Engine Games Part 2 - The Setback
So I am preparing earlier last week for the arrival of my assistant on Friday to fit the engine and I get all the oil hoses out and ready. Fitted the two breather hoses under the rear RH wing to the oil tank, and the much trickier main hose from the oil filter housing to the top of the tank. There was a reason that my dismantling picture below shows the oil tank just removed with this hose still attached!
There is virtually no room under there to get any sort of wrench onto the gland nut. In the end an adjustable vice grip I bought years ago in France came up trumps, but for others I'd suggest fitting the two breather hoses and this main hose to the top of the oil tank BEFORE you put the tank in place. Only a minor issue this .... certainly not a setback...
Anyway then on with the lower hose that connects via one very short and one 'S' hose to the engine oil cooler.
All cleaned up with new ss hose clips. Lovely. Setback here - no sir, let's keep moving on.
So then we come to the last main hose. The long one that is combined metal pipe and rubber pressure hose. It connects the LH front side of the engine case (oil pump) via the ?-shaped metal pipe under the gearbox and round and up via the rubber hose to the other connection on the oil filter. You can see part of the metal section in the photo below under the clutch plate
So now the setbacks come thick and fast..... try to keep up at the back
1. At some point the rubber hose section must have failed and to avoid some of the other setbacks below some PO/race mech decided to just use another piece of hose with double jubilee clips and a right angled pipe fitting to bridge the gap. I had forgotten about this until I looked back in my archive, and had forgotten to order another pipe. Order another, quick...
2. In order to get at the engine casing end of the pipe you need to remove the heat exchanger. In order to remove the heat exchanger you really want it on an engine stand. In order to get in on the stand you need to fit the mount bracket. In order to fit the bracket (see photo above) you need to remove the metal oil pipe. Catch 22. Bu**er. How's that work then....? (answers on a postcard please)
3. Sod that, we'll worry about that later. The pipe is u/s so I'll just hacksaw it off for now. Off with the clutch to get more space - best if I remove the studs as well. Top long stud is unusually tight, and eventually comes out with rather more 'case' attached to the threads than I'd like to see. Excessive use of thread-locker I think. Will be ok I think, but
4. On the engine mount, on the stand, off with the heat exchanger...... to be greeted by...
... and what would that glob of yellow shite be then? Oh and over here, what's this grey snot..
.... why has this stud bolt got some silicon gloop all over it I wonder.
The yellow turd came straight off with a gentle pick to reveal
(excuse the cheap wine cork to stop detritus going deep)
You can (just) see the crack in the second crappy photo, and I suspect the punch holes are attempts to stop crack propagation before covering it with the yellow sealant, The silicone gloop was also probably just an attempt to stop an oil leak. Anyone know if there's an o ring on that stud?
Still thinking through what to do next, but I still think getting the engine running if possible to get a full worklist looks favourite. So (welcome thoughts here) plan currently is...
!. Use JB Weld to make a better job sealing the crack.
2. Ideally refit the hose and the heat exchanger on the stand if I can figure out how to do it. I am baffled why it is seemingly impossible to fit the oil pipe/hose with the engine mount in place. Is my existing hose the wrong one, has it been bent (not obvious), or what. I'm going to post a question in the main 911 section as I cannot be the first to hit this problem. Refitting the hose and the heat exchanger with the engine off the mount/stand is going to be fun (bordering on unsafe) I think.
3. Leave the case stud as it is to see how big a leak it is.
4. Put engine in and do the original testing I had planned, with all setbacks overcome!