Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Off Topic Subjects => Topic started by: dakazman on Friday,November 22, 2024, 06:42:38 PM
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I Love Cats !
I will be busy fitting this stray into my life while also picking up an S1 .
Maybe it is an addiction, but this 66 XKE 4.2 series 1 needs to be put back on the road.
All ready removed interior items, harness , rear end (cage), after I remove the door glass it will be off to be media blasted.
Dakazman
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You ran out of things to do?
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It's going to take more than a buff and an oil change to get that one back on the road. Big project, but you just got to love an E-Type. Good luck, and keep us posted.
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One of my oldest and dearest friends left the corporate world to race cars he built himself. To offset the costs he started selling Jag parts. With his knowledge and fabrication experience it wasn’t long before he was rebuilding engines and then doing full restorations. He wants to retire but people keep asking him to build one more motor, rebuild yet another rear end and he has a back log. To make matters worse his one and only helper was injured at a car cruise and it looks like his working days are done. So my dear friend is left slugging it out by himself. This was his shop just two years ago. Three cars, one almost finished, one not even half done and the third is just parts hidden behind the red coupe. There are more cars/parts stored in trailers. Back at his house his two car garage is full on machine shop compete with lathe and vertical mill. He does all the mechanical stuff from home.
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Dreamer, Thanks you your post. At 20 I owned a 67 convertible 4.2 purchased for $400. usd , It ran but frequently overheated, I sorted through many fixes, clutch change, master brake cylinder, upholstery but just couldn't keep it. I was in the second year of my Faa technician A&P degree and needed a reliable car to drive from Scotch Plains to Teterboro, N.J., so my parents traded it in for a brand new 74 Firebird, All most an even deal, so where am I going with this, I would have died ifI was in any other car when a dump truck lost its brakes coming down new providence road onto US22. I veered just enough at 50 mph to avoid a T bone, hence my love for these spectacular cars. My girlfriend was equally as grateful.
I have 1 35mm pic of my car, I need to post it.
I'm not the owner just the builder.
Dakazman
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Tore down the jags doors, removing glass, regulators and door locks. Waiting for an appointment for media blasting the entire car. I’ll have to get the owners trailer and deliver. I’ll have plenty of smaller parts to access and repair.
The rear cage section looks good and shouldn’t take long to put back in service. Sorting out the harness on a build board coming and sending out the gauges to nosingers. Gearbox and bell housing is toast. Maybe I can salvage some of it.
Also, gathering all the chrome pieces to send them out asap. Then opening the engine 😵💫
Dakazman
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That tranny looks really rough. If those gears are rusted, I think you’ll need to replace them.
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Yes they are BDA. The top section shifter forks is even worse😵💫
Trying to find an entire unit is in the cards.
Dakazman
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😵💫😵💫
Even when I’m super busy I hate when shops take advantage of antique owners and say they fixed something or did a, tune up. See pic 1, back two plugs mismatched and loose, plus the back two were sitting in oil .
Compression test showed 132-135 all cylinders and held pressure for at least 10 min.
We maybe heard a slight tapping sound. So I’ll be checking to clearances. But first things first avoid oil change ( black) and a check of timing.
I decided to help. Always room for 1 more..
Plus these two look nice together.
Dakazman
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Another E-Type to replace the ones I had so long ago is the ONE car I would swap my S2 for.
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You and me both, Rich.
I’m going to tell the owner, jokingly, I thought you were going to put it back together.
It amazes me that the center console is solid copper sheet.
Dakazman
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Are you sure its copper, and not just plated in a bright finish? I had a switch panel from a Mk2 (years ago), and it was definitely steel.
Also, I seem to be attracting Jag engines these days, the 2.4 is still shoe horned into the Toj replica, and a 4.2 recently took up space in the garage. It's currently keeping the Climax FWB I picked up company:
(https://i.ibb.co/p25cNLH/Jag-4-2L.jpg)
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You’re correct just plated, I was cleaning it up and easily saw it later.
They are one heavy engine. Heading to harbor freight for an engine stand for it. Jag Lovers web site mentioned it would hold it with a little modification. I’m just tired of working off the floor on it and tripping on the pallet it’s on.
Also picked up a sheet of plywood to mount the wiring harness for both the xke and my S1,🤣
Which seems I’ll be able to fit on a half sheet.
Dakazman
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You dog! What a cool project. I think you are going to overtake me as the lord of projects because you are actually making progress! That said... I recently became a Jag man myself too! It was given to me...
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Interesting pair of red cars there Nukem!
