| 1957 Team
CJ Jaguar XKSS (RG) |
Restoration log by Dan Mooney |
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Lots of progress since our last update! The screen surround frame has been riveted in place and the lower half painted, and Carlos has been busy fabricating and trimming the new interior. He has been careful to make it as close as possible to the custom interior created by Tony Nancy for Steve McQueen.
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The following photographs show Carlos recreating the interior that was custom made for Steve McQueen by his hot rodding friend, Tony Nancy. Fortunately we have lots of photographs to work from, and Carlos is doing a fantastic job of copying Tony Nancy's work. The last photos in the sequence show Jake riveting the screen to the front cowl. The XKSS is starting to look more like a car every day!
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| Sewing the seat base panels together |
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| Creating leather beading for the seats |
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| Comparing the first seat base to photos
of the original Tony Nancy seats |
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| Starting to create the seat back |
Air vents installed in the center spine
of the seat back |
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| Seat back panels starting to take shape |
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| Jake riveting the screen to the front
cowl |
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| The exposed aluminum beneath the blue
masking tape will be painted British Racing Green |
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The following sequence of photos show Carlos creating the new hide seats and Chris installing the engine and transmission.
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Painting the bonnet and engine subframes.
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Painting in progress!
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| Jake has now completed the fabrication
of the headlamp trim |
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| Trial fitting and adjusting the front
screen frame and side windows |
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| Plotting the center line of the car so
we can position the conv top frame and luggage rack perfectly |
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| We fabricated a steering hub for the
XKSS |
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| Trial fitting the hub to the custom
upper column |
E Type wheel used for test fit purposes
as the new D Type wheel is not yet completed |
The following sequence of photographs show Jake fabricating head lamp trim rings from straight sections of 'half oval' aluminum stock.
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| The headlamp trim is made entirely by hand |
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| Half oval aluminum stock |
Trim is constantly trial fitted |
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| Annealing the aluminum to make it more
pliable |
Aluminum is heated almost to melting point
during the annealing process |
The dry fitting process, continued..
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| New data plate |
Trial fitting front brakes |
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| So far everything is lining up perfectly | |
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| Jake and Chris trial fitting the screen
surround |
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| Looking more like a car every day! |
Lots of progress with the trial fit of the engine and drivetrain. Chris spent several days this week calculating optimum positioning and angles for the engine, transmission and rear end (pinion). He fabricated custom mounting brackets which position the engine with a distinct tilt to the left, which is how they were installed in the original cars. He also lowered the engine and transmission 5/8", thereby lowering the car's center of gravity. Finally, he formulated the desired driveshaft and pinion angles and fabricated custom brackets for the transmission and IRS.
We now have ample clearance between the engine and the underside of bonnet, and most of the suspension and drivetrain has been successfully trial fitted. The rear wheels in the last three photographs are not the wheels that will be installed on the finished car. We are using peg drive wheels and hubs on the finished car, per original, but as they have not yet been delivered, we are using spline drive wheels of the same size and offset to check our wheel and tire clearances inside the wheel arches.
The trial fitting process is time consuming and challenging, but makes final assembly of the car after painting so much easier!
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| Chris welding custom IRS mounting brackets
to the steel subframe |
IRS now mounted on 4 metalastic cage mounts |
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| Making sure we have adequate clearance for
the engine and Weber carbs |
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| This shot demonstrates how the engine is
tilted over to the left |
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| Note the angle of the oil pan |
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| Time to design and spec the driveshaft |
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| Crucial to get the angles right between the
engine and the pinion |
Trial fitting wheels |
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| Plenty of clearance! |
Trial fitting the suspension and and major drive train components.
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We really want the steering wheel in our Team CJ XKSS to be as close a facsimile of an original D Type wheel as possible. I have bought and used several replica D Type wheels in the past, but they were not close enough to the original D Type wheel for this particular project. That being the case, I contacted Mike Lempert, who makes and restores steering wheels and is a true master of his craft. Mike made a stunning steering wheel for one of my Lamborghini restoration projects, so I knew he was the right person to involve in my XKSS project.
I learned from Mike that D Type wheels were made in period by a company called Coventry Timber Bending (I love that name). Apparently the wheels were very much hand made and therefore each wheel differed slightly from the next. The way the wheels were secured to the hub varied, too. Some were blind riveted, some used a combination of blind rivets and button head screws. Mike shared a couple of photos of an original D Type wheel he had once owned (see 3rd and 4th images below). CTB always used Beech for the D Type steering wheels, which is a very light colored wood that matures and ages into a beautiful coffee color. Mike describes the new Beech as more of a manila folder hue, but we have decided to replicate the aged look for our XKSS project.
The wheel in the McQueen car has obviously been restored and varnished at some point, probably when the car was recommissioned at Lynx in England in the mid 1980's. Accordingly, I believe it is a little more 'yellow' than it would have been when McQueen was driving the car. In the first two photos you can see the McQueen steering wheel, including a close up of the rivets and screws holding the wheel to the hub. Interesting to note that the screw at 12 o'clock has obviously been replaced, and is also the only one of the three that has a large washer behind it. Perhaps this was a repair done by the King of Cool himself, although this is one aspect of the wheel that we will not be replicating.
Huge thanks again to the great staff at the Petersen Museum, and especially my friend Bruce Baciu in the Petersen workshop, for taking the time to assist me in getting this very special steering wheel just right!
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| My favorite steering wheel in the world! |
Note screw at 12 o'clock has been changed
and a washer added |
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| Note the beautiful coffee hue of an aged,
unrestored D Type wheel |
Look carefully and you can see evidence
of 3 lock washers at 12, 4 and 8 o'clock |
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| Bruce Baciu (ace mechanic in the Petersen
workshop) measuring the radius at the end of the spokes |
Rim thickness varies significantly around
the wheel, which is typical of handmade CTB wheels |
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Your engine is now fully assembled!
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| Corey torquing the cylinder head |
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Some very healthy gains on the flow bench for our 4.7L XKSS engine.
Team CJ 4.7L Stage Two engine rebuild in progress.
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| At the heart of the Team CJ 4.7L Stage Two
engine is a billet steel crankshaft |
Precision align honing is a vital part of
one of our Stage Two builds |
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| A view down the main cap housings
after align honing has been completed |
Torque plate cylinder hone in progress |
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| Forged steel connecting rods shave 600g
from the rotating assembly |
Team CJ forged stroker pistons |
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| Hanging rods on pistons |
Installing rods and pistons |
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| Forged pistons now installed in block |
View along intake runner to valve seat |
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| Head now fully machined and assembled |
Preparing to trial fit the rebuilt front and rear suspension in the CJ Workshop.
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| Storage for McQueen's Marlboros and Persol shades | |
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To be continued! |
| Genuine XKSS speedo is a fantastic
accessory for this car |
We are excited to have sourced a genuine, original, unrestored D Type/XKSS speedometer for our XKSS project.
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It is now time to start building the drive train for this exciting project.
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| This particular Team CJ XKSS will be LHD |
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| Construction closely follows the original,
with most panels riveted or TIG welded |
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| IRS rebuild already underway |
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| Actual spinner from the legendary McQueen
XKSS |
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| Iconic badging |
The famous Steve McQueen XKSS |