"Step 1: Remove engine and transmission." were the first instructions
Scotty intoned from the Jag repair manual. "Next remove timing chain
cover and....". My heart fell as the words sunk and the dollar signs
started flying by; my thoughts vacillating between "This can't be real"
and "Oh maaaaaannn, I'm hosed".
It had started out as just another day. Anne said she wanted to use the
Daimler that day to meet with a client down in Denver. So I ran the
kids to school in the LSTT (Large Swedish Troop Transport) and went up
to work. At noon, I get a call from Anne on a Denver Cops cell phone,
"Help, the car's died on me on I-25." Too keep a long story short, the
police took _excellent_ care of Anne: they shooed away the predatory tow
trucks ($45 to hook up, $2/mile afterwards), had one cruiser with a
raisable warning light-bar block traffic while the other pushed her to a
safe spot. Then they let her make a bunch more calls on their cell
phone to get the logistics settled with both me and her client and
finally gave her an express ride downtown in a cruiser to make her
meeting (that's what happens when you're a talky interior designer with
an easy smile, dressed up in a nice suit on a great-hair day, driving a
Jag. If it'd been me, they`d probably have given me tickets for being a
public nuisance and a hazard to navigation, then left me there on the
side of the road to fend for myself).
I rousted Scotty Paisley to assist, went home to load all my tools into
the LSTT and we drove the 30 miles to where Anne said she left the car.
Naturally the Diamler was nowhere to be seen, so dreading that it had
gotten impounded already and hoping that Anne had returned from her
meeting and got it going, I called Anne. No such luck. After getting
some revised the directions to the car, we located it and started
operating.
I expected it to be a easy repeat of the vapor lock which we've
experienced before, but as soon as the Daimler started cranking over
_real_ fast Scotty and I looked at each other and said, "This is not
good." A look thru the oil filler hole showed the overhead camshaft not
moving when cranking, "This is definitely not good." We pulled the cam
covers to see one end of a broken upper timing chain resting
comfortably in the upper camshaft pully. Game Over.
We hooked the two cars up and towed the Daimler back to the safety of
Anne's work. After dodging dead-ends, a car parked in the middle of the
road on a blind corner and a couple rope breaks, we made it. By the
time we got there, Anne had already had our friend Tom The Parts Guy
getting two new timing chains up from his warehouse. As a baseline,
Anne called the dealer and got a $600 ballpark estimate for the repair.
At this point, the best case has the do-it-yourself parts coming in
under $100. So far, so good (hummm, isn't that phrase on someones
famous last words list?).
--- exploit.net.knowledge.section -----------------------------------
Postmortem: In talking thru what had happened, we decided that the
clicking noise I had heard a couple weeks ago was one broken link on the
triple row chain. I had tensioned up the chains with the special tool,
thinking that it was just a loose timing chain adjustment. That quieted
the noise down, but then it was just a matter of time before the
overstressed remaining links at that spot went tits up.
After a quick phone call to our jag club's mechanical guru, it appears
that I'm looking at a couple scenarios (1981 4.2L Jag straight 6):
1. Best case: Simply replace the upper chain in Anne's parking lot and
drive it home. We get a chain with a master link on it, successfully
thread it in, get the timing lined back up and it's done. Requires a
couple special tools, a master linked chain, two valve cover gaskets
and an oil change.
2. Next case: The front cover needs to come off to do the job. Trailer
it up to Scotty's warm garage and start dismantling it. Pain in the
ass, but doable, additionally requiring the lower chain (since we're
in there anyway), a radiator drain/fill and other misc.unhooking,
more gaskets and more beer.
3. Worse case: Dinged valves and shrapnel in engine. I don't even want
to think about this one...
So, can any of you with experience with the Jaguar engines give me any
advice on what I`m likely to run into doing this job and which of these
scenario I'm likely to realize?
/\ Lawrence "You don't need to be in school to pay tuition" Buja
\_][ southern@ncar.ucar.edu National Center for Atmospheric Research
\_________________________Boulder,_Colorado___80307-3000__________
"Today I am going to show you how to install a gull-wing door in your car
using just some ducttape, an ax and an old garage door opener" Red Green
|