Most liked posts in thread: Getting the Jag Fired up Again!

Good news!

Tonight in an unexpected fit of energy, I rolled the Jag out of the garage and gave it a good soapy bath......

Once that was done I was sort of at the point of no return, since with a stuck clutch I couldn't drive it back into the garage, and I sure as heck couldn't push it (even tho it actually weighs less than a MINI Cooper S!) so I let it roll back into the street, stuck it in first gear, pulled the choke on and cranked it over. It started easily and I was rolling. I accellerated in first gear, while holding the clutch pedal in and let off the gas. The clutch released with a bang, and worked smooth as could be from there on!

Except.............

As I drove up the hill I let off for the corner and there's this horrible noise from the diff! Now I know what the bang was, something in the diff broke....
I drove the rest of the way around the block and anytime I let off the gas even a little I got this nasty howl from the back. So, it's back safely in the garage again, now "all" I have to do is pull the entire rear end assy out of the car, and remove the pumpkin. I was thinking about changing the ratio anyway - US Jags had a relatively short diff of 3:54 which results in 3K RPM at 70 mph, European cars came with a 3:07 for the higher road speeds they had even then and since it's basically a Dana 44 I can get parts for it. Probably about $500 and that much in labor....oh well. It's always sumthin with these old cars, isn't it?

Puts paid to the new wheels tho.....

 

Today.....:smile5:

 

Tonight when I got home I decided to check out the exhaust pipe, so I grabbed my big flashlight, got down on one knee and peered into the right pipe.....

Son of a gun!

The right pipe is completely packed full of some kind of nesting material, it doesn't look like a mouse has been in there - there's no turds or urine stains, and the car is always in the garage so I doubt it's the work of a bird, which leave chipmunks or groundsquirrels. But how the heck did it get in there? The pipe's more than a foot off the ground!

I guess I'll get a coathanger and see if I can pull it out, then see if it runs correctly.

Wouldn't it be something if that's all that was bothering it?

Well, guess what?

This is what came out of the resonator, it was packed clear thru to the tailpipe!

This time when I fired it off, it revved like always, and ran sweet!

One step closed to being on the road again!

This is what came out of the resonator...



The resonator.....



Even the tail pipe was full.....

 

Well, we wrestled that bad boy out. The differential is mounted to a large sheet metal carrier that has the springs, shocks, lower control arms and so on all attached to it, the brakes are inboard and mounted on the differential sides. It's a fairly major job to get it out of the carrier as all the other parts have to come out first.

This afternoon Davester, BlueGoose, and Boxer came over and we got the car up on stands and started unhooking the appropriate parts. A couple fought us a bit, but mostly it was a straightforward job. A little later Dimini showed up in the P'up, IowaM1n1 cruised in and Minicharged came by to drop off the club's pulley and tensioner tools.

By that time we were pretty much there, all we needed to do was lower the carrier assembly out of the car, which we did on my floor jack. There's still quite a bit of disassembly to do to get the third member out of the carrier and I'll do that over the next couple of days while I order parts and figure out who I'm going to use on the rebuild. I've decided to go ahead and change the ratio while it's out - the parts are standard Dana 44 - so the car will be less rev happy on the highway. Should make for a bit more comfortable cruising, and maybe an improvement to the 15 mpg fuel mileage. If anyone knows a top notch driveline shop, I'm open to suggestions....

Here's a pic of the diff and carrier assy and my poor Jag....the red rags are there to cover the splines that the wheels ride on, otherwise you will get grease all over you! Ask me how I know......no, don't....



After we finished that we jumped in our cars and headed over to BRGR in Corinth for a late lunch where a good meal and a good time was had by all! Thnaks to Boxer, Frank and Davester as well as all the other club members for coming by and helping, even if only to hang out and kibbitz. Glad to have the company!

 

Tonight I went ahead and blew the carrier apart, it's a lot of fiddly bits and pieces, probably far more complicated than it needs to be. Both the inner and outer control arms ride on needle bearings, for instance. Most cars would just have a bronze bushing in there and call it good. All those clearances are set with shims too. These were built in the days when labor was cheap and parts were expensive - now both are!

