Hello
Does anyone have any advice on how to remove the rear nuts on the rear exhaust manifold on my 3.8? So far I have only been able to get a good grip on the nut with a shorty open end wrench which offers little to no leverage. I already took off the heater box and pipes to try to get more room but didn't help much.

thanks, Mark

 

not easy but the nuts were not born there, so they can be removed. It's the same with any other Jaguar engine, regardless of car model.

you need patience, contortions, a mirror, and several wrenches, 1/2" or 13mm, whichever grabs better at the point where the nut hex is, even a small adjustable wrench helps.

another approach is from below the engine, with a flashlight and an open end wrench that ratches, the Craftsman one sold at Sears.

removing the front manifold first, opens up the area too.

 

Typical British engineering though, or the lack there of.
I'm sure Jaguar mounted the manifolds while the engine was outside the car.

 

They did indeed !

 

About to replace mine too. Thanks for the heads up. From memory, they were also a bitch to get off.

 

Thanks for the replies, that explains a lot, them being installed when engine was outside.

 

I have a 340 left hand drive, so I think my rear manifold was slightly more accessible, but not much. The pipe is more forward to clear the steering box and linkage.
I used a 12 point 1/2 inch box end wrench.
It wouldn't fit over some of the nuts because the thickness of the wrench was coming in contact with the casting, so I just ground it down.
It was an older Sears craftsman, so the quality was better and grinding it thinner didn't weaken it to to point where it would break.

I laid a bunch blankets over the engine to enable me to get my body far enough in there.
From there I could get my arm down far enough to get at the middle and back nuts.
In cases like these I always make sure the threads are clean and well lubricated with copper ant-seize so I can put them on easily by hand.
I remember my wrist getting quite sore, one agonizing quarter turn after another when I took them off.