1974 E Type roadster (FC)
Driver restoration with HP upgrades

 

 
Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows:

Improve panel fit, eliminate rubber bumper overriders, fit aftermarket enclosed headlamp kit, repaint and perform major mechanical rebuild and upgrade.
 
 

 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 		  
   
 
 
 
 
 		  
   
 
 
 
 
 		  
   

 
 

John and Derek from the Austin Speed Shop recently visited CJ and did the following video of your car. Video hosted by dogfightmag.com

 


 

A couple of photos of the new big bore custom exhaust installed...

 
   
 
 
   

 

We have been having fun on the dyno this afternoon, tuning and testing your car. The following pull was done with the main muffler disconnected, so it was a little loud! The 344 HP rear wheel number equates to around 435 HP at the flywheel, which is obviously quite a healthy number! In fact, as you can see from the chart below, the power was still rising when we lifted at 6,000 rpm.

Click here for a video clip of one of the dyno pulls


 


 

A definite family resemblance....

 
   

Francisco, my camera mic does not do justice to the noise your engine makes. It sounds absolutely awesome! Click on the photo below for a short video clip of the engine running.

Note: The video is a large file so you may have to let it run all the way through once before you can watch and listen to it without interruption in video and sound quality.



 
 

The following sequence of photos show how we dealt with some minor clearance issues between the accelerator pump rods and the valve covers, and also the linkage fouling against the back left carb at wide open throttle. With both problems solved, we are now getting very close to firing your engine!

 
 
 Rather than shorten the accelerator pump rods, we 
decided to machine grooves in the cam covers
 Not the best photo, although you can see where
Kevin machined some relief for the pump rods
 Trial fitting and testing for clearance

 
 

 
 
 
 Notice how the nut on the end of the accelerator 
pump rod now clears the cam cover at WOT
 Once repainted, the machined groove is barely
noticeable
 Linkage was also fouling against back left 
carb (area of contact marked X)

 
 

 
 
 
 After shaving a little material from carb body,
we now have clearance at WOT
 
 Weber installation now completed

Installing Rob Beere's excellent Weber conversion kit. We machined 1/8" from the custom intake manifolds to give us a little extra under-bonnet clearance. The last photo in the following sequence shows the resultant clearance above the six twin choke carbs with the bonnet trial fitted.

 
 
 
Scribing and matching gaskets
Material to be removed marked 'X'
     
 
Probably best not to check your
fuel mileage....
  
     
   
Trial fitting bonnet shows plenty of
clearance above Webers
    

 

Engine now installed...

 
     

We are scheduled to install your rebuilt engine and CJ5/600 five speed later today.

 
 
 
 CJ5/600 five speed bolts directly
to factory bell housing
 
 
 Team CJ headers look great and provide 
a nice performance gain
 

Your engine rebuild has now been completed...

 
   

 

Installing and wiring in lighting, including the custom enclosed headlamp covers...

 
   
 
   

Short block now assembled...

 
     

 

Assembling your short block...

 
 
     
   
     

 

Carlos has now trimmed and assembled your seats...



 
 

Honing the cylinders to fit your Team CJ forged pistons.

 
CJ pistons save 100g per piston
Using torque plate to hone cylinders
Skirt clearance set at .004"

As we continue with your Stage II engine rebuild, we also have the restoration of the interior well underway. If you look carefully at the close up of the cam lobe (last photo below), you can see where the original lobe has been welded up and then re-shaped, providing increased lift without changing the base circle.

 
 
New biscuit hides feature red piping
  
Surfacing the cylinder heads
   
 
New uprated camshafts
Increased lift achieved by welding
up and regrinding the lobes
  

 

The following charts show the gains we made by porting your cylinder heads. When we did our base line testing last month, not only were the flow numbers (measured in cfm) very poor, put the velocity through the ports was also dismal. If you compare the color coded before and after images of the respective ports, you will see that we have dramatically improved port velocity.

In terms of flow, the intake ports picked up 36.4 cfm and the exhaust ports flowed 21 cfm more. At .450" lift, intake flow increased by 40.5 cfm, with peak flow numbers maintained and no loss of velocity all the way to .550" lift. In view of these gains, we have decided to go with a more aggressive camshaft profile. The new cams will have a maximum lift of .438" with a huge increase in duration.
 
