Hi


Shortly I will have to replace my plastic thermostat housing on my XK8 from 1998...and I need to find the right tool to remove/replace the rear bolts...some time ago I saw some pictures of some kind of "excentric" wrenches in 8 mm...any ideas anybody?


Best


Frank

 

Crows foot. Seems like availability is limited at times. I think Snap On has them. Lots of sets start at 10mm is the problem.

 

The 8mm wrench is same size a 5/16" standard wrench. there are several metric sizes that equate to our std. size us wrenches.

 

Thx guys..:-)

 

If anybody else needs a set I found this on ebay at an affordable price:
15Pc Crow Foot Spanner Wrench Set Garage Tool 3/8" Drive Dr Socket Heads ends | eBay

 

I bought a standard 8mm combination wrench and got my local shop to put a bend in it close to the open-end end. They were already doing maintenance on the car, i.e. changing the oil, rotating tires, etc., and they didn't charge me. I'm sure they have charged much anyway. It involves putting the wrench in a vice and applying heat for bending. I would have done it myself except that my plumbers torch had gone missing.

This thread has some ideas:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ousing-119815/

There is a photo of my wrench and tool set up in the last post of the thread and some findings and tips.

 

+1.
I bought 2 cheap sets of wrenches from Harbor Freight and put a 90°bend near the box end of one wrench and the open of another 8mm wrench.

 

Well first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title "Name of tool" was Donald Trump!

 

When I change out the cooling tower I used a large pair of slip joint pliers and broke the old plastic unit to pieces and removed the back screws with a standard wrench. When I did the install I substituted Socket Head Allen Screws for the Hex heads and used a ball end allen wrench to tighten.

 

+1 Vern.

 

After removing the front bolts, I used a hammer and chisel on the plastic housing by the rear bolt heads. Took less than 1 minute to free an otherwise intact housing away from the bolt head. That left plenty of room to work.
I bought a set of ball end allen wrenches and a couple of cap bolts but thought better of it and went back to the hex heads. After almost rounding off one of the hex heads with my bent 8mm wrench - it was in that tight - (this was just before resorting to the hammer and chisel), it seemed to me that the allen heads might not take that much torque after being in there a while, especially with a ball end tool at an angle.

You'll need the bent wrench to tighten and torque up the rear bolts for the new metal housing, but I recommend just using the hammer and chisel rather than wasting time like I did trying to free the rear bolts 1/16 of a turn at a time