1967 E Type roadster (1E 15812) Complete driver restoration

Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows: This car is a prime example of the pitfalls of buying a supposedly restored car, at a high price point, only to discover that virtually everything needs to be re-done. Having found significant rust and bondo in the boot compartment, on the engine frames and in the bonnet, our first task will be to blast the car back to bare metal, before refinishing the coachwork in Opalescent Silver Grey. We will also be rebuilding the engine and transmission, as well as installing a number of performance and reliability upgrades.

Note: 226.21 rear wheel HP represents approximately 283 HP at the flywheel

We are now down to the finishing touches on this project...

Although obviously not quite finished, your car is almost whole again, and certainly close enough to justify a few photos outside in the Texas sunshine...

Interior retrim almost complete...

Lots of progress in the trim room...

Installing the new Suffolk & Turley interior....

Trimming seat backs
Assembling seats with rechromed brackets
Trimming the rear bulkhead
Light panel and light installed	B post covers installed with hardtop brackets
Installing the sill covers	Arm rest cubby retrimmed

Installing replated bumpers, lamp housings, installing gauges and switches.....

Installing bumpers and lamp housings
Dash re-wired, gauges installed

I know you didn't care for the light color of the steering wheel as received. Zakk has now sanded it down and re-stained it a much darker hue. Do you approve?

As received, the wheel was a little too light	Now much darker, will go nicely with the red interior

Maiden voyage time rapidly approaching...

 
 

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Installing the rebuilt engine, CJ5/600 five speed transmission, rebuilt carbs....

CJ stage one engine ready to install	CJ6/600 five speed
CJ5/600 fit neatly in trans tunnel	Bird's eye view of an E Type drivetrain
Huge stopping power up front
Team CJ polished stainless headers installed	Installing rebuild SU carbs...

Going back together is the fun part!

Laying in the new wiring harness	Handbrake installed and functional
	Team CJ cooling system
	IRS viewed from beneath the car

 
We have now installed your rebuilt front and rear suspensions and have your car back on it wheels...

Stage One engine rebuild now complete....

Bodyshell and doors now Opalescent Silver Grey...

Stage One cylinder head rebuild now completed...

Surfacing cylinder head
Flow testing head after port work	Head on assembly bench
Base line flow test (intake)	Picked up 59.2 cfm - which represents a tremendous gain

We have now painted the firewall, cabin and boot compartment. We will be painting the outer panels in the next few days. I have included a series of photographs showing the porting and polishing of your intake manifold. In the first photo in the porting sequence you can see how rough the casting is on the inside of the manifold, and how everything is gradually smoothed out during the porting procedure...

Intake manifold has rough casting surface from the factory
Midway through the porting process, you can see how  things are cleaning up nicely	Note how much smoother everything is after porting
Compare this to the first photo in porting sequence	Matching custom CJ seats to venturis
	You will see a huge increase in performance as a result of the time spent in the porting room

Applying the first of the Opalescent Silver Grey...

Masking underside prior to painting
Underside of bonnet painted	Applying rocker guard to underside
	Opalescent Silver Grey base
Clear coat applied

We will be applying the first of the Opalescent Silver Grey first of next week. The last photo in the sequence below shows the difference between Opalescent Silver Grey and Opalescent Gunmetal.

We have now trial fitted all your chrome and brightwork
Placing the bodyshell back on a rotisserie jig	Underside and inside the cabin and boot will be painted first
Cylinder head required extensive straightening in the oven	Two of the most confused Jaguar colors are Opalescent Gunmetal and Opalescent Silver Grey (door is Gunmetal)

Short block assembly now complete...

Assembling the short block in the CJ machine shop.

Balancing your crankshaft
Double checking bearing clearances	Measuring thrust

The following sequence of photos show Oscar getting the lead loading process underway.

Installing new outer sills, repairing rust damage in left hand rear quarter panel...

Doors are temporarily installed for fitment of outer sills	Side cowl panel also trial fitted in conjunction with doors and outer sill
Wurth Body Wax applied to all inner box sections
Outer sill now spot welded into place
Jacking point then TIG welded into place	Left rear quarter requires rust repair
	Repair panel fabricated and welded in place

Your IRS has now been completely rebuilt and upgraded with CJ springs, Koni shocks, etc...

Your differential and IRS have now been completely rebuilt	Rear brakes have been upgraded
	New CJ springs and Koni shocks

Darrell has been busy repairing your rusty door shells as well as dealing with some nasty corrosion beneath the screen pillars.

Both door frames were unfortunately pretty rusty
Cutting out the corroded metal	Trial fitting a repair panel
Repair panel welded in place	Bare metal repairs then sealed in epoxy primer
There was also some nasty rust beneath the screen pillars	With the rust cut away, a replacement panel was fabricated  and welded in place

Welding new boot floor assembly in place.

