Very, Very Cool.....I've had many English cars, including an XKE roadster....One question.Did they get the electrics sorted on this thing?

Little or no problems with the electrics in the 26 years I've lived in SoCal, plenty of electrical problems when I lived in the rainy north east (Boston) before that.

Brings back a lot of memories...we never owned a DB4, but I learned to work on cars with my Dad on old Series II, XKE's and Lotus, which is probably why I prefer German cars!

I wish you all the best...I especially like the fact that you know the history of your car. That is priceless.

I took the crankshaft to be hard chromed a month ago. It now turns out his grinder guy has gone to Mexico for the holidays. I planned on putting it together next week when I'm off the entire week. Now, I may not get it before I travel the second and third week of January for business. I may not even be able to start assemblying until late January. I'm bummed.

Take it somewhere else. There's more than one way to grind a chromed crankshaft journal:D

The guys got the crank so I'm going to let him have it until the end. Besides, its 50 miles each way to his place in LA traffic. I want one point of contact on any issues. Anyway since I'm off all of next week, I decided to tackle the trannie cause its been giving me problems shifting into first. I think the synchro is bad. I was going to wait until I was done with the engine (one project at a time) but with the week off, I've delved into it. A David Brown straight cut gear trans. Took it this far apart in about an hour. Gear teeth seem OK and no real signs of gross wear. I have a few "used" synchros lying around, new ones are NLA. Not a pcar topic, but no one on the AMOC website seems to care.


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We care.....we're listening......

hugh i'm always watching for updates on this thread :)

and thanks for the test pipe (there's some 911 content :D)

Me too on the caring list.....keep the updates coming.

What do you do to re-gasket that tranny? Surely the seals are NLA. Do you make them?

Hugh, were in s. Cal are you?

Darn the English make some beautiful cars.

Would you be interested in some Cali pelicanheads dropping by to commiserate and view the carnage?

Daepp, no gaskets, only Permatex No. 2, kind of tricky but if done right, it doesn't leak. Thankfully the front and rear seals are a standard size. Also, the big caged front and rear bearings are a standard industrial size, new ones cost me $12 each!

Scott, I'm in Santa Clarita. it might be more interesting when I get the block and crankshaft back in a couple of weeks. The trouble is I'm going to New Zealand for work the 2nd and 3rd week of January, so I realistically won't be putting the engine together for another month. That's what frosts me, I planned on putting it together next week when I'm off, but the rechromer is taking 5 weeks, not the 2 or 3 he originally stated.

If you off next week and having nothing better to do, drop me a PM, I'm here all week. I'll buy the beer and put some dogs and burgers on the grill.

I see only one straight cut gear on that cluster, is that how it got it's name?

In fact, that gear doesn't look like anything other than a reverse drive gear.

That one straight across cut gear you see is the sliding clutch for 1st and 2nd. I'm not sure but I think they're called straight cut because the teeth go straight across without a curve in the cut, not sure actually. Anyway, I put it back together today, installed used, (but servicable) synchros, new are NLA. I decided to make some paper gaskets, even though it doesn't call for them for the front and rear ends of the case. Put in new seals and caged front and rear bearings as well. With a tube of Permatex No. 2 and two quarts of 20W/40 (that's all it holds). I'm in, and out of it, for $44.67, not too bad. It shifts better on the bench, we'll see how it does when I get it attached to the motor in a month or so. 488 on the top of the case is the serial no. of the trannie. My body serial number is 438, but its the "matching number " factory trannie to the car. They made spare trannies, obviously.

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I finally got the crankshaft back from the hard chromer and had some great news. I'd been advised to have it chromed 0.001" LARGER than standard to get the right bearing clearances. My concern was two different shops, two sets of hands and two sets of measuring devices. I put the crank in with the main bearings and torqued the caps down and according to the Plastigauge, I have 0.00125 to 0.00150" clearance which is exactly where I want to be. I figured it was better to over chrome than under chrome the crank because if it was too fat, I could have had it super polished 1/2 thou. if needed, versus hard chroming an additional 1/2 thou. which you can't do. I'll post pics over the next few days of the assembly.

Great news, good luck on the assembly!

Hugh,

You can easily make gaskets. If you do not know how, pls email or PM me and can outline how the old timers did it. I would not use only permatex on the gearbox but thats me.

Regarding the electrics. I swapped out the Lucas alternator in my Jag years ago with a Chrysler unit and 90% of the electrical issues went away. After that putting brand new fuses (not just cleaning the old ones) fixed most of the rest of the issues.

Joe A

Hey Joe:

I ended up making gaskets for the front and rear and adjusted the end play shims accordingly to account for the thickness of the gasket material. Filled it with oil and let it sit on newspaper for two weeks and not a single drip. Shifts well to boot.

Thanks for keeping the updates coming, Hugh. Tearing into a tranny because you're waiting on motor parts...I salute you, sir!

nicely done. do those whine like my mga tranny did. loved that sound

Love this thread. We need more rare care DIYers here in OT...

Ready to check the main bearing clearances with Plastigauge.
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I got 0.00125" to 0.00150" on the main clearances, took a pic of each one for documentation. Will do the same with the rod bearings.

