1964 Jaguar E Type (AV)
Mechanical upgrade and driver restoration


 

 
Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows:

Mechanical and cosmetic upgrade, interior trim replacement. A driver restoration...


 

 

Watch video of this car featuring in a Vogue photoshoot in Sao Paulo, Brazil
 



Update report - May 1, 2012
We are expecting the transport company to pick your car up in the next 48 hours. In the mean time, click on the photo below for a short video clip of the car on the Dyno yesterday

Note: After clicking the photo for the first time, it may take a few minutes to download the video before it starts playing.


 
 


 



The transportation has been booked and your car should be on its way to Brazil in the next few days.

 
'
Retrosound radio now installed
Auxiliary port installed discretely in glove box

 
 


All that remains to be done is a final detail and your car will be ready for delivery.

 
 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

   

 

 

 
   

 

 

 
   

 
 


Bad weather today in the Austin area is the only reason we didn't throw a slave seat in your car and take her out on the road. We will certainly start shaking the car down first of next week.

 
 
Rear bumpers now installed
 Almost ready for the open road
 

 


Trimming a 3.8 E Type bucket seat...

 
   

 

 

 
   

 

 

 
   

 

 

 
   

 

 

 
   

 


Carlos used a laser guide to indicate where the boot luggage rails should be installed.

 
 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 

 


Carlos has begun trimming your seats...

 
 
   

 

 

 
   

 


Lots of progress in the trim room...

 
Car coming together fast in the trim room
Carlos trimming the cantrails

 

 

 
Right hand cantrail now installed
 

 

 

 
 
Dash top now installed


Interior installation well underway....

 
 
Suede green looks great contrasted with grey healiner

 

 

 
Installing new Triplex windscreen
 

 


I am pleased to report that your Suede Green interior kit has now arived and we have the retrim underway.

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
   

 
 

 

 
 
 

 


Bonnet now installed and adjusted...

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
 

 


First look at the new headlamp with integrated flasher signal...

 
   

 

 

 
   


A short iPhone video clip of the initial test firing of your rebuilt engine....



 


Engine bay and cabin filling up rapidly...

 
 
 Installing rebuilt gauges. Speedo will be rebuilt once
a rolling calibration test has been performed
 Engine and transmission now installed

 
 

 

 
 
 Carb intakes have been ported to match cylinder head

 

 

 
 
Dunlop sport alloys look great


I am pleased to report that your car is now back on its wheels and we are preparing to install your rebuilt engine and five speed transmission.

 
 
 Back on its wheels again
Uprated pedal box and booster installed 

 

 

 
 Rebuilt front suspension installed
 

 

 

 
 
 Engine and transmission ready to install


I am pleased to report that your Stage One engine rebuild has now been completed.

 
 Balancing the crankshaft
 

 
 

 

 
 Ready for final assembly
 

 
 

 

 
 Measuring crankshaft thrust
 Installing timing chain assembly

 
 

 

 
 
 

 

 

The finished article!

 


Painting the main bodyshell earlier this morning...

 
 
   

 

 

 
   

 

 

 
   

 

 

 
   


Replated chrome items...
   

 

 

 
   


We have now completed your Stage One cylinder head rebuild....

 
 Head required extensive weld repairs
 Water jackets were re-cut on the mill, combustion
chambers were re-shaped and deck was surfaced

 
 
 

 

 
 Finished article is like a piece of jewelry
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 


Lots of progress in both the Coachworks and the engine machine shop....

 
 
 Bonnet seams will be welded and lead loaded
 Bumper seams will also be welded and leaded

 
 
 

 

 
 Side lamps will be removed
 Fabricating blanking panels for side lamps

 
 
 

 

 
 Blanking panels welded in place
This area will eventually be lead loaded 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 Lead loading welded bonnet seam
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 We will be using a headlamp with built in side 
marker light and indicator

 
 
 

 

 
 Kevin align honing your engine block
Within .0001" across all seven main caps 

 
 
 

 

 
 Honing cylinders to size
Surfacing block with timing chain cover installed 

 
 
 

 

 
Measuring bearing clearances prior to assembly
 Items to be re-chromed

 


Darrell is about to "de-bumperfy" your bonnet......

