What did you do to your E-Type today? (Part 1)

Tim is the car still in primer or is it the light?

Are you assembling to check fitment ?

Itā€™s the light. The car is a combination of original paint under the bonnet and a exterior respray in 1979 after a light tap in the right quarter panel.
Itā€™s not a restoration, just a mechanical rebuild to make it safe and reliable. This was my dadā€™s car that had been stored 20 years and my first love. It been in the family for 51 years. I was thinking of restoring it, but my pockets arenā€™t that deep and I like the patina that I remember growing up around it. I feel I can actually use it this way.

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Fresh from getting the wipers working on my '67, now the washers!

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Yep, that looks like (pathetically) normal performance :smiley:
At least thereā€™s no chance of it bypassing the windscreen by squirting over the roofā€¦

I put a litter of vinegar in the washer fluid and it usually does the trick after a day or two.
Iā€™ve also put a filter in the line.

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That wasnā€™t my problem, I replaced the lines when I put the car together a long time ago. What I finally got around to doing was clean the reservoir and rehab the motor to get it running again. The motor is not a very robust design. But it works well now, the right side if aimed too high almost hits the boot lid, lol.

When I replaced my washer motor/bottle years ago my challenge was getting things primed so that it would squirt well. Being a fair weather car I did not use for a long time and it evaporated/drained so I had to go through the priming exercise again. Could be a problem with my system but for years now it works fine since I make sure to squirt it at least every few weeks before things have a chance to evaporate or drain away.

David
68 E-type FHC

thatā€™s a better place for the firewall linkage bushing than being hidden under and behind the wiper motor.

I donā€™t know how I am going to assemble that yet

image

I donā€™t have a '61, but Iā€™m using the linkage from a 63 or 64. The long cross car link pulls the throttles. So the crank arm near the firewall points down.

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Bill that fitting on fire wall comes from sng barratt and iis a standard part @69coupe ā€¦I agree that logically youā€™re correct that how I would have done it ā€¦ā€¦ but thatā€™s how the 3.8 linkage is from the usuals and in the parts book ā€¦.I can always make another if needs beā€¦I do wonder looking at your photo if they changed it or that was for LHD

There is a centrifugal impeller pump at the bottom of the reservoir so there should be no priming necessary aside from having fluid in the reservoir. I can see how the lines would get clogged over time though, especially if distilled water was not used and deposits built up.

As I mentioned Iā€™m using all the original parts. My reservoir was looking pretty ugly so I painted it with an off white paint, far from concours correct but that is not what my car is about.

Or the inside of the washer pump could look like thisā€¦

:scream: :scream: :scream:

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I do not think there is a pump at the bottom on mine. I think it is just a tube going down there with a strainer thing. I do not want to take it apart to check for fear of losing the prime. When I bought my car the whole bottle/motor was missing so I bought a new one from one of the usuals. It has the black motor top that says Lucas with the opaque white bottle. I have always had to prime it to work but has been doing fine for 20 years if I do not let it run dry and use the squirters occasionally to keep water in the tubes.

David
68 E-type FHC

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The sII has the pump in the RR wing (quarter panel).

Iā€™m suspicious of people who donā€™t like dogs.
But I trust dogs who donā€™t like people.

I think they are discussing the screen washer, not the fuel pump.

Question on the sprayer nozzlesā€¦ there appears the be a flat blade screwdriver ā€œnotchā€ in the side pieceā€¦is that to take that little piece off for cleaning or adjustment?

Itā€™s to adjust the ā€œaimā€ of the nozzle spray to the desired location on the windscreen. I donā€™t know if it has an additional function for cleaning disassembly.

On the cheaper reproductions, be very careful turning that nozzle. Mine seemed to be made of pot metal and easily broke one of the notch sides offā€¦

Dave

I vaguely recall a later version of the Lucas washer bottle (the one with the cylindrical pump in a bracket on the cap) had a non-return valve at the bottom of the inlet pipe. I donā€™t know if that applies to the one in your picture, itā€™s (just slightly) before my time.

On a slightly related note. anyone have a good technique for fishing the washer hose to the pump out of the cowl?

Umā€¦ bad words? :face_with_diagonal_mouth: