I'm installing manifolds and stuff - interested?
Discussion
I'm swapping the exhaust manifolds on the Griff to shove on a pair of stainless jobbies.
And while I'm at it I will be swapping the engine mounts and exhaust belly pan bushes, as well as new plugs, extenders, magnecours and dizzy.
I've taken a few pictures already because I always do when I do these things.
I wondered if anyone was interested in me documenting it on here.
I wasn't sure if its been done to death already so I'll only do it if somebody is interested.
And while I'm at it I will be swapping the engine mounts and exhaust belly pan bushes, as well as new plugs, extenders, magnecours and dizzy.
I've taken a few pictures already because I always do when I do these things.
I wondered if anyone was interested in me documenting it on here.
I wasn't sure if its been done to death already so I'll only do it if somebody is interested.
I'm sure at some time I'll want to know how to do some of those jobs, perhaps you could get your procedure and pictures hosted on 'The Griffith pages' www.thegriffithpages.com/?
For sure.....
There's often not an awful lot to say about pictures of people doing perfectly sucessful, and often involved jobs on motorcars. It's easy to think that nobody is looking at them, if you posted them. The Griff isn't my thing particularly, but I love it when people post pictures of ther cars in bits. I'll look at pictures like that irrespective of the car! If it happens to be a monster car, even better.
I guess it kinda makes you think about the whole thing more.
It might sound a bit sad, but I was the sort of kid who used to read Haynes manuals for fun. Everybody else had Beano annuals! I guess I never grew up.
There's often not an awful lot to say about pictures of people doing perfectly sucessful, and often involved jobs on motorcars. It's easy to think that nobody is looking at them, if you posted them. The Griff isn't my thing particularly, but I love it when people post pictures of ther cars in bits. I'll look at pictures like that irrespective of the car! If it happens to be a monster car, even better.
I guess it kinda makes you think about the whole thing more.
It might sound a bit sad, but I was the sort of kid who used to read Haynes manuals for fun. Everybody else had Beano annuals! I guess I never grew up.
TeGriffic said:
Pre cat still I assume ? Just the manifolds ?
Yep, still a pre-cat. I think it will be with me for a while yet
Manifolds and Y piece will both be changed obviously but the rest of the exhaust will stay.
Dilbert, here's a 'before' picture to whet your appetite. Come back for more during the weekend.
barreti said:
I'm swapping the exhaust manifolds on the Griff to shove on a pair of stainless jobbies.
And while I'm at it I will be swapping the engine mounts and exhaust belly pan bushes, as well as new plugs, extenders, magnecours and dizzy.
I've taken a few pictures already because I always do when I do these things.
I wondered if anyone was interested in me documenting it on here.
I wasn't sure if its been done to death already so I'll only do it if somebody is interested.
And while I'm at it I will be swapping the engine mounts and exhaust belly pan bushes, as well as new plugs, extenders, magnecours and dizzy.
I've taken a few pictures already because I always do when I do these things.
I wondered if anyone was interested in me documenting it on here.
I wasn't sure if its been done to death already so I'll only do it if somebody is interested.
Yes please, I have an engine mount requiring my attention.
I'm just sticking some notes to myself here for later.
Jack up the entire car, you'll need to crawl under it.
Clear glasses or goggles a must because of the crud you get in your eyes.
The bolts/nuts holding the mount to the chassis are 17mm
The nuts holding the mount to the engine bracket are 17mm
The bolts holding the engine bracket to the engine are 16mm at the bottom and the top one is 13mm
I doubt you could get the engine mounts off without taking off the exhaust manifolds, seems too tight to get to the bolts. The engine brackets were a mess and were repainted in hamerite. It took 50 mins to refit the offside engine bracket and mount. Fit mount to bracket, nuts not quite pinching. Fit Engine bracket on top bolt so it can wiggle to get difficult bottom bolts in (left bolt is a pig!). Attach mount to chassis, lifting with trolley jack because old mounts will have squashed a bit and tighten all bolts. Lower engine and tighten mount to bracket nuts. I needed a stubby spanner and had to keep flipping it over and 1/8 turn at a time because space was so tight.
Nearside engine bracket and mount can be reached/replaced from above. Took 1hr
The back bolts on the underside of the manifolds are b@stards to get to and the starter has to come off to get to the offside, and AFM off for the nearside.
You'll need a 8mm hex bolt tool for the starter.