 
 Panel fit is now very presentable thro'out
 

 
 

 

 
 
 Front bumper seams will be filled with lead


Your cylinder head needed some extensive weld repairs and is currently sitting on the mill ready to be machined. One of the exhaust studs was broken off inside the head and that particular stud hole had to be welded up and will be re-threaded.

 
 Oil pan drain plug hole was welded up and will be re-threaded
Deck surface of cylinder head needed numerous weld repairs 

 
 
 

 

 
 Chamber will be re-shaped
 

 
 
 

 

 
 Stud hole will be drilled and tapped
 


Your SU carbs have now been completely rebuilt, mechanically and cosmetically.

 
 
 Manifolds have been polished, linkage Nickel plated
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 Previous owner had purchased CJ K&N filter
kit, which cleaned up like new

 
 


Base-line flow testing cylinder head, measuring alignment of camshaft saddles..

 
 
   

 


These should dress up your engine bay nicely!

 
   

 


Darrell has been busy working on door gaps, removing dents and filling unwanted antenna holes.

 
 
Door skin edges were ground and re-welded as
part of the fitting process
 

 

 

 
Driver's door now fits nicely
This car had two antenna holes, both of
which were welded shut

 

 

 
 
Dents removed from passeneger door

 


Your car is about to spend a couple of weeks with Darrell in the CJ Coachworks. He will be dealing with all the various dings and dents, as well as improving the door and bonnet fit.

 
 This car has been Opalescent Silver Blue, Old English White,
Red and Black...
 Wilwoods are a few years old but cleaned up as good as new

 
 

 

 
 Time for Darrell to massage away a few dents and
fine tune the panel gaps
Underside of bonnet is a bit of a mess

 
 

 

 
 New engine frames now installed
 

 
 

 

 
 Air intakes have been butchered and will both be
replaced
 Right side one is particularly bad


Firewall now much more presentable...

 
   


All sorts of stuff to report on this week!

 
Dunlop D Type style replica wheels
New frames painted

 

 

 
Items for polishing
Boring block to receive new top hat sleeves

 

 

 
A message from Kevin in the machine shop !
Heating the block prior to installing first 3 sleeves

 

 

 
More Nickel plated items
We sold this 5 speed to the last owner of this car 9 years ago. 
After inspection, it just needed cleaning and resealing.


We have now completed our repairs to the floor and transmission tunnel and have begun prepping the firewall for a much needed coat of paint.

 
 
 
Installing the new rear floor brace
This picture shows the panels that have been replaced

 

 

 
Gerardo sanding the firewall which will be refinished prior
to installing new engine frames
A new set of Martin Robey frames will be painted and installed


The following sequence of photos shows the replacement of both forward floor sections, the transmission tunnel, and the driver side lower bulkhead panel. Thankfully, this particular car's time on the rotisserie will be mercifully short...

 
 
 Driver's footwell needs help
 

 
 

 

 
 Time to start filling some of the holes with new sheet metal
Driveshaft and transmission tunnel is first to be installed 

 
 

 

 
 Darrell welding new passenger footwell in place
 

 
 

 

 
 Driver's footwell now sound
 

 
 

 

 
 A couple of small areas of corroded sheet metal in the boot
floor were cut out and repaired
 Fabricating a rear floor brace

 
 

 

 
 After a little steel origami and wedling....
 Ready to install


The first photo in the sequence below shows our specially modified 3.8 pedal box assembly. This modification (exclusive to CJ) allows us to use the far more effective booster and master cylinder set-up from later 4.2 and V12 E Types. This represents a huge upgrade in braking performance for the 3.8 E Type, without the need to modify the firewall.

 
 
 CJ's exclusive 3.8 pedal box upgrade
 Later brake servo is a nice upgrade over 3.8 set-up

 
 
 

 

 
 Restoring and retrimming the dash top
 Cutting out the damaged floor panels

 
 
 

 

 
 The view from inside
 Darrell will be installing a new transmission and drive shaft tunnel,
a new firewall kick panel,and both forward floor panels

 


We have been busy rebuilding and restoring various mechanical components over the last couple of weeks. We should begin the transmission tunnel and floor repairs in the next few days.

