Suffolk Jaguar SS100
Discussion
I became aware, as I was sorting out the door alignment, that the outer panels of both doors didn't faithfully follow the curved contour of the trailing edges of the front wings. They each had a few inches (in length!) of a 'flat spot' where they should be curved. Only a mm or two but instantly noticeable, especially from the rear quarter. I've tried to capture this on an image but with some difficulty -
Easily rectified in the paintshop with a smear of filler and a good eye, but, as I mentioned in an earlier post, one I could have avoided had I chosen to have the body prepped and painted by Suffolk before delivery. This 'correction' would have been attended to by them as part of the job. Of course it could be argued that I too could have fitted the doors before painting and thus discovered and 'corrected' then, but as the only jig I have is the car itself, it would have meant building the car first and then stripping it down for the paintshop before finally rebuilding it again!
You do what 'floats your boat' and I think that if I build another one, I would still do it my way. But to be fair, a lot depends on the facilities the individual builder has on hand. I think that perhaps I have more than most which influences my decisions.
Easily rectified in the paintshop with a smear of filler and a good eye, but, as I mentioned in an earlier post, one I could have avoided had I chosen to have the body prepped and painted by Suffolk before delivery. This 'correction' would have been attended to by them as part of the job. Of course it could be argued that I too could have fitted the doors before painting and thus discovered and 'corrected' then, but as the only jig I have is the car itself, it would have meant building the car first and then stripping it down for the paintshop before finally rebuilding it again!
You do what 'floats your boat' and I think that if I build another one, I would still do it my way. But to be fair, a lot depends on the facilities the individual builder has on hand. I think that perhaps I have more than most which influences my decisions.
At this stage, before sending the car back to the paintshop, I pressed on with the extensive woodwork that forms a lot of the interior of the car, namely the floorboards and the 'cabinet work' that boxes in the rear axle assembly.
The plywood floor patterns are supplied by Suffolk but as every car is different have to be tailored and the various holes cut as indicated by this plan reproduced from the excellent Suffolk build manual
Before installing them I stuck lengths of 1mm sticky-back rubber foam over the horizontal surfaces of the chassis to form a pad between them and the boards. Although not mentioned in the manual, hopefully this will reduce road noise and prevent squeaks. It seemed a good idea!
As installing the floorboards also involves fitting the seat runners, I took the opportunity of purloining a redundant chair from the office and modified it as a temporary lightweight racing seat before we get to the upholstery stage!
The plywood floor patterns are supplied by Suffolk but as every car is different have to be tailored and the various holes cut as indicated by this plan reproduced from the excellent Suffolk build manual
Before installing them I stuck lengths of 1mm sticky-back rubber foam over the horizontal surfaces of the chassis to form a pad between them and the boards. Although not mentioned in the manual, hopefully this will reduce road noise and prevent squeaks. It seemed a good idea!
As installing the floorboards also involves fitting the seat runners, I took the opportunity of purloining a redundant chair from the office and modified it as a temporary lightweight racing seat before we get to the upholstery stage!
The woodwork needed to make the back axle assembly cover was far more complicated than the floorboard job. The difficulty really surrounds the need to provide some sort of maintenance access to the rear, inboard, disc brakes. Any E-type owner will tell you of the extremely limited access when needing to change the rear brake pads due to their location and it's no different on the Suffolk SS100. Suffolk suggest cutting up the one piece full width pre-formed plywood sheets to make removable panels to provide access, One can make this job easier by making simple butt joints between the panels or more difficult by making 45 degree mitered butt joints, In addressing the question I considered road and brake dust ingress. Suffolk advocate liberal use of flash band builders tape to seal all the floorboard joints but I wanted to avoid this where I could. Therefore I decided to make ALL the joints mitered and sealed on the miters with draught excluder strip. This made the job much more exacting and much more laborious for a novice woodworker and it took me several days to get it right, especially as I decided to fit the optional tool compartment as I was about it which is sunk into the top horizontal section of the cover.
The unpainted section and the horizontal one above it (with the tool compartment inset) are both removable to allow service access to the inboard brake pads.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/uNKsV0GF[/url
The finished job. It's almost a pity that it will be covered by press-studded removable carpet !
The unpainted section and the horizontal one above it (with the tool compartment inset) are both removable to allow service access to the inboard brake pads.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/uNKsV0GF[/urlThe finished job. It's almost a pity that it will be covered by press-studded removable carpet !
Whilst we were in woodworking mood, we turned our attention to the proposed battery installation. Suffolk provide a very nicely engineered aluminium battery tray, reminiscent of the one we will be using on Christmas day .....
Very nice ... but we thought we'd like to come up with something more .... vintage. So the idea of a traditional wooden tray with side blocks to locate the battery came to mind ....
We had a mental problem when it came to the actual battery, too - a modern, sleek, flat-topped maintenance free battery didn't seem to sit right on our vintage look tray - so we sourced a vintage-look battery complete with screw caps and those almost forgotten lead connecting bars across the top ...... delightful!
