G'day Gents!

I'm preparing the removal of my tranny to get it sorted and just wanted to check, if I am missing anything and also have a couple of questions regarding a few "details". I know there are loads of threads and have used the search, but haven't found the answers I was looking for.

Questions:
1. is it cleverest to remove the cats from the manifolds and let the exhaust hang down or remove the exhaust and leave the cats on?
1.1. if the cats are removed, I assume at least one of the 4 studs each side would snap of. I can't find them on jaguarclassicparts.com... Are they available on their own?

2. the torque convertor is attached by 3 screws. What is the best place to access these? Best via the little rubber cap around/next to the crank sensor (where you also lock the crank for the timing chain job) or through the starter motor opeing?

3. will the engine lean back against the bulk head or lean forwards? As my car isn't here at the moment, I can't check how far back the engine mounting arms were from the middle...

Steps I had in my head:
1. Remove exhaust
2. Drain ATF
3. Undo oil cooler hoses/pipes
4. Undo torque convertor (method via above)
5. Undo wires to the rear
6. Undo shift linkage (I assume leave the tranny in P is the best idea or N?)
7. Undo tranny mounting rubber bracket thingey
8. Using a tranny cradle, undo the support bracket and remove that
9. Undo prop shaft bolts on rear of tranny
10. Lower the tranny down
11. With access to all the bolts, undo all 16 bolts
12. Carfully remove tranny
13. Undo upper wiring harness bracket
14. Unplug upper plug

Is there anything I've missed or overseen?

Cheers!

Damien

 

1, remove the exhaust completely to the 1st connection past the transmission. The cats need to be removed too.
1.1. Yes you will proably break a stud on the cats. I don't know availability where you are but here in CA I went to the dealer to get replacement studs and was told they were not sold by themselves that I had to buy the entire exhaut. They did have the nuts. I did find replacements at a Autozone, you may not have them there. Whrn I go to my shop in a few hours I'll get the maler and part# of the ones I have and then you can do a search to find them.
2. Yes that spot next to the crank sensor is where you remove the TC 3 boltts.

This is my gemeral proceedure.
1, SPRAY ALL BOLTS CONNECTED EXHAUST WITH PB BLASTER OR SIMILAR.
2. Leave the transmission in neutral. You will need to rotate the drive line to remove the nuts, the bolts will femain in place.
3. DISCONNECT THE BATTERY.
4.Remove air duct from air box to the throttle body.
5. Remove the coolant reservoir. Be careful not to damage the sensor or its plug.
6. This is an option but I find it easier to get to everything with the throttle body removed. On an XK8 there is little to no room, but you can get to the bellhousing bolts under the throttle body and to disconnect the O2 sensors.
7. Remove the three 8mm bolts on top of right side cat, you are in Europe so it might be reversed or different, that hold the heat shield.
8. Remove the exhaust nuts at the cats.
9. Unplug the O2 sensors.
10. Remove the exhaust. When you remove the cats there are zip ties connecting the O2 sensor wires to cooler lines.
11. Disconnect the shift cable.
12. Disconnect the wiring harness
13. Disconnect the netural switch. It has 2 clamps holding its wire on the transmission.
14. Drain the transmission fluid.
15. Remove the driveline.
16. Remove the 3 torque converter bolts.
17. Remove all the bellhousing bolts. I leave 2 lower bolts in until the transmission jack is in place.
18. Remove the bracket that the O2 sensors were plugged into. There are 2 10mm bolts.
19. Remove the cooler lines. I zip tie a baggie on the end of them to keep them clean and prevent dripping.
20. Remove the transmission mount bolt and remove transmission mount bracket.
21. Remove the last 2 bellhousing bolts and slowly remove the transmission checking that it is free of and clear.

I find it easier to work on the transmission is by standing it on its end. I put it in a garbage can and brace it so it won't move.
I recently did this on an XK8 where I took tons of pictures and was going to make a thread on the process, but haven't had time to do it yet. The XK8 and the XJ8 have more similarities than differences.
Hope this helps. I may of forgotten something, I'm trying to do by memory.

Good luck, Bob

 

I am trying to remember what I did, since it has been several years ago. I believe I removed the bolts through the bell housing access. I do not recall removing the cats to remove the trans, and yes you will most like break studs if you do. I believe the studs I sourced from my local jag dealer, they are a bit proud of them, but they had them readily available. I do seem to recall removing the starter motor anyway. I believe the engine is actually fairly balanced, I believe I used a strap under it to keep it from rocking on the mounts. The rest of your removal process looks good, you are best to remove all of the exhaust to the back to get it out of your way. Make sure you mark your prop shaft so that it goes back on the same way it came off, then you will hopefully not have any balance issues. A definite word of caution for putting the trans back in, you must take special care that the trans oil pump gear lines up when mating to the engine. If the transmission will not seat fully against the engine easily you will need to pull it back and move the gear so that it lines up properly. I did not do this and pulled the transmission to the engine with the bolts, thereby shearing the ears off the oil pump gear. I had to pull the whole transmission back out again to replace the $30 part. Good luck to you. I know that I have lots of pictures, I will try to dig them up and post a few.

 

I just take the exhaust pipes from the cats back to the mufflers off. The pipes/mufflers can be pried forward to slip off the pipes that go through the rear suspension.

Then the cats can be removed.

The bolts for the torque converter can be accessed through the rubber plug near the CKPS. You can put a socket in the hole and use the bell housing to wedge against the side of the socket to keep the engine from tuning while loosening the bolts.

The engine will tend to rock forward with the gearbox removed so I use a block of wood between the frame and oil pan to help keep it down in the back while the gearbox is being removed. This helps with re-installation. Don't forget to remove the wood when the trans is installed!!!!!!

bob

 

I was just looking and here is my thread when I took my trans apart.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...n-61537/page2/

Hope this helps. The folks at Erickson were very helpful, they helped me diagnose the fact that I broke the oil pump gear. The reubiuld kit I purchased from them also came in a box with a complete exploded view of the trans that is very helpful.
And you definitely want to keep Bob (motorcarman) in the loop. You can see that he helped me tremendously throughout my rebuilding process.

Thanks again Bob!

 

Be aware it's an exceedingly heavy unit, I'm hoping you'll have someone working with you on the project or specialist lifting equipment. We were carrying my old car's unit across the workshop when I tripped and the unit ended up falling on my leg, I've got a dent where it hit me.
I'll never be doing one again, my bad back won't allow me to. Just make sure you get the fluid levels correct, and be prepared to top up after a short running in period.

 

Cheers guys!

@Stu

I've got a hydraulic transmission cradle in the workshop, so no problem there

 

I second on the PB blaster. I did my tranny last month used plenty of PBB sisnt nreal any studs odd. Soaked it each day for two days prior. All came off with no issues. Seems like the engine was fairly balanced. As motorcarman said take off exhaust from cats to after center muffler. The key is prep. PB blaster is your friend....

 

So did we, but it's still bloody heavy when you're lifting it off the cradle onto a bench or the floor! Just be careful is all I'm saying.

The XJR gearboxes are half the weight of an XJ8 box, it's a real shame they didn't use the MB box on both vehicles.

 

Ah, cheers for the tip Stu!


My back isn't the best either, so I will be looking into an easy way of moving it... Somehow!

 

I bolted a bracket on the bellhousing and use an engine hoist to pick up the transmission and put it on its end into a garbage can. You'll find it easier to get the clutches aligned this way.

 

Well, as said, I'll be tackling the job in a workshop myself under "supervision" to make sure it isn't worse than I think and so that, in case I miss something, that they see it.