E Type 888330

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miles55
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by miles55 »

Many superlatives are due - great work!!
Formerly miles5
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Previous Porsche history;
964 C4, 911 RS rep, 912, 911T Targa, 3.2 Carrera, SC
jtparr
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by jtparr »

The truth was that neither Barry nor myself have ever built a 6 cylinder Jaguar engine before, so that when we listened to that charismatic deep rumble we were also aware of a somewhat higher pitched chattering noise....the kind of noise that to my ears didn’t sound quite right and, given that I had been the person who had built the engine I had no real confidence in what I had done

The only thing to do....at the end of a long day was to face the fact that I would need to remove both camshaft covers and get the feeler gauges out

The only part of the engine which I hadn’t built myself was the head so I had no real knowledge how it had been done......the manual states four and six thou as clearances for the inlet and outlet valves and I had assumed that this is what had been done

So, simple matter ..but sadly the results were not what I hoped for as the inlet side extended up to 7 thou and the outlet to 9

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I spoke to Mike who had done the engine machine work who was happy to come on over and re-do the settings, all I had to do in preparation was undo the front chain sprockets ....released the timing chains ....and get the engine ready for Mike reset the clearances

Mike has built many a racing spec engine and to be taking the philosophical view here...he explained he builds them to 6 and 8...in the scheme of things not a big difference...and at least I now know something I didn’t before

This in itself is not that complicated but sadly a simple job became a lot more challenging

You can see in this picture the accident that is just waiting to happen....snipping the lock wires and making sure no parts are lost....undoing the bolt and the washer...without dropping anything....

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So ....unfortunately...on the last of 4 bolts..... I managed to drop a washer (when retrieving one of the sprocket retaining bolts) down into the front timing chain cover and perhaps into the bowels of the engine… Sickening would be an apt description for my emotions at the time as I had no idea where it had truly ended up.......and could only imagine the problem of retrieving it… in my hand is where it should have been...down in the darkness was where it went....

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Assuming it had dropped all the way through the timing gear chains it would then in theory it be residing in the sump but thanks to Jaguars esoteric way of assembling this particular car the sump is not easily removable with the engine in situ because the rear reaction plate holding the torsion bars stops the back of the sump from being removed cleanly

And .....If it were stuck within the timing chain area then it could do all manner of untold damage

So I bought an endoscope.....as you do...and set about draining the oil...and carefully undoing the sump bolts and extremely carefully holding the sump gasket in place as it all had to go back together again...without leaking.....


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3 hours....I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry...certainly relieved ...but this little fecker was successfully located and more importantly retrieved.....


And at the end of this, the real irony was that I shouldn’t have had washers on the bolts anyway....they were on the car when disassembled so I assumed they should be....an error by the mechanics over time before me.....

After that palaver and Mikes return visit to reset the valves (which we left at five and seven so only one thou above and likely to reduce as the engine bedded in) I had the slightly nerve wracking task of reinstating the timing chain sprockets ......at least this time it was only the bolts and lock wire and setting the timing up once again....

With everything finally bolted and place it was time to start the engine… A slight improvement but not a fundamental change in sound…so still to me at least a remaining puzzle..but I knew that there was now nothing fundamentally wrong with the engine but somehow it wasn’t what I kind of expected an engine to sound like

Hymmmmmm......


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With almost perfect timing, (in the motivating department) in the week before this episode I had decided to bite the bullet and invest in 4 new and different style wheels

Whilst I am not against the original wire wheels style of these beautiful cars, there was always something appealing about the style of period alloy racing wheels, coupled with the fact that I really did want to increase the way in which the wheels fill the arches ....so with that in mind Realm Engineering came to the rescue

There are plus and minus debates about the merits of original narrow or slightly wider wheels, all of which I’m aware of but having driven a non-power assisted early 911 for more than a dozen years slightly heavy steering at low speeds is not in the slightest bit of a problem for me......the way in which that car lightens up once there is a little bit of movement give me complete faith that I wasn’t doing something fundamentally wrong

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And anyway....they look stunning.....especially with period appropriate Pirelli Cinturatos

By this time it was late October and the warmth of the summer had left was receeding but undeterred I decided it was time to begin the long process of installing the interior trim....more cold hours spent inside the garage...

