2011

Musings on "RTFM"

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Having been well brought up I am always careful to heed the opinions of those older and wiser than myself.  So when it comes to car repair, it's always "by the book".

On the topic of removal and refitting of the clutch slave cylinder, the Jaguar Service Manual is the indisputable authority. It states that the slave cylinder should be unbolted from the bell housing and withdrawn over the clutch actuating arm rod.  It states very clearly that the actuating arm rod should NOT be removed.

Replacement being the reverse of removal, several hours of battle commenced trying to refit the slave cylinder. The last person before me had obviously found it a challenge too; he had only replaced one of the two studs that hold the cylinder body to the bell housing.

After much thought and effort, and feeling that special dread that only one deliberately countermanding a direct order can know, I removed the actuating arm rod.

About 10 minutes later, with much more room to move, I had the slave cylinder refitted and ready to be bled.

Remarkable.

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I'm back!

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After being away on holidays for a couple of weeks I'm back, full of enthusiasm.

The new RHD dashes have been trimmed, the wiring looms are here and tomorrow I'll call and find out how far the boys have got with the IRS.

watch this space!

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Bye bye IRS

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Today 3 men came and took my IRS away.  I wonder if I'll ever see it again...

 

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A Visitation

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This morning the gurus arrived.  At 9.30 sharp Chris and Alan arrived, along with Marty and my mate Ron.  Chris and Alan restore E Types and Marty fixes electrics. He had just finished my windscreen wiper motor.

An inspection was made, coffee and buns were consumed.  I asked many questions:

"How do I get the driver's side door to open?"  I asked.  I haven't been able to open it using the door handle since I got the car.  "Have you tried using the key to unlock it?"  said Alan.  Bugger me, it worked.  Why didn't I think of that?

Marty discussed the wiring.  Alan nodded knowingly.

After talking to Chris I'm going to bite the bullet and take off the IRS. I'll take it up to him and get him to fully recondition it and put in a 3.07 diff.  I wasn't going to but once its done I'll never have to touch it again.  He's got the tools to get the bearings out of the hub carriers and knows stuff about shims. Hopefully I can do the disassembly and help put it back together too.

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Clutch

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In my neverending quest to purge the hydraulics of evil, I finally took the clutch slave off today.

It doesn't sound much but it's in a bugger of a spot to get to and I had half convinced myself that it would be OK.

Removal was easier than expected, predominantly because the last person who'd been there had obviously been unable to reinstall it on both studs and had solved that problem by removing the really hard to get at stud so that there was only one holding the cylinder in place.  Good thing I checked.

The cylinder looked pretty clean on the outside but when disassembled is (a) scored inside by rust and (b) missing some internal parts!  New one required.

Another $50 to Mr Barratt.

Ho hum.  Given that every piece of hydraulics I have looked at so far has been completely stuffed I think I'm not going to have any choice but to take off the IRS and overhaul the rear calipers. Bugger.

 

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Waiting waiting

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Proceedings are on hold until I get the dash panels back from the trimmer.  Hopefully in the next week or so. Bloody frustrating; I'm not a waiting kind of guy. 

Mind you I'm not looking forward to the electrical part of the conversion at all.  A bolt you can see, and tighten with a spanner.  But electrons; well they're a different kettle of subatomic particle altogether.

I still have the clutch slave cylinder to inspect, and I probably should remove the IRS and have a good look at the rear brakes.

Ron and Marty are popping by on Thursday morning to inspect the lay of the land vis a vis the electrics.  Marty is rebuilding my windscreen wiper motor and knows about stuff.

I'll keep you all posted.

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Reassembly going well

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Whenever you read the manual, any job on the engine, front suspension etc always starts with the phrase "first, remove the radiator".

The logical extension of this is that the last step of any job is to put it back in.

So it is with great trepidation that I put it back in and connected up all the new hoses.  I just know that I'll end up having to take it out again, which is why I've prevaricated so long.

Anyway, it's done.  I haven't filled it with coolant though...

 

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I knew I had children for a reason

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All those years of paying to feed, clothe and educate my 3 children paid off today.  After nearly poking my eye out with the heater control cable while trying to remove the brake servo I had pushed it back through the firewall.  Out of the way and easy to retrieve, I thought.  How wrong you can be.  

Small hands make light work. I am convinced that Jaguar maintained a staff of double jointed arachnodactylic pygmies solely for E Type assembly.  My theory is that a tragic epidemic killed them off in the late 60's, leading to the demise of the British sports car as we knew it.

 

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Heater finished

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All of the bits I needed to complete the heater rebiuld arrived this week.  Included was a plastic bag of bits of foam to make seals inside the box, but it wasn't immediately apparent which bits went where.

Inspiration struck; I'd ring Rob as I knew he'd done the job on his car.

Yes, said Rob, he'd rebuilt the heaters on both his E Type and his Mk2.  No, he said, he still had no idea which bits went where.

So I glued them in where it looked like they might go.  Hell, no one will ever see them.

 

 

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Front suspension finished for now

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Bouyed by the kind thoughts of my friend, I have finished off the front suspension by replacing the front shocks.

I chose the Koni Classics.  These are a good quality double acting adjustable shock.  Their one drawback is that they are not adjustable on the car which is irritating but does keep the price down.  In the past I have used Spax shocks but SNG Barratt didn't stock them, so Koni's it is.

I have put on a different set of tie rod ends.  These are supposed to be the ones for Series 3 cars, but do match what I took off.

 

The only major job left is the dash conversion.  I have been avoiding this as my previous experiences with old car electronics have been universally negative (ho ho, a joke).

 

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