E-type déjà vu. The second rebuild
Discussion
Several weeks ago I took the E-type across to Hampshire, and while this photo is from a few years back theis is generally what she looked like.
More specifically, these were taken before I said goodbye:-
A week ago she looked like this:-
We were agreeably surprised by the condition of the shell, although as you'll see there are areas for concern.
The A-post shows previous damage; I know, because I had prepared the car to lend to Jaguar for the 60th anniversary at the NEC. My ex-girlfriend decided to push the car outside while I was playing golf to carry on the cleaning. Off the car sailed down the drive ripping the door off on the wall. I was not amused. Hence a quick repair was instigated, but a new A-post will be let in.
The floor pans were found to be in need of replacement where the previous welds from 25 years back hadn't been properly sealed, so two pans ordered:-
The bulkhead, often a source of problems, was in good order though:-
The motor had seen better days, and the decision has been taken to rebuild it, even though it was running pretty well when it was taken out, if a bit noisy.
I'm a bit pressed for time today, so I'll post more at another time.
More specifically, these were taken before I said goodbye:-
A week ago she looked like this:-
We were agreeably surprised by the condition of the shell, although as you'll see there are areas for concern.
The A-post shows previous damage; I know, because I had prepared the car to lend to Jaguar for the 60th anniversary at the NEC. My ex-girlfriend decided to push the car outside while I was playing golf to carry on the cleaning. Off the car sailed down the drive ripping the door off on the wall. I was not amused. Hence a quick repair was instigated, but a new A-post will be let in.
The floor pans were found to be in need of replacement where the previous welds from 25 years back hadn't been properly sealed, so two pans ordered:-
The bulkhead, often a source of problems, was in good order though:-
The motor had seen better days, and the decision has been taken to rebuild it, even though it was running pretty well when it was taken out, if a bit noisy.
I'm a bit pressed for time today, so I'll post more at another time.
Edited by lowdrag on Wednesday 16th October 07:54
And us too. However, if you looked closely there were little lines like spider's webs in the rear wings, the boot lid was a bit bent and chipped, the doors and the bonnet had paint reaction and little patches of dark blue in the light blue, so I took the decision to do a bare metal repaint. Here's another photo showing inside the door jamb which shows what is going on:-
Another showing a hole under the windscreen rubber:-
The rear underside was far better than expected:-
What I haven't as yet got are photos of the doors and bonnet in bare metal. Those should be interesting. It was the accumulation of a little bit here and a little bit there that made me take the decision. A stitch in time may save nineteen let alone nine. Anyway, it's a bit late to worry now!
Another showing a hole under the windscreen rubber:-
The rear underside was far better than expected:-
What I haven't as yet got are photos of the doors and bonnet in bare metal. Those should be interesting. It was the accumulation of a little bit here and a little bit there that made me take the decision. A stitch in time may save nineteen let alone nine. Anyway, it's a bit late to worry now!
Edited by lowdrag on Wednesday 16th October 15:44
As I'm getting old and doddery I am keeping the engine standard 9:1. Quite frankly there are so many BiB and cameras about nowadays that turning it into an animal is pointless, especially since I have a hot engine in the XKSS. No, she'll be a warm teddy bear, all fluffy and comfortable and be able to tour long distances in grand style and be able to mix it if necessary. The work is being done by a young fellow not far from Basingstoke and I have seen his workmanship before. His shut lines are to die for, and very little filler is used at all in a rebuild. The problem is that he is booked up well in advance (I discussed my car over a year ago) and it will be finished late April, then he has a friend's XK120 shell to rebuild and so on. About the only real upgrade (apart from modern neoprene bushes) will be sending the radio to Tadpole for updating with iPod and USB key facilities, FM and DAB and more than the 4W output it currently has, plus a modern aerial under the dash roll instead of that whiplash noise maker on the wing. She already has Zeus brakes which transformed the braking, but they have rusted and are being powder coated, as is the suspension etc. Again, it was the stone chip paint that saved the car from rusting over the last 25 years, so the same again will be used. The XKSS is currently at CKL for some work following her conversion, but I'll have her back at Xmas for the New Year meet in the New Forest, so if anyone is going see you there.
As a general comment, chassis #60 recently sold for £120,000 at auction and is at CMC for a full rebuild. Mine is 92 chassis numbers and four months younger, but my rebuild costs will I calculate be about 25% of the earlier car's. Money is finite these days, and one must look for value for money before committing. CKL have transformed from a farm building backwoods - but superb - operation to a slick, modern, spacious and air conditioned unit, but such moves do not come without cost, so their labour rate rose 50% as a consequence. I just couldn't afford to use them.
As a general comment, chassis #60 recently sold for £120,000 at auction and is at CMC for a full rebuild. Mine is 92 chassis numbers and four months younger, but my rebuild costs will I calculate be about 25% of the earlier car's. Money is finite these days, and one must look for value for money before committing. CKL have transformed from a farm building backwoods - but superb - operation to a slick, modern, spacious and air conditioned unit, but such moves do not come without cost, so their labour rate rose 50% as a consequence. I just couldn't afford to use them.
