Sunday, June 17, 2012

Removing air rails

Several road trips ago if you remember, I had to cut the belt that ran the A/C pulley. This basically disables both the A/C and the smog pump on my XJ12.

In an effort to clear up the engine bay I had the A/C compressor removed. Inspired by the sudden free space, I decided to remove the A/C hoses and air rails.

Managed to get most of the A/C hoses off. Just have the one left. I don't seem to have the right tools to remove it so its going to be there for a little longer.

The air rails came off quite easily since they are just pressed into the feet with an O-ring. Now to block the holes in the air rail feet I first tried some aluminium tape, but that ended up being too thin so I decided to do it properly and got myself a 8mm x 1.25mm tap and cut some threads into the little hole. The hole looks like it might be 17/64" so it cut nicely without drilling. Installed 8mm socket screws in the holes. I think a 10mm screw might have been better but this works just fine.
And yes, for those clever enough to notice, my heater hose is indeed routed incorrectly.