Installing new courtesy light panel, door restoration underway.

Trial fitting courtesy light panel	Now spot welded into place
Time to restore the doors	With door skins removed, inner shell not pretty
More corrosion issues to be dealt with

Installing new floors...

Wurth Body wax is applied to all inner box sections	Trial fitting new floors
Note trans mount and reaction plate integral part of trial fitting floors	Installing new subframe mounting points
Floors now welded in place	Inner sill braces welded in place
	Rear floor brace now welded in position
	Courtesy light panel will be replaced

Installing new inner sills and a new rear bulkhead and upper floor section.

Inner box sections will be treated with Body Wax
Note weld seams stripped to bare metal
Inner sills now spot welded in place
Fabricating repair panel at side of trans tunnel
	Not much left at the rear of the monocoque
New rear bulkhead and upper floor panel	Trans/propshaft tunnel and floor cross-member welded in place
Cutting away old upper floor section
Inner box sections will be stripped, sealed and protected  with Body Wax
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	Welding rear bulkhead/upper floor in place

Block machine work completed, carbs fully rebuilt....

Surfacing block with timing chain cover installed	Block machine work completed
Carbs now fully rebuilt

Lots of progress to report in the CJ machine shop. Unfortunately, your engine had mis-matched main cap bolts, which no doubt contributed to the housings being significantly out of spec. We upgraded you to a new set of ARP main bolts and performed an align hone, which has put everything right back where it needs to be.

Mis-matched main cap bolts
Main caps machined square	Uprated ARP main bolts installed prior to align hone
Setting up to hone cylinders to size	Custom torque plate used for final sizing

As your body awaits its turn in the Coachworks, we have been busy stripping, polishing and plating...

Stripping shipping primer from your new bonnet	Cam covers, intake manifold and carbs all polished
Nickel plated items	Front suspension also Ni plated

Back from the blasters, it is clear that this was an extremely rusty car that has been the victim of some extremely shoddy workmanship.

Frames were pitted and full of pin holes	Chassis number obviously cut from another picture frame and  welded to the frame on this car.....
Door skins were rusty and damaged	Wings rusty, crudely patched
Huge rust hole in left hand front wing	More rust damage
Underside of bonnet center section is nasty. See huge  patch top right	More crude patching hidden beneath bondo
RH inner sill rotten, crudely patched	Driver's side just as bad
Behind driver's seat, this was hidden beneath bondo	This is the rear cowl where rear edge of convertible top is tacked in place - again, hidden beneath bondo

We have now finished cutting away corroded sheet metal and sent your car off for blasting.

265 items have been sent of for Nickel plating
Inner sills are both rusty and have multiple crude patches
Inside view of left hand inner sill
	Right hand sill is no better
Rust holes everywhere plugged up with bondo	Note broken off door check strap found inside rh cowl side panel
More rust holes plugged up with bondo	Cutting away rear boot floor
	Corrosion found behind convertible top cowl panel
	Lower firewall had bondo plastered over rust
This is the lower mounting point for rh engine frame!	Rear convertible top cowl panel removed
Boot floor also removed
Off to the blaster!

More ugliness...

Remember obvious bondo on inside of lower right hand quarter, where drain outlet should be?	Beneath the bondo was this big rust hole
Crude patching on left hand outer sill

There is literally bondo everywhere on this car, including the engine frames....

Even engine frames are covered in bondo	Prepping car for media blasting
Rust holes in right cowl and outer sill were hiding beneath more bondo..	More bondo inside left hand sill, beneath battery
More bondo on left hand outer sill.....

More evidence of just awful workmanship in the boot compartment, I'm sorry to say. Just tapping the right hand floor support rail with a body hammer caused rusty water to seep out of cracks that appeared in the bondo smothered all over the panel. Closer examination revealed that some shameless individual had welded thin strips of metal directly on top of the completely rotten support rails - then wiped bondo everywhere, to cover his tracks.

Lower right hand drain pipe from boot lid gutter was held on (barely) with some sort of epoxy	The other end of the drain pipe was blocked off completely
Steel and epoxy part came away with the hose	Drain on the other side was also blocked off
Tapping right hand support rail caused rusty water to  appear from within	Why was this rail so 'fat'?
Here's why - patches installed on top of rotten original support rail, then covered with bondo
Center rail not much better	Almost ready for the rotisserie and a much needed trip  to the blaster

Not good news in the boot compartment, Jim. It looks as if the support rails have been carved from bondo....

Boot floor is rusty	Bondo caked over rusty support rails
This sort of thing has no place in a supposedly restored car	Drain pipes missing....more on this later....

I am pleased to report that we now have this project underway. I hope you enjoy following the progress over the coming months!

	Panel fit will be re-worked during repainting process
Engine and transmission will be rebuilt	Engine already torn down
Convertible top removed	Removing glass and interior trim