I searched the threads but didn't find much. I wanted to see if anyone had any "been there - done that" experience or lessons learned removing the Delenair MkIII box from the inside of the car.
I looked at 82.25.21 and 82.25.19 and it looks like there is only one bolt on the firewall holding the box in. Is that accurate?

 

4 if my memory serves me correctly

 

Do you know if that's an engine-out deal?
I just snaked my inspection camera down along the firewall and I can't even see 4 of them - much less get a wrench on them if I had to,

 

Good evening. Yes, I took one out of an '88 XJS this summer. And it was a pain in the a#% to say the least. The only real good news is you do NOT have to have the motor out. You do have to remove the pipes/hoses/connectors at the firewall on the engine side.
You have to get the dash out. We removed the blower motors to gain access to more attaching bolts. It was all done by trial and error but it eventually came out. We didn't break anything and I am the proud owner of a Delanaire III sitting in my garage. Had to came back at it several times as the frustration level got pretty high at times.

 

I think two of them are holding on the grey heat shield, based on what I can see these are the only two unless there are some in the tunnel but I don't see any. For what it is worth though I wouldn't envy the person trying to get that expansion valve off with the heat shield etc in place incl the engine.

 

Thorsen
Nothing has to be undone in the engine bay (at least on the Mk II) except the two hoses to the expansion valve. All the other fixings are inside and once you have removed the dash they are obvious, except one. This one is (again Mk II at least) a small screw on the centre of the panel that directs air to the screen. If you look down through the windscreen, from outside, you can see it. The way I got this out (without removing the screen) was to take a pozi bit and a small spanner that fitted the drive end, place my finger on the top of the bit to keep it engaged on the screw, and turn the spanner.

Have you removed the dash yet? If not I have a couple of points.

 

I have the dash out and the center console is loose. Heater hoses are disconnected and my neighbor is bringing over his R-134 recovery machine tonight to evacuate the system.

 

The console will have to come out too, I found.

 

A little more progress tonight. I got the center console pulled out, and I got the top of the defroster pulled out so I could get that one screw in the center of the dash at the base of the windshield. I also pulled the two rods at the front of the unit that bolted to either side of the transmission tunnel.

The AC system has been evacuated, and I got the two nuts on the engine side of the firewall out.

The unit wiggles, but there's still something holding it in. Tomorrow I'll disconnect the AC lines and expansion valve (heater lines are already off) and see if I can find out what else is holding it in.

 

I have not done that since the 1980s but we used to charge 16 hours at the shop I worked at.

Seemed like it was always after some customer sheered the A/C evap lines trying to replace the expansion valve.

 

Did I mention that taking this out was a pain in the a$%.

 

Maybe just once or twice

It's nice that this isn't my daily driver and I can't really drive it for 6 more months, so I'm not feeling a time crunch. And my goal is to remove it in one piece so that - should I decide to go the route of the VintageAir, someone can use my old Delenair box (or parts from it) to keep theirs alive. But I won't lie - last night I asked myself if it was Sawzall time. The answer was no, but it's tempting to hit the easy button.

You did mention removing the blowers to get to the other bolts holding in the box. Can you shed any more light on that? Or if possible, take pictures of the one sitting in your garage so I can visualize?

 

PM me your e-mail and I'll send pictures.

I have a lot of trouble posting pictures to this site. It's me I know. I am a digital dunce.

 

First, a sincere "thank you" to all that helped me with this. The strength of the community is what makes Jaguars special and I appreciate all the help I got along the way. There's no way I could have removed it myself without breaking something.

That being said - it's out! There are only two nuts on the firewall holding the unit in place. Once you remove the obvious bolts holding the unit inside the car, it's mostly free. The one thing I did have to remove was the bracket for the steering column - the left hand vent duct could not clear that.