Service Bulletins and collected forum posts and more

Factory Technical Service Bulletins: Hi all…I have what I believe to be a nearly complete set…I believe I do have all of the XK120-140 TSBs…less one that Jaguar revised… I have the revison but not the 1st…that they said to toss, I do have the other revision TSBs such as 117, included in the page count are 3 indexes, 1 a summary re XK120, one the complete official factory Index by sub-groups, and the Introduction pages, so about 458 sheets of std 8.5x11 (it is 915 pages when counting the reverse side as a page as many double sided print) about 3 inches thick. So yes…about $70 to $100 to have copied. A set, without the bulky binder, Should fit in a USPS if it fits it ships box about $19. I’d like to find someone to scan all and put on USB stick. I also have separately hundreds of pages of printed comments from this forum on mechanical topics, a list of in-production changes and parts revisions by date order, and hundreds more that ARE on my computer and are on USB stick. these are organized in folders by mechanical topic , AND…also hundreds of mechanical parts photos collected from many sources, and pics of many XK120s-140s, also on USB stick. Yes, I am happy to share any and all, TSB in print, forum notes in print, and many many forum and other data, and pics on USB, so that this collection lives on. PM (Private Message) Welcome. (and .I will contact the “Coventry Foundation” to see what they may want.)
Nick

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Nick;
If you got a “Set of TSB’s” from me, then you got ALL 277 “Issues” that came out from 1946 to 1960 (I might have included some of the early MKI, MKII and E-Type pages from 1960, as well… I know I have them, don’t recall if they were “included” in the “original” TSB Sets)… These TSB’s include ALL Jaguar Cars built during those years, including the “introduction” of the MKI & MII’s. I do NOT understand why your “set” is ONLY for the XK120’s and XK140’s as you make no note of the XK150’s and, as noted above, the “introduction” of the MKI’s & II’s.
Also, if, at the time, I was able to obtain any “revisions” of the TSB’s, I tried to include them (and did NOT generally “exclude” the original!) in the “277 issue set” that I created. Skip Smith took one of the “Master Copies” and had them printed and mailed from his state (in his business, he got a break on postage/shipping, etc.) The “re-creation” of the Technical Service Bulletin sets were, in the strictest sense of the word, a “collective effort”… a “sidebar” to the TSB effort, one of the folks in the UK who queried about a TSB set also informed me of THE company that made the “Tiny Rivets” that secured the Rego Plate Light Lens into the “Lucas #469” Light Assembly… Those rivets (being the “correct” Nickle Plated Brass, as opposed to the US version of chrome plated steel!) helped several hundred original Lucas #469 Light Assemblies to be restored and refitted onto their XK120’s and XK140’s (the Great Lucas Light Rivet Deal)…
I might also note, my “original” set of TSB’s fills THREE, 3" three-ring binders with each page/sheet being in a “Page Protector” to keep my greasy fingerprints from messing things up ;-}
Charles Ch #677556.

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I do "think " I have em all…thru XK150, and yes, including the Mark series cars…of the time period. sequential numbers to #277, then some A ad B series bulletins, many Double sided…and only those referring to XKs…in sheet protectors.(so not the many for other cars) but still with the index and the changes thru production, thru 1960 , .the set is in one 4 inch binder.

What was retrospectively called the VOLUME 1 Bulletins, were titled SERVICE AND SPARES BULLETINS and were first issued as No.1 in 1st May 1946 up to No.276 in November 1959, however there were mote than 276 Bulletins…
There were three different versions of No.1 - one for Distributors, one for Main Dealers and one for Dealers. There was a 95, 95A and 95B, and indeed a later revised/reissue of 95B. There was a 150A, 150B and 150C. There was a 260H and a 260E, and indeed there was a final un-numbered [277] of November 1959 plus a few more reissues etc. Plus a number of Bulletins included attachments and extras like Wiring Diagrams. But there was really only one version of these Bulletins, albeit some variations in Distribution, so a complete SET (few exist) varies if held in UK, Australia or USA…
For instance No.21 was for ‘Overseas Markets’ only, so a UK Dealer didn’t get one. 98 and 116A were ‘Restricted’ circulation. 122A, 150A, 150C, 260H was Home Trade Distribution only. 150B was USA/Canada only, and 260E was Export only…
So gets interesting what you call a ‘SET’

And then there were printing variations - the earliest ones were PRINTED on quality paper, then they were all typed master and roneod reproduced, and then you had a few that had more than one typed master used, with different type-writer, different layout, and indeed some differences in text/content.
Indeed there were some bulletins with a typed up master produced in USA, same content as factory Bulletins albeit the odd American spelling or reference to USD rather than Pound, and invariable on USA paper stock different to UK stock…, but content wise, apart from the special issues, no real variation of any consequence between factory, or export Bulletins.

