A frequent complaint of E-type owners of all series is the inability of the centre switch panel to drop down sufficiently to allow unfettered access to the fuse blocks. This was my simple solution. You may have to shave the foam pad a little thinner before proceeding - I used an electric knife.
remove the gearbox cover. In my case I lined it with a Dynamat-like product allowing a clear mating surface around the perimeter.
with the cover off to the side, two ¼" holes are drilled into the firewall a half inch below the holes corresponding to the two in the cover you’ve just made into notches - I failed to take a pic of that step but it will become clearer below.
cut three slits into the rear of the cover (red arrows in pic below) and spread the sheet metal apart about an eighth inch or so, then using a dremmel extend the remaining securing screw holes all around the cover upward (green arrows) making them into inch-long ovals.
Using a body hammer and dolly, splay the entire lower edge of the cover outward - you don’t need much.
place the cover back into position, push firmly down and forward at the rear while drilling two holes through the cover and into the gearbox tunnel on either side - it can be done solo but a helping hand makes it easier. Secure with two tapping screws (yellow arrows).
moving to the front, slip a thin screwdriver through the bottom of one of the notches formed in step 1 into the corresponding ¼" hole in the firewall you drilled in step 2. The angle of the screwdriver should be fairly steep as depicted.
lever the cover downward about half an inch, drill a hole through the cover into the gearbox tunnel and then secure with a self tapping screw. Repeat on the other side, then replace the original screws and oval washers. The green line is the original elevation, the yellow line the lowered elevation of the cover.
I did not seal the cover to the tunnel with dum-dum, per original, but used aluminum duct tape over the join after completion to seal against engine fumes.
One thing I’ve done on mine to make access to the fuses easier is to just make thumbscrews to attach the panel strip, which means I can take that off easily and with no tools.
Screw the sheet metal screw into a wood block for support, and then use a #34 drill bit (0.1110) to drill ~5/16" deep from the top of the head in the center of the #8 sheet metal screw. Fill the hole with 2-part epoxy and the 4-40 thumb screw should turn/push in with minimal force. Then just let it dry.
Note: I tried tapping the threads first, but the Phillips cutout made it rather difficult, so trust me, easier to go the epoxy route. And of course you can just as easily pickup the sheet metal screws from a hardware store, but I was never to find thumb screws off the shelf that were small enough.
It goes to how much space the gearbox tunnel design allows for clearing the gearbox. In this case it’s generous, and lowering the lid a tad seems an easy one step solution.
I remove the two thumbscrews and pull the centre panel all the way down.
Excellent write up Nick.
Always amazes me just how tight clearances are in many places on these cars. Almost like there was a prize for designing things so they’d be hard to work on.
Had a major battle yesterday getting the steering column out of the (rhd) XK.
Cheers
Hi I own an S1 2+2 and obviously have the same problem. If possible I would like to have a photo of your solution with the thembscrews.
Thank you
Elias
GREECE
