1955 Jaguar XK140 MC roadster (SP) Total restoration

Restoration Log by Dan Mooney

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Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows: Total Team CJ restoration with numerous performance and reliability upgrades.

Update report - August 24, 2018

The chassis is now officially rolling!

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We have been busy rebuilding the front and rear suspension, steering rack, brakes and rear axle as we move towards assembling the rolling chassis.

Suspension, brake and rear axle rebuild underway	Everything is extremely rusty!
	Progress!

Your chassis has now been repaired, blasted and powder coated!

Cutting out rusted area at rear of chassis
	Trial fitting newly fabricated replacement panel
	Welding repair panel in place
Inner surfaces acid washed and coated with wax
	Chassis number by right hand rear engine mount
After sand blasting back to bare metal, the chassis has now been powder coated
	Time to start rebuilding and installing the suspension and drive train

The first two photos in the sequence below show how we modified your oil pan baffle. Originally the XK baffles were welded to the pan, which made it virtually impossible to properly clean the bottom of the pan. We cut the baffle out and install brackets with threaded nutserts down the sides of the pan, allowing the baffle to be unbolted to properly service the inside of the oil pan.

Stage One engine rebuild now completed.

Assembling the short block...

	Measuring thrust of crankshaft
Nice tensioner upgrade for 120 and early 140 engines
Measuring deck height (zero)	Installing timing chains
Before and after shots of the timing chain tensioner upgrade

Flow testing cylinder head after portwork	Pressure testing head after portwork
	Gain of more than 56 cfm is exceptional
All new tappet guides now installed

Progress in the CJ machine shop..

Pistons hung on rods	Crank is like a piece of jewelry
Cutting piston rings to size	Balancing crank

More progress in the machine shop...

Welds will be ground back and chamber will be perfectly smooth when we are finished	Port work through intake runner
Exhaust ports also cleaned up and matched to manifolds	Old tappet guides have been machined out and  will be replaced
Drilling out frozen stud in bottom of timing chain cover	New thread cut in chain cover
Machine work now completed on block	Con rods have been re-bushed and re-sized

Lots of progress in the CJ machine shop...

Machining out seized exhaust manifold studs	Custom CJ forged pistons
Surfacing block and timing chain cover after cylinder honing	Deck surface of block now as new
Some of the parts going into your Stage One  cylinder head rebuild

Engine machine work in progress...

Exhaust seat pockets required weld repairs	Checking the deck of the block for cracks
Drilling out frozen main cap dowels	Custom sized dowels required
	Cylinder honing in process

Your car has now been completely disassembled...

Extensive rust throughout the underside of the car
Chassis will need major repairs
	Engine will be rebuilt to high performance Stage One specs
Gas tank is rotten and will be replaced	Almost ready for blasting

Tear down continued - removing engine, transmission, floors..

Ray preparing to remove the engine and transmission
	Floors are very rusty
Engine removed and passed to CJ machine shop for a Stage One high performance rebuild	Floors not normally removed at this stage, but there really wasn't much holding them in place...
	Boot compartment is a mess

Disassembly underway...

Car originally Pastel Blue?	Old service station sticker from 1963
Floors have extensive rust	Dash and gauges removed - harness will be replaced
	Engine bay has survived relatively intact

I am happy to report that your car arrived safely at Classic Jaguar yesterday afternoon and we will have the restoration underway in the next few days. I hope you enjoy watching the transformation of this wonderful old car over the coming months.