We acquired our early steel bodied XK120 OTS in 1977. As received it had a seized engine, seized transmission and missing almost all of the chrome. During a lengthy restoration, (22 years), we identified that the car did not have its original ENV 3.64:1 rear axle but at some point in its past a Salisbury 2HA 3.77:1 rear axle had been substituted. After the car was on the road in 1999, it was noticed that the rear wheels had about 1/4" clearance from the rear spat budget lock on the LHS and 3/4" clearance from the budget lock on the RHS. I seem to recall some other forum comments mentioning they had similar clearance issues.
At any rate, the 2HA axle is currently being rebuilt by a specialist shop and the technician advises that the spring locator saddles look odd, in that the welds securing the saddles to the axle don’t look to be performed by the factory, ( i assume he says this as the welds are of poor quality). If this is correct and the saddles are incorrectly positioned 1/4" too far to the right, reducing wheel clearance on the LHS. My question to the forum is if anyone has the actual measurements center to center of the spring locator saddles and the correct measurements from the backing plates to the spring locator saddles?
The saddle positions should be symmetrical. You could measure each from the shock absorber attachment lugs, which should also be symmetrical, though the center differential housing (pumpkin) is not.
FWIW #670202 was shipped to Helsinki, Finland in April 1950 and got registered as AO-490, was raced in innumerous track and rally competitions, won the +2L Sports Car Class in the Helsinki Grand Prix (Eläintarhanajot / Djurgårdsloppet) in 1951 (was 2nd in 1950, DNF in 1952 and 3rd O.A. in 1953) and is alive and well, even if painted in a strange two-tone livery by current owner.
Yes, my wheels are 5" wide and the tires are Firestone Champions 2ply bias. I think Rob has the answer by using the lever shock lugs to measure to the spring saddles as they should be equidistance. I have advised the specialty shop accordingly as it is located in Vancouver a 4 hour drive for me.
As far as the ENV rear axle listed on eBay, i have a 3.27:1 ENV axle that was in a saloon car as the backing plates are incorrect for the 120 in that the slave cylinder rectangular opening as well as the brake adjuster circular opening and bolt holes are too large. It does have the same parking brake bracket as the one shown on the listing which also does not suit the 120 but, I could be mistaken on that. It is different than the Salisbury bracket. My intent is to rebuild the 2HA axle and then confirm distances from the hub to the backing plate on both axles. If they match, I will modify the ENV backing plates to suit the 120 brake components.
Pekka - interesting that the sister car went to Finland. 670203 was built April 6th, 1950 and dispatched to Wright Motors in Winnipeg, Canada on April 27th, 1950 from the Canadian distributer Cooke in Toronto. We acquired the car from a widow in Toronto in 1977 and she had no history of the vehicle other than it had been raced, which could explain why the lighter 2HA axle replaced the ENV.