 
 
   

 

 

 
   

 

 

 
   

 

 

 
   

 


Progress with IRS rebuild, carb rebuild underway...

 
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 IRS now ready for assembly
 

 

 

 
 Front 2 1/8" brake calipers moved to rear
 

 

 

 
 Your old shocks were fine, and will be used with
a new set of CJ springs
 

 

 

 
 
New brake lines complete the rebuild

 

 

 
 Carb rebuild underway
Bodged repair on one of the carb bodies will need
a little extra attention

 


Lots of progress since our last update. The IRS rebuild is well underway. Shocks and springs appear to have been replaced recently, so we can re-use them. Pretty much everything else is being rebuilt or replaced. Your rear splined hubs were in poor condition so we replaced with new.

 
 Seats will be blasted and primed
Rods will be replaced due to excessive material
being removed from caps

 

 

 
 Differential has been cleaned, painted and rebuilt
 IRS cage has been powder coated

 

 

 
 
 Rear brake components have been Nickel plated

 

 

 
 
Front suspension also Nickel plated and will be rebuilt

 


Unfortunately, the bad news keeps coming with this engine. With the block now disassembled, we have identified a crack between # 5 and # 6 cylinders. Furthermore, the liner in # 6 has dropped and is about .030" below the deck surface (see photo # 3 below). The solution is to resleeve the block using top hat liners.

The first photo in the following sequence shows # 6 piston, which is obviously very badly damaged..


 
 
Unusual to see a piston this badly damaged
in a running engine
 

 

 

 
Note crack between # 5 and # 6 cylinders
Difficult to photograph, but this image shows the # 6 liner
that has dropped .030" below the deck surface of the block

 


Time for a complete suspension rebuild, front and rear.

 
 
 Front suspension will be Nickel plated
 

 

 

 
 IRS will be completely rebuilt
 

 

 

 
IRS now completely disassembled
 

 

 

 
Note missing cotter pin from # 6 connecting rod
And there it is, in the oil pan, next to a spare washer

 

 

 
Scary amount of material removed from # 1 con rod
Note makeshift filter screen on oil pick-up pipe

 


We have placed your car on one of the rotisserie jigs in order to repair the floors and transmission tunnel issues high lighted below. We have also investigated the low compression in # 6 cylinder, and unfortunately, the news is not good. When we removed the cylinder head it was immediately obvious that the piston and cylinder wall are damaged, probably from running lean and overheating. The short block requires a full rebuild.

 
Car on rotisserie for floor and trans tunnel repairs
Main floors are very solid

 

 

 
Interior has been removed, except for the dash
Note "all thread rod" being used instead of cylinder
head studs - amazing...

 

 

 
Pistons and cyl wall damaged
Close up of some of the damage

 
 
Engine bay now virtually stripped
Side frames will be replaced


We now have this project underway and have already made some interesting discoveries. The engine had great compression in 5 cylinders, and 100 psi less in the sixth. A leak-down test points to piston rings not sealing in the offending cylinder. We have pulled the engine and transmission and will report more on this issue next week.

While removing the engine and transmission, we discovered that the transmission tunnel has been largely hacked away - see photos below. I can only assume that someone did this in order to install a transmission, or perhaps change a clutch, without removing the engine. There is a significant rust hole at the front of the driver's floor pan that will also require our attention, and some smaller holes in the boot floor. Despite these issues, the car is generally quite solid underneath.


 
 Spark plugs in poor condition
Battery moved the the right side of the engine bay 

 
 
 

 

 
 Some interesting plumbing will need our attention
Reaction plate was cut and held in place
with inappropriate fasteners

 
 

 

 
 Some minor rust holes in boot floor will need patching
Transmission tunnel is largely gone! 

 
 

 

 
 Removing the trans tunnel was a really bad idea
Engine now removed and in the CJ machine shop
for investigation

 
 

 

 
 Both footwells will have to be straightened or replaced
Forward section of driver's footwell needs rust repair 



   

 

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