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XJS Enthusiasts' Club Established 2005 |
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Tales from the Cobblers Workshop. By club member: Kelsham Hanna As I drove home from Southampton a distance of 180 miles I could hear the noise level from my V 12 cabriolet increasing. I actually stopped and lay on the ground listening for the obvious sound of an exhaust blowing, but couldn’t identify its location. The next day I raised the rear end on axle stands and with the engine running ran my hand along the pipes and boxes. Curiously I still couldn’t locate a leak.
At this point Big Al who lives down
the lane arrived. He has an uncanny a ‘Looks like a new intermediate pipe needed and once one side has gone the other wont be far behind’. Big Al said with satisfaction.
‘Mmm’ I said looki Fortunately Big Al had a prior appointment and left me to my own devices. I started by taking all the fixing nuts and bolts and wire brushing them thoroughly, then applied copaslip grease and ran the nuts up and down the threads a few times until I could move them with my fingers, this makes future re assembly easier.
Having done this I was forced to look
at the intermediate pipe. It is an interesting part as it Eventually I pulled out the MIG welder which from Yvonne’s view point bears sole responsibility for the slow production of dry clothing, and plugged it into the mains. It requires 20 amps as a supply voltage. Having turned on the gas, I soon welded the holes up and was surprised at how easy it was.
I then returned to the intermediate pipe and with the angle grinder removed the surplus weld from the surface with an angle grinder. During this heroic work I had somehow managed to cut the end of my index finger, right hand of course. I felt sufficient progress had been made and went indoors to apply first aid and liquid refreshment. Next morning, finger well bandaged, I laid all the pipes out on the ground. Then I thoroughly cleaned all the mating surfaces, checking that the intermediate pipe and the first silencer slid together freely. Once I was satisfied I applied exhaust paste to the joints and bolted the intermediate pipe into place, resting the unsupported end on a small jack to maintain the correct height. As I was working on the nearside it is fairly critical to get the pipe correctly positioned because it has a depression at the front to clear the oil filter. Also consider at this point the best position to place the two clamping flanges, for ease of filter removal, and secondly access to the bolts. Because I am lazy I had to reach under the car and it was tight with only the rear raised. I couldn’t be bothered to lift the front. So I struggled.
I lay under the car congratulating myself as I pulled the silencer back and forward and up and down. No thumping good result. As I lay looking up, I idly pulled on the offside pipes LOUD THUMP. ‘Doesn’t sound good’ said a voice from above, Big Al had mysteriously materialised. ‘Soon fix it’ I said cursing under my breath, which is difficult to do when gritting ones teeth.
Well partly true I soon had the first
silencer and intermediate pipe off and on the floor. It was necessary to
remove them because the cause of the thump was the silencer hitting the
special bracing frame that is fitted to cabriolets to stiffen them up.
This goes under the axle assembly and generally impedes access. With the
pipe and silencer dismantled it became obvious that I had a further
problem, or as they say in
management speak, a new area of concern. Big Al was positively animated’, well you wont weld that’ he said gleefully. ‘Its much worse than the other pipe, I told you once one goes the other is never far behind’. He spoke the truth this pipe was even worse than the one I had just welded. Surprisingly it hadn’t leaked until dismantled, I’ll break the news to Yvonne’ and he was gone. I hoped she would kill the messenger. I followed his example; I jumped into the rover and made my escape to town after taking some quick measurements. The chap in the motor factors was most helpful. He provided a small conversion piece that hopefully would overcome the problem. I returned triumphant. Big Al had gone so I couldn’t share my delight. I celebrated by carefully cutting of the end of the pipe and sliding the conversion piece over it after thoroughly cleaning off all rust, with the trusty angle grinder. I turned up the power on the welder and ran a bead round it. Once it had cooled down I soon had the system refitted. Success one silent XJS. Not to mention Big AL and Yvonne. For those who would like to repair intermediate pipes using the sleeve that I purchased it has the following information printed on it. Bosal reducing bush No.264 757. If this make is not available you require a reducer with an ID58mm reducing to OD54mm. The sleeve slides over the double section of pipe after you cut off a small section of pipe at the end. It is important that the pipe finishes up the same length as before cut, when the sleeve is fitted.
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Copyright@2005, XEC |
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bility to
appear when I’m having problems. He stood watching for a while before
offering advice. ‘I’ll block the tail pipe while you look’. Once he did
this, the source of the leak was immediately apparent; it came from the
intermediate pipe where it joins to the first silencer.
Big Al regarded his intervention as such a success that it required a
tea break, and left me to cadge tea off Yvonne. I lay under the car and
struggled with wire brushes, penetrating oil, and seized nuts and bolts.
By the time he rejoined me I had removed the intermediate pipe and
released the first silencer. We
both stood and regarded the offending parts critically. 
ng
at the pipe. Yvonne arrived to collect the cups. Big Al happily
explained the situation emphasising the cost of Jaguar parts. He drives
a Ford Fiesta for reasons of economy. He claims he’s saving the
environment. Yvonne surprised me with her response ‘Oh no it wont cost
much at all, we have the new Welder thing don’t we, after all that’s why
you bought it isn’t it, to save money on repairs? Yes I said more
confidently than I felt, I’ll weld it. Big Al snorted in derision. ‘Its
rusty you’ll be lucky’. ‘Oh don’t worry he will fix, it, after all he
spent some of the money on the welder I had saved for a new tumble
drier’. Yvonne sounded suspiciously like Alan Sugar.
has a smaller diameter piece of pipe forced into the larger main pipe;
this smaller section is where the problem was. The pipe was creased and
had holes blown through it. See the pictures. I used an angle grinder
and cleaned up the area of damage. I then placed the pipe over a spare
scaffold pipe I had laying round the garage and straightened out the
crease with a hammer.
For some time I had been experiencing a thud from the rear as I went
over bumpy ground and had attributed it to the silencer pipe where it
goes over the axle hitting the calliper body. I therefore took some time
aligning the silencer assembly and even went as far as removing the rear
box and pipe that goes through the diff cage. I have had problems in the
past with the pipe hitting the brake calliper and being rubbed by the
universal joint protective cover. It had looked very close when I
dismantled it. I therefore bent the spring hanger pin slightly while it
was on the floor in an attempt to lift this awkward pipe away from the
calliper. As an aside it is impossible on the Dana diff equipped cars,
to remove this pipe until the universal joint cover is removed. 1
jubilee, clip plus 4 pop rivets I removed it and painted it. How do you
tell a Dana diff, no drain plug in the bottom unlike the alternative
Salisbury diff which has a drain.
With
this pipe nipped up I then reassembled the rest of the system it is
necessary to twist and tighten the parts progressively checking that
they clear the brake calliper, universal joint cover, and body at all
points. Once I was satisfied I retightened all the nuts and bolts. The
only problem I had was snapping the bolt in the rather unusual clip that
clamps the silencer box to the intermediate pipe. Eventually found a
substitute in the odds and ends box.