Intake base line flow numbers
Intake flow numbers after porting

 

 

  
Exhaust base line flow numbers
Exhaust flow numbers after porting

 
Matching the new Weber intake manifolds to the intake runners...
Weber manifolds have to be
matched to intake ports
Joint between manifold and head is
now virtually invisible
Note valve guide and open valve
seat in distance

We have now finished porting your cylinder heads and will have them back on the flow bench early next week.

 
Your heads on the porting bench
Note how bottom of CJ valve seats
are blended into the throat
Look for new flow numbers
early next week!

With the basic (shallow) valve job cut, Chris has the porting process well underway. The torque plate will be used when we cut the liners to size for your custom forged pistons.

 
Close up of a 5 angled valve job
Our porting should provide us with
significant gains
 
Torque plate will be used when we hone
the liners to fit custom forged pistons
  

 

The following photos show one of your heads being heated prior to installing new custom CJ valve seats.

 
     

The following photos show Chris pressure testing then flow testing your cylinder heads. The flow numbers are very poor, so we should be able to make some significant gains when we port these cylinder heads.

 
Pressure testing cyl head
Testing flow on the Superflow bench
 
Exhaust flow base line
Intake flow base line

Your Webers have arrived and we have been busy rebuilding and restoring your alternator, coolant fans and power steering pump.

 
`
Alternator now rebuilt
Distributor upgraded to Crane
optical trigger kit
  
     
6 x twin choke down draft
Weber carbs
  
Power steering pump rebuilt

We now have your engine machine work well underway. The following photos show the tear down and align hone in progress. In the first photo you will see that it took three men, a crane, a block of wood and a large hammer to remove your cylinder heads! The short video clip shows Kevin starting your align hone.

 
 
Neither head seemed willing to part
company with the block..
Success!
  
   
We will use custom forged pistons for
this particular rebuild
  
Rods cleaned up, ready for re-sizing
and re-bushing
   
Main caps cleaned up
Cutting main caps square
  
   
 
 
Preparing for align hone
  

 

The factory hardtop you bought on eBay arrived safely a few days ago. We have already stripped it down and refinished it in Signal Red.

 
 
Top was generally in good shape, although back 
window will have to be replaced
All the chrome was in pretty decent shape
  
     
Headliner and glue removed
After some minor repairs, Slick Sand
was applied
Refinished in Signal Red to match
the freshly painted body

We now have the doors and boot lid installed and adjusted and have been busy restoring your dash panels and switches. The new wiring harness has been laid in place and next we will be embarking upon a full (Stage One) rebuild of your engine.

 
 
Doors have now been installed
Both doors now fit very nicely
New rear bumper have now been
installed
     
 
Dash panels were media blasted
Then painted and trimmed
     
 
Brightwork waiting to be installed
Scoops for enclosed headlamp
conversion painted silver
     
 
 
Stage One CJ engine rebuild about
to get underway
  

 

We have now completely stripped the interior from the car and installed Dynamat through the cabin and boot compartment.

 
 Old interior and dash were removed
 
 
 
 
 
 Dynamat installed throughout cabin and
boot compartment
 
 
 
 
 Steering rack being rebuilt
 
 

 

We have now repainted your car, along with the firewall and engine frames and the reassembly process is well underway.

 
Grade 8 fasteners used thro'out
Front suspension has been Nickel plated
Jay installing new/upgraded brakes

 

We have now completed the bulk of the bodywork, installed and trial fitted the new bumpers and overriders and modified the bonnet to accept the aftermarket enclosed headlamp kit. Our next task will be to strip out the engine bay in order to refinish the firewall and engine frames. We will be painting the engine bay and engine frames in the next couple of days, followed by the main body shortly after that.

 
 
Marker lights (front and rear) are being
eliminated
  
Trial fitting new 71 style bumpers
and overriders
     
Note cut old overrider support bracket (marked X)
inside indicator housing
Engine bay is very grimy
  
     
Engine removed
Modifying bonnet  for enclosed headlamp kit
Finished result looks good, but installation 
is extremely involved

 

I am pleased to report that we now have this project well underway. I hope you enjoy following the work in progress over the next few months!

 
 
We will retro fit earlier style bumpers
and overriders
Car being largely disassembled for repaint
Enclosed headlamp kit will be installed
 
 
 
Huge overrider mounting brackets will 
be removed
Boot, bonnet and door fit will be
dramatically improved
 Door edges were welded up and ground back
to help improve fit
     
     

 

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