1965 E Type roadster (SC) Total Team CJ restoration

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Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows: This E Type will receive a full CJ restoration and will feature just about every Team CJ performance and reliability upgrade in the book!

Dan, the car is beautiful and such a joy to drive! It is magnificent!!! One of these pictures is your new home page photo!

Time for a little test drive......

Although we still have a few finishing touches yet to complete, I thought you might like to see a few photos outside in the Texas sunshine.

We have now retrimmed and installed your seats and have wired your iPod inter phase into the glove compartment. I hope you like the way your interior has turned out!

More interior installation progress...

With road testing and shakedown now completed, it is time to install the new Suffolk & Turley interior.

We now have most of the chrome installed, as well as all the lighting and the door glass and windscreen. Over the next few days we will install a slave seat and thoroughly road test the car before starting to install the new interior.

We now have the doors, bonnet and boot lid installed.

Maiden voyage time! We have now fired up the engine and taken your car on its maiden voyage around the CJ carpark. Click on the photo below for a short video clip!

Happy Independence Day, Stephen! As you can see, we have made lots of progress with the mechanical reassembly of your car. I have included a photograph of your 'dodgy' gas tank. Although it is not currently leaking, it has been previously repaired and must be paper thin due to the extensive pitting on the underside. For the record, I do not recommend using it and I am installing it under sufferance 

Engine bay filling up rapidly	Dynamat installed
Chrome has now been sent out for re-plating
		Gas tank is badly pitted...

Engine installed...

Installing the rebuilt drivetrain...

IRS now installed
	Time to install the engine and  CJ5 five speed transmission

It is now time for the fun part - going back together!

Color sanding and buffing has now been completed	Bolting the new engine frames in place

On Friday afternoon we painted the bodyshell, doors and boot lid. Although I say it myself  the finished result looks absolutely fantastic. We already have the color sanding and buffing process underway.

Yesterday afternoon we applied the first of your Opalescent Gunmetal paint, starting with the underside of the floor. The rest of the car will be painted over the next few days.

Preparing to paint the underside  of the car		Rocker Guard is applied before painting
	The first of the Opalescent Gunmetal
Next we will paint inside the cabin and boot compartment

We have now completed a solid week of chrome trial fit. The bumpers, lights, overriders and door and screen chrome trim have all been beaten, hammered and ground into submission - and of course now everything fits perfectly! The car has been moved back into the coachworks where it has been disassembled and the final sanding is well underway. The first of the Opalescent Gunmetal paint will be applied in the next few days!

All chrome at front of car now fits beautifully	Fit of screen and door trim must flow into one another
	Even new overriders are sanded and massaged	Last of the Nickel plating can now be sent off now that the car is disassembled

Differential and IRS rebuild underway...

Disassembling the differential	3.54 final drive	Rear brakes now rebuilt

All the bodywork has now been completed and your car has been primed with Slick Sand (sprayable Polyester). The next stage will involve a week or so of blocking with 120 followed 180 grit sand paper, after which it will be time for priming and painting!

Your engine has now been completely rebuilt to Stage One specs. I will send an Opalescent Gunmetal sample out to you late next week.

Rods meticulously rebuilt and balanced	Venoli forged pistons	Stainless valves
	Installing the pistons
	Uprated cams
Upgraded seals, front and rear	The finished article!

The following photos show Darrell installing the new boot floor assembly and bonnet.

Boot assembly has shipping primer stripped	Panel then sealed with BASF etching primer
Installing new rear cowl panel
Drain pipes incorrectly installed
New rear clip is spot welded into place		All new joints and seams are then lead loaded
		Boot lid needed som attention
Rear cowl panel also lead loaded	Car now moved to one of the  frame jigs
Installing the new Robery bonnet	Initial fit is typically horrendous!
	Back edge about to be trimmed	Battery tray is trial fitted and trimmed as part of bonnet fitting process
Sill end panels installed and  lead loaded	Cowl side panels are replaced as part of bonnet fitting process
Inner sections are rust proofed	Trial fitting new side panel in conjunction  with bonnet and door	Welded seams then lead loaded
New bonnet was completely stripped of shipping primer		Sealed bonnet then reinstalled

I am pleased to report lots of progress since our last update. The floors and inner/outer sills have been installed and the doors have also been restored and fitted. Next week we will be replacing the rear tonneau panel and the complet boot floor assembly.

	Cutting away old boot floor ass'y
With shipping primer removed, new  panels are sealed with etching	Doors will be rebuilt using new skins	Shell was blasted and primed
	Trial fitting cross-member and new trans tunnel
		Floors are tiral fitted prior to being welded together
They are then spot welded together on  a horse (stand)	All inner box sections are acid washed, primed and then coated with Body Wax	Sot welding the assembled floors in place
		Battery tray must be trial fitted at this stage
		Trial fiting RH outer sill
	Sill now welded into place	Trial fitting newly fabricated repair panel
Inner panel will be buzzed back to bare, shiny metal
	Repair panel TIG welded into place
New subframe mounting brackets are welded into place
Stripping shipping primer from new  boot floor assembly

The following photographs show some of the problems with your original bonnet. The biggest problem is probably the extensive rust pitting which means that the sheet metal is paper thin in a number of places - and indeed already holed in others. We have been weighing whether to repair or replace the bonnet and it seems to me that, even given the high cost of a new bonnet, replacement is your best option.

Front corner of LF wing	Bottom corner of LH wing	Center section
Center section would need extensive panel fabrication and patching	Belly pan also has issues	Difficult to photograph the pitting
X & Y are holes, belly pan is paper thin due to extensive rust pitting

I am pleased to report that we now have this restoration well underway.

Some of the replacement panels	Shipping primer is removed and new  panels are etch primed	Cutting away the rusy sheet metal
	Notice etching primer not applied to the flanghes that will be welded
Rear trans tunnel will be replaced	New door skins
Up inside the A Post	Wurth Body wax is applied to all inner box sections
Shut face panel will be repaired	Fabricating various panels
Offering fabricated panels into place		Time to weld everything together!
	Inner sills first to be installed

Your car has now been blasted and the news is not great. The bonnet and doors are much worse than anticipated, and the monocoque is obviously going to require extensive panel replacement. The good news is that it is in the right place - and it is a better starting point than many others we have restored.

Off to the blasters!
Floors will be replaced
RH side has suffered some fairly heavy impact damage
	Bonnet center section is quite bad
	Doors were nasty beneath about an inch of bondo
		Sealing all bare metal with BASF etching primer
This frame rail was obviously not  serviceable	254 pieces for Nickel plating

Cutting away the outer sills and disassembling the bonnet prior to blasting.

Bonnet will be disassembled prior to blasting	Cutting away the outer sills	No big problems on LH side
	RH side has obviously seen some  pain

We already have this car on one of the rotisserie jigs and it will be off to the blasters in the next day or two. Keep your fingers crossed!

What's wrong with this picture?	RH bulkhead panel installed on LH side of the car!	Floors look pretty solid
Boot compartment also looks pretty dry	We'll cut off the outer sills and send it over to be blasted tomorrow	IRS apparently rebuilt but will still need some cosmetic help

Stephen and Andrew Cross decided their 1965 roadster needed the full Team CJ treatment so they hauled it almost 2,000 miles from the San Francisco bay area to Classic Jaguar in Austin, Texas. As Stephen put it, he and Andrew have done the hard part (in tearing the car apart) and had decided to let CJ do the easy part (putting it back together)!

It was good to meet you both today and I hope you enjoy watching the restoration unfold over the coming months!