New manifold bolts are 3/8
State of the old belly pan bushes.
Had to unbolt the alternator to get new manifolds on. Old manifolds came off without.
Cable ties bloody everywhere. Rubber spacer between chassis and water pipe on Near Side. reused that and put bike innertube over the chassis to stop the cable ties damaging the paint.
elastic band trick for gaskets sort of works but not sure its worth it. (no, I take that back after re-doing the nearside, its a bloody godsend!)
Shine a light and look for bolt holes and bolts.
I tried to run the new bolts into the heads to get them to run in easily. Two of the bolts wouldn't go in as deep as they should and one was just too tight for comfort, so I needed to clean the threads. Good old Jeff made a great thread cleaner out of an old manifold bolt with an X cut into the end. It took me 3 bloody hours tightening/untightening/cleaning the bolt, to get just those 3 bolts to run in nicely. All the rest were OK to begin with.
New shocks were fitted while I had the car in the air, because I thought I should be replacing what looked like original units and I got the new nickel GAZ set for a bargain price.
Replacing the front shocks was easy because I'd already had the old ones off for chassis painting. The back ones were a bit more complicated.
I replaced rear upper wishbones on both sides too. Don't forget to order the spacers for the wishbones. You need 2 per wishbone and they slot onto the rearmost bush.
Nearside - done last night - took 5hrs but that included a bit of waxoyling.
Fitting the top wishbone/shock bolt was the biggest fight. It took some doing to get it aligned. Had to file off quite a bit of the shock side bush to get it to fit, but this was the same on both sides.
I forgot to buy new wishbone bolts so I had to clean and reuse the old ones. New nylocs though.
At the front, fit the bottom of the shock first then lean into the engine bay to fit the top one. stand on the wheel to push the wishbone/shock down to get it to fit.
At the back, I fitted the top of the shock first, but only because I was replacing the top wishbone.
stick your trolley jack under the hub and jack it up to get the bottom wishbone to meet the bottom of the shock.
Jack up the entire car, you'll need to crawl under it.
Clear glasses or goggles a must because of the crud you get in your eyes.
The bolts/nuts holding the mount to the chassis are 17mm
The nuts holding the mount to the engine bracket are 17mm
The bolts holding the engine bracket to the engine are 16mm at the bottom and the top one is 13mm
I doubt you could get the engine mounts off without taking off the exhaust manifolds, seems too tight to get to the bolts. The engine brackets were a mess and were repainted in hamerite. It took 50 mins to refit the offside engine bracket and mount. Fit mount to bracket, nuts not quite pinching. Fit Engine bracket on top bolt so it can wiggle to get difficult bottom bolts in (left bolt is a pig!). Attach mount to chassis, lifting with trolley jack because old mounts will have squashed a bit and tighten all bolts. Lower engine and tighten mount to bracket nuts. I needed a stubby spanner and had to keep flipping it over and 1/8 turn at a time because space was so tight.
Nearside engine bracket and mount can be reached/replaced from above. Took 1hr
The back bolts on the underside of the manifolds are b@stards to get to and the starter has to come off to get to the offside, and AFM off for the nearside.
You'll need a 8mm hex bolt tool for the starter.
New manifold bolts are 3/8
State of the old belly pan bushes.
Had to unbolt the alternator to get new manifolds on. Old manifolds came off without.
Cable ties bloody everywhere. Rubber spacer between chassis and water pipe on Near Side. reused that and put bike innertube over the chassis to stop the cable ties damaging the paint.
elastic band trick for gaskets sort of works but not sure its worth it. (no, I take that back after re-doing the nearside, its a bloody godsend!)
Shine a light and look for bolt holes and bolts.
I tried to run the new bolts into the heads to get them to run in easily. Two of the bolts wouldn't go in as deep as they should and one was just too tight for comfort, so I needed to clean the threads. Good old Jeff made a great thread cleaner out of an old manifold bolt with an X cut into the end. It took me 3 bloody hours tightening/untightening/cleaning the bolt, to get just those 3 bolts to run in nicely. All the rest were OK to begin with.
New shocks were fitted while I had the car in the air, because I thought I should be replacing what looked like original units and I got the new nickel GAZ set for a bargain price.
Replacing the front shocks was easy because I'd already had the old ones off for chassis painting. The back ones were a bit more complicated.