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You dog! What a cool project. I think you are going to overtake me as the lord of projects because you are actually making progress! That said... I recently became a Jag man myself too! It was given to me...
Nice projects Chuck !
. Hopefully it should only take me a few months on the 140, the xke is going out to get glass bead blasted Monday. Tomorrow I need to get the Xke engine on the stand, but finding the correct bolts that are packaged up is time consuming, and then the harness of the S1 and the xke mounted to a build board.
Finding new places to store everything is difficult so I don’t get bogged down thankfully he donated his trailer to help there.
Dakazman
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The Xke engine is on the work stand, why would you stall a rebuilt? No gaskets under head or oil pan.i have some dirty work cleaning up an open engine after 5 years o sitting in warehouses.
After cleaning I could read the part numbers off the top of the new pistons. I did find a main bearing lock tab bent open on one bolt, were they removing that cap or forget to lock ?
The MK in the background is also his, I found several items that need attention after he just had a tune-up on it . 2 out of six plugs changed … no lower ball joint rubbers , leaking cracked radiator hose, front wheel loose y at least 1/4” wobble…. And a few other items. 🤬 I hate when people get ripped off.
Dakazman
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After cleaning the engine I found I need to get number 6 cylinder re sleeved. Tear down went easily and I found where old tech cotterpins and locking tabs interesting.
Body back from blasting and now my tedious task of cleaning and prepping the bare metal for primer and filling the books and crannies with wax.
Dakazman
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I had to shift gears here a little this week as I found an unexpected defect in the motors number 1s bore that would need a sleeve be replaced. So tear down went well and now waiting for it to go to the machine shop .
Then back to meticulously cleaning every inch of the blasted parts. Then following it up with an epoxy primer. Then i decided the best course of action to repair the corrosion in the door skin would be to remove the skin. It wasn’t that bad to remove and I’m glad I did or else it wouldn’t be long before rust would be coming through. New skin at $500 plus shipping from the uk or find a fabricator that could copy it , or…. Splice in a few sections. Then the rear quarter panels . Then top it off with new floor panels and repairs on the left rear fender. 😵💫😥
Tomorrow the other door.
I did manage to get a few hours in on the S1 , that story later.
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I'm envious of your garage that it can hold another project! That Jag has got to be a great project!
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Just cleaning the last of the part that were in the trailer along with the body. I’m glad that over with but I’m missing a bunch of parts to assembly an entire car. Maybe some of them will be in the next delivery along with the bonnet.
It’s been to windy to prime these parts outside and I’m not moving two other cars to spray inside.
I’ll do that when I spray the final color.
Dakazman
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Chuck , my father had that jag😃👍.
This is the ugliest part of my build, luckily the owner said cut it out! Now I’ll be able to get to the upper section and do some repairs to that🤮. The previous shop welded the new center section in with the sections upside down. I have a monsters Task ahead of me. Then don’t ask about the previous shop repairs of the floor panels. They even cut through the fuel line.
Dakazman
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Yikes …. Lovely repair :-\
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Hmm, interesting repair. Don't you have welding sets over there ? :)
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Hmm, interesting repair. Don't you have welding sets over there? :)
:I-agree:
What are welding sets?
I admit these repairs look to be done by high school shop class if that. Luckily that is it for repairs, maybe a little in the trunk lip.
Dakazman
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I got the blessing from the owner to replace this panel that was “fixed”, previously.
As you can see it was welded in upside down on the new center section. Then it went to ship building with just weld in another section and cover it with bondo.
This and the rear floor panels is what I’m up against. All the other that were in the trailer it was stored in are refinished except for the differential. Engine still at machinist.
Dakazman
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A little cutting later…, it was definitely the right choice. I now have access to redo some other previous repairs. I still have a lot of trimming to do on the underside and a Final Cut when I get the replacement panels.
Dakazman
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OK, like DK, I have never heard of “welding sets”. So I went googling, thinking in context it meant a set of replacement panels for, oh say a jag under repair. Nope, Google only offered “sets” as positions to weld, like vertically, or horizontally. So I’m guessing we are talking about a regional usage, which could be quite useful to spread to the rest of the world. So, please enlighten us :)
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Now for a real test for my patience, trying to save as much of this numbers matching gearbox .
I walked away twice all ready. It amazes me how an owner can let it get to this state, and holding on to it for 59 years. I’m guessing mercury damaged to the cover plate but just plain corrosion is also possible. Last pic
Bell housing and oil pan trash . That should add about 2k to build this car easy. You thought Europa parts are expensive , geez, highway robbery.
Dakazman