Jaguar supplied an INDEX from time to time, that provided space to add by hand newly received bulletins, until after a while a new/up-to-date Index was provided which both added new Bulletins but dropped of any considered obsolete. I have about six different versions of these periodic Indexes, which I find pretty useless, so I did prepare a consolidated/complete Index on an excel spread sheet that is posted somewhere on JagLovers some years ago - if anyone wants a copy email me with their return email.

And then in 1960 after the next VOLUME 2 SPARE PARTS and VOLUME 2 SERVICE BULLETINS were being issued, Jaguar then reissued all the old VOLUME 1 BULLETINS in a consolidated vinyl binder, but only those still ‘current’ and not yet obsolete. These ran from 155A to 276 with gaps, and indeed a consolidated Index of included Bulletins. The cover of this vinyl binder is where they are called VOLUME 1.

If you want a consolidated set of XK relevant Bulletins, please note there continues to be XK coverage in the VOLUME 2 Bulletins as well… and they are a new story, new arrangement…

Regardless, these Bulletins are invaluable, and well worth grabbing if you can, albeit originals are difficult to find now, let alone a comprehensive or even partial set… thus Charles previous efforts at reproduction sets…

And there were also two streams of USA only Bulletins as produced by JCNAC (Los Angeles) and Hornburg - love to compare notes with anyone having any of these. I provided copies of my near complete set of JCNAC Bulletins (they ran 1954 to 1956) to JC-NY Archives many years ago as they didnt have/were not aware they existed, but I only have a couple of the Hornburg ones including one numbered 186 so there must have been many…, so again good XK coverage

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great information Roger, as always. As you say a “set” depends. Originals? well like hens teeth, and I am not a collector of originals. I think of my “copies” set in a few ways…1. necessary for most mechanical work to know what has been revised from the Factor Service Manual and what parts have been superceded/revised so as to be quite important to know, or what other parts must be used with them to be compatible in a mechanical system. 2. But also reading thru them kinda gives a feel for the "factory staff that was writing the text in those days…sometimes even the frustration comes thru. But I will stress the need for those doing engine work and similar to have at least those Service Bulletins that deal with their model and the mechanical/parts updates. Certain parts revisions REQUIRE knowledge of what the change is and how it affects related parts. Examples: cyl head stud length, valve train, preclusion of installing a hi lift cam into an early cyl head with early tappet guides etc. Nick

Well,
Phil Kenworthy has started preparing the SPB and SBs in electronic format:

http://forum.etypeuk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16468&hilit=service+bulletins+Phil

The SPBs and SPs are now mainly for 1960-1970 cars, however an upgrade is being planned as he is scanning them further to include the XK era.

To be honest, I think it’s a great effort. You can contact him directly.

Tadek

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Phil’s efforts are most commendable…

His initial efforts have been more with the VOLUME 2 SERVICE BULLETINS (Jan 1960 to Feb 1972), then that flowed onto the VOLUME 2 SPARE PARTS BULLETINS (June 1959 to July 1968) which of course cover most of his primary E-type period of interest. I provided him with my very detailed spread sheet listings that identify all the Bulletins, their dates of issues, and indeed pages in each bulletin as a starting point, and indeed ended up selling him all my spare originals and binders, albeit postage cost Australia to UK was not cheap for the mass involved - but I thought a bit like selling tea to China :slight_smile:

Given his initial interest was mostly to do with E-type period, I made him aware that he really needed to follow on with the next series of Bulletins - effectively a Volume 3 Spares Bulletins albeit not called that - but simply the IMPART BULLETINS which were initially loose packages that ran from November 1968 to March 1970 before becoming the more organised Binder arrangement to add regular packages that overlapped and ran from January 1970 to August 1973, but these also provide the ongoing issues and updates to the Interim Spare Parts Catalogues so gets quite complex.