Edited by lowdrag on Saturday 19th October 09:05
Hooli said:
How can your chassis number be 92 less than #60? I realise this is probably just my lack of Jag knowledge showing up again.
My mistake I think. Mine is 152, so 92 on from that one sold near £120,000, with over £100,000 of restoration to do. Now look here at #80 so essentially the same car:-http://www.silverstoneauctions.com/1961-jaguar-e-t...
Didn't sell even with a full restoration behind it. The "outside bonnet lock" cars are rare, only 4 fixed heads and 91 roadsters being made in RHD before they changed the configuration and cars like mine, the "flat floor" models made until the end of January 1962 aren't far behind. They are rare. As regards aerials, don't forget that a roadster has a plastic rear window! Values are all over the place, with the "barn find" cars seeming to have a - for me unfathomable - mystique when restored cars fetch far less. Some dealers are asking a fortune and others are reasonable. You only have to look through the Pistonheads selection for sale to realise that; a 1962 roadster at £155,000 yet a 1964 one at £90,000, both fully restored. You only have to check around to see that some are flying kites, some are seriously trying to sell, and there are some to whom money is no object, but then a fool and his money are soon parted.
The point of my rebuild is not only the condition of the car but the fact that gnawing away at me for some time has been the fact that before I die she should go back to the colours she came out of the factory with; she deserves it. So should time grant me the space to do another 100,000 in her then I'll go to my grave knowing I did my best by her. And she'll be in gunmetal grey with red interior.
Nothing this week from Lee, Dave, but I know he's replacing the floor pans and the A post. I just let him get on with it and he'll probably send me some photos at the weekend. Have discussed the engine with VSE and will go with the standard rebuild since I don't want 9.5:1 compression with petrol as it is and anyway, my track days and hill climbs are behind me now I think. Engine should be ready end of February as scheduled, completely rebuilt and bench-tested. They have, apparently, over 40 engines waiting for rebuild at the moment.
No, as mentioned earlier it was I who changed to this light blue during the last rebuild in 1988. What I did was to take a large sheet of steel and quarter it with duct tape, then bought a number of paint cans. I sprayed one quarter, and if I liked it I went to a half. Most of the cans went in the bin after one quarter, and I ended up with this light blue which I can now reveal isn't, as most people have assumed, opalescent silver blue but Ford glacier blue, from a Capri. So the cat is out of the bag! It is a lovely colour, brighter and to me far more attractive than opalescent, but that was in my younger days and now I am returning her to the colours she left the factory in - gunmetal with red interior. I might even prefer the blue, but I feel an obligation to a car that has served me so well for many years.
So, she'll be ready in about six months and I'm really looking forward to it. In the mean time the XKSS is at CKL and I am, for the first time since I don't know when, carless, bereft of real transport. Pass the me the bottle please.
ETA Looking at the first photo of the E-type I noticed the height of the bushes in the background. Those bushes are now over, in some instances, two metres high and so it must have been taken in about 2003!
So, she'll be ready in about six months and I'm really looking forward to it. In the mean time the XKSS is at CKL and I am, for the first time since I don't know when, carless, bereft of real transport. Pass the me the bottle please.
ETA Looking at the first photo of the E-type I noticed the height of the bushes in the background. Those bushes are now over, in some instances, two metres high and so it must have been taken in about 2003!
Edited by lowdrag on Tuesday 22 October 19:18
I DID have several photos which I lent to the editor of the JDC back then, well over 20 years ago - and he lost the damned things which really annoyed me. I have the green - not buff - log book and had contacted previous owners who had kindly sent me what they had, plus I have letters recounting their good times with the car. In all, I am now about to start the fourth ring binder containing all the bills I have had over the years, plus of course there are photo albums of JDC tours et al, plus loads of modern digital ones on the computer.
The saga continues. The last news was that the car was being prepared for surgery, and the time has arrived. In a kind of "Back to the Future meets Fred Flintstone" moment, you'll note that the means of propulsion has lost a few horsepower:-
However, fear not, because once again we will be wafted along in the dry:-
Further inspewction of the shell found that, as I had feared, rust was starting to set in at the bottom of the wing and would have rotted the sills from within:-
The new A-frames have been offered up and fitted. These are from a company called E-type Fabrications and are without doubt the best to be found:-
A slight delay on fitting the A-post because, despite the box saying "Right hand side" it wasn't, so now the inner part is finished awaiting the skin:-
On now to something that Lee is famed for - his shut lines. He has offered up and reshimmed the bonnet:-
Looks inch perfect to me, and better than before of course. That's it for the moment, but there are of course times when things are being done that aren't really worthy of a photo, but progress is taking place nevertheless.
