1961 Jaguar E type convertible restoration

[lowdrag]

Riccardino said:

Would be curious to understand the costs of doing something like that or at ;east certain things but fully understand that somebody might not want to disclose those informations

You can look back at the rebuild of mine in 2014/5 if you want. That final bill was £45,000. but it depends where you have the work done since labour rates are from £40 to £120 per hour. Mine was at the bottom end of the scale but I emphasise that the quality of the work was just as good. Depends if you work in a barn on a farm or in a grand emporium.

[Riccardino]

Thanks Justin S and lowdrag (will look at your thread)

Paracetamol please keep on feeding pictures

[Paracetamol]

dbdb said:

This is an excellent thread. I am marvelling at the panel gaps your guys are achieving. So many E-Types are ruined visually (at least for me) but poor panel gaps. But yours will look perfect.

Thanks. A lot of time and effort has gone into achieving the gaps. The panels went on and off several times. And the bonnet was pulled apart into bits and an English wheel was used to carefully reshape the centre panel.

I chose this particular restorer because he understood by old nature around panel gaps and has appears to have delivered the standard I wanted and with minimal fillers etc.

Edited by Paracetamol on Saturday 4th March 09:23

[Paracetamol]

Riccardino said:

Would be curious to understand the costs of doing something like that or at ;east certain things but fully understand that somebody might not want to disclose those informations

It's about 1200 hours of labour plus parts. there are other specialist services on top such as interior and hood , dipping etc. As lowdrag says you then multiply that by whatever your restorer charges.

However the need to find a restorer who sees things in the same way you do is important.

My instructions were to be as minimally invasive as possible. Some wanted to just build an entirely new car from the bulkhead back..

The highest quote I received was 150k gbp. The lowest 50k.. what I didn't want was a load of poor repairs and plenty of filler hiding it all.

I also chose to have the best paint job and these can vary in price depending on the level of in between sanding of coats etc.

Similarly on the interior, you can get a great kit or a bespoke fit..I have chosen the latter.

On the engine we are going fully balanced.

I figured I will only do this once and so have spent maybe 20pc more than I could have but I know I will be pleased with the end result this way.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Paracetamol said:

I figured I will only do this once and so have spent maybe 20pc more than I could have but I know I will be pleased with the end result this way.

That's a fantastic way of looking at it. Great thread; lovely car.

[lowdrag]

I'm not going to rain on Paracetamol's parade but just to show panel gaps this was mine in the time. I shan't post any more on mine because you can find it on the other thread, but I do look forward eagerly to more posts here.

[anonymous-user]

lowdrag said:

I'm not going to rain on Paracetamol's parade but just to show panel gaps this was mine in the time. I shan't post any more on mine because you can find it on the other thread, but I do look forward eagerly to more posts here.

Got a link to your thread please? Apologies if already posted, but haven't seen it.

To the OP, brilliant thread and lovely car.

[gifdy]

Further evidence that Readers' Cars is the best subforum on the site. Keeping it coming OP !

[Paracetamol]

lowdrag said:

I'm not going to rain on Paracetamol's parade but just to show panel gaps this was mine in the time. I shan't post any more on mine because you can find it on the other thread, but I do look forward eagerly to more posts here.

Not at all..your chap did a lovely job on the gaps too..and that colour combo makes me weak at the knees...if (in common with your car) mine was not one of the early 'welded louvre', flat floor cars..then I would have replicated this combination.

Unfortunately I am not rich enough to not care about the impact on the value of a colour change and blue is lovely too..

Edited by Paracetamol on Sunday 5th March 06:15

[Riccardino]

Paracetamol said:

I figured I will only do this once and so have spent maybe 20pc more than I could have but I know I will be pleased with the end result this way.

[RoadRunner220]

Great thread, looking forward to seeing this progress to a finished car.

[Paracetamol]

The engine rebuild is complete. It was mostly a case of cleaning and light machining. All wearing parts such as oil pump, waterpump and chains etc were replaced.

I chose to upgrade the rear seal to a modified version that should result in less leakage.



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|http://thumbsnap.com/JlKNKnBZ[/url]

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|http://thumbsnap.com/nibswGTA[/url]

Edited by Paracetamol on Thursday 16th March 06:26

[RC1807]

[triple5]

looking good

[Wacky Racer]

Absolutely beautiful job, probably shinier than when it was new.

[oobster]

I spotted an e-type shell wrapped in black polythene on the back of a trailer a couple of nights ago heading eastwards along the M8 motorway and it reminded me of this thread, enjoyed reading this, looking forward to more updates!

[Paracetamol]

Upon inspection, the gearbox on my car looks to be in great shape. Some bearings were changed.

The only area of concern was a layshaft that showed pitting. This was replaced and accroding to RH Classics, its an often overlooked part that can manifest itself as noise..

[Paracetamol]

The underfloor being prepared for paint. I am loving the sharpness. We will not cover this in stone chip. Instead a rubersised but smooth undersealant will be used and then painted body colour

[Paracetamol]

Here are the rare welded louvres that are on top of the bonnet (this is an internal view)

The story goes that cars made between March and Dec 61 had these because the pressing machine for the louvres had not been deployed. A strike at the factory at around Dec/Jan 62 was used to install the new equipment that lead to the machine being installed. Some cars even after this date had the welded louvres because of a stock of bonnet tops..So it was a mixed bag for a few months.

[lowdrag]

She's looking beautiful dear boy. The louvres were made part of the stamped bonnet in 1962 and the original moulds were cut and shut and the louvres welded in. Accepted wisdom is that this happened in June 1962 when the flat floors disappeared along with the straight rear bulkhead, but neith Skilleter nor Porter refer to this. But we'll never know really. One thing I would ask is whether the cylinder head colour is supposed to be "pumpkin" or a lighter later shade. I only ask because I am not sure from the photo. My info is the lighter shade.