K Series engine removal and replacement

[Golf Juliet Tango]

Clever idea. I promise, I'm only going to do this once.

[rj]

C'mon...

[anthonym]

Ok before I forget, my suggestion to proceed is:

All connections earlier round the loom are already disconnected and labelled.

Apollo tank oil hoses, check what size spanners are required, always use two, one to hold/lock the other to turn. Check spanner availability, nothing else yet.

Identify bell housing bolts and douse with Plusgas, I did two or three but could not see the rest, under car access will be required pretty sure.

remove the 7 remaining loom nuts and bolts as follows:

(1) the earth strap 13mm lower left side engine (facing in) mega tight, I could not get purchase with jack handle on ring spanner due to space restriction. Doused in Plusgas, maybe a day or two later now it will be easier. Ok not strictly a loom item.

Now drain the oil. Remove all hoses, they have to come off anyway. Label them with the masking tape as you go.

Remove Apollo tank. It is released, but use TWO spanners on each of the connected oil hoses, meaning do not put spanner pressure on the Apollo. They are usually different sizes so maybe you will be ok. You can do this as soon as oil is drained, before cleaning the floor, try to catch residual oil.

Clean and dry the floor under the car.

Now the garage floor is nice and clean. Maybe the above 13mm will be accessible with breaker bar from below. I suppose you could look for the other end, suspect it may go to an engine mount. 

AND

Identify bell housing bolts and douse with Plusgas, I doused two or three but could not see the rest, under car access will be required pretty sure. I left the large hex/allen key inserted in the top bolt to illustrate, in plain sight. The small jack handle might fit for leverage if any resist.

2 and 3 , remove the two small bolts holding P clips holding the loom to the front edge of the sump. Access from under the car only, maybe you can reach in, but I doubt it. The under pan blocks access afaict.

Remove remainder of exhaust and primaries 1, 2 and 3, now you can get at the lamda sensor nut.. but get a proper spanner not the adjustable, unless it comes off real easy ( it is doused in Plusgas).

4 remove alternator B+ cable (brown) Maybe accessible from above with primaries gone. Label it.

5 ditto D wire (black) to alternator. Label it.

6 disconnect solenoid wire at starter. Label it.

7 disconnect main cable to starter. Label it.

Engine loom  is now disconnected.

Remove starter 

Remove alternator.

Remove steering column. 

Check engine mounting bolts are ok to turn, I tried a couple (they were not tight) and doused the rest.

This is where I sign off - and ask others to check my above. 

This is a Caterham 21 with an Elise K wasted spark non VVC in it. And I thought an S3 was tight on space,.

Anthony

[rj]

I can confirm that in a Seven it can be done one man in one good long working day even if you've been a moron when you "hang up" the engine to re-install it an it's lateral rather than tilted. It took me 2½ hours just to allign engine/bellhousing and make the input shaft slide in the driven plate. (Once everything is at level it's easy, but one man, one forklift and one jack... sigh..)

In reality I did this over two days. Yesterday I removed the engine but I was interrupted so many times and even had to leave the garage to curl for someone else, so all I managed to do was to remove the engine and replace the seal at the flywheel end.

Today I re-installed it in around five hours where I even, at the same time, was chatting on FB Messenger with a trackday organiser about how to avoid what happened on the 26th May: My car was forced off the track and hit the barrier. Noone was hurt and the car only suffered minor damage: A radiator, nosecone, one front wing, one rear winThe radiator is on back order and the carbon stuff is made to order, but I had a spare radiator for the next car and Gaffa-tape will keep the carbon parts alive until the new bits arrive.

[revilla]

... and to think you teased me and said you could do the whole job in five hours! 

[rj]

I thought I could (with a helping hand to manouvre the engine back in), but a lot went wrong when it comes to the time spent. If I'd not been disturbed and had not wasted a lot of time to allign the engine with the gearbox, then I still think it can be done in five hours. Mind you the dry sump system and the external water pump does not make it simpler.

In reality I just spent just over two hours to remove it. To straighten the sideskin I spent another couple of hours, then I replaced the seal which meant that I had to remove flywheel and - of course the clutch cover.

To get it back in on my own hand was the real killer because I thought I was clever.

Next time I will have made up a bracket to get the angle of attack right from the begining or even follow my own advice of having a sling under the engine rather than using the alternator bolt and the VVC blanking plate.

 

 

 

[anthonym]

I’ve removed my engine in. 3 hours...

being the 4th time that week (the first time took two days)

being my BDR (so no engine loom)

with the gearbox attached

but indeed, alone.

and I watched my R500 clutch changed between 6pm and 3am the following morning. He did that alone. Gearbox separated. 9 hours.

So it’s just a case of practice - and after the first time all the right tools are handy....

anthony

 

[Nigel Riches]

Hi Stephen, good to hear you're into some spanner work.

But before you start, if you haven't by now, disconnect the battery, neg lead first, pos lead next, big energy, spanner splatting energy there, makes a mess, and potential fire hazard.

Good luck, and it's only bits of metal, in a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle, if it won't fit there it possibly doesn't fit there, take your time, as you well know there are thousands of hours of experience of these matters on this site.

 I know this isn't a 7 engine in / out thing, but you just have to eyeball it, do some lateral thinking and it'll be fine.

And i know how tight space is in that garage, (same one?) since my trip a few years ago, cars in bits take up much more space.

A decent hydraulic crane and a load leveler make things a lot easier, some good lighting helps also, be sure to protect the panels with suitable covers, I have used carpet off cut previously, taped in place, bit more heavy duty than a bit of cloth or paper.

You'll be fine, I'll follow this thread, see how you get on.

Regards, Nigel.    

[Golf Juliet Tango]

But before you start, if you haven't by now, disconnect the battery, neg lead first, pos lead next, big energy, spanner splatting energy there, makes a mess, and potential fire hazard.

Hi Nigel

Yes, that was item number 2, after the removal of the bonnet.  Where you are right is that the step by step needs to include such steps.

[Nigel Riches]

G'day Stephen.

Sorry I can't help with the "step by step" bit, I have no knowledge of 21's, surely you of the inner circle lonely few 21 owners can get through this puzzle.

You'll be fine, just take your time, anything that can happen can un-happen if needs be, just might have to throw some wonga at it, but that is the last resort. 

Keep going, you'll get the job done, and be chuffed that you did so.

Chin up, and all that stiff upper lip bit.

Nigel.

[Golf Juliet Tango]

Thanks Nigel and everyone else for their support and encouragement.

Re: peculiarities of the 21. To get the primaries off, first remove rear near-side wheel, then the tail pipes, then silencer, then primaries.

Separate post on wheels.