2011

Exhausting day

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The temperature hit 38*C today. That's a shade over 100F. Perfect weather for trying to put the exhaust on the car. So I did it. Well to be fair I only put on the new hotdogs and the pipes that connect them to the muffler. The new muffler and downpipes will get done when I put on the SUs, which involves replacing the rear exhaust manifold.
This is the first time in 6 weeks the poor old girl has actually been able to stand on her own 4 tyres. And she looks good.

Looking at the pictures I'm going to have to turn those exhaust clamps up the other way for ground clearance!

 

 

 

As can be seen the old pipes were very bad, and the hotdogs were essentially held together by the chrome plate, as I discovered when trying to weld up a hole.

 

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Brakes...maybe

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Well good old Tony at the brake shop came through anyway. I was a little bit down on him the other day when the caliper leaked, but he has come up trumps. Not only did he manage to get another seal kit when most brake businesses are closed, but he also found me a litre of silicone brake fluid. And drove and got it for me himself. And sold it to me at cost.
Caliper is now working and installed and... I have brakes! Well I have a pedal anyway. As the car is currently up on stands with no wheels it might be premature to assume too much.

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In the Doldrums

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Frustration. I have 10 days off over Christmas, an unheard of event, and work on the car is at a standstill.
I could have my car on the road by now if I had the brakes working. Unfortunately one of the rebuilt front calipers leaked all my expensive silicone brake fluid onto the ground while I was trying to bleed them. Back to the brake shop with that one. Probably can't get parts until the new year. I should have done them myself.
I could have my car on the road by now if my alternator wiring loom, posted on the 9th of December from the UK, had arrived. God knows where it is. I'll be ordering another one when Barratts reopen next year.
At least the SS exhaust arrived today; I'm in 2 minds as to whether to tackle removing the pipes from the manifolds now or wait until I replace the rear manifold when fitting the SUs.

Well at least I have had time to watch us thrash India in the Boxing Day Test.

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IRS is back where it belongs.

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Well the IRS has been up at Chris's for 4 weeks now, and today they brought it back.
New seals, new bearings, new bushes and mounts, new shocks, new brakes, new splined hubs and newly reconditioned 3.07 diff to replace the American 3.54 one.
Looks beautiful, and went back on in under an hour.

 

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Rear vision

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There's something quite empowering about taking a drill and making holes in your car door.

New wing mirrors installed.  Look a bit odd but they'll do.

Now if I could only find an interior mirror to buy.  No one seems to have them..

 

 

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Exhausted

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The bits of pipe that join the mufflers to the hotdogs were in poor condition so I got some new ones made up to replace them.  Sadly when I tried to remove the old bits of pipe from the hotdogs it seems that the only thing holding them together was the chrome.  I tried to TIG the holes up but just made them bigger :-)

So..more money to SNG Barratt.  I'll buy SS.  In Australia they'll last about a million years.

It is absolutely laughable that I can buy a name brand exhaust system from the UK, and have it delivered by air freight for about $700, more than $1000 less than I can buy the same system from a shop in Australia.

No wonder retail is dying here.

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Glove Box

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Getting the passenger side dash and the glove box done has probably been the fiddliest job of all so far. First I ordered the wrong parts. Then, when the right parts eventually arrived it became clear that putting them together wasn't going to be entirely straight forward.
This has been the first time that I've had to drill holes and bend things so that they fit, and make bits to hold other bits in place. And repair bits that were in place, but which broke.
Getting the pressed cardboard glove box liner to stay put has been hard work, and has required some ingenuity.
It's finally done though, apart from fitting the actual glove box door, which I still have failed to source.

After all this, I better get some gloves to put in there.

 

 

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An epiphany; BSH

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We've all heard of BSP; British Standard Plumbing thread. And of course BSW; our old friend British Standard Whitworth. God love it.
I however wish to propose the existance of another in this venerable line. BSH. The British Standard Hand. BSH defined the tolerances requried to install any part on a British made car from the 1960's.
Despite drawing a blank in my research (BSH docments are presumably still protected by the National Secrets Act) I have been able to infer the following about the BSH:

1. It is considerably narrower and flatter than my hand, and can be inserted easily and painlessly into the most inconvenient of spaces.
2. The wrist joint is capable of greater range of movement than mine. I estimate a BSH wrist can flex and extend at least 45 degrees more than my wrist, and supinate and pronate over 180 degrees, allowing the hand to completely reverse, in either direction as required.
3. BSH fingers are all 10" long, have an extra joint allowing backward movement and can exert a pressure of 300 lb/in. They can be folded out of the way when not in use.
4. BSH hands are impervious to heat, cold, grease and cannot be cut or bruised.

I changed the speedo cable today.  Here's a photo of the 90 degree elbow through the 3" hole in the gearbox tunnel.  As Jarrod pointed out; at least there's a hole.

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All coming together

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Marty came over yesterday, and in about 5 hours removed and replaced the dash and engine bay wiring looms.  I estimate that this would have taken me a week to do.
As usual, there were problems. What sort of fool would assume that if you ordered an under bonnet wiring loom it would include the alternator loom or the radiator fan loom?  Well, me.  So they're on their way from SNG B now.
Today Alex and I repainted the bezels on the tacho and speedo, and buffed up sundry chrome bits.  The dash looks great.
Popped up to Chris's for the E type tragics Saturday morning coffee.  My diff is back together and looks fantastic painted pumpkin.  The other bits will be back from the platers and powder coaters late next week so I should have an IRS to put back within 2 weeks.
All in all progress is going well.

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Ready to start re wiring

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In between battling with the clutch I've also managed to install the new driver's side instrument panel. The choke cables and heater vent control were there to add a bit of spice to an otherwise straightforward job, but with a bit of thought it all works.

Marty is popping over tomorrow to have a good look at the looms I have got from Barratts. Marty is the undisputed local authority on all things electrical in the Jaguar so I am most grateful to have his oversight and advice.

This is all very exciting; the electrics (which I have been dreading) are the last major hurdle to jump before, hopefully, the car becomes driveable again.

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