This wasn’t the plan today. I was only going to check if I had the right splined driver bit to undo the CV joints. Having no idea what sort or size it would be I thought I would try a selection. It wasn’t an Allen key, or a Torx, but it is a M8 12 spline which I just happen to have for some reason.
I needed to use my impact driver to undo the bolts as working by hand meant the drive shaft would turn. However, for the near side I needed to have two long extension bars to reach from outside the wheel hub. Worse was the offside where I needed three long extensions and a wobble drive half way along. To get better access I removed the engine mount under the engine to allow the engine to swing a little.
Once the driveshafts were disconnected I thought I’d loosen the top engine mount bolts. 19mm I think, however, one of them rounded off and I had to hammer on an 18mm socket to get it off. The others seem to be a little small for 19mm*! But once loose I thought I might as well get the crane out.
*Edit: The bolt heads are 18mm AF heads!
There was a lot of adjustment up and down to wiggle the engine out, and then I found the offside CV joint heat shield needed to be removed. I went under the side of the car, being careful not to be under the engine, and there were two 17mm bolts holding the heat shield in place. That was easy.
Then there was the air intake pipe buried behind the offside suspension. No access to it but a prod with a screwdriver meant a spring clip pinged off and the rubber hose slipped off the plastic moulding.
I was then able to ease the engine out a bit at a time, still a lot of up and down and moving plumbing hoses out of the way.
I have a lot of builder’s bulk bags from some recent jobs, and I decided to use one to wrap the oily drippy engine with.
I had a tiny pallet, made for another job, that was about the right size so the engine was bagged and placed on the pallet. Attempts to remove the engine mounts from the engine and transmission was failure, the bolts were both very tight (maybe corroded in place), and seemingly with slightly undersized heads**! I’ll make my own mounts anyway.
**Edit: These turned out to be 16mm AF heads, not 17mm.
This is the side of the engine one doesn’t normally get to see.
The engine has been a really good runner, but with occasional limp mode and power loss. I suspected this might be down to the variable vanes in the turbo being a bit sticky. An easy fix in theory, if one could get the turbo out, and back in again while working blind. That is the reason I decided to convert this car.
So now I will spend a bit of time cleaning this ex engine bay, removing the air con plumbing, and anything else not needed for the electric conversion. I will also deal with the rusty area on the front of the chassis and the removed cross member.
I returned to this the next day and decided to remove the transmission from the engine. I can then sell, or dispose of these, separately.
While the crane was out I figured I could weigh the unit to see what has come out of the car.
221kg, that is quite a hefty lump!
Hardly surprising that this happened then!
I had the idea that I would swap the pallet for a trolley but alas, not. I’ll reuse the wheels and remake the trolley as it is useful in the workshop.
