Owners of 6 cylinder E Types can develop a certain form of paranoia over leaks from the rear of the sump suspecting the main crank rope seal. In the over 20 years of having my E Type I have had no cause to drop the sump, but I have had an annoying drip from the rear of the sump - and potentially from the front of the sump which needed investigation.
I drove the car into the garage in November last year and drained the oil in readiness. I chose to remove the Reaction Plate, rather than the front pulley as it seemed less hassle. Once the car was securely up on Axle stands, the front upper wishbone joints and the Steering rack joints were cracked open, the Anti roll bar and top damper bolts were removed, the front suspension was released of torsion. Once the exhaust headers were unbolted, access to the two bolts on each side of the rear torsion bar bracket was much more easier. By removing the top bolts and driving in a cut down bolt shaft as a locating dowel, the other bolt could be removed and the reaction plate taken out. Once all the mounting screws were removed, the sump was lowered on a jack to the ground.
I found the original gasket was oil soaked and the rear cork seal had shrunk which explained my oil drip.
Once the block surface was cleaned up and the sump baffles removed and cleaned up, it was just a matter of refitting.
I used a replacement ribbed rubber rear seal onto the sump and did not cut it down although it was slightly proud of the top surface. By using a black gasket solution I set it into the rear of the sump and held it temporarily with two clothes pegs. A couple of dabs of black gasket solution each side of the front and rear seals and using four long bolts with their heads cut off and ground to points as dowels, it was a matter of quickly removing the temporary pegs on the rear seal and offering it up the four locating dowels. With the wife pumping up the trolley jack once I held the sump in place, it was a matter of quickly bolting up, removing the dowels and job done !
I followed Andrew’s (abowie) advice not to replace the front crank seal as it did not appear to be leaking - thanks Andrew !
Yesterday, I took the car out for the first time and did 25 miles in hot weather and once returned, got underneath - and not a drop of oil !
So, it just shows that sometimes it is not a major problem !
Regards,
Dave
