280i Plenum - Removal & Cleaning

[v8s4me]

How easy/difficult is it to remove the plenum? There's lots of plumbing around there, how much of it needs to be pulled away?

I'd like to replace the securing bolts with stainless; what length & thread are they?

As regards polishing the alloy casting; what's worked for you?

Thanks in advance

[phillpot]

v8s4me said:

As regards polishing the alloy casting; what's worked for you?

Ask your Mother ...

[Kitchski]

Pretty easy to remove, but remember the bolts need to be sealed when put back in, as the plenum cover is open inside. Trickier part is stripping the butterfly down to clean/paint that. I didn't bother doing mine, when I did EVERYTHING ELSE under the bonnet. Probably tells you all you need to know!

As for polishing, it's made of pretty poor quality alloy with lots of dimples/holes, so you'll have your work cut out. I just prepped and used a matt silver spray, but I expect others have found a way to polish it.

It's an old Ford engine at the end of the day though - there will be old 2.8 Granadas with chrome everything, lurid coloured hoses and mirrors all over the floor underneath it at car shows in fields, which show the chrome sump, chrome anti-roll bar, chrome springs, chrome tyres and a chrome fan belt.
The owner will be a geezah called Gary. He'll have wind deflectors on his wipers, and spot lamps on his bumpers (which aren't wired up). He'll proudly show you his anti-static strip on the back, although with those hilarious plastic 'trapped' fingers.

And Gary's Cologne is a special 180bhp limited edition one. He's done 140mph in it before, and it's quicker than an M3. He'll tell you how to chrome plate your PCV valve, and he probably polishes his plenum every weekend, after darts.

Good ol' Gary.

[v8s4me]

As you say, Pretty easy once I'd worked out what was bolted to what.

As for cleaning; well it's a lump of metal covered with baked on grease and oil. What does that remind you of?





A turn on the buffing wheel tomorrow will finish it off well enough.

Kitchski said:

..... but remember the bolts need to be sealed when put back in, as the plenum cover is open inside...

Thanks for the tip, how do I do that?

Kitchski said:

..... ..Trickier part is stripping the butterfly down to clean/paint that....

I'm just going to clean the outside and wipe the venturi and butterfly with carb cleaner.

I'm planning on re-using the plenum and throttle-body gaskets. They are in good condition and I'm hoping a smear of blue Hylomar will do the job. What do you think?



Just one final question; do I need to fit a relay?

[phillpot]

Is that the stuff that says on the back "do not use on aluminium" ...


A relay ? we don't do things in ones here

[v8s4me]

phillpot][url said:

.....Is that the stuff that says on the back "do not use on aluminium" ...

That's the stuff

[greymrj]

I used alloy wheel cleaner, then a power wire brush then that all important product 'Brillo'. Somehow nothing works as well! I just keep mine tidy with Brillo, no amount of polish worked.

Be careful with the gasket and fitting, it really does need to be air tight or the K Jetronic wil be upset (and an upset Jetronic can be very spiteful!). If you are going to re-use the gasket I would check it carefully first and seal on both sides. Theoretically the fixing bolts shouldn't leak air but I do use a touch of gasket sealant on the stainless SHCS I used. Check all the fixings to the plenum are air tight

Dont joke about 'relays'! It brings to mind the subject of the 7th injector fitted direct to the plenum chamber (the infamous blue connection). The 7th injector is supposed to inject when cold to help the motor fire up. The activation for this is not the best feature of the K Jetronic and plenty of KJet owners, on various cars, have had problems with it. It can operate when the engine is hot and it effectively 'floods' the engine and wont start. A common cause of hot starting issues on the KJet. It did it quite at random on mine. Running fine, pull into a service station, wont restart, very embarrassing opening the bonnet and disconnecting the blue relay!

Solution is simple, break the circuit to the injector solenoid and run a wire to a simple switch in the car. When cold; switch on, when started; switch off. If you forget and try to start it cold when switched off you will soon remember, and the engine wont be flooded!

[greymrj]

Kitchski said:

It's an old Ford engine at the end of the day though - there will be old 2.8 Granadas with chrome everything, lurid coloured hoses and mirrors all over the floor underneath it at car shows in fields, which show the chrome sump, chrome anti-roll bar, chrome springs, chrome tyres and a chrome fan belt.
The owner will be a geezah called Gary. He'll have wind deflectors on his wipers, and spot lamps on his bumpers (which aren't wired up). He'll proudly show you his anti-static strip on the back, although with those hilarious plastic 'trapped' fingers.

And Gary's Cologne is a special 180bhp limited edition one. He's done 140mph in it before, and it's quicker than an M3. He'll tell you how to chrome plate your PCV valve, and he probably polishes his plenum every weekend, after darts.

Good ol' Gary.

Ah you have met him as well! Often knows absolutely nothing about the car and how it works, and rarely drives it except to shows, because it doesn't really work well. But he can polish!!

Edited by greymrj on Tuesday 3rd October 06:28

[Kitchski]

greymrj said:

Ah you have met him as well! Often knows absolutely nothing about the car and how it works, and rarely drives it except to shows, because it doesn't really work well. But he can polish!!

Edited by greymrj on Tuesday 3rd October 06:28

I know quite of few of them!

[Kitchski]

v8s4me said:

Kitchski said:

..... but remember the bolts need to be sealed when put back in, as the plenum cover is open inside...

Thanks for the tip, how do I do that?

Kitchski said:

..... ..Trickier part is stripping the butterfly down to clean/paint that....

I'm just going to clean the outside and wipe the venturi and butterfly with carb cleaner.

I'm planning on re-using the plenum and throttle-body gaskets. They are in good condition and I'm hoping a smear of blue Hylomar will do the job. What do you think?



Just one final question; do I need to fit a relay?

A dab of PU sealant or something similar just under the bolt heads will do the trick. I'd say use a fibrewasher, but then the spring washers won't work.

That's all I did with the TB.

Only you can see the gaskets up close, but I'd be surprised if that one couldn't be reused. To be honest, I never reuse gaskets (other than dry-fit rubber ones), as they're pretty cheap, so why risk it?

Relay? I'm too full of man-flu and it's too early to get that joke!

[v8s4me]

Kitchski said:

....To be honest, I never reuse gaskets (other than dry-fit rubber ones), as they're pretty cheap, so why risk it?....

The local motor factors got me the rocker-box gaskets for the afternoon but there was nothing like the plenum or TB gaskets showing on their ordering system.

I did a bit of ringing around and web searching yesterday but couldn't find any. Where do you get yours from?

PS - I had flat washers under the plenum bolt heads but no sign of any sealant. I did wonder about fibre washers under the steel ones but I'll go with your silicon suggestion. Cheers

Edited by v8s4me on Tuesday 3rd October 09:56

[Kitchski]

I use the local factors as well, but normally buy a complete head set. Any of the gaskets I don't use go in the spares box.

[greymrj]

v8s4me said:

The local motor factors got me the rocker-box gaskets for the afternoon but there was nothing like the plenum or TB gaskets showing on their ordering system.

Mine also came with a head gasket set so that isnt much help. You might try Gaskets for Classics?

[v8s4me]

Maybe not up to Gary's standard but good enough...





Hopefully when I put it all back together it will run as well as it did before I mucked around with it. Can't have been much wrong here...



Thanks to all for the helpful tips

[GreenV8S]

That looks very tidy.

[phillpot]

I've found the guy at Gaskets for Classics very helpful, he may split a set for you if it comes to needing a new 'un, or there's always the Cornflake packet and a little hammer



skip to about 2mins 30.......... video