero - If you haven't already done this, I suggest you type in 200 cell cats in the search box above. You may well find the info you are looking for there. In addition not too long ago there was at least two or three threads dealing with the exhaust systems for 4.2L engines.
Thanks, I had done that but just like a Chilton's manual, they say what they did, but not how they did it. Spent a bunch of time trying to sort out what flavor catalytic converters I was going to end up with between Summit Racing's site, Magnaflows and Google's search engine. Factory are two bed cats with a mid bed sensor for the OBDii and an angled bottom. Unicorn poop. I could get the left and right side mid pipes with a new Magnaflow cat for $370 per side, not an option. Eventually ended up with a pair of these:
Three 4' lengths of straight pipe along with two o2 sensor bungs. Everything is at least 409 stainless. I'll sketch the layout later and see how close I get with the final build. I want to say $650 in materials plus I need to fab the shut off valves.
Last edited by Ranchero50; 03-29-2017 at 04:25 PM.
So, everything is here except the straight pipes so I decided to drop the car and get it out of the garage so I could sweep up since I'm going to be spending a lot of time on the floor the next couple days. That led to a shake down cruise for some fuel. Who needs tags, or mufflers? Car ran very well, no issues until I came home and was tinkering with my mufflers on the mid pipe and the 'repair' pipe on the hose let loose. First notice was the fan kicking onto high and a big cloud of dust washing over me. Looked up and saw steam coming out from under the hood. No carnage other than everything's a sticky mess up there. Damn, thought I was finished with the cooling system. Good news is it made it home before puking and it's not terminal. A freak shower came through as soon as I walked away from the car and washed some of the coolant off. Weird...
Kind of pissed at myself for not turning a proper fitting pipe out of aluminum. Kind of karma just for humility's sake.
Last edited by Ranchero50; 03-30-2017 at 08:43 PM.
Thanks, car's been on the stands the past two weeks so it looks 'funny' sitting low to the ground. It'll be going back up tomorrow after a good nights rest.
Rethinking the make and going toward buy the dang hose. If a new one lasts 120k it's $70 well spent. Going to call these folks in the AM and verify the fit.
Thanks for the ideas. I think I'm going to run the OZ wheels until I get the Jupiter's looking correct. Spent some time playing phone tag and getting bounced around the parts department of Warren Jaguar, the eBay seller, verifying the fit. Finally said 'screw it' and tried to just buy the damn thing and their account is on 'vacation' so no 'add to cart', no 'buy it now'... Arseholes
Out of shear cussedness I bought it from Parts.com for the same price, which doesn't say if they actually have it but it'll be up to 5 days AFTER they ship it out. So I'm expecting mid May and hope to be pleasantly surprised.
In other news, the Fed Ex guy dropped off my exhaust tubing, literally, this morning. Don't ring the bell, just toss it up on the concrete front porch. Oh well, it's the thought that counts. I still need to find a stainless something or other to fabricate the hanger frame so I can reuse the OEM hangers.
Then get the car up in the air, do something with the coolant so I can heat up the exhaust once the penetrating oil is on all the hardware, heat it up and take it apart hot. Oh yeah, it's raining cats and dogs too so it's going to be a fun day.
03-26-2017, 11:27 AM