I replaced rear upper wishbones on both sides too. Don't forget to order the spacers for the wishbones. You need 2 per wishbone and they slot onto the rearmost bush.
Nearside - done last night - took 5hrs but that included a bit of waxoyling.
Fitting the top wishbone/shock bolt was the biggest fight. It took some doing to get it aligned. Had to file off quite a bit of the shock side bush to get it to fit, but this was the same on both sides.
I forgot to buy new wishbone bolts so I had to clean and reuse the old ones. New nylocs though.
At the front, fit the bottom of the shock first then lean into the engine bay to fit the top one. stand on the wheel to push the wishbone/shock down to get it to fit.
At the back, I fitted the top of the shock first, but only because I was replacing the top wishbone.
stick your trolley jack under the hub and jack it up to get the bottom wishbone to meet the bottom of the shock.
Edited by barreti on Sunday 21st January 13:56
Edited by barreti on Sunday 21st January 16:44
Edited by barreti on Monday 22 January 11:32
Edited by barreti on Saturday 3rd February 10:43
Edited by barreti on Tuesday 17th April 22:58
victormeldrew said:
dilbert said:
I'm just aghast at the size of that exhaust combiner. I know it's a monster, but still impressive none the less. Is the whole of the exhaust system the same diameter?
No, it narrows down as it turns under the car. Plenty of room to get some nice big turbos in there though!
dilbert said:
victormeldrew said:
dilbert said:
I'm just aghast at the size of that exhaust combiner. I know it's a monster, but still impressive none the less. Is the whole of the exhaust system the same diameter?
No, it narrows down as it turns under the car. Plenty of room to get some nice big turbos in there though!
But not with those headers. It would be neater and better with compact cast iron items, stronger to.
Boosted.
Ian,
You need to invest in some 17mm ratchet spanners - mine were £30 (I think)from Halfords but you get about 8 of them.
I bought mine after replacing the engine mounts - what a bitch of a job (on the 500 took me 4 hours to do both) - they don't look to clever on the pre cat either so that's a job for shortly - are they the same mounts as the 500?
FFG
You need to invest in some 17mm ratchet spanners - mine were £30 (I think)from Halfords but you get about 8 of them.
I bought mine after replacing the engine mounts - what a bitch of a job (on the 500 took me 4 hours to do both) - they don't look to clever on the pre cat either so that's a job for shortly - are they the same mounts as the 500?
FFG
It is possible to change the mounts without removing the engine brackets ~ but very fiddly & but of a manipulation puzzle.... If you have the correct spanners no need to remove manifolds, but like anything else easier when you have good access. Be very careful supporting the engine on the sump ~ the sump seems quite easy to flex and then will require sump gasket resealing.. (might be a bit late now - was for me :-)
Dave
Dave
Invest in spanners! Deb would laugh her head off if she heard you Paul.
I've got the Halfords pro flex-head ratchet spanners in metric, halfords pro ratchets in imperial, US Pro stubby ratchets in metric, Stanley 'fast' spanners (they have an odd open end), plus various 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 sockets and ratchets. And thats just the good sets!
About the only thing I now don't have are the half moon spanners which are on my shopping list.
Still doesn't make the bloody job any easier. Especially the rear exhaust bolts, left engine bracket bolts and the engine mount nuts.
This shouldn't put anyone off though. Although everyone says its difficult we are still only talking about getting out bolts in tight places. Its not rocket science and doesn't need any specialist tools beyond what most of us 'tinkerers' have in the garage, it just takes time and patience.
After reading the comments SPEND kindly posted, I tried being as quick as I could with the engine sat on the jack and I used a 6" wide x 2" thick plank under the sump so I hope its not caused any problems. I'll nip all the sump bolts just in case and let you know when I start it.
I replaced the belly pan bushes while I had the exhaust off. God almighty what a mess the old ones were but you couldn't tell before I took them off. I'm surprised the garage didn't tell me they were done in when they had it all apart last June.
I agree, it would probably be possible to get the mounts off on their own, although the nuts on the back of the mount are in such a tight place I'm sure its easier to drop the brackets too. The whole lot will wiggle out without taking off a wheel or anything and you might as well inspect/repaint the bracket while you are in there. I took 2 days to do 2 mounts, because I didn't want both mounts off at the same time and I wanted to paint the brackets, so it was a case of: Offside off, paint it, dry it, put it back, Nearside off, paint it, dry it, put it back.
