V12 E Type Roadster (GT)  Full mechanical rebuild/upgrade

Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows:  Total engine rebuild, JT5 five speed conversion, front suspension rebuild, IRS rebuild (including badly damaged differential), carb rebuild, install Team CJ header system and Team CJ aluminium radiator, plus Wilwood brakes, etc.

She's leaving home...or at least heading home! At 3pm today we handed her to our friends at Intercity and waved the car off towards California.

Have fun, Greg - and thank you from all your friends at Classic Jaguar.
 

This project is now completed but for two gauges. During test driving (about 200 miles so far) we found that the (already rebuilt) tach was reading about 20% low and the speedo was a little bouncy at speed. We ran the car on a combination of the Sun 400 diagnostic and chassis dynamometer and were able to calibrate the tach error precisely on the computer. As we were sending the tach back to Nisonger anyway for adjustment, we went ahead and sent the speedo head off for a full rebuild.

Nisonger have promised us that the gauges will be back in our hands on Wednesday, July 5th, afterwhich date the car will be Westward bound.

On a personal note, Greg, on behalf of everyone at Team CJ, I would like to thank you for your friendship and patience throughout this lengthy project. It has been an absolute pleasure to have you as a customer and a friend.

We wish you (and your rebuilt E Type) the best of luck for the future.
 

Bonnet now on, electrics all hooked up, speedo now co-operating (1300 rpm at 50 mph) and time for the open road! The pictures below show Brad taking the car on its first proper drive. Immediately following this I personally took her on a 15 mile road test. Absolutely zero problems so far.

Everything is coming together beautifully, Greg! Look for another update tomorrow.
 

Maiden voyage time! The following photographs show Brad stretching the E Type's legs for the first time in many months. Other than a troublesome brake master cylinder (already replaced) and a speedo cable that doesn't want to co-operate, everything seems to be running perfectly. The Medatronics JT5 five speed shifts flawlessly.

More news later today!

First time it's needed   gas for a while!	Purring along again!

A positive update for you today, I'm pleased to say. We have now test run the engine for a total of 12 hours. The only problems we encountered were a leaking expansion tank (see how we cured that in the photograph below) and a leaking freeze plug which necessitated the removal of the headers in order to remedy.

Despite ambient temperature approaching 100 degrees, the fans continually cycled on and off throughout the entire period of the test run and the needle never passed the half way point on the water temperature gauge. Considering this is a tight, newly built engine, I am delighted with how cool it has been running during testing.

At this stage there are absolutely no other problems to report. The defective power steering pump I told you about on the telephone has been replaced and we hope to be putting the bonnet on the car on Monday and venturing out onto the open road for some proper road testing.

The last thing we will tackle is the AC system. I know it was problematic when you were driving the car so we are hoping to have that all sorted out for you before it is loaded onto the California bound trailer.

We will try to reach you during the day on Monday or Tuesday with an initial road test report.
 

A slightly frustrating week as we waited on various parts for your E Type. It is amazing how a missing hose from a hose kit can put a spanner in the works. In any event, we finally got everything in and have entered the last few yards of the finishing straight with this project. One of the photographs below shows your E Type aloft having all the nuts, bolts and fittings checked one last time. The other pictures show the installation of the radiator and various other engine bay ancillaries.

I know it is frustrating for you as we finish up all the last fiddly details, but we really are now down to hooking up the MSD system and turning the key. We should certainly be taking the long awaited test drive on Monday.

Hang in there, Greg - we're nearly there!
 
 

Here you see the engine and gearbox being installed. Looking forward to a maiden voyage later today (sans bonnet).

Well, after what has seemed an age, we finally received your JT5 gearbox and the modified bellhousing. All engine bay ancillaries have now been installed, including the fully rebuilt carbs, gear reduction starter motor and headers, and the 5 speed has been fitted to the rebuilt engine.

We will be installing the engine and gearbox before the end of the week.

Thanks for your patience!

We set off on this project as a straightforward engine rebuild and it basically became a full mechanical restoration. For various reasons, progress has been slow over the last couple of months, but I am delighted to say that we are now getting close to loading the sleeping beauty into a trailer and heading West!

The photographs below show the IRS assembly after John Claydon had rebuilt the differential and rear suspension. You will notice that I have substituted some of our Team CJ shocks for the Spax units we had originally planned to use. We hope to be installing the rear end into the car today, then we will turn our focus to installing the engine and new JT5 five speed.

Look for regular updates over the next couple of weeks.