3.8 Oil filter housing

[Heuer]

One of the few* things that annoyed me about the FHC I bought recently was the 'spin off' oil filter that the PO had arranged to be fitted. I have to say it beggars belief they went about doing it the way they did! This is the filter housing they used:


God knows what it came off but when on the car the "easily removable oil filter cannister" was nested under the carbs with zero chance of getting it undone. In fact I had to remove the entire housing, but fortunately I had already decided this piece of crap was destined for the tip and I have an original filter housing ready to install. The madness does not stop there because they then had to cut 'n weld the oil return pipe to a jaunty angle to meet the hose.


Next they realised the new housing had five bolts holding it the block so the drilled and tapped a new hole to accommodate it. Finally they found the oil pressure sender would not fit so they fabricated a conversion piece to suit. Talk about a game of consequences. All this rather than spend ?80 with SNGB for a simple spin-off conversion kit that would at least allow you to remove the filter without dismantling half the engine

I am now ready to put the original style filter housing in place but all this bodging has slightly unnerved me so I need a sanity check that all is well with the mounting point (other than cleaning properly):


Specifically is that screw correct?

* There were two other things:

1. Worried about overheating they installed a secondary fan on the stone guard and inserted a modern in line electronic thermostat in the top hose. This had the effect of lots of cooling with the car at a standstill but significantly reduced air to the radiator when on the move - the secondary fan disrupted airflow :? The fan was alsao too far from the radiator to make any difference anyway. Must have taken them a day to fabricate and source the (expensive) components when a Coolcat fan and Otter switch would have been half the price and installed in an hour. It would also have worked!

2. Worried about Ethanol in fuel they (probably rightly) decided not to use the original in tank fuel pump. Rather than spend ?110 at SNGB for one of their new submersible pumps they opted for that hideous Facet fuel pump. This meant running fuel pipes around the wheel well together with associated wiring, sourcing and installing a pump mount in the o/s rear wheel arch and then finding the Facet produced way too much pressure for the SU's. A rather smart looking fuel pressure regulator was then installed next to the pump. The result was asthmatic wheezing from the regulator and the whine of a jet engine from the facet which runs permanently - not good in a FHC :x

Both of the above were remedied very quickly!

[christopher storey]

David : I am not really qualified to comment on the filter head,( although I think that with its 5th hole, it probably comes from an XJ6 block ) but from a Dutch friend's experience I am able to give a warning : there is a considerable array of different gaskets available, not all of which are compatible with all filter heads, and it is very difficult to be sure that you are fitting the correct gasket with any given head, so a check and double check on both the block and head to see that the chosen gasket is not occluding any passage is worthwhile

PS The screw is in the same position that my XJ6 block has it , so probably is ok, but I'm not sure that I like what looks like the edge of the screw having been peened over for some reason. Also, I would make a threaded blanking plug for that 5th hole they have drilled and tapped

[Heuer]

Thanks Christopher. I have the correct gasket which matches the original (came from Richard Smith so I know it is the right one) 3.8 filter housing. Good idea on the blanking plug, I will make one tomorrow. The screw (no idea what is is for) is blocking a passage and is in quite firmly located thanks to being peened over; but then I would not want it coming loose! I have not really played with a 3.8 block before and the oil filter housing and gasket are different compared to the 4.2. I have been looking for a picture of a dismantled 3.8 block to reference. My only concern is that screw - the slight burring to the slot was down to me trying to get it out - but if it is original I am good to reinstall things.

The odd filter housing has a Leyland logo so I assume it off an XJ6. Pete Crespin is calling in next week so I have no doubt he will identify it.

[JEP41]

Hi David,

I think the filter support housing where the cartridge screws on vertically is from a series 2 XJ6 3.4. Before you bin this, put it on e-bay they can fetch around ?70 they are popular with jaguar engine based kit cars because they take up very little room in the actual engine bay.

[PeterCrespin]

John beat me to it, except they weren't just on 3.4s but also 4.2s. The earlier XJ Series 1&2 filter was a big round bulky element type to fit between engine, subframe and inner wings. They switched to that type of upside-down cartridge, which of course puked its content on removal, later in Series 2 before going to the final horizontal spin-off version that many fit to E-types.

I have fitted several of the horizontal type and have left an upside down block with a friend but never noticed/used the 5th hole. You might want to double-check in case your block is not original but a restamped later one, as that blanked-off oilway is characteristic of later blocks too.

Pete

[steve3.8]

David,

This is a spare 3.8 engine I have although its from a MK2 , the main gallery plug is centre popped to stop it undoing , just like the welch plugs in the crank . The gasket pattern is as Christopher says different on the type of filter head fitted .

[Heuer]

I found out where that oil filter housing came from - Vicarage Jaguar:


They are asking ?285 for it but at least they have the courtesy not to mention the words "easy" and "spin-off" in the eBay listing. I had to remove the housing to get the filter off So rather than spend ?80 with SNG for a proper spin off adapter they forked out ?300 for this, bodged the oil return adapter, drilled/threaded a new hole in the block and used heater hose for the return which would have lasted 2,000 miles before dropping all the oil on the road.

I gave the housing to Pete Crespin because he was intrigued by it and thought it would work on his D-Type replica.

[Heuer]

Just had the oil filter assembly off my 4.2 engine and it also has the 'fifth' hole, clearly plugged during manufacture. Thought I would add it here for the record.