E Type 888330

[Darren65]

Too much!

[jtparr]

Mike
You are correct...jet lag got the better of me....it’s a Nardi... ....it is more Italianate but in the images on the Eagle site it looked well..and in the flesh just as good..

[Lightweight_911]

.
Choice of steering wheel is a very personal thing but I'm not a fan of modern Nardi wooden wheels (even in Italian cars) - IMO the rim is too thick in comparison to the diameter (unlike the original '50's/'60's Nardis).

It's not my car though ...

[jtparr]

Aye.....agree with you Andy....but then I saw the pictures at Eagle....truth is it’s all an ongoing experience....let’s see if I like it when I reach the finishing line...

[jjeffries]

Your interior heat/sound-proofing is seriously impressive, and the top-end E-Type restorers must be wishing your solution was available off the shelf. John

[jtparr]

thanks John

[Ashley James]

.
Choice of steering wheel is a very personal thing but I'm not a fan of modern Nardi wooden wheels (even in Italian cars) - IMO the rim is too thick in comparison to the diameter (unlike the original '50's/'60's Nardis).

It's not my car though ...

I think Nardi will make what you want. I had a sixties type steering wheel made for my 356C. It’s a lovely thing but rather expensive. I bought it direct for about £1500, which is ridiculous compare to Motolita, but it is better quality.

[murph2309]

Top, top work JP. Nowt more to say.....

[jtparr]

After the initial creative input...the challenge was actually what to do next....the urge to bolts pieces onto the car was driving me mad, but I had three problems

The petrol tank was taking up a lot of space in the study, but thanks to Jaguars esoteric approach to car assembly, the near side rear bumper had to be fitted before the tank could go in (a detail resolved with the later 4.2 series 1 car with an unsightly and visible notch in the underside of the rear bumper)...and the bumpers still needed to be chromed..so no work possible at the back

Nothing could be usefully installed in the middle of the car, the handbrake assembly was bound to get in the way with later stages of the build and the dash needed the loom to be installed first...too fiddly....

But that do don’t stop my son and I from testing the customised seats.....











The ideal size of an early EType driver is probably about 5’ 8”...especially when driving a convertible ...I am only just 6’ but in a soft top my line of sight is straight through the upper chrome windscreen trim...

Fixed head cars have more headroom....just...but not a heck of a lot....so early on in the build Barry and I talked about slitting the famous bucket seats and reforming to a more relaxed rake....

Nathaniel is taller than me...but I have a taller upper body...so am a tighter fit...once we get to the matter of upholstery I will have to further investigate a reduction in the depth of foam on the seat bases....

The second steering wheel that Mike had spotted in the passenger footwell...the Nardi..often used by Eagle on their cars it is slightly smaller in diameter, which will aid in the quest for improved driving ergonomics, but whether the smaller diameter will increase the effort needed to steer at low speeds is something only time will reveal...especially as I will be putting slightly wider tyres on the car





So that left the front of the car....and with an impending installation of 270 kilos of England’s finest metalwork, small delicate pieces of ancillary items were not helpful in the engine bay

So....kind of obvious what had to happen next


Correct...


pick up the phone and call the man for the job


The actual physical installation of the engine is/was very easy....

There are 3 ways to do this....over the top....from underneath...or take it straight on....top requires nerves of steel with the engine balanced above a freshly painted car...underneath needs a scissor or multi post lift...straight on is arguably more fiddly......but less stressful....and there was the small matter of me wanting to inject all the engine frames with wax oil first....

The E Type was unbeknown to its designers ultimately to fail of the developing crash test techniques of the 1970’s....with a completely rigid front structure, there was never going to be a solution to providing the eventual needs of crumple zones...and that rigid frame was/is basically made from brazed bicycle frame....0.9 or 1.2mm of Reynolds finest to be precise...so it needs inner protection.....otherwise known as Waxoil....


Taking the engine frame apart was simple...reassembly took a while longer as we built the frames around the engine...and I also needed to maintain certain OCD standard and align bolt heads...

Suffice it to say about 8 hours separated these 2 photographs....









But what a joy to finish the day ...with this....

[hot66]

You can appreciate how big the engine is from those pics !

[Bootsy]

[yoda]

What a cool looking car - nearly seems a shame to drive it ...... it’s a piece of art!

[911hillclimber]

Fabulous indeed.
Your son looks like he is liking it too.....

[911MRP]

Hi Jonathan

Hope all is well? Great work/thread. My wife's favourite classic.

You mention a bumper / notch. I don't know if it is at
all relevant to your comment but reminded me of when I went on a tour of Jag factory and old boy leading the group was a long term employee. During tour he stopped, pointed to a wall and said that the fit of a rear bumper /body on the e-type was never correct so the workers used to gently push car and loose fitted bumper into that wall which he claimed always sorted the poor alignment / fit issue. Tacit knowledge or just pulling our leg. Part of his well honed patter but with the reputation of British car workers of that era who knows? Think he was trying to illustrate how much better quality control had become.

Rather like the German guy seen laying into the bare Targa shell with very long metal pole as lever on screen alignment -- on one for the road.

Barry has ability to move metal around much more skillfully than that but thought I'd share this anecdote
Cheers

Steve

[jjeffries]

So much Spitfire (Supermarine, not Triumph) in the E-Type.