My 67 FHC is a Colorado Springs car. My mother bought it from a co-worker at Hewlett- Packard in 78 and drove it until 85 when it went into storage for 29 years. She always said she put the mechanics son through collage.
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Steve – not much of a HP presence in the Springs these days; all HP activities in Colorado Springs went to Agilent when the companies split in 1999. They do have the HP Computer Museum still here; it the backyard of Garden of the Gods and beneath Pikes Peal
I had no idea E-Types were so prevalent in the Springs.
Don’t see many on the road hereabouts
A good number of them came to Dad, in the 60s, for servicing and repair.
Well – that is certainly no surprise.
Although it is a bit of a drive
In the day, there was no shop in the Springs willing to take on the Jags. The 60s were my Dad’s heyday.
Maybe not in the 60s. But in the 70s, I have invoices from the Jaguar dealer, Owen Faricy Motor Company, and British Auto Parts (BAP). I was able to buy parts to do my own work, and get work done that I couldn’t perform myself beyond tune-ups as a college kid.
Yea… Dad bought parts from BAP, too.
I did my tune-ups, washing and waxing in the parking lot of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Unfortunately, the college was very unhappy with the oil puddles.
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Its been a while since I updated this thread, so let’s fix that.
THIS WARNING OUGHT TO BE ON POST 1:
This is gonna be a photo-intensive thread.
There is not a lot of info /photos of Series III on here. I intend to fix that.
So let’s get started.
As mentioned on another thread, Paul Wigton came down to visit and gift me a 1969 vintage STP banner with some history.
While here he walked around and under my Jaguar giving me a long-awaited evaluation of my starting point.
Let’s look under the E-Type (the IRS will be dealt with separately and later) – appears pretty rust-less (never use the word rust-free and Jaguar in the same sentence)
Some good news: I still have the air pump attached (didn’t know / remember that). I have no idea if it still works or is frozen solid.
Some bad news – I had no brake pedal nor clutch pedal when I moved the car. Now I know why (not a surprise really). Either the bottles gave up the ghost or the hoses attached to their bottom. My money is on the hoses
I have a dozen photos of the driver’s and passenger’s side of the front suspension. Not much to look at – lots of dust/dirt and badly aged bushings. If anyone needs photos of that area, let me know.
Paul also spent a fair amount of time evaluating the body and panel gaps. He also tickled both sills (I’ll let him describe the action and intended results). Bottom line: he seriously questioned the need of my intent to open the sills and install the Monocoque Metalworks reinforced gussets.
Driver’s side first:
And the passenger door
Paul also eyeballed the bonnet gap but I didn’t get any good photos of them before removal.
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Today was the first day in more than 20 years that I spent 6 hours wrenching on my E-Type. When I stepped back and looked at my car, I wondered just what did I accomplish today. It doesn’t really look much different.
The theme of the day was GOOD NEWS:
I drained the oil/oil filter. The oil was black – not foamy, or chocolatey, or green. Yayy!
I drained the coolant – Double Bonus: not only was the coolant green and relatively clear, the petcock swiveled freely after a single spray of PB Blaster and judicious application of gentle force to get the flow started. Yaayyy!!
Not much of a photo but it represents a significant step forward WITHOUT any steps backwards (the oil stream was about played out when I snapped this photo.
Although not needed to pull the V12 engine, I spent the majority of the day stripping the carbs off the engine. I want to get my 8x carbs to Joe Curto early on and he can decide which 4 are the best.
Successfully extracted the carbs from the passenger side (the easy side). But it took 3 different lengths of 1/2" wrenches, an attempt to use a 1/2" socket (no room), an attempt to use a 1/2" crow’s foot (less room), and several other aborted attempts. Fun.
I removed 7 of the 8 bolts on the driver side when I decided that removing the heater matrix and snail box would make life so much easier. That’s when I remembered there was wiring beneath the heater box. I started to diagram the wiring but it was 5:30 PM and I worked through lunch. Tomorrow is another day.
The GOOD NEWS had to be balanced by some BAD NEWS. Now – the car was parked in a storage facility in Phoenix for 12-15 year followed by another 15+/- years in a storage facility in Colorado Springs (AKA high desert plain). That’s why I’m rebuilding the engine: every gasket, seal, hose, rubber line, and bushing is dry rotted and fragile.
I got a perfect demonstration of just how fragile the plastics are. While fumbling around trying the loosen one of the 1/2" nuts on the carbs I brushed against the tip of the brake booster and << … snap … >>.
Looked down and saw this
Hmmm – not supposed to see that spring. That prompted me to look under the car:
Well – I planned to replace the brake boosters, anyway, so no-harm, no-foul.
I also boxed the spare 4 carbs for shipment to Joe Curto and will build the second box when that eighth nut is off tomorrow.
My back aches; my hands were dirty, oily, and greasy; my floor is oily and messy. Oh – and I haven’t stopped smiling yet. 
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This series of documentary posts may well become the most favorite of all the ones I’ve read, in my 17-odd years here!
Keep’em coming!
Hello Craig,
I’m enjoying your progress so far. Are you able to post some photos of the jacking points you are using with your hoist please.
I don’t have any photos of that. I’ll grab some happy snaps tomorrow.
Let me try a word picture:
FRONT: placed the arms directly on the “T”-shaped brackets that anchor the torsion bars.
REAR: placed the arms directly on the forward bushing connecting the forward each of the trailing arms to the floors.
I can guarantee these to be proper cuz they placed Wiggie – I hear tell he has lifted an E-Type or two in his day. Like I said, photos to follow tomorrow.
EDIT: I took some under carriage shots and found the forward lift points. Half the answer:
Guys – thanx for the encouraging words.
Ahhh gees, Paul; I think your biased.
Yep! Totally, unapologetically!
While relaxing in front of TV and stretching my back, two things came to mind.
-
I noticed a lot (and I mean A LOT) of my wiring harness is encased in that cheap, split, ribbed, black plastic harness wrap from the 70’s/80’s. I rebuilt in the engine in 87 to address several small oil leaks and two exhaust leaks (after in rebuild in 1982 by a dealer). I also discovered the crankshaft had a 3" crack through the main journal and needed to be replaced (cuz the dealership installed one of the thrust bearing backwards putting steel against the spinning crank vice the brass facing). That stretched my budget to breaking. So I didn’t replace the harnesses – couldn’t $wing the co$t.
I bought my 72 in 79 and was the 3rd or 4th owner with 29,000 miles on it. I don’t know with absolute certainty but can be relatively sure my wiring harnesses (although inside plastic tubing) are original. Ask your questions. -
One of the many words of wisdom imparted by Wiggie during his all-too-brief visit was to stamp “LH” and “RH” on the torsion bards. I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure, but checked today with Simple Green and paper towel in hand. Both were stamped during their manufacture. As Forest Gump said: “One less thing to worry about”.
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Also mark their clock positions relative to the splines in the a arm, and the rear mount, and assure you know which way is FRONT, on each.