Jaguar V12 project
Discussion
To answer a few questions....I've worked in one form or other of motorsport for 30 odd years but both injuries came about whilst doing stainless fabrication work at a boatbuilders, before that nothing serious at all bar the odd burn, cut, etc....I've always done restoration/rebuild work in my spare time, more bikes than cars, I've got 5 ongoing projects almost done which will keep me solvent for a fair while...so, just thought, sod it, why bother about getting up early every morning? And quit full time work!
Over the years I've acquired pretty much every bit of equipment I'll need to build a road going car from scratch, so this thread is about giving it a go...
Yes, I chopped the roof off a series 1 E type but the body shell was terminally rusty and badly distorted, it had been for sale for some while before I came across it and no one else was daft enough to even think about rebuilding it. Also, it came with a pair of convertible rear wings and new rear wings for a 2+2 and associated panels cost almost £3000, I only needed to spend just under £600 to rebuild the whole body tub. So, essentially now most of the hard work is done and I'll carry on slowly putting it together but concentrate more on the V12 which is more fun!
Just spent the morning getting the XJS running and over the next few days I'll be pulling it apart before I start on a new chassis for it.....will post some notes about what exactly I have in mind soon....
Over the years I've acquired pretty much every bit of equipment I'll need to build a road going car from scratch, so this thread is about giving it a go...
Yes, I chopped the roof off a series 1 E type but the body shell was terminally rusty and badly distorted, it had been for sale for some while before I came across it and no one else was daft enough to even think about rebuilding it. Also, it came with a pair of convertible rear wings and new rear wings for a 2+2 and associated panels cost almost £3000, I only needed to spend just under £600 to rebuild the whole body tub. So, essentially now most of the hard work is done and I'll carry on slowly putting it together but concentrate more on the V12 which is more fun!
Just spent the morning getting the XJS running and over the next few days I'll be pulling it apart before I start on a new chassis for it.....will post some notes about what exactly I have in mind soon....
This is either going to be
Browns Lane fantastic,
Or
Brown Pants spastic.
911's ?
Ive seen some f cking aweful XR3i engined covin Porsche copies, some right mega crap,
and Ive seen Singer fettled beauties.
Both are interesting, as long as theyre near the edge of the statistical curve as it were.
Im hoping for something really good.
Either way.
Browns Lane fantastic,
Or
Brown Pants spastic.
911's ?
Ive seen some f cking aweful XR3i engined covin Porsche copies, some right mega crap,
and Ive seen Singer fettled beauties.
Both are interesting, as long as theyre near the edge of the statistical curve as it were.
Im hoping for something really good.
Either way.
Well we'll see, I'm hoping for a fair bit less than 4 years but I do tend to do things in quick bursts (the E type shell rebuild took me 3 weeks) then sit back for a month or so....and have a nice long think....so far its only just that....thoughts... but I'm hoping to have at least the beginnings of a chassis done by around Xmas...
As to how it eventually looks....who knows?
Anyhow, a few of those thoughts about the chassis design but first I'll just say that the way I'll be doing it is making up a basic one first, changing bits as I go and when I'm happy with it, make a second one properly....replacing hand cut bits with laser cut ones, and things like floorpans, sills, etc with pattern Jaguar ones...
So, the first step will be a tube skeleton made from 40x40 box beginning as a cage around the XJS rear suspension with tapered outriggers supporting a boot floor (done so you can't see the exhaust hanging down as on an E type)and a pair running forward either side of the propshaft, around the gearbox and engine, supporting the lower wishbones (doing away with the XJS front subframe)and finishing as a front crossmember where the bonnet hinges.
Once that's done I'll add 3 floor crossmembers each side with side rails and a tube structure at the front bulkhead to hinge the doors off, support pedals, column etc and also build a detachable front subframe to support rack, rad, suspension, engine....much like standard E type engine frames.
Once that skeleton is made I plan to build strength in by building, basically, a sheet steel monocoque around it to tie everything together and, eventually be able to fit unstressed grp rear body moulding, doors and bonnet to.
The transmission tunnel will be a fair bit larger than an E type because there will be extra room inside but the sills pretty much identical...I'm still a bit vague about how the front bulkhead is going to be though, mainly because I have it in mind that the screen,its frame and the folding electric hardtop from a MX5 might look quite good....so until I can either measure, or get hold of one I'm leaving that part of the chassis up in the air for now!
That's it for now, I got the XJS running this morning so tomorrow its coming to bits.....anyone need any spare panels before I chop them (or maybe myself!) to bits??
As to how it eventually looks....who knows?
Anyhow, a few of those thoughts about the chassis design but first I'll just say that the way I'll be doing it is making up a basic one first, changing bits as I go and when I'm happy with it, make a second one properly....replacing hand cut bits with laser cut ones, and things like floorpans, sills, etc with pattern Jaguar ones...
So, the first step will be a tube skeleton made from 40x40 box beginning as a cage around the XJS rear suspension with tapered outriggers supporting a boot floor (done so you can't see the exhaust hanging down as on an E type)and a pair running forward either side of the propshaft, around the gearbox and engine, supporting the lower wishbones (doing away with the XJS front subframe)and finishing as a front crossmember where the bonnet hinges.
Once that's done I'll add 3 floor crossmembers each side with side rails and a tube structure at the front bulkhead to hinge the doors off, support pedals, column etc and also build a detachable front subframe to support rack, rad, suspension, engine....much like standard E type engine frames.
Once that skeleton is made I plan to build strength in by building, basically, a sheet steel monocoque around it to tie everything together and, eventually be able to fit unstressed grp rear body moulding, doors and bonnet to.
The transmission tunnel will be a fair bit larger than an E type because there will be extra room inside but the sills pretty much identical...I'm still a bit vague about how the front bulkhead is going to be though, mainly because I have it in mind that the screen,its frame and the folding electric hardtop from a MX5 might look quite good....so until I can either measure, or get hold of one I'm leaving that part of the chassis up in the air for now!
That's it for now, I got the XJS running this morning so tomorrow its coming to bits.....anyone need any spare panels before I chop them (or maybe myself!) to bits??
unclerob said:
Hi 289, that's interesting!!! I'm going to be starting on my chassis in the next couple of days...haven't quite decided yet whether to leave the radius arm mountings as they are or move them inboard so they are on the same axis as the wishbone pivots....any thoughts?
Have a looke on Rob Beeres website for ideas regadinh relocation of radius arm points, he sells. Kit to move inboard the front end of the radius arm for racing e types for improved handling.unclerob said:
.haven't quite decided yet whether to leave the radius arm mountings as they are or move them inboard so they are on the same axis as the wishbone pivots....any thoughts?
If you keep the cage then nothing wrong with the original mounting points.If you remove the cage and mount the diff solid then move the rods in line with wishbone pivot.
This should help you along
http://irsforum.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=404
Thanks very much for the advice, apart from owning several I've never really had much to do with Jaguars before I bought the E type and the Rob Beere site completely new to me!! The radius arm mod is exactly what I had in mind, the pic is a bit small but thinking his arms are rose jointed where I'll make new arms with bushes instead specially as I'm going to stick with the cage, using E type mounts rather than XJS as they seem a bit firmer.
Also, just seen the reaction plate he does...that's my Xmas present sorted!!!!
That's great work on the IRS site and I'm tempted to change plans and do away with the cage (but only a little bit!), an awful lot more work....and I've got plenty of that ahead already!
Also, just seen the reaction plate he does...that's my Xmas present sorted!!!!
That's great work on the IRS site and I'm tempted to change plans and do away with the cage (but only a little bit!), an awful lot more work....and I've got plenty of that ahead already!
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