Then onto the effectively Volume 3 Service Bulletins, or SERVICE INFORMATION - March 1972 to July 1975 so another shipment of my remaining spares to UK; but at least that pretty well covered up to the last V12 E-type, albeit it overlaps/gets messy then with the microfiche…, and very different arrangements in the various Home and Export markets…

But then on a roll, started going back the otherway more suited for XK interests - yes I have also provided full details of the VOLUME 1 combined SERVICE AND SPARES Bulletins May 1946 to November 1959, although the binder says just JAGUAR SERVICE BULLETINS, and indeed again was able to supply him with a reasonable number of spare originals, but not a comprehensive set so these may be a work in progress. Although I recently acquired another batch of originals which I will offer to him once I determine if anything new/varied or indeed condition upgrade for my own collection - as before there are variations, re-issues, special and restricted markets, UK factory and some USA Distributor printings…


But great that Phil will get all this on electronic format, as the demand for originals far exceeds their availability…, but an amazing effort for the benefit of E-type and XK owners, and of course also for same age saloon owners who tend to be overlooked with help, so he should be supported…

Roger/Tadek … Thank you for those kind words. Roger’s knowledge and input was very helpful in the early days of the project. Whilst I already had several binders of bulletins in my collection I had not, at that point, fully appreciated the scale of the challenge ahead of me. His sale to me of his surplus bulletins was invaluable in terms of plugging gaps in the collection (as well as helping to boost AusPost’s profits!!). I have continued to purchase other bulletin sets in parallel (the latest being several binders from an ex-military surplus company here in the UK given the army also ran Jaguar-engined vehicles in the post-war period) all of which helps build the library.

Like others, this has all been driven by my own desire to know more about the marque as well as helping me with my own car. Every bulletin I own is being colour OCR scanned in high quality and, for the 1946-1959 series, I am scanning every bulletin variant I have given these were often re-typed. I am also separately recording the watermark variants present given this highlights their method of early replication (e.g. Pressmans Mimeo, Recorder, New Fleet etc) and whether these were centrally or locally produced. I recently purchased some 1946-1959 bulletins from the U.S.A and some others from the U.K. (which had been on-site since the 1950s) and, from their common watermarks, was immediately able to confirm a common printing source.

All of this information is being captured behind the scenes and the database continues to grow. I hope to release the version covering the 1946-1959 series in the next few months. The current status of the database can be shown from the summary screen below:

Whilst still a work in progress, the screenshot below shows part of the database for the 1946-1959 series and, having clicked on the link for Bulletin #214 (I am working backwards through the series), a colour OCR readable version of the PDF copy opens.

There are still many more bulletins to electronically capture but my overall aim is to capture as much information (and as many bulletins) as possible spanning the period 1946 to 1975. Things are slowing down a bit with the better weather here and the easing of lockdown but it remains a good use of background “downtime”.

I’ll be very interested to purchase the electronic version of the XK era bulletins in due course. Great work, Phil!
Chris

Given the reprise of “The (XK Era) TSB’s”, albeit in electronic form… I got to wondering…
Out of the One Hundred Twenty-Five Sets of “Technical Service Bulletins” that I “assembled”
(with a LOT of help from the XKer’s of the time AND distribution help from Skip Smith),
Who still has one of the sets of the “original offering” of the Jaguar Technical Service Bulletins"??
(Do note… my “original” TSB sets numbered around 600+ individual pages!)
Charles Ch #677556.

Charles,

I’m happy to say I still have my set. And very grateful I was to receive it. It represented a great deal of work and is valuable resource even though we have got used to everything being online now.

Eric

Church Stretton, UK

Eric;
From the “responses” (or lack of) of who all STILL possess their TSB’s, it appears that you, Nick and I are about the only ones who still do… ;-}
I suspect as the sun travels around the globe, a few more “TSB Owners” might pop-up (wake-up?) and admit to having their set… BUT, I’d venture a guess that a high percentage of the hundred-odd people who did obtain a set of the TSB’s are just plain, No Longer on THE J-L List anymore…
As far as “everything being on-line”… generally, I’d agree. The exception being, MOST OF THE STUFF I LOOK-UP (on-line) is NOT available (or costs an arm & a leg!!)… Weird how that works out ;-{ 'guess I’m lucky like that…