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Used moly assembly lube and torgue to 85-90 ft.-lbs.

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Slightly out of order, but wanted a pic of the crank before putting on the caps.

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Hugh:

What kind of oil will you use? There's been a lot of talk about the reduction of additives, and what the new oils can do for older engines. Apparently a lot of MG owners were specifically cited having problems with failures after rebuilds. It would seem that Redline Synthetics, and maybe a couple of others still brew to the old standards which offer better wear resistance.

I can send you an article that was on our local PCA forum if you want to PM me your e-mail.

Hugh,

You are bringing back memories here...

Joe

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My project last year, another Brit 6 cylinder engine!

Ed

I've been reading the same thing. Apparently with flat cam lobes such as mine, its a problem. I've been told to go with a 15-40 diesel oil such as Valvoline or Mobil.

Stevepaa, yeah it whines somewhat, most notably in reverse.

Joe, nice Jag! is that your garage? Looks huge.

Hugh,

Was very lucky for 2 years. My old boss had a building that he used only half of. The front was offices and back an old Taxi company, which was empty. It sat empty for over a year until I finally talked him into letting me rent it. $200 a month for 150 x 100 feet enclosed with full heat and lighting, air and so on. Put every one of my cars in there and started to work.

Unfortunately 15 months ago he retired and sold everything, so I had two months notice to move everything out. Really threw a wrench in my plans as that also meant that we lost our jobs.

Life can be a ***** at times but you move on. The Jag is the one on my signature line and purchased new by my Father in 1969. It will stay in the family. May have it running this weekend and driving again by next week.

Well, I'm not the genius that I don't appear to be (or something like that). After torquing everything down, I can't turn the crank at all. Loosened up all the mains and now it turns without disturbing the caps. I'll have to tighten them one at a time and recheck the clearances. With a 3 foot long crank and block and both 45+ years old and 1.25 to 1.50 thousandths of clearance something ain't right. I'll report back later.

Better that you checked now than by using the starter motor. Good call and good luck. BTDT.

Did you replace the rear main seal? Is it the rope type? Could it be too tight?

Could be the thrust clearances. Another stupid question is is you remembered to remove asll the platigage. Hey I've been hittin' the wine again:D

Hey Joe:

Yeah, the asbestos rope and permatex stuff on the front and rear seals, what a mess. You just have to mix it up and jam it in there. Anyway, its the center No. 4 bearing that is binding. I thightened the front and rear and it turned 360 degrees and smooth did the same with the 2,6-3,5 combination and they're good. It binds on the center at 30 ft.-lbs of torque. Its not the thrust bearings they're way clear of the journal.

Lendaddy:

Yeah, I cleaned out the plastiquage.

In looking at it, its one of my tightest clearances, 0.001" Question, should I pull the crank and hone out the bearing , or progressively tighten and turn the crank, with the moly lube, I might be turning for a while. When I turn it over by hand, the moly lube wiping is smooth as looked at from the bottom of the journal. Wait a minute, let me take a pic. Here it is.

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I think I'll try moving some bearings around. My No. 1 journal had 1.5 clearance while the No. 4 had 1.0 thousands. I'll see what that gets me. Same size bearings.

Hugh,

Have you put a mic on the crank journals and bearings? Would pull the crank and mic it, then put the crank main caps on and torque them down and measure their sizes, at least on #4.

Something is not right here. Bearings do not need to be "honed" (unless one of them is not the correct size, you just plop them in) and should not be "adjusted" at all.

You do not want to overheat a main journal/bearing with this so hope you find the problem.

I'd think that the tolerances of the bearings would be quite tight, and that unless they had a QC issue, swapping bearings from one journal to another shouldn't make a difference. As Joe mentioned, it's probably best to mic the crank, and verify that the one journal is oversize. The "good new" here is that if it is, it could probably be polished down to size?

hard chrome can make a .020 journal standard size again??

oops, guess i should have read the 2nd page!

I think I'm good! I swapped a couple of bearing shell halves that had slightly more clearance (1.5 versus 1.0 thou.) and torqued it up and can now turn the crankshaft. Next, I'll be stuffing pistons into cylinders.

Not sure I feel comfortable with this but you know your engine better than any of us. Swapping bearing shells should not have made any difference...

British trash doesn't have the tolerances they used to have, especially with 45 year old dies, IMHO. All I know is that I have 1.25 to 1.50 thou. clearances and it turns freely, no grabbing, no loose spots, same pressure to turn it 360 degrees.
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That really is lovely

Had some oil pump bushing (new) issues due to binding when I torqued it up. Something to do with three bushings in a plane honed them out some more and got it to spin freely.
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The head is on, and now I've gotta torque it and attach the timing chains. Plus clean off some of the Permatex 2B that squeezed out. I might not get to the mechanical timing for a few days. I won't be stuffing it back in the car for a few weeks, as I gotta travel for business the next two weeks.

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Looking good there Hugh. I wish you were in my neighborhood, I could at least make sure the "assembly lube" in the green bottles was plentiful and cold.