I was terrified when they dropped off the engine from the yard. I haven't done a swap on a car I wasn't familiar with for 25 years. The engine was dropped off on Friday, and all I did was put it in the garage, for the weekend.

I started on Monday, missed Tuesday and half of yesterday, and today she is sitting in the car, with a new AC compressor, alternator, and starter. Lucky thing I checked the chain tensioners, because the right bank had a missing lower shoe, and the plastic had a crack in it.

Now all I have to do is strip down the old engine, and wait for new parts to arrive. I hope this new lump is as good as they say it was. I am waiting for new heater hoses, intake gaskets, and an aluminium thermostat housing assembly.

This car ate a lot more money than I expected. Anything related to the heater hoses, or cooling system crumbled, and replacing the electrical accessories was just common sense. This $1580 engine swap has peaked to just over $2200

It has been fun using parts of the brain I thought were wiped out by the electroconvulsive therapy. It is all starting to come back again. I still have a couple of days before I will be able to fire her up. Wish me luck.......Mike

 

Good Luck Mike, glad to hear the "noggin" is working normally again. :-)
Auto work and estimates are kinda like contracting, figure cost plus at least 10% waste and you have a place to begin.

 

Mike - good to see the swap progressing and good luck when you have her buttoned up and ready to fire - looking forward to success and some happy motoring

 

Good Luck Mike; I am sure everything will go well. About the heater hoses and all the other black rubber hoses you are replacing to and from the core, S/C(?) and throughout the engine bay. These hoses appear to be standard black rubber hose; are these just standard black rubber hose that are pre-cut to length and bought from Jaguar online? When I replaced these same types of hoses on my Mercedes, the prices for what appeared to be pre-cut standard black rubber hose replacements was ridiculous. Instead of paying the outrageous prices purchasing what amounts to a pre-cut length of standard rubber hose, I went down to the local auto parts store and purchased replacement hose by the foot, off the spool, that has both high temperature and high pressure ratings that far superseded the hoses spec's that I was replacing, and at 0.59 cents a foot for ~$4.96 total, smaller diameter hose was even cheaper. I bought 8' of the correct inner diameter hose, this type of hose is commonly used for fuel lines, and cut it to length as I was installing it, went along very quickly, and I was able to re-route some hoses to more sensible locations. The 'cheap' superior hose I installed ended up outlasting expensive OEM replacement hoses I had bought and installed, before going the 'by the foot' route, and I have used them for both coolant lines and vacuum line replacements, both of which they were well suited for due to the higher temperature and psi rating. The OEM vacuum lines in particular never lasted very long on my Mercedes' due to their proximity to the exhaust manifold and block, I have had the 'cheap' hose in place for the last 11 years with absolutely no cracking or degradation.

 

glad to hear it is coming allong. just take your time .and dont get in a rush .i know you will do a great job in the end.hope all goes good. all the best Dan L

 

 

You know Mike, I am sure there are a lot of frustrations involved in the swap, and my fingers are crossed that it fires up on the first try, but I gotta say, there are a lot of worse places to be than working on a beautiful XK8 in your own garage.

Don't take it for granted!

 

Well.....I fired her up on Saturday, and this is not the 74 K mile engine they told me it was. It looks like this one is going to be replaced, as soon as they get me another. It has a knock so loud I am afraid it is going to lock up, and really screw me getting the torque converter bolts out.

When I was replacing the chain tensioners I kind of got a clue, by the burned oil smell, and the missing shoe and cracked tensioners. It was also very hard to rotate, when I was working with the torque converter bolts.

I am really disappointed, but it does give me something to do, instead of just sitting around the house. I would rather be driving to the beach though....LOL....Wish me luck on number two.......Mike
If the yard tries to screw me, I will put their name up. I am tempted to now....

 

Mike,

........ and a partial refund for your wasted time?

I know "really disappointed" wouldn't come anywhere near describing my feelings in the circumstances.

Graham

 

SO not happy to hear your run of bad luck. hope the next one goes much better. glad i was not the one who took the phone call at the yard . bet it was not nice. i know they would not want to hear from me after all that work. wish you all the best Dan L

 

After 2 bad engines, she is finally done. The yard finally gave me back my money, and I drove a couple of hours to pick up an engine I found that was $300 cheaper and came with all the accessories.(a full pull) It even had the updated chain tensioners installed, and the ECM with it. I was miserable, but life is good again.......Mike

 

glad to see things worked out for you - now time for you to enjoy the drive!

 

 

Mike,
Great to hear that you're back on the road.

You are a patient man. By the third motor, I really would have run out of swear words.

Mike

 

Where are your pics?

 

Wow! Bravo!

 

good deal . just in time for summer