2.8 V6 on Wheeler Dealers

[Alpine 1789]

The new season of Wheeler Dealers premiered last night and their first car this year was a 1976 Capri with the 2.8 V6. They spent some time talking about the differences between the US and European spec engines and I was hoping they'd do some hot rodding on the engine to make up the difference. They didn't, but you do get to see some good shots of Ant replacing the seals and gaskets. It was also cool to see them have some ubobtainium plastic parts scanned and 3D printed. I am sure it will be repeated multiple times over the next few weeks and is probably worth watching, if only for the engine cleanup.

But, I do wish they had done more with the engine than just replace gaskets and seals!

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Ya, just watched that last night myself. Reminded me of when my own 2.8 was on an engine stand. While it was fully accessible I wanted to do everything I could short of a complete rebuild. I replaced every gasket/seal I could including the front and rear main seals, but, per Jose, I also replaced the stock gear with an aluminum one and the stock oil pump with a high output one, along with a high output water pump (I think the HO oil/water pump and drilling the extra coolant flow hole in the heads combo really helps this engine stay cooler within the confines of a small engine compartment).

Though I too would have like to see what they did to give it more performance, after hearing the comments about the engine having plenty of power/pull as is, I can see why they decided to save some money and leave it stock. In a small car the 2.8 is fine, just unleash it a little by taking the choking smog junk off and replacing the iron exhaust manifold with nice flowing headers and it will certainly power a small lightweight British convertible sports car just fine

Speaking of smog stuff, mine also had the air pump. After removing it, weren’t there some small ports on the heads/exhaust manifolds? that it was connected to? Did I miss the part about plugging them?

 

[DanR]

Mike, I did not get to watch the show so I do not know what they did or said about the emission system.

I recommend the three holes at the bottom of the 2.8 V6 exhaust ports be plugged, then drilled to a depth of 3/4", then tapped to 10mm 1.5 thread (same as the other header bolts). Slot your header flange using a header gasket from Hedman#500-27110. It has the three holes already in the gasket whereas some Mfg'ers don't provide them (se PIC below).

I modified Alan Ballard's header set (jose) with the slots for his V6 project. This mod really works at keeping the exhaust from leaking.

My Straightback Headers come slotted.

Header Gaskets - Hedman#500-27110.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Thanks Dan.

Also, I don’t know if you have it, but your TV Provider service (cable, satellite, etc) will usually have an On Demand capability. That’s what I did, used Search and put in Wheeler Dealers, that brought up options to watch not only the new season but also past episodes.