I know it's wrong way round in this image but it was only a photo-fit to make sure it was low enough to clear the underneath of the bonnet.
The first one we got was half an inch too tall and had to go back after waiting three weeks for it!
Very nice ... but we thought we'd like to come up with something more .... vintage. So the idea of a traditional wooden tray with side blocks to locate the battery came to mind ....
We had a mental problem when it came to the actual battery, too - a modern, sleek, flat-topped maintenance free battery didn't seem to sit right on our vintage look tray - so we sourced a vintage-look battery complete with screw caps and those almost forgotten lead connecting bars across the top ...... delightful!
I know it's wrong way round in this image but it was only a photo-fit to make sure it was low enough to clear the underneath of the bonnet.
The first one we got was half an inch too tall and had to go back after waiting three weeks for it!
Edited by Roadstar800 on Friday 22 November 23:00
Edited by Roadstar800 on Friday 22 November 23:22
The Suffolk kit includes a wiring loom that we started to fit on the chassis before we lifted on the body. We secured the outer extremities to the chassis with 'P' clips in various places that would become virtually inaccessible once the body was in place. The transition from chassis to cockpit takes place at floor level, behind the pedal clusters, and follows the line of the steering column up to and along the substantial transverse roll bar behind the dashboard.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/CDSw8bUk[/url]
Although it looked pretty intimidating when first laid on the chassis, once we got going it fell into place and is quite intuitive the more we progress. Of course, several pages of the Suffolk manual are dedicated to the loom with wiring diagrams and lists of colour codes and loads of cross referencing. Some of the loom is redundant because it is built for every eventuality of specification, such as automatic gearbox and differing regulations for export cars etc. etc. This section of the build is ongoing right up to the day it is ready for the road so there will be more to write about as work progresses. Until the loom is connected and becomes 'live' we have 'jury rigged' the wiring - hot wired if you like - so that we may start and run the engine.
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/CDSw8bUk[/url]Although it looked pretty intimidating when first laid on the chassis, once we got going it fell into place and is quite intuitive the more we progress. Of course, several pages of the Suffolk manual are dedicated to the loom with wiring diagrams and lists of colour codes and loads of cross referencing. Some of the loom is redundant because it is built for every eventuality of specification, such as automatic gearbox and differing regulations for export cars etc. etc. This section of the build is ongoing right up to the day it is ready for the road so there will be more to write about as work progresses. Until the loom is connected and becomes 'live' we have 'jury rigged' the wiring - hot wired if you like - so that we may start and run the engine.
pingu393 said:
Roadstar - any updates?
Hi Pingu - it's been a long time! Thank you for your interest and patience in hanging in there! I temporarily suspended posts after Christmas as I was overseas and then Covid came along that turned my schedule upside down, as I'm sure it did for everybody. There were other personal reasons I suspended my blog, too, but rest assured I will be adding to it before long. Meanwhile the car is virtually finished except for trim and to all intents and purposes it's up and running. But to pique your saliva glands I'll give you a couple or three current photos - don't get to excited about the number plate - it's not real!
Would that be the lenses of your spectacles, Shalmaneser, or that of my camera?
When I was a very young lad I worked for Ian Appleyard, Sir William Lyons' son-in-law. Ian drove a works prepared SS100 in competition - speed hill climbs, Rally Monte Carlo and so forth, all well before my time, I hasten to add! His rally competition car was fitted with twin spares and this spec was engraved on my brain from a very early age! No, it's not normal on an every day road car but as a tribute to Ian I thought it would be a good idea. Of course, it precludes fitting a luggage rack for touring, but it's easily reversible back to a single wheel. Takes all of ten minutes!
When I was a very young lad I worked for Ian Appleyard, Sir William Lyons' son-in-law. Ian drove a works prepared SS100 in competition - speed hill climbs, Rally Monte Carlo and so forth, all well before my time, I hasten to add! His rally competition car was fitted with twin spares and this spec was engraved on my brain from a very early age! No, it's not normal on an every day road car but as a tribute to Ian I thought it would be a good idea. Of course, it precludes fitting a luggage rack for touring, but it's easily reversible back to a single wheel. Takes all of ten minutes!
laikathedog said:
Now that Suffolk are no more, can someone point me to where I can get:
Wheels and dummy drums ?
Hello 'laikathedog'. I'm glad to be able to tell you that although it's true that Suffolk Sports Cars went into voluntary liquidation, mainly due to JLR threatening them with legal action for alleged trademark transgressions, a new company has been formed to take over the newly defunct Suffolk Sports Cars and continues to operate at the same premises under the new name of Suffolk Classic Services. Even the management - but not ownership - remains the same with Mike Tink being the man to speak to. As a matter of interest I am due a visit there next week to collect the seats and leather trim for my car that successfully went through the IVA a couple of weeks ago. You can contact Mike via e-mail at mike@suffolkclassicservices.comWheels and dummy drums ?
Edited by Roadstar800 on Sunday 18th April 15:34
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