I've had an oil leak ever since I fitted my rebuilt "green" engine in June. the culprit? the rear crank seal. So seen as its an engine out job I thought i'ld do a guide just to show others who are thinking about doing it themselves but are not sure about how to go about it. its really simple and can be done anywhere with a bit of flat land and some basic tools. the way i'm going to show you is not gospel its just the way i've been doing it for years but I'm sure other will have done it a very similar way. ok so here we go
first up get your car in position. it wont move again so make sure its not in the way like mine was
next is to get the back end up and set it on some axle stands and disconnect the battery. once this is safely done remove the guard under the radiator (if it still has one) and undo the clip holding the bottom and the heater hose. remove the hose and the smaller (but not the smallest) heater hose slowly to drain the coolant in a suitable container. the fluid in the picture below is clear as its prep fluid that's been in there for a week as i'm going to be refilling with waterless coolant.
ok whilst that's draining out its time to remove all the guff on the top. start on the right by removing.....
the air cleaner assembly,
remove the choke and throttle cables from the carb,
remove the HT leads and vacuum pipe,
remove the hear hose from the three way junction that disappears into the car (the one in the middle as you look at the junction),
remove the earth strap to the body,
remove the thermostat wire from the top of the junction,
then go to the left and.......
remove the top hose from the radiator,
undo the alternator wiring (the small 10mm nut and the push on connector)
undo or remove the distributor wire that goes to the coil,
undo and remove the two fuel pipes from the fuel pump
remove the oil pressure wire at the bottom.
nearly there. i'm planning on leaving the gearbox in the car so you will need to remove the starter motor. undo the wires on the back by unscrewing the big nut with the large cable on it and pulling the push on connector out from the solenoid (mine had a cover on the back which also needed to be removed). once done you can remove the three 13mm bolts that hold it in place and remove it out of the car. whilst your under the car you can remove the other two nuts that hold the engine to the gear box. leave the top two for now. there's also a small cover on the left that covers a small part of the flywheel. remove this too if its still there.
your on the home straight now. loosen (but don't remove like i've shown lol) the four 13mm bolts that hold the rear panel on. there are two on each side at the far edge of the panel. the two by the cylinder head are the easiest the other two on the other side are hidden by all the hoses and wires. while your there un plug the wires for the number plate, rear fog and reverse lamps.
next is to remove the four 10mm bolts that run along the top of the panel.
because i've been doing this a while i'm going to be using a hydraulic motorcycle lift that i've adapted with wood especially for the job but a trolley jack can also be used in the same way with some wood and some rope to tie to the engine - I know this works as i've done it
because i'm using the lift I removed the exhaust but if your using a trolley jack you wont need to
now the fun part
position your jack/lift under the engine right in the middle where its best supported and raise your jack/lift so it just touches. now remove the rubber grommet on the top panel and you'll see a 13mm bolt. you'll need a long extension to reach it. this is the rear engine mount bolt. remove it and extract it out with the spring and rubbers
then remove the four bolts that you loosened previously mentioned that hold the rear panel on and carefully remove the whole rear panel - including the bumper so you should be left with something like this
now remove the top two bolts that hold the engine to the gear box and carefully pull the engine from the rear of the car making sure that nothing is still attached or snagged on the way and "Roberts your fathers brother" its out"
now go stick the kettle on and break out the biscuits
to refit it is just a matter of revering what I showed you. this took me around two hours and that was taking my time with photos aswell. there really isn't anything to be scared of with these engines and its quite rewarding when you have finished it....... there are not a lot of cars that you can do this to theses days......sadly