On the “Jag-Front”, under the heading of “Good News” (AKA “Progress”)…
The last couple of days have been dedicated to actual, physical WORK on my 120DHC!! I’d venture a guess that 70% of my time was spent LOOKING for parts to attach to my chassis. Yes, THOSE same parts I spent hours and hours (months and months!!) photocopying, Inventorying AND segregating into dedicated plastic boxes (bins to you Brits), etc. (once a box is opened, parts removed and installed on, in this case, the chassis, somehow disappear OR flat bury themselves under areas/parts that have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the original part!!!
So, inspite of this weird gravitational anomaly, I managed to find the brass, “Three-Way Fitting” that goes from the Master Cylinder, attaches to the Left Rear Chassis, connects to the Rear Flex Brake Hose (just NOT the sealing gasket required between brass fitting and flex hose!), going to the Differential where the Left & Right Rear “hard line” Brake Pipes attach. I also completely installed the Rear Brake Shoes, springs, etc. then “hand fitted” the rear hubs to the axle shafts!!
In a final look of admiration of my days’ work, I noticed that the Rear Brake Shoe Return Springs were NOT fitted to the holes in the brake shoes as illustrated in the Jaguar Service Manual (each END of EACH brake spring HAS the option of FIVE HOLES to fit into… three on one end, two on the other!! The Service Manual does NOT “suggest”, indicate or point-out, HOW (where) the Brake Springs are suppose to be fitted!! (there is ONE “author suggestion” drawing, but nothing in writing!!) Now it’s: “Dig Into the Hundreds of Books” I have to SEE if I have any trusted documentation to sort-out the “correct” position of the rear brake springs!! Wish Me Luck!
Charles Ch #677556.

someone must have a photo of what you need to see

See my earlier photo of cover of original Service Bulletin Binder…
and another two photos of the partial set I recently sold to Phil K…


These were posted out by the factory in UK to their Dealership network, and in export countries such as Australia and USA sent in bulk by the factory to their authorized Distributor who then onforwarded to their local Dealership network, and in the case of USA stocks were augmented by locally printed Bulletins. Trouble is over the 1946 to 1959 period you only received whatever batches were posted when a Dealership was current, albeit certain back issues could be requested if still ‘current’, and any holding was totally reliant on the dealership receiving the posting and then diligently filing within the factory supplied 2-post binder. Net result is it is exceptionally hard to put together a complete 1946 to 1959 set of original Bulletins, and indeed it took me a good 10+ years to do so sourcing partial sets and loose batches and the occasional individual Bulletin from Australia, UK and USA sources…, and invariably that produces lots of duplicates/spares to on-sell, indeed a quick check of my records shows the partial set just sold to Phil was the third partial set sold on…
But a LOT OF WORK, and I would think near impossible these days to acquire a complete set of originals, thus the excellent effort/service done a few years ago by Charles with hard copy/photocopied sets, and the current work-in-progress by Phil for an Electronic Set…

Its the information that is of primary value, and only collectors like me that want originals, albeit I store my original set securely to save any more fair-wear-and hopefully no tear, and for everyday access/use refer to a set I photocopied from my originals…

I have and use my set of TSBs, but I didn’t recall getting them from you Charles, thought they came from somebody else in Calif?

Urs Schmid Vol 1 has good pictures of early and late brakes on pages 146-147.
Viart too pages 120-126.

Rob R;
If you got your TSB’s “during” the original “Great Technical Service Bulletin Deal”, I took ALL the orders and payments. Once ALL the TSB “orders” were received (paid for!), THEN Skip Smith mailed them from “someplace” in the Deep South… I believe Skip might have been from Mississippi (I said Georgia earlier, MIssissippi makes more sense!) where-ever Skip was from, he’d drive to Dallas once or twice a year… that’s what comes to my fuzzy brain… I know he use to come to Dallas to the “semi-annual” auto sale as he was involved in used car sales.
That said, I recall one or two “businesses folks” buying “more than one” of the TSB “sets”… probably gave a set to a “good customer” or buyers of whatever they were selling (one would think it had to be Jag related).
I’ll check-out “My Books” (Schmid Vol 1, Clausager, Porter, Viart, etc.) I think about these “Books” when dealing with “major” items, but my brain forgets about “THE Books” when it comes to minute “details” like “Brake Spring Placement”…
So, my work for tomorrow is cut-out for me… “dig into my books” to look for the “proper” Rear Brake Spring Placement… Maybe I’ll get my DHC Chassis “on wheels” yet!!
Charles Ch #677556.

A close inspection of the image on page L.49 of the Service Manual shows precisely which holes in the rear brake shoes to use when fitting the springs and how to orient the springs.

still thinking…someone must have a photo of the rear brake shoe/spring from their work…??? anyone? NickPICT0022

When Roger says “current work-in-progress”, never was a truer word spoken as I look at the bulletins currently spread across the settee in my study. I am slowly working through the scanning of an amalgamation of bulletins from recent purchases (including Roger’s partial set).

many will appreciate your work…for many years to come…these are important for many reasons…not the least of which is for anyone doing mechanical work to have the info they need for updated parts, compatibility, specs and procedures to maintain these wonderful cars…so , thanks. Nick

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