Finally I got the lump out, now I need to figure out who's going to replace the gearset for me.....unless I just go ahead and do it myself.

 

I've decided to go ahead and tear down the center section and see what's broken, a couple of rebuilder's I've talked to think it may be a bad bearing rather than a broken pinion spacer like I thought. Either way I'm still going to change the ratio, new gearsets are only about $250 and since it's already down it'll be worth the extra cost.

I will need to go buy a dial indicator and magnetic base to do the setup, I borrowed one the last time, but that was when I was in Sandy Eggo, time I had my own.....

 

Mine's actually been very reliable, as long as I don't leave it sit for years at a time.....same thing with my Classic Mini and all the other British cars I've owned over the years. FWIW.....

Even after all these years, with fresh gas and plugs it started right up, and as soon as I cleaned the packing out of the muffler, it ran well too!

 

I know I've posted this before, but for any new viewers out there in M/A land who'd like to waste 5 min, here's the saga in all it's ......well, rust....

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/505677/1969-jaguar-xke

 

Which one?

The one in the Cardomain article was my house in Sandy Eggo.

The one here in this thread is my garage in KC, I do not work on cars for a living, but I used too in a previous life....

 

Well........

I took the gearset out of the diff today, ring gear looks fine, wear pattern is correct, bearings are fine, backlash is good - most of the time, explanation in a moment.....

Then I took a look at the pinion, hmmmm nothing appears to be wrong, yet there's 1/4" of motion in and out - and there's supposed to be preload. Took the locknut off, took out the seal, tapped the pinion shaft out........crush sleeve looks................normal.?!!?!?! Shims are in place, bearing is fine, crush sleeve is fine........what the heck is going on here? Where is the play coming from?

At this point I can only guess that as I was assembling it all those years and miles ago something got trapped in the wrong place, and the sudden load of me getting the clutch plate unfrozen from the flywheel broke it loose to where there's now play that's not supposed to be there. It's just a guess at this point, but I don't have any other explanations.

I've wanted to change the diff ratio almost since I put it together all those years ago, so now's the time I guess. Pics in a bit.....

Here we go, looks fine to the casual eye....

 

I took the center section over to a local guy to get the new R&P installed as soon as the parts get in, I also found a companion flange that will fit the new pinion shaft and the old driveshaft - on Ebay no less! $48.00....Yay!

I also also figured out what went wrong - and it was my fault just as I thought. Years ago I overhauled the diff with new bearings and seals and when I put it together I pressed the forward pinion bearing onto the shaft in the correct place and set the backlash - all was fine. What I didn't do was seat the companion flange all the way on the pinion shaft - there was about a 1/4" gap between it and the bearing. It ran fine all these years and miles, but when I popped the clutch to break it loose, it was enough to dislodge the pinion bearing and move it back that 1/4" to the companion flange. When I drove it, on accelleration the pinion gear would be drawn into the ring gear and all was fine, when I'd let off the pinion would move back out of the ring and that's where all the noise was coming from. The gears aren't hurt or worn, but it sure was noisey! Since I have a new pinion and companion flange, the problem will sort itself out once it's reassembled correctly.....

I'm hoping to have it back in time to put it back in the car next weekend, just in time to get about a weeks worth of driving in before it gets too hot and humid here!

Stay tuned!

 

Progress.......of a sort.

Had to order some special shims for the backlash adjustment, found them easily at the place I bought most of the rustoration parts at when I lived in SAndy Eggo ($9.15 each and I need 4 in two different sizes!) - but since my supplier is in Ca too, that meant 4 days to get them here. Couple that with his work schedule and we're talking another week's delay.

Then, just when he calls and says he's got it ready to go, I find out the companion flange I bought - while it fits in every way - is 1/2" longer than the original, and might not fit in the car. So, back onto the interwebs where I found the right one for only $75, but since it's coming from the other coast - add 3 more days, and his work schedule, etc, etc, etc.

However, if the part comes in tomorrow like UPS says it will he'll button it up tomorrow night and I'll have this whole 4 day weekend to work on getting it back in the car....