04 Feb Bringing It All Back Home
Last time we left the Lamborghini Murciélago, it was still in a variety of pieces. Let’s bring them all back together today.
As you may recall, we have this Lamborghini Murciélago in the shop for a clutch repair (along with a window that won’t go all the way up). Unlike the majority of vehicles, though, this one requires the engine to be removed in order to access the clutch. No matter for us, as we set about disassembling the entire rear half of the vehicle to remove the motor. There’s a reason the dealership bills this as a 40-hour job. Either way, we dropped the OEM clutch and replaced it with an upgraded kevlar-based unit from Exotic Clutch Technologies, which estimates enhanced clutch life by almost 300%! Once the ECT clutch was installed, we realized that the fun was just about to start — we had to get the motor in exactly as it came out. That involved several people, a spotter or two and of course your humble narrator. The more, the merrier.
After lining up the rear differential’s shaft splines with the correct spot on the transmission, we shuffled that bad boy into place. Now, don’t go thinking that this is the end of the job — far from it, as a matter of fact. If you recall, we’ve got about half of an Italian supercar laid out on mats around the car, so now it’s time to start reassembling all that business. With the motor in place, the first thing we reinstalled were the lower half of the exhaust, some of the wiring harness connectors as well as the alternator air ducting.
From there, we continued to reconnect all the disconnected parts of the wiring harness, along with tucking all the wires back into place as we reinstalled the coolant tubes as well as the engine coolant.
With everything in the engine in place, it was time to reinstall the massive brace that covers the engine. You won’t see these on the Murciélago coupes, because this setup actually makes up the extra chassis rigidity required when you don’t have a roof. The soft-top isn’t capable of handling stress like a regular roof is, so it needs to be moved somewhere else on the car. However, not every ‘vert requires this bracing; as a matter of fact, the most high-profile car that shares equal chassis strength between roadster and coupe is the Pagani Zonda. Although, for the millions you pay for a Zonda, you’d damn well better hope they figured out a way around that problem.
Once all the under-panel pieces were in place and correctly torqued down, we went about reinstalling the massive exhaust head shield, as well as the rearview camera and all the body panels that once covered up the engine bay, including the fancy little carbon fiber shrouds on either side of the motor. If you ever need to know how to check your motor oil in Italian, that shroud has you covered, no pun intended.
After affixing the hinged engine cover, we cleaned up the exterior and she’s all ready to get the window parts installed. We’re excited to finish up work on it, as we imagine the dealer will be happy to have it back so they can sell it off with a nice, new clutch for the lucky new owner. Even if the wheels might not be your taste, it’s still a hell of a car to look it, regardless of whether or not the nose is set to “skyjacked,” which it is below.
We’ve got all sorts of different action taking place in the shop this week, so stop by our site every day this week around this time for brand new content, including the return of an old friend that has us all crying, “BS!” Have a great day!
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