Saw your message a few days ago about your progress with your E Type. It’s
a great feeling when you have the engine (all gleaming) mated to the gearbox
and ready to go back into the car. Congratulations…
;o)
I am not having as much luck unfortunately.
My E Type shat itself big time on the weekend before last. I was going for
a blast in it and came out of a roundabout pulling 3.5 grand in second gear
and “bang”…suddenly no drive to the rear wheels. Motor is ok but one can
shuffle the gear box around and push the clutch pedal till the cows
(steers?) come home to no avail! I suspect the clutch has chucked the towel
in…don’t think it is something simple like a U-joint haven’t had the
chance for a close look yet, but the car won’t be going anywhere for a
while.
:o(
Had to ring up a mate and get it towed home where it now sits forlornly in
the garage. Looks like a motor out in the next few months when I can find
the time. Luckily I have a new clutch driven and pressure plate assembly so
I won’t have to outlay for parts. Interestingly, we will be doing it over a
pit and dropping the motor down between the sub frames after removing the
inlet and exhaust manifolds. Then we hoist it back up in the air, slide the
steel covers back over the pit, then lower it to the cover, remove the
box/clutch, raise the engine again and mount on an engine stand.
The motor is leaking at the front seal, so a good chance to remove the sump
and timing cover and replace the chains and guides as well as the seal (what
was that about shipwrights disease??)
Meantime we will have to do any Jag club events in Dianne’s Daimler (not a
bad alternative). We are having a 120 mile run up near the snow on Sunday
with a lunch before returning…looking forward to that. Dianne has been
away in Western Australia for 4 days this week…I am chief cook and
bottle-washer at the moment…takes up what little spare time I have left.
One of the nice things about owning an E Type is that even when you can’t
drive it, it is still nice to be able to wander down to the garage in the
evening, lift the garage door, switch on the lights and just look at it, in
its red paint and chrome wires, sitting quietly, bathed and gleaming under
the fluorescent lights. Surrounded by memorabilia and parts from a gentler,
non computerised era, when cars sounded like cars should, and driving was a
seat of the pants exercise, and speed limits let you explore at least some
of the road-going potential of the car.
{Hmmmm…(Thinks) must be something wrong with me. I don’t usually wax so
poetic at 9.30 am on Friday mornings…}On the speed potential, the highway from Canberra to Sydney is still 110 kph speed limit (about 67 mph) so you can get away with sitting on about 70mph and short bursts of 75 mph (making sure there are no places for the constabulary to hide in front of you with their fiendish radar guns and keeping a weather eye on the rear view mirror). I am presently helping my long time Jag enthusiast friend convert a LHD coupe he bought in from the States several years ago, to RHD…quite easy on an E Type really as all the RHD tub “cutouts” for the brake/clutch pedal box etc are already there under “blanking plates” in the tub. Just need a RHD steering rack and the RHD dash panels and most of the hard work is done. I have been transferring the wiring to the other side of the car (my specialty, as my friend recoils in horror at electrical circuitry). Again not a difficult task, just fiddly. The car, a Series II coupe, is primrose with black leather. Should look very nice when completed. We cranked the engine up last weekend after a total rebuild. Initially the timing was set 180 degrees out, but quickly fixed after a couple of “blow backs” through the carbies alerted us to the problem. Then it fired. Just need to fine tune the timing and set the carbies up. Another week or so on it and we will be rolling my car over the pit to have its “innards” extracted. Cheers from Australia (land of Sydney Harbour and RHD). BTW…speaking of Sydney, any of you guys coming out to Australia for the Olympics next year? Canberra is a nice 3 hour drive south from Sydney and afternoon tea (or coffee) and a garage full of Jags to crawl over is always on the menu… (Apologies for the bandwidth) Noel Annett 68 2+2 67 420 compact 66 Daimler 2.5L V8 Canberra, Australia Original Message----- From: LLoyd G Nolan [mailto:soothsayer@redshift.com] Sent: Friday, 20 August 1999 2:05 To: e-type@jag-lovers.org Subject: Re: [E-Type] E Type progress oooh, bad news noel. But I guess there are those of us who have had it and those of us who will. LLoyd ANNETT,Noel wrote:
>
>
> I am not having as much luck unfortunately.
>
> My E Type shat
Hi Noel
At least you could drive up to Northern territories and give it a real Blat
on THE ROAD . Its probably the only place in the world with no speed limit
left although the dust could be a snag.
Cheers from across the ditch.Colin.
—.
One of the nice things about owning an E Type is that even when you can’t
drive it, it is still nice to be able to wander down to the garage in the
evening, lift the garage door, switch on the lights and just look at it, in
its red paint and chrome wires, sitting quietly, bathed and gleaming under
the fluorescent lights. Surrounded by memorabilia and parts from a
gentler,
non computerised era, when cars sounded like cars should, and driving was a
seat of the pants exercise, and speed limits let you explore at least some
of the road-going potential of the car.
{>
On the speed potential, the highway from Canberra to Sydney is still 110
kph>speed limit (about 67 mph) so you can get away with sitting on about 70mph
and short bursts of 75 mph (making sure there are no places for the
constabulary to hide in front of you with their fiendish radar guns and
keeping a weather eye on the rear view mirror).
I am presently helping my long time Jag enthusiast friend convert a LHD
coupe he bought in from the States several years ago, to RHD…quite easy
on an E Type really as all the RHD tub “cutouts” for the brake/clutch pedal
box etc are already there under “blanking plates” in the tub.
Just need a RHD steering rack and the RHD dash panels and most of the hard
work is done. I have been transferring the wiring to the other side of the
car (my specialty, as my friend recoils in horror at electrical circuitry).
Again not a difficult task, just fiddly.
The car, a Series II coupe, is primrose with black leather. Should look
very nice when completed. We cranked the engine up last weekend after a
total rebuild. Initially the timing was set 180 degrees out, but quickly
fixed after a couple of “blow backs” through the carbies alerted us to the
problem. Then it fired. Just need to fine tune the timing and set the
carbies up.
Another week or so on it and we will be rolling my car over the pit to have
its “innards” extracted.
Cheers from Australia (land of Sydney Harbour and RHD).
BTW…speaking of Sydney, any of you guys coming out to Australia for the
Olympics next year? Canberra is a nice 3 hour drive south from Sydney and
afternoon tea (or coffee) and a garage full of Jags to crawl over is always
on the menu…