However, fear not, because once again we will be wafted along in the dry:-
Further inspewction of the shell found that, as I had feared, rust was starting to set in at the bottom of the wing and would have rotted the sills from within:-
The new A-frames have been offered up and fitted. These are from a company called E-type Fabrications and are without doubt the best to be found:-
A slight delay on fitting the A-post because, despite the box saying "Right hand side" it wasn't, so now the inner part is finished awaiting the skin:-
On now to something that Lee is famed for - his shut lines. He has offered up and reshimmed the bonnet:-
Looks inch perfect to me, and better than before of course. That's it for the moment, but there are of course times when things are being done that aren't really worthy of a photo, but progress is taking place nevertheless.
Edited by lowdrag on Friday 25th October 07:49
I've fitted standard frames on the basis that at my age they'll see me out anyway. for the rest, I shall keep the Moss box because I just love it. Call me a Luddite, but while I am now using an electronic dizzy and Zeus brakes, that's about as far as I will go in the restomod game. No electric steering assistance, no 5-speed box, etc. I love her for the character she had, not what she could have developed into.
Well, following on from the previous report, when the doors were stripped we found, to my surprise, that the passenger door was in perfect shape:-
On the other hand, the driver's door had been quickly repaired to put the car on display for Jaguar, and frankly I'm surprised it lasted this long:-
The driver's door is completely unusable, as evidenced by these two photos showing th shut lines when put back on the shell:-
Passenger side perfect:-
Now compare the driver's side:-
Rust was found under the screen above the door shut:-
And at the bottom of the B-pillar:-
The boot lid had suffered over the years being a bit dented and distorted but is salvageable with no rust:-
All in all, given the hard life that this car has led over the last 25 years, I am more than pleased with what we have found. I expected worse, and it is clear that if the problems hadn't been redressed now then in a few years the situation would have been far worse. More anon.
On the other hand, the driver's door had been quickly repaired to put the car on display for Jaguar, and frankly I'm surprised it lasted this long:-
The driver's door is completely unusable, as evidenced by these two photos showing th shut lines when put back on the shell:-
Passenger side perfect:-
Now compare the driver's side:-
Rust was found under the screen above the door shut:-
And at the bottom of the B-pillar:-
The boot lid had suffered over the years being a bit dented and distorted but is salvageable with no rust:-
All in all, given the hard life that this car has led over the last 25 years, I am more than pleased with what we have found. I expected worse, and it is clear that if the problems hadn't been redressed now then in a few years the situation would have been far worse. More anon.
Yes, there is that slight feeling of patting myself on the back I guess. It is costing, but not as much as if she had been left to rot further. One interesting thing I've learned recently is that the latest Triplex screens won't fit because they are half an inch too wide, so if anyone is changing their screen and is puzzled look no further for the reason. There are other makes out there. Here are a couple of photos of the carbs and parts after ultrasonic cleaning:-
Edited by lowdrag on Wednesday 30th October 09:06
No one's commented on the first picture then?
Now my chassis number is 152RHD and I spotted 152LHD for sale. I was curious as to the price, but I find to my horror that I need to talk to my insurer. My car is insured for £40,000; 152LHD is for sale at £250,000. it's on the internet here:-
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C447560#
And they say they are "serious" about the price too.
Now my chassis number is 152RHD and I spotted 152LHD for sale. I was curious as to the price, but I find to my horror that I need to talk to my insurer. My car is insured for £40,000; 152LHD is for sale at £250,000. it's on the internet here:-
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C447560#
And they say they are "serious" about the price too.
While awaiting the new driver's door so Lee can finish the body alignment etc., he has been getting on with the "fiddly bits" of a restoration, the parts that are relatively small sometimes but no less important. However, he started to strip the bonnet then decided it should be sandblasted and a couple of pin holes were found, so just as well. Since this was a replacement bonnet 25 years ago it doesn't have the inset louvres and I've taken the decision to return it to the state it would have been when "born", so new inset louvres have been ordered. Anyway, here are a few photos of the refurbishments:-
Bright shiny dynamo
Buckets repainted silver. This car is just outside the first series which had the body colour buckets.
Steering rack as new
Header tank. they don't rot since they are brass:-
Finally, radiator, cowl and header tank. Is it me or does the radiator seem to have a very self-satisfied smile on its face?
These are just a few of the under-bonnet refurbishments. you then have to consider the inside, the rear suspension all the chrome that is away, the suspension that is being powder coated. A restoration is truly an iceberg in this respect. More anon.
Bright shiny dynamo
Buckets repainted silver. This car is just outside the first series which had the body colour buckets.
Steering rack as new
Header tank. they don't rot since they are brass:-
Finally, radiator, cowl and header tank. Is it me or does the radiator seem to have a very self-satisfied smile on its face?
These are just a few of the under-bonnet refurbishments. you then have to consider the inside, the rear suspension all the chrome that is away, the suspension that is being powder coated. A restoration is truly an iceberg in this respect. More anon.
Edited by lowdrag on Friday 15th November 06:42
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