WITW - The PF Exxon Valdez!

[MikkiJayne]

Cats, but yes

200 is probably about right for this one since its in pretty nice condition apart from the leaks and the horrid car dealer lacquer, and it has all come apart reasonably well.

I started taking it apart in the middle of last week. First job - disconnect the steering column from the rack before it goes on the lift



Once it was on the lift I moved on to removing the suspension and discovered the brake pad warning cables have been cut and bypassed



The pinch bolts and tie rods came out without a fight, which was nice



Saturday now. Engine removal, starting from underneath. I mentioned that the heat shield bolt on the driver's side was snapped off - the passenger side bolt has been gorilla'd as well and I can't get it off. The heat shield was already broken on one side so I just snapped it off. More on this mess later.





The power steering fluid is pretty grim, which is weird considering how much it was leaking. I'd put half a litre in it just moving it around the place. This will all get cleaned and replaced though.



Front panel off. Its filthy in here.



The stubborn-pulley-getter-offer tool



Ta dah!



Magnets on the fuel lines



Ohhh dear....







Ready to come out



Coming out



Out



The grottiest engine bay I've encountered so far I think





Drivetrain on the pallet truck ready for disassembly



When the gearbox was done the cam position sensor was refitted with the cable sitting on the exhaust manifold instead of behind the heat shield! How it was still running is a mystery.



I don't have mounting brackets to fit the 32V for the splitting machine so I just supported the engine with the crane and rolled the gearbox off the back of it



Home-made crank locking tool I loosened the crank pulley bolt before putting it on the stand, since these things are so tight that with the engine on the stand I can't put enough torque on it to loosen the bolt without the stand falling over!



Separated



Engine on the stand ready for stripping and cleaning

[homer simpson]

I'm guessing the break pad sensor threw up a implausible signal fault and so they by-passed it?

[strummagnet]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Magnets on the fuel lines

Is this actually 'a thing' - Never heard of it......

[MikkiJayne]

It really is. It yields magical fuel consumption and power improvements by lining up all the fuel molecules as they go in to the engine

[Adrian E]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

It really is. It yields magical fuel consumption and power improvements by lining up all the fuel molecules as they go in to the engine

Right up there in snake oil terms with my all-time favourite - the 'kettle' that injects magic steam into the inlet and somehow disposes of NOx and PM10. You had to buy the special water from the supplier too, as regular water was just not good enough My favourite bit about it was the kettle was in the boot, so by the time the magic steam reached the inlet manifold via some plastic tubing it had turned back into water

[Ronin]

So what are the plans for your fleet of 9 cars? are most of them just parts cars to feed customer car re storations?

surely keeping 9 D2's going is impossible time wise and probably financially too

[MikkiJayne]

Dolphin Grey S8 'Lilith' - the best one, never selling her
Big Red - daily driver
Barnfind FE - going to a new home when its finished
PF S8 - going to a new home asap
Murple - going back together eventually & may be a daily
T42 - 2.8 FWD, getting a 1.9TDI conversion for 1000 miles range
Avus not-FE with black & red - going back to Davey Blueyes eventually
39V Avus FE - gave it's life to save the barn find, shell getting weighed in
V7 Black FE - going back together eventually

[MikkiJayne]

Lots of rusty bits have gone off for powdercoating, including the springs which amazingly aren't broken! These have been blasted and will be recoated which will hopefully prevent cracks forming in the first place. They're then baked to make sure there is no moisture left in them before the zinc-rich powder primer is applied.



The powder oven is at 200C by the way - well below the annealing temperature of spring steel so it won't have any effect on the springiness of them

[steamship]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Dolphin Grey S8 'Lilith' - the best one, never selling her

So which mythic Lilith is it named after?

[Ameiseuk]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

When the gearbox was done the cam position sensor was refitted with the cable sitting on the exhaust manifold instead of behind the heat shield! How it was still running is a mystery.

Surprised there wasn't a bottle of the attached in the glove box with the car