I think my notes memoir above may make interesting reading already, and I've only swapped the exhaust bushes and engine mounts. But I'll form this into a proper document when I've done it all.
IanB
I've got the Halfords pro flex-head ratchet spanners in metric, halfords pro ratchets in imperial, US Pro stubby ratchets in metric, Stanley 'fast' spanners (they have an odd open end), plus various 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 sockets and ratchets. And thats just the good sets!
About the only thing I now don't have are the half moon spanners which are on my shopping list.
Still doesn't make the bloody job any easier. Especially the rear exhaust bolts, left engine bracket bolts and the engine mount nuts.
This shouldn't put anyone off though. Although everyone says its difficult we are still only talking about getting out bolts in tight places. Its not rocket science and doesn't need any specialist tools beyond what most of us 'tinkerers' have in the garage, it just takes time and patience.
After reading the comments SPEND kindly posted, I tried being as quick as I could with the engine sat on the jack and I used a 6" wide x 2" thick plank under the sump so I hope its not caused any problems. I'll nip all the sump bolts just in case and let you know when I start it.
I replaced the belly pan bushes while I had the exhaust off. God almighty what a mess the old ones were but you couldn't tell before I took them off. I'm surprised the garage didn't tell me they were done in when they had it all apart last June.
I agree, it would probably be possible to get the mounts off on their own, although the nuts on the back of the mount are in such a tight place I'm sure its easier to drop the brackets too. The whole lot will wiggle out without taking off a wheel or anything and you might as well inspect/repaint the bracket while you are in there. I took 2 days to do 2 mounts, because I didn't want both mounts off at the same time and I wanted to paint the brackets, so it was a case of: Offside off, paint it, dry it, put it back, Nearside off, paint it, dry it, put it back.
I think my notes memoir above may make interesting reading already, and I've only swapped the exhaust bushes and engine mounts. But I'll form this into a proper document when I've done it all.
IanB
Pleas do Ian, will be happy to run a article.
I took the mounts of with the Manifolds on with my 500 ( you must hate me by now scooter after leaving the starter on too when changing manifolds
) I done one side completely at a time, and as Spend says it is a bit of a puzzle but is very doable.
BB
I took the mounts of with the Manifolds on with my 500 ( you must hate me by now scooter after leaving the starter on too when changing manifolds
) I done one side completely at a time, and as Spend says it is a bit of a puzzle but is very doable. BB
petepetrolhead said:
Barreti - what's the thingy with a dial in the bottom left of the pic of your engine bay - looks to be attached to a radiator hose or summat??
That'll be manual control for setting the temperature the cooling fans come on. I have the same on my Griff buts mine is the Modwise 2 Stage controller. i.e. i can set the temp for low and high fan speeds...
I would say in retrospect. next time I would remove the brackets; I only mentioned is as a caveat in case there is some problem with removing the brackets.... It took me far longer jiggling /rotating / manipulating the mounts in & out than undoing/tightening the nuts. I wonder if its a case of undo the mount (from chassis & bracket) then giving easier access to the bracket to engine bolts? I cant for the life of me remember clearly - but the engine brackets looked invitingly accessible to remove whilst I was struggling to get the mounts back in (but 'dog with bone' mentality took over...)
Dave
Dave
spend said:
I wonder if its a case of undo the mount (from chassis & bracket), giving easier access to the bracket to engine bolts? I cant for the life of me remember clearly - but the engine brackets looked invitingly accessible to remove whilst I was struggling to get the mounts back in (but 'dog with bone' mentality took over...)
Dave
Dave
No Dave. Because of the angle of the mount it wouldn't make any difference. The difficulty is how far inboard of the engine bracket the left hand bolt is. I've got skinny hands but it was a fight to get the bolt located and horrible trying to turn the bolt. I found by leaving the other bolts loose I could lift the bracket to take the weight off the bolt and almost flip it around. I then used a 1/4 drive socket to tighten it up.
The dial in the bottom corner is indeed the Modwise (David Beer) 1/2 speed fan controller. Only I think its the cheap (or early, I'm both tight and an innovator
) version. A sensor attaches to the outside of the hose and is wrapped in thermal mat so the rad doesn't affect it. It also attaches to the Otter switch. The dial sets the temp for the fans to come on at half speed. The Otter switch turns them on full speed. Edited by barreti on Monday 22 January 20:42
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