I was not expecting the removal of the cylinder head to be easy. it has after all been sitting undisturbed for around 40 years. But what I was not expecting is to struggle to find somewhere to grip in order to pull the cylinder head up & off the studs. The Jaguar Lovers Forum (Link to Website) was helpful as usual with a number of suggestions as some people mentioned that if the studs have rusted then it can be a real pig to remove it.

My chosen option was to initially pour rust dissolving fluid down the 'stud holes' and leave it for a week or so. THEN use mechanical power over human strength - i.e. lift the cylinder head using an engine crane. I have a good, heavy duty engine crane but it is big and consumes a lot of garage space when it is in the 'use-me' mode and I feared that it may not go underneath the car. I was partly correct in my fears because the legs are mounted on quite large wheels and they hit the engine cross member - but only just. My plan therefore was to use a small car-jack to lift the front of the car around 5mm. This worked a treat and the engine hoist rolled under the car. At which point I lowered the car back down. I then extended the engine hoist arm so that the end of it was around the middle of the engine. In that configuration - the engine hoist is capable of lifting 1.5tonnes which is hugely above the weight of the engine so I had no fears of doing this.