At times I found this to be the most stressful process in a curious kind of way.... whilst every additional piece began to turn the car from a project into the beginnings of a complete entity, the lack of experience on my part was exaggerated by the fact that there was really never a second chance in terms of positioning ....without needing to rip off the first attempt and cut new pieces.....the skill of knowing which vinyl pieces should be stretched ‘dry’ over the backing foam, or should be bonded... how to stretch around convex curves was relatively easy but trying to pull vinyl taught around a concave surface is really quite difficult… Stretching vinyl around compound curves without leaving obvious ripples in the texture took multiple attempts... and in the case of the cant rails which are the trim pieces on the inside of the door and window aperture took three attempts to achieve something that I regarded as acceptable

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Because the E Type is very much a car built in situ if you like i.e. not a collection of multiple subassemblies that are simply clipped into place there was an order to the way in which I to approach this and one small part could hold up a whole raft of subsequent phases as it simply had to be done in that particular order

First up, after the headlining was to bond and trim the perimeter headlining cloth...and install the first piece of brightwork..!

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And then begin to fix foam and maquette to the rear arches, maintaining the OCD approach I bonded the lower edge of the maquette and held in place with timber slats, and (just because I could) I extended the moquette trim to the full rear shelf of the boot boards..all perfectly trimmed and perfectly over the top..as it’s never seen.....well...unless you get a flat....

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With nearly trimmed vinyl across the up stand body seam and installation of the hardura rear cubby pocket the interior began to take on its own beauty...leading to another personal OCD moment regarding the vinyl and chrome strip edging to the cills

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I have always thought that Jaguar did a poor job when it came to the cill trimming...given the base of the B post is completely in full view when opening the door, the usual cut end of the vinyl is a cheap detail....so I changed it...using anodised aluminium strips cut to shape and then wrapped before bonding to the cills and perfectly abutting the dense foam which lies under the vinyl

The chrome trim covers this longitudinal junction and there are no exposed cut ends to the vinyl....

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And as if that wasn’t enough....I also made my own chrome trim strips....because the standard ones for the 2 seater cars are made around 6-8mm short of the door opening length, this leaves a loose junction....I bought a new pair of 2+2 trims...cut and filled to perfect length, leaving 2mm clearance at each end...and had them re-chromed....

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all in place together..complete with the rubber trim...of that...more later....


Finally I could get onto the bespoke B post panels....but not before a fairly major intervention...in the way of my decision to install inertia seat belts....

Seatbelts began to be installed in E types in late 1962, but they were the static type and whilst this does look lovely they do have their limits when it comes to manoeuverability inside of a car so I undertook as much research as I could to see how other restoration companies I had achieved installation of inertia belts in a discrete way

Disappointingly I have to say I didn’t find one company in my opinion did this in a way which I would regard as good enough....rather resorting to clumsy additional bracketed in some cases or simply bolting the visible inertia unit to the inside of the rear wheel arches

Given I had the luxury of doing what I wanted I felt it necessary to do better

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By a quick of fate in the coupe cars there is a rather useless pocket that is formed in the trim panel around the B post.....however this offering of storage space provided a perfect niche into which I could consider fabricating my own bespoke bracket which would then be hidden and allow the inertia unit to be completely concealed behind what I would develop as a bespoke panel.....as this is the standard panel..with visible fixings....

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I wanted something different...

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Out with the CAD and via trial end error and a visit to Sue at FDTS who are local to me, I chose the colour matched webbing, fully positionable belt units and full chrome buckles throughout.....lovely

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In order for the panel to fix with magnets it needed to be pre-formed and rigid so I also shaped and bonded in an aluminium strip to create a pre-formed panel to follow the curves of the body with a discrete set of openings carefully positioned for the rear hatch catch and seat belts ......(full marks for Jaguar on the rear hatch lever...one of my favourite design details on the car...)

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After the success of the B post I was on a roll and decided to modify the A post as well....same reasoning...a dislike of visible fixings and the partially visible door hinge didn’t appeal to me at all, so out with card and paper to then allow me to cut, bend and form an aluminium base to which my own combination of vinyl and hardura would be applied with a concealed method of fixing following on from Rory’s detail thread for the footwell and A post panels, where he used magnets....I did a similar thing...

this is standard..

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this is my version...

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The can’t rails had stubbornly given up their original bonded vinyl trim, but needed body filler to repair the damage, needed repair welding and I wanted to improve on the shape of the leading edge of the rail at the top of the A post

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Firing of the cant rails had to be proceeded by installation of the outer channel that holds the rubber seals....yet another example of dreadful workmanship from the usual suppliers of reproduction parts....2 sets had to be purchased to get some thing that approached usability....and even then I had to resort to the propane torch to re-bend them to actually fit the car....why 21st century manufacturing cannot at least match production from 60 years ago is appalling in terms of quality control....”the no one else complains” reply yet again being symptomatic of the attitude....

