OUR CLASSICS
A slight coolant leak turns into something far worse, but a genius engineer comes to the rescue by thinking ‘outside the block’
EX-STIRLING MOSS 1965 JAGUAR E-TYPE FHC
T owards the end of 2022, transportation expert Barry delivered this car to an internationally-known firm for ‘a bit of photography’. I’ve used them for more than 30 years so no big deal, you’d think.
A few days later I took a phone call: ‘When we went to the pub in your car we saw that it was leaking a bit of coolant, so we tried tightening up the head and we think one of the head studs has broken.’
So much was wrong with that statement that it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s leave the psychological fallout to my therapist. Whatever. Deep breath. Move on…
Barry went to see the car and gave me a ring. ‘It was dry as a bone when I delivered it, but now it’s definitely leaking coolant mate. I’m going to bring her home.’
Nathan at Phoenix was busy with my Aston – when is he ever not busy with my Aston? – so I had to wait until February before we could get the Jaguar into the workshop. ‘If the stud is broken close to the top I should be able to remove it fairly easily,’ said Nathan reassuringly.
A couple of days later, another call: ‘The worst place for the stud to be broken is close to the bottom. That’s where it’s broken. Engine out, strip right down, rebuild.’ All for one snapped stud. Groan. A couple of days later came another call from Nathan: ‘I’ve been thinking about the Jaguar over the weekend and I’ve had an idea. The engine was shut down as soon as the leak started so it hasn’t been run with the broken stud. So if the stud could be replaced with the engine still in situ, all would be well. Yes, of course – but how? ‘By working outside the block. Pun intended.’ This was no time for puns. ‘Go on then...’ ‘Okay. So this idea will take a day or so to test, and in the end it might not work. It could mean many hours of work wasted, or it could be a good solution. How lucky do you feel?’
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‘Not very lucky right now, to be honest. Please continue...’
‘Here’s my idea. There’s a core plug adjacent to the position where the broken stud is sitting. Remove the manifold, remove the starter motor, then remove the core plug and we should be able
