AK provide a comprehensive list of donor parts needed to complete the build. The main items for a Gen II car are the front and rear axle/subframe assemblies from a Jaguar XJ40. Some people buy a whole car and dismantle the required parts, however I followed the simpler route of purchasing the axles from a breaker - in my case Black Country Jaguar. these guys are reasonably local for me and they helpfully provided them on a single pallet so I could pick up in a transit van. I also purchased a V5 document from Black Country Jaguar, so technically I am now the proud owner of a 1988 Jaguar Sovereign ( well I have the axles anyhow!). The V5 is important later on when registering the final vehicle with an age related plate. Total cost for the axles and V5 was £400.
I sent the V5 off to Swansea to register the Jaguar in my name and completed a SORN declaration to avoid road tax.
When you buy the kit from AK they provide you with some modified components so as part of the deal you have to recover the following parts from your donor car and give them to AK.
- Front Uprights
- Lower Front Wishbones
- Lower rear Wishbones
- Halfshafts (centre section)
I timed my activity to make sure that I had these bits ready when I collected the kit from AK.
Stripping down the axles is a seriously grubby task as might be expected for something that been steadily corroding for 25 years. Some bits came apart quite easily but others fought back hard!
I started with the rear end and removed the rear brake callipers and disks. The disks are effectively scrap and need to be replaced. The rear brake shoes were then removed as per the Haynes manual instructions. I kept all the springs and adjusters in case new ones couldn't be found for reassembly. You need to disconnect the handbrake cable from the expander mechanism on each side. This is a held on by a small clip which can be found by looking at the hub carrier from the bottom. One of these came off easily - the other was rusted on and took an overnight soaking in WD40 to shift.
The first major problem is undoing the rear centre hub nuts. These are on unbelievably tight and I ended up assembling a 4 foot breaker bar before I could get enough leverage to shift them. I used a pry bar to jam the wheel studs to prevent the hub rotating while trying to free it.
The next problem is removing the rear hubs from the hub carrier and drive shaft splines. I read a few articles where folks had real problems with this, however I was lucky and managed it with a standard hub puller.
The next task was to remove the halfshafts from the diff. There are 4 bolts that need to be removed each side and once again a judicious use of a pry bar to prevent the diff rotating was needed.
Next task is to remove the rear hub carriers from the lower wishbones. These are held in by a fulcrum shaft with nuts/washers at each end. One side almost fell apart. Needless to say the other side did not and took about 3 days worth of soaking with WD40 and some serious hammer work to persuade the shaft from the assembly. It is important to remember that the fulcrum shafts need to be retained for reassembly as they are expensive to replace, so don't mess up the threads on each end.
The diff is a little bit awkward being an integral part of the rear suspension. The diff is fixed to a lower transom bracket and the diff pinion end is bolted to a cross member. The lower wishbones are fixed by large fulcrum bolts that need to be removed and retained for reassembly. Fortunately these came out with no problems. You have to remove the diff pinion shaft before you can unbolt the diff nose from the crossmember as the pinion cannot be withdrawn through the crossmember aperture. Now the Haynes manual suggests you shouldn't mess with the diff pinion too much as there is a collapsible spacer behind the pinion which is used to preload the pinion bearings. The technique is to mark the pinion and nut for alignment then undo the pinion nut counting the number of turns. On reassembly, the theory is that by reversing this process, you end up with the same preload on the bearing. I'll find out in due course if this is the case! Note you need a 36mm socket for this job and also remember that despite the size of the nut - the torque setting is very low due to the collapsible spacer.
There are two mounting brackets on the rear of the diff that need to be removed and saved.
I forgot to drain the diff of oil before starting the disassembly and ended up with foul smelling diff oil coming out of the breather - at least I know the breather is clear!
Generally speaking, most folks seem to be sending their diff to a specialist for refurbishment. I decided to give mine a good inspection and check for lash and bearing play. External inspection showed no obvious signs of seal problems or cover gasket leaks. I have a suspicion that the diff I have may have been rebuilt at some stage; The diff oil was pretty clean, no seal leakages and the lash was acceptable. I measured the lash by locking the pinion and one output shaft, then at a radius of 6" checked that the free output shaft would not turn by more than half-inch.
Removing the diff cover to inspect the internals proved a real challenge. There are two bottom bolts that pass through the diff cover into the diff casing and these have fulcrum extensions to mount part of the suspension brackets. These bolts are really difficult to remove as even a deep 30mm socket will not reach over the bolt extension. A 30 mm ring-spanner kept slipping off the bolt head and started to round off the a hex faces. In the end, after much swearing, I took the whole thing to a local engineering firm called Capricorn. This is a father and son engineering company near Stourbridge specialising in mechanical and electrical engineering. I can't recommend Neil and Chris Youren enough for their help and patience. In fact I suspect nothing defeats them! Anyhow, the guys came up with a great solution and within 20 minutes manufactured a special tool by using a lathe to drill out the square drive from the back of the socket then
welded on a long steel tube, thus providing socket access to the bolts. This tool shifted the bolts which turned out to be fine threaded and loctited in - hence the problems. I refitted the diff to the lower transom just to stop the diff rolling around while trying to turn the bolts - good job I didn't scrap the old parts by this stage!
With the bolts removed the diff cover came off easily and I could inspect the internals. I have a 1:3.58 non-powerlock diff which will be fine for our touring setup. No teeth missing or pitting, no burrs or obvious problems so all appears well to run this diff with no refurbishment. I will change the diff pinion seal on reassembly just as a precaution.
Moving on to the half shafts, these have to be dismantled to release the centre sections. AK modify these to shorten them on an exchange basis. The Haynes manual describes a very simple procedure to remove the universal joints. You simply remove the circlips then drive through the end cap on one side using a hammer and a suitably sized socket. Once the opposite end cap protrudes from the housing, use stilsons to grab it and twist off. No chance! I tried grabbing the protruding end cap in my vice and ended up ripping the vice from the bench!. Adimiting defeat I paid a second visit to Capricorn where using a combination of heat, a man sized vice and a friendly gorilla called Chris, the two of us managed to separate the items. As you are going to need to replace the UJ's in any case, I've heard from other builders that they simply cut out he UJ's with a cutting torch - I now know why!
