Tools for manifold removal?
Discussion
After trying to "James Herriot" that rear bolt for an age, I finally gave in and removed the starter motor, Last bolts were then off in 20 minutes, leaving me wonder why anyone would not remove the starter to get at them 
Is this the end? Sadly no. Now that it's unbolted I still can't remove from the engine bay. Straight up is blocked by the A/C unit, while pulling forward it gets caught up on some cooling pipes. Am going with it is easier to loosen the cooling pipes and move out the way that touching that A/C unit. This does mean though I have to go shopping for some special drives again as the bolts holding those pipes on the rocker cover are weird spline type bolts that I don't have a driver for. Why the frack use anything other than a standard bolt there?
The manifold I already removed is now completely free of the precat, so hopefully not too much longer before I can start putting things back together.
Is this the end? Sadly no. Now that it's unbolted I still can't remove from the engine bay. Straight up is blocked by the A/C unit, while pulling forward it gets caught up on some cooling pipes. Am going with it is easier to loosen the cooling pipes and move out the way that touching that A/C unit. This does mean though I have to go shopping for some special drives again as the bolts holding those pipes on the rocker cover are weird spline type bolts that I don't have a driver for. Why the frack use anything other than a standard bolt there?
The manifold I already removed is now completely free of the precat, so hopefully not too much longer before I can start putting things back together.
dazee said:
After trying to "James Herriot" that rear bolt for an age, I finally gave in and removed the starter motor, Last bolts were then off in 20 minutes, leaving me wonder why anyone would not remove the starter to get at them
Is this the end? Sadly no. Now that it's unbolted I still can't remove from the engine bay. Straight up is blocked by the A/C unit, while pulling forward it gets caught up on some cooling pipes. Am going with it is easier to loosen the cooling pipes and move out the way that touching that A/C unit. This does mean though I have to go shopping for some special drives again as the bolts holding those pipes on the rocker cover are weird spline type bolts that I don't have a driver for. Why the frack use anything other than a standard bolt there?
The manifold I already removed is now completely free of the precat, so hopefully not too much longer before I can start putting things back together.
It's not only the access that varies on different models, but also the bits on the front of the engine that need to be removed so you can actually get the (disconnected) manifold out of the car. Eg pre-serps need the swirl tank disconnected...Is this the end? Sadly no. Now that it's unbolted I still can't remove from the engine bay. Straight up is blocked by the A/C unit, while pulling forward it gets caught up on some cooling pipes. Am going with it is easier to loosen the cooling pipes and move out the way that touching that A/C unit. This does mean though I have to go shopping for some special drives again as the bolts holding those pipes on the rocker cover are weird spline type bolts that I don't have a driver for. Why the frack use anything other than a standard bolt there?
The manifold I already removed is now completely free of the precat, so hopefully not too much longer before I can start putting things back together.
Always be very careful interpreting advice from others, I doubt anybody alive has experienced ALL TVR's little foibles
spend said:
dazee said:
After trying to "James Herriot" that rear bolt for an age, I finally gave in and removed the starter motor, Last bolts were then off in 20 minutes, leaving me wonder why anyone would not remove the starter to get at them
Is this the end? Sadly no. Now that it's unbolted I still can't remove from the engine bay. Straight up is blocked by the A/C unit, while pulling forward it gets caught up on some cooling pipes. Am going with it is easier to loosen the cooling pipes and move out the way that touching that A/C unit. This does mean though I have to go shopping for some special drives again as the bolts holding those pipes on the rocker cover are weird spline type bolts that I don't have a driver for. Why the frack use anything other than a standard bolt there?
The manifold I already removed is now completely free of the precat, so hopefully not too much longer before I can start putting things back together.
It's not only the access that varies on different models, but also the bits on the front of the engine that need to be removed so you can actually get the (disconnected) manifold out of the car. Eg pre-serps need the swirl tank disconnected...Is this the end? Sadly no. Now that it's unbolted I still can't remove from the engine bay. Straight up is blocked by the A/C unit, while pulling forward it gets caught up on some cooling pipes. Am going with it is easier to loosen the cooling pipes and move out the way that touching that A/C unit. This does mean though I have to go shopping for some special drives again as the bolts holding those pipes on the rocker cover are weird spline type bolts that I don't have a driver for. Why the frack use anything other than a standard bolt there?
The manifold I already removed is now completely free of the precat, so hopefully not too much longer before I can start putting things back together.
Always be very careful interpreting advice from others, I doubt anybody alive has experienced ALL TVR's little foibles
LOL! Sure would have.
I'm convinced the people who put this together liked those little interlocking metal puzzles and just decided to supersize them.
Well I got a couple of new tools - never too bad a thing in building out the tool set a bit more. Undid the rocker cover bolts holding the cooling pipes on using 2 different tools, and then found they would not move out of the way as they were fouling on the bottom of the AC unit. It was all so close!! Did not want to mess with the AC, so took a gamble that I may just have the extra wiggle room if I could move the bottom hose a bit more. So drained the cooling system, took the bottom hose off and managed to squeeze the manifold past the cooling tube. Removed the expansion pot to be able to bring it fully forwards and out.
One precat down, one to go. Clean them up and then fit with some new parts coming from the UK. Hope I never need to do this again, but will make sure it is easier next time by some mods suggested here. Oh and when I removed the manifold I found out why 2 different bolts were used on the rocker cover. One of the originals was lying under the manifold where someone had dropped it previously and decided it was too much work to get it back.
I'm convinced the people who put this together liked those little interlocking metal puzzles and just decided to supersize them.
Well I got a couple of new tools - never too bad a thing in building out the tool set a bit more. Undid the rocker cover bolts holding the cooling pipes on using 2 different tools, and then found they would not move out of the way as they were fouling on the bottom of the AC unit. It was all so close!! Did not want to mess with the AC, so took a gamble that I may just have the extra wiggle room if I could move the bottom hose a bit more. So drained the cooling system, took the bottom hose off and managed to squeeze the manifold past the cooling tube. Removed the expansion pot to be able to bring it fully forwards and out.
One precat down, one to go. Clean them up and then fit with some new parts coming from the UK. Hope I never need to do this again, but will make sure it is easier next time by some mods suggested here. Oh and when I removed the manifold I found out why 2 different bolts were used on the rocker cover. One of the originals was lying under the manifold where someone had dropped it previously and decided it was too much work to get it back.
Just wanted to say thanks for the helpful advice I've received here/ Got my package from ACT this week and today have been starting to refit the manifolds now the precats are completely cleaned out. Combination of the ARP bolts and slotting the manifolds made refitting them today a hell of a lot easier than the removal was. Both sides done within a couple of hours. Excellent!
Next is to fit the ACT induction kit and then can piece the rest back together and fire her back up. Thanks everyone for the good advice here.
Next is to fit the ACT induction kit and then can piece the rest back together and fire her back up. Thanks everyone for the good advice here.
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