Sump Removal

[Durango2k]

I once came along the Netherlands at 3 in the morning, with half a car behind me on a trailer...at about 100 or so. Suddenly I noticed a strange sign I had never seen before. Looked a bit like two breasts ? Wozzat ?

Then, 150 mtrs later after the bend, a huge road „wave“ came upfront. Hit the brakes hard just until before the obstacle, let them go, flew over it at about 60, then second wave, caboom, over. Checked the trailer for damages, none, Citroen XM, none, so continued.

But in an E-Type.... who knows. A friend once wrecked a 300 TD Turbo Merc w123 ripping of its oil pan on gravel.

Later that night I ran out of Diesel in Belgium. I think the Belges are equipped with a special tank card when they are born, but I had none, anything else was locked (okay, it was somewhere near 4 in the morning in winter), no fuel anywhere, 0 miles on the dash shown, so I had to stop at a 24h french fries station, bought me a few and plead for oil. He had some gallons, helped me pouring it into the Diesel, I managed to get beyond Aachen on that stuff IIRC.

Was it Pete‘s S1 2+2 on my trailer ? Maybe...

Carsten

[politeperson]

Not really for the technical section, however hope you dont mind.

When I was an automotive engineering student, I "sensibly" purchased a 19 year old Citroen CX 2400 (carbs) 3 speed auto estate. It was huge, with 7 seats. This was in Lincolnshire.

It was hand painted badly in pink. I paid £90 at auction.

I then purchased 2 old pre-war motorbikes in Martock, Somerset. A 500 cc BSA M27? and a 600cc Ariel VB (side car bike). I still have the BSA in bits.

My friend and I set off from Colchester. The radio had been removed in the Citroen To liven the long journey up, Simon wired it in as we were on the motorway by taking a feed off the interior glovebox light. The radiothen rested in the open glovebox lid.

This was fine until I went around the first corner. The radio fell on the floor and the wires shorted, so we lost the power.

The lights started getting dim and the car cut out, just as the pubs were closing in November in Amesbury.

The car obviously wasn't charging.

We decided to rough it in the car, and figure it out in the morning.

That night it was so cold I swear we could not sleep.

I ended up "stealing" old cardboard boxes from the back of a newsagents, ripping them into pieces and creating a squirrels nest in the CX by filling up the interior with the bits.

This ridiculous idea didn't work.

Then at 4am a van parked next to us and the engine kept running. I inquired with the driver, it was a tenant who had been locked out, so we sat with him until the sun came up with his heater on. He saved us!

New battery purchased, journey continued, bikes collected, back to Colchester.

Investigation of the fault (after repairing the Paris Rohne alternator) revealed a blown fuse shared between the interior light and the whole charging system. Fuse changed, problem fixed.

If only we had known!

[Hugo]

Ah yes, those were the days! It's an M20 if it's 500cc; the 600cc AA bike was the M21. I had a 250cc B20 - my first bike - that I paid thirty Bob for. Had a hand gear change & the clutch cable totally seized the day I took my test on it. Drove to Guildford without a clutch. Then miraculously when I came out of the waiting room the penetrating oil I previously poured in worked its way through & it was working just fine!

[politeperson]

I think it is an M20 Hugo. The M27 must be a road.

Ill get some pics.
Havent seen it for 15 years., I think it was 1930... ? with a hand change . Chrome and green tank with gold pin striping.

[PeterCrespin]

The 'Mini Me' was the C10 sidevalve with the speedo in the tank.

But back to sumps.

All you need to do is chop the bulges off the side. Assuming you are starting with a complete XJ6 engine, not just the sump, there is nothing else to do. The longer pick-up pipe belongs with the sump so you don't have to change it.

I did once see an E with the uncut XJ6 sump and he got exhaust clearance by using the XJ6 swept back manifolds instead of the vertical down ones from an E-Type. You then just need special down pipes to join the swept back manifolds to the muffles. In fact that guy bought decent ceramic black manifolds from a Mk10 or similar. They were much more stylish and formed individual 'pipes' near the head, rather than being a huge rough rusty casting as on the XJ (that was supposed to be covered by tin ware to heat the incoming charge). Of course those with Federal E's can connect their crossover to the XJ tin cover just like the E-Type tin cover if they have the same era of crossover system.

The dipstick is a non-issue. Leave it in XJ spec because you can hardly see it anyway. Or twist and pull the tube out of the block and use a visually correct stick. Calibrate in reverse if you've cut the sump. The XJ stick level mark is correct but it just needs lots less oil to reach it. Once you've noted how much oil it took to reach the normal correct level, remove the tube and replace with your 'correct' stick of choice and mark the level wherever it is. That's your check that the max oil fill will not be too high or too low with the chopped sump. You then make a new level mark on that stick and you know how much oil it takes to not overf

[politeperson]

Thanks Peter, that saves me a bundle.

James