So its summer 2015 (July) and I’ve decided to overhaul the engine bay. It started one sunny weekend with the removal of all the peripherals (rad, brake servo, wiring loom etc…)
The picture below is how the engine bay looked in its current state. A few shiny bits here and there however the general condition of the block and bay was awful. I think at some period it its life someone had tackled it with a brush and a tin of hammerite.
Below is a photo of the engine bay skirts and some of the most noticeable rust. Also some of the worst areas included the strut tops which I purchased replacement panels for from Martin at CapriGear. (top man)
I started with removing the battery and clamp. This is held on with one bolt and pretty straight forward to remove, just make note of what was connected (+/-)
Next was draining the coolant and removing the radiator and hoses. Again pretty simple, remove the bottom hose from the radiator and the coolant will come rushing out, There are 4 hoses to remove in total (manual choke). The radiator is held on by 4 bolts (10mm socket I think) This should then lift out and away
Next was the alternator and coil. The alternator is held on my one tensioner bolt (visible) and two bolts underneath. Slacken the tensioner bolt and remove the fan belt. You should then have pretty god access to the other two bolts (see photo) I cleaned my alternator a while back so the bolts werent too tight and everything came out fairly easily
The coil is held on my two screws. First you need to disconnect the + and – feed along with the HT lead that runs to the distributor. The coil should then lift out.
Washer bottle again is held on by two screws. Disconnect the pump (+ and -) worth making note which is which and the water hose, unscrew and remove.
