I am removing a bad BW 66 from my '85 XJ-6. The instructions I have are very sparse. Does anyone have a good source for step-by-step procedures? Thank you.

 

Mmmmm, you are NEW, so welcome to our side, fun is about to begin me thinks.

It has been a loooooong time since I did one, and I dont remember them being particularly special.

Some items worth a little care are, and in NO particular order.

The "kickdown cable" at the throttle bellcrank is fiddly to remove and more so to refit.

The dipstick tube will foul, so I remove it totally, and plug the hole with a rag to stop the incesant drips of red fluid.

The cooler pipes will tangle on all and sundry so be carefull with them as they damage easily.

The rear trans mount is also fiddly and that spring packs a PUNCH.

The many bolts around the bell housing are usually TIGHT, and 2 hold the starter motor in place.

I generally remove the bolts of the torque convertor to the drive plate, and push the convertor back into the transmission, so the unit comes out complete.

Supporting the rear of the engine is essential, and I use a steel bar across the guard channel and a screw bolt with chain so the engine can be lowered when needed. Others use a jack on the sump, your car, your choice, BUT, if it falls off that jack, damage will occur. Usually the heater tap, and the plastic fan come to mind.

 

Like Grant, it was a long time ago !

In my case I extracted and refitted the whole shebang, engine and gearbox. However, one thing I do remember is that there is a hole at the end of the rod on the rear mount which passes through the rubber bush to allow you to fit a large split pin or something whilst the weight is on the spring. You then remove gearbox AND rear mount in one go, having previously installed an engine bridge to hold the engine up. I made mine from some Dexion, and a sling, but there was an official Jaguar support, and is pictured in some manuals. It fitted into the drain channels on each side of the engine bay.

 

When I was looking at replacement transmissions, I ran across a shop that offered to ship me one without the bellhousing attached (to save shipping costs.) That got me thinking...if the BW 66 has a removeable bellhousing, is it possible to remove the transmission from the car by breaking it at the bellhousing? If so, it seems at the very least I would be dealing with a less cumbersome load on the lift.

Any opinions? Thanks.

 

If you do it this way, I would expect the engine will have to be dropped at the rear sufficiently to allow the gearbox to move rearwards so its shaft can slide off the torque converter. The car body will likely get in the way otherwise. Not saying it can't be done, and I'm sure there will be experts here to show you the way.

 

Memory again, so dont quote me guys.

I reckon the torque convertor has to be out of the way to get at the bolts that hold the bellhousing to the trans casing, as in, the bolts are INSIDE the bellhousing?????.

On top of that I would NOT mess with torque convertor input shaft etc insitu, just too many things to go WRONG. That front pump seal comes to mind very quickly.

You would only have to have "the angle of the dangle" a couple of degrees off square, and the rest is history as we say.

 

I think Grant is spot on re these bolt positions. Stupid of me not to think about them.

 

Yes, I got the same sad information from another source. Unfortunately, the bell housing bolts to the transmission from INSIDE the bellhousing...darn. I thought I was on to something Thanks for the help though

 

You may have to slacken the exhaust off as well, either at the manifold joint, or there may be a flange near trans. When you have angled motor and trans downward, the bell housing bolts are reasonably easy to access, slacken them off and use a rattle gun if available. When replacing torque converter onto trans, it needs to slot in THREE times, otherwise the first time you start the motor it will break the drive tangs of the converter and destroy your front pump; found that out the hard way.