So i've pulled the head off of the motor (will update with pictures later to help others doing the same) and that bit of smoke on startup was way worse than expected. The valves were caked with carbon, to the point where you couldn't even see the original surface of the valves.

Anyways, does anyone have any advice on a good spring compressor to use? I went to two autoparts stores and go figure they don't have the kind that would work for the Jaguar.

 

Hi jaguarguy13,

Back in the '90s when I had to do the head gasket on our '88, I bought a spring compressor at Sears with the ability to reach around the head, but it requires that you make an adapter from a short piece of pipe (this tip came from some of the guys at the Jag-Lovers forum). The photos at the link below show my compressor and the adapter I made from a cast iron pipe nipple (see photo 2 for a closeup of the adapter):

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


Cheers,

Don