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Door and window rubbers....

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Agggghh.....another challenge, and one I knew from the onset would be a pain...good job I have a ready supply of scalpels, a steady hand, superglue and Emery paper....and patience...everyone who has restored a classic car will have gone through this....

My personal preference was to wet glue into place and a combination of trimming on the bench plus in situ

Centre consol......

Apart from the fact that I had no idea how to install this...I daresay the process could be described as satisfactory ..!....although the truth would be perhaps more like it was a struggle to get it to fit but it looks perfect in the end

First off...working out how to get the leather gaitor to fit correctly around the consol and gear lever......is this correct...looks good...but I had no real way of knowing....

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Getting the aluminium trim over the transmission tunnel to lie flat...needed a few secret tricks to achieve that....except there was no way it fitted the (reproduction) steel tunnel cover....did I mention the wonderful quality of reproduction parts...?....without doubt the disappointing, most irritating and predictable constant in the entire restoration process

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....how many times did I have to return key parts...complain about key parts....I wouldnt care if we had to pay twice the price for pieces if they were actually made where you took them out of the packet...and hey....guess what...they actually fit...amazing isn’t it...the concept that if you pay money you actually get something worthwhile.....the list of incorrect parts I paid good money for is very....very long

So having taken care to trim the tunnel panel.....and gently modified the lower radio panel to fit the gear lever cover I wasn’t especially happy to have to take the angle grinder to make a strategic cut otherwise it wouldn’t fit within the opening of the main front console panel.....

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However...with that done I ensured a perfect fit and made my own piping pieces using hemp twine....why you may ask...simple...the trim supplied in modern kits uses nylon rod....which is simply not malleable enough....and just like the original piping (which uses some kind of string chord) it has to be able to bend through tight radii......

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And with that I made the last modification to this area...and instead of multiple sections of piping I made this in one piece which is far neater....this is a puzzle to me as it was easier and ultimately looks better...so why did Jaguar do this originally I wonder

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But not quite the last pieces as the OCD needed a final satisfying.....the under dash panels.....

I am afraid to say that the original use of minimal Hardura simply bonded to the bulkhead didn’t do much for me...it may not be that visible...but I wanted more sound insulation and a more complete looking finish....although perhaps a visit to a shrink might be a good idea as the ratio of time spent to finished article raises questions about my sanity...

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Mock ups....multiple instances of trial fitting and gradual adjustment and re-shaping prior to covering in foam and vinyl.....plus devising ways to install without visible fixings was all a bit of fun.....

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....it’s a journey and meant to be a pleasure...which it is when it begins to come together.....
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911hillclimber
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by 911hillclimber »

I'll be the first to say it again, best restoration thread on DDK.
Fabulous. :drunken:
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PeterK
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by PeterK »

I doff my hat to you Sir (again).

The quality of your finishing makes it look like I opened the garage door and threw a bucket of glue at my car, then went to a neighbouring post-code to launch the vinyl at it :oops:
'79 Targa - restoration now mainly complete & being driven
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Lightweight_911
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by Lightweight_911 »

Fabulous work Jonathan !

Did you visit Realm to collect the wheels (good choice by the way) ?

If so, did you meet Adrian Cocking ?

One of the industry's 'likeable rogues' ... :wink:

.
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yoda
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by yoda »

Not bad for an amateur
The force is strong in this one ......
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inaglasshouse
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by inaglasshouse »

Utter madness, Mr Parr. Respect.

I like to imagine you working at Jaguar back in the day. It might not have been a meeting of minds!
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inaglasshouse
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by inaglasshouse »

yoda wrote:Not bad for an amateur
:lol:
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by IanM »

Vinyl? Don't you like leather?
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hot66
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by hot66 »

Nice one JP 8)
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silver911
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by silver911 »

Amazing..... seriously good work JP. Loving the bespoke design solutions and the quality of the build.
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by markm »

That JP is very impressive indeed. Attention to detail is second to none
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KS
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by KS »

Can there be a better E-Type on the planet? I don't think so... well done, sir!
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by johnM »

Awesome JP, made my morning!!
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Re: E Type 888330

Post by Mike »

Great work, and how fantastic are those wheels! :cheers:
cheers, Mike.

previously..
1994 968 Club Sport Riviera Blue
1994 993 C2 Carrera Riviera Blue
1972 911S to Martini RSR Prototype Spec
1973 911E to RS Lightweight Specification
1981 924 Carrera GT ex Mexborough car
3.2 Carrera Sport x2
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