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...

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.

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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