Like I said in my BAT comment, there are a few things on this car that would hold it back in a JCNA concours. I was trying to be diplomatic. But many of us make reliablity improvements, as being broken down on the side of the road is no fun. To each his own.
Could be a lot of things, ignition and headlights would be common.
I was thinking cooling fans then who knows
Three rules for modding your electrical system:
- Donât use fully insulated connectors
- Red and black are the most convenient colors, use for everything.
- Donât document your work.
7 Likes
- Mismatched connectors give a more âcustomâ look
- Fused connections are for wimps
3 Likes
The LMH fluid is a hydraulic fluid used in the Citroen -Maseratiâs of the 70âs (Citroen SM) I had two of them and owners would often change over to Dextron as the LHM was quite expensive. It is also used in a part of the system in my 89 xj40, I think it is in the anti lock brake portion.
As I recall, it was the only brake fluid for my â91 and â92 XJ40âs
I had a Bentley Turbo R which used the green Castrol in at least portions of hydraulic systems. Castrol calls it LHM+. Here are the sheets describing it for hydraulic use, mentioning Jaguar and brake systems.
Castrol LHM Plus.pdf (15.8 KB)
Castrol Hydraulic System Mineral Oil Plus.pdf (144.9 KB)
The above should be a âstickyâ in every forum
I would say you quality tools for stripping & crimping, usse heat shrink,
and I even add little yellow tags that I write on with indelible black ink
(I hate it even worse when they use just black wire for everything) 
I would swear back in the day brake fluid was usually greenish, then they changed the colors with more products introduced. My memory could be failing me again though
Iâve just started on the brakes in my 150 restoration. This is exactly the result Iâm seeing with Prestone DOT 3 in the new lines. It goes in clear and comes out the far end jade green.
Without getting too preachy so early on a Monday morning, I see a little bit of a cautionary tale with this car. Someone (certainly not the dealer representing the BAT sale) saw some things he wanted to do to his car. Iâm an engineer and I know this urge. He upgraded the electrics as demonstrated by the voltage regulator and relay work. He decided that it would be a good thing to put DOT5 fluid in the clutch. He cut holes in the front valance, for brake cooling or maybe just because he liked the looks. Iâm sure there are other small things if I were to look or worse, purchase the car. So the new owner, who may or may not be mechanically inclined, inherets something that looks very original but yet has itâs peculiarities. Weâve discussed above that there is probably no documentation on the voltage regulator. And of course my initial concern looking at the ad was âwhat was green radiator coolant doing in the brake fluid bottles?â. I think the good discussion on this forum and maybe just a few more photos by the seller will result in, yes, the bottles are green, the fluid is clear, and the rear bottle, which should be for the brakes, is actually plumbed to the clutch and it is filled with DOT5, versus DOT 3/4 for the front two bottles. I suspect it all works. But man, let us all keep in mind that we are only the caretakers of these cars. My 67 2+2 has gone recently to a club member and we have had numerous discussions about quirks with that car. And it is pretty damn stock! So maybe, just maybe, letâs listen to our better angels (or our wives) and try and keep our âimprovementsâ in the mainstream, so to speak. You may never know the positive benefit to the next caretaker.
And BTW, whatever resolves on this car, there is no damn way the brake fluid level sensor cap should be on what the seller says is the clutch bottle!
3 Likes
My cousin has a Maserati Bora with that high pressure system. The times I drove it the brakes were very twitchy and hard to get used to. Felt like they were either on or off. That car is the poster child for the âneedlessly complex Italianâ category. I really like the engine though. Apologies for the thread drift.
David
68 E-type FHC
Harvey, I do agree with much of what you say, but maybe with a twist. ALL 50 year old cars are cautionary. They all have issues. The question is which issues does one feel comfortable with. Each has their own opinion. All though on this car the green fluid is a possible issue, to me it is not important. I would much rather flush or even rebuild the brakes than deal with other possible unknows on a car. Some unknowns are not always easily apparent with a PPI. Rust being the biggest. Engine condition. And on any restoration, how well was the work done? Was the engine rebuilt properly? May it have one of those timing chain tensioners that may fail and destroy the great engine next week? The body is freshly done and looks great, but how well done? Is this the car the DIY first learned to weld on, his first paint job. Or some shop that pushed it out in a hurry? That new 5 speed, how well was it installed? And the wiring mods? Etc.
Sorry, never understood this. It is only a car. I am no more or less a caretaker of it than any other object. Enjoy it as you personally wish. I like stock and original. If someone else like highly modified, I may not agree, but not my choice.
Enjoy while you can.
Tom
3 Likes
Iâll chime in on this and agree.
Are there caretakers out there of special, rare items? Of course, the Mona Lisa, Ralph Laurenâs one-off examples, Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut CoupĂ©. But a car they produced 71K of through 3 series, more than half of which were S1, itâd be hard to call these rare and âcaretakeable.â (new word!) Reality is, they are just a machine and owned by many, special to all of us, taken great care of by many of us, but still just a machine of which many are out there. If someone wants to buy one, run it into a wall, and then repeat with another one, well, thatâs their choice. Theyâre enough others out there.
The upside of this perspective is that you are free to do what you most enjoy with your E-type, have fun with it in your unique way and neednât feel youâre under any obligation to preserve it for history.
1 Like
Get with it you guys twisted wire with black electrical tape for the truly top shelf custom look
4 Likes
Those are the same tires as are on my car. They used to be only $600 for a whole set!!âŠ.in 1988 
Yeah, the idea that we are somehow under some sort of obligation to âprotectâ the next owner(s) of our cars is very strange to me.
When I was 17, I bought a highly modified car, and the owner wrote down all of its known (to him) âfoiblesâ. The truth is, he barely scratched the surface, and I spent much of the next 2-3 years troubleshooting issues (some major) from one end of the car to the other. Those troubleshooting skills have been invaluable to me both in my hobby, and in my professional life.
I probably learned more about cars in those few years than Iâve learned since, and I learned how to identify future cars that should be steered clear of.
Many car enthusiasts have probably had an experience similar to mineâŠ.if that sounds âscaryâ or âriskyâ to someone, then I would argue that driving around in a 50-60 year old car might not be the hobby for them.
3 Likes
Perhaps Iâm misinterpreting how itâs being used here, but to me, the term âstewardshipâ means I donât give two figs about the next person who gets my cars. I only care about keeping the car running and going and usable.
2 Likes
Harvey, other than being incorrect, does the brake fluid level sensor cap being on the clutch bottle actually affect anything? NONE of the other older cars in my collection, including some British, other than the E Type have a low brake fluid warning light!
There are two sensor caps. One is for the bottle that feeds the front wheel brake circuit. The other is for the bottle that feeds the rear wheel brake circuit. The dashboard warning light comes on if the fluid level in either bottle gets too low. BTW, it is the same light as for the parking brake so you in theory get some feedback if the bulb is burned out.
So it matters in that if, on the BAT car, the bottle wthout the sensor cap gets low, you wouldnât get a warning light.