In reply to a message from krakken sent Sun 2 Aug 2015:
Nish (?) we prefer not to use handles or pseudonyms on this
list, please use your name.
Well, This totally depends on the state of the car and your
experience level. For starters, acquire the Owners’ manual
for your Series II car and read it cover to cover several
times. Follow its advice! Perform the maintenance it
recommends to the dot, and if you are unsure of its past
maintenance, perform a full major service right away.
Acquire the service manual and the parts manual for your
car. My advice would be to perform your own maintenance
and simple repairs yourself and these books tell you how to
do it.
Check the date codes on your tires and if they are older
than 6-7 years, replace them before driving the car
seriously. If older than 10 years, don’t drive the car at
all, as you will be risking the life and property of others
on the road. Buy the best tires, as these really give the
car its performance characteristics. Cheap tires on the
car are like vinyl covers on a sofa: they spoil the
characteristics of the car without really preserving
anything. Vredestein Sprint Classics in 185HR15 are about
the best tires, as long as you don’t regularly drive faster
than 130 MPH for long periods. You can pay more, but with
little or no return.
Consider replacing all rubber mounts in the suspension and
driveline. They get weak and poor ones can be dangerous or
just spoil the car’s characteristic handling. At 75K miles
and 45 years, they’ll be due for a change.
Change the flex hoses in the brake system. They get old
and can cause brake problems. I use Teflon/stainless lines
as they should have fewer problems. Replace the brake
fluid in all systems - now and every two or three years;
the fluid pulls in moisture from the air and drops its
boiling point severely.
Flush the cooling system and replace the coolant using 50%
anti-freeze, and do this now and every two to three years,
too. I use phosphate-free antifreeze, as Porsche does, and
Jaguar does for modern cars. Protects aluminum had better,
according to reports.
Shock absorbers are likely shot if that old; replace with
Boge or Spax brand shocks.
After replacing the rubber, get a quality wheel alignment
by someone who knows the cars.
Consider replacing points and condenser ignition with a
Pertronix or similar electronic ignition. Performance
won’t change, but you won’t have it declining with points
wear and you won’t have condenser problems.
Get familiar with the car’s normal running temperature
(anywhere out of the red zone – don’t worry about the ‘‘L’’
in NORMAL!) Expect it to spit out some coolant if you fill
it; leave it at the resulting level. Few E-Types actually
overheat despite mythology.
There’s a big start and you should have a great car with
all that. ‘‘Performance enhancements’’ are fine, but not
necessary at all, and often are really ‘‘performance
degraders’’ though we don’t know it. Buy Peter Crespin’s
book from amazon.com. Get to know Dick Maury.
YMMV.
Jerry–
Jerry Mouton '64 FHC 889791 ‘MIK Jaguar’
Palo Alto, California, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
Search the archives & forums - http://search.jag-lovers.org/
Subscription changes - http://www.jag-lovers.com/cgi-bin/majordomo
Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php