E Type 888330

[PeterK]

Happy times JP

Don’t forget a second floor post behind the new resident.
Peter

[defianty]

Wonderful Jonathan. Enjoy the refit.

[jtparr]

Spot on with the....sit back and enjoy approach

A bit like the early days in any relationship, when you don’t have to do much apart from enjoy the company.....I did truly just go into the garage, have a beer and enjoy looking at the newest addition to the family....

It is truly a beautiful and sensuous series of curves and forms...sure it may be antique in driving habits according to some, but I am blind to that....I didn’t buy it to race

But all these things come to pass and it was time to actually start....which meant taking pieces apart

Doors, hatch and that famous bonnet all had to come off...

But...not before the skills of a certain Sussex craftsman were called upon once more....


.....

[inaglasshouse]

A bit like the early days in any relationship, when you don’t have to do much apart from enjoy the company.....I did truly just go into the garage, have a beer and enjoy looking at the newest addition to the family....

Very educational, this thread.
"You see, Richard, restoring an e-type is very much like making love to a beautiful woman. You take her into the garage, grab a beer, and stare at her for hours on end."

Thanks, Swiss Johnny, I shall give that due consideration!

[sladey]

But...not before the skills of a certain Sussex craftsman were called upon once more....


.....

Had your butt-plug got rusty through lack of use JP? Handy to have a man come and sort it out for you.

[Tosh]

That looks like a piece of art

[jtparr]

In 1961 a team from Autocar took a certain E Type registered 9600HP to Belgium to attempt to prove the claim from Jaguar that the E Type could reach 150mph




It is now owned by Phillip Porter, who amongst other cars has 848 CRY, which for those who don't recognise it go instantly to the back of the class and start watching the opening scenes of the Italian Job now...



Although probably a car that had been breathed upon, 9600HP did achieve this, but in doing so required amongst other things modifications to the front bumpers, with the removal of the overiders (notice the difference between the two cars)


Whilst this was done for speed, I am doing it for looks....which is why the rears will be also be done

Doubtless opinions will be divided but when compared to a stock E, the overriders do make the car visually heavy at the front

Now naturally we are doing it properly....back in the day 9600HP simply had additional end closer pieces made with a butt joint.....




mine are not.....they are beautifully handcrafted, and have also been repeatedly scribed and ground along the rear face such that they shall match the profile of the bodywork, no longer requiring a cheap rubber trim to abut the paintwork which was a production detail in period to help mask a varying joint dimension






They cost more than the GDP of some small island nation and were well worth the expense, pls the pleasure in seeing Barry enjoy himself in the process












Somehow now it almost looks more Italian that English


Once the final adjusting of the bumpers had been achieved it was time to remove the bonnet, doors and hatch, which then allowed me to start actually assembly of the car


First on the list was sound proofing

Now back in the day there was a cursory nod towards acoustics with a few small patches of bitumen seemingly randomly applied.....fast forward 50 years and I wanted to make more of an effort to dampen road noise.....but with no set patterns or material to mimic I decided to craft my own solution, which whilst mostly subsequently to be covered in carpet I wanted the solution to look period and also be elegant

So no use of any modern silver covered materials and no simple smothering the interior, it had to look as though as much care went into installing it as the use of leather and carpet


So I made a full set of patterns from card, (as you do)





I also made patterns for an aluminium faced fibre glass system of high temperature resistant sheets to shield the interior from heat emanating from the engine, gearbox and exhaust





and taking this level of detail a step further when cutting the materials ensured that the diamond pattern bitumen was orientated in constant directions and with neat radii on all corners















It’s all gorgeous and fantastically indulgent

[Lightweight_911]

Lovely work Jonathan (& Barry of course !) - & no doubt very satisfying.

The deletion of the overriders is definitely a good move but I can understand how much work was needed to do the job properly.

Definitely another good idea regarding the heat 'barriers' - an E-Type can get very hot inside ...

[silver911]

Oh my.. that's very high quality stuff. Dedication to detail to the max.

[Bootsy]

Awesome stuff

[Mike]

Fantastic, dual steering wheels too, great idea...... !

[sladey]

Awesome work - looks amazing

[911hillclimber]

Glad I don't have his 'illness' for detail!
Fabulous to see, would drive me mad, but imho the best restoration thread on DDK.

I think you have a lot of the Big Assemblies all done, so progress will be rapid.

[jtparr]

Fantastic, dual steering wheels too, great idea...... !

...bought myself a Moto Lita slightly smaller in diameter...Eagle fit them to their cars and I think they look well...once the seats are in I will see which feels better and which gives me enough space between the bottom of the wheel and the tops of my legs

[Mike]

Going to be something special this one Jonathan! The wheel fitted is I’m guessing the Moto-Lita one with the classic British look round holes, the slotted spoke one looks more Nardi-ish, a little Italianate looking perhaps for a Jaguar, I’m sure Andy will be along shortly.....