I’d rather see a Retrosound
Upgrade to LED lights (bulbs/flasher units)
I guess that’s why they make so many different types of radios. Yours does look pretty good though.
i did the LED bulb replacement as sell, along with LED headlights. Much better than stock. And earlier I forgot to mention the addition of a high third brake light.
I beg to differ with Tommikat. The only “weak link” I see is the sI propeller cooling fan blade.
I have a late sII with A/C. The system is stock with the exception of an aftermarket cooling fan. I’ve driven it in the heat of Phoenix (AZ) on the freeway in stop and go traffic without it overheating. (And A/C on)
There are three things needed for the system to operate effectively. First, my radiator leaked, so I had a local shop boil and solder it. Second, the water pump impellor had corroded so badly that it wasn’t pumping water. Replace. Third, I was lucky, but sometimes the block needs to be boiled if all the casting sand is not flushed out completely at the factory.
From there it is just the normal stuff, timing not too retarded, etc.
LLoyd
It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
I think it depends on the series. I had forgotten that the 1.5 had the dual radiators and fans. My S1 4.2 always ran hot, even after restoration. A modern alloy radiator with multibladed fan cured everything.
Ahhhh yes. I-forgot-to-mention… Dave Barns is right…
The aftermarket fan moves more air and uses less electricity.
LLoyd
It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
Hi,
Ours did not, not even in Saint Tropez in the summer, original S1 radiator and original fan motor and blade. It’s important that the thermostat works right (and closes the bypass) and that the fan cowl is well sealed to the radiator, otherwise you are not getting the complete cooling effect.
Cheers!
I’m guessing you’re one of the lucky ones. Series 1 E-Types overheating because of marginal cooling systems is legendary. I struggled with it since purchase used in 1971, and even after rotisserie restoration in 1985-88.
On the freeway on a hot day it always ran at or over 100C, and would approach 110C when pulling off an exit. Besides the heart-in-mouth worry, the cockpit was always miserably hot.
With the modern system on over 38C days (100F), my fan turns on at 71C and off at 68C. On the freeway, it stays at 68. The cockpit is cool, and so is my head.
Forget all this advice. Just get the car going and drive it. If it hasn’t been used for a while, things will …er… fail. Mend them as they do, taking the opportunity to apply some of the upgrades mentioned above. Then drive some more. Keep on driving and mending and maintaining (doing one’s own maintenance is a must for all self respecting driver standard E-Types) and polishing and after a few drives, things will no longer fail. Then start on improvements that haven’t been done so far as take your fancy. A paint job here, an ignition upgrade there, maybe a suspension upgrade or lighting or front seats (definitely replace the front seats with recovered MX5 seats).
This is, of course, probably the worst advice you will read on this forum. But it worked for me, and my now quite well used, but highly polished bag of nails.
This line of snaps is from this the first year of COViD. The car has been around Cornwall, on many shopping trips, gardening sessions at Dad’s and for the National Trust. The mileometer reading is, as far as I can tell accurate, and as far as I can tell this is the third time 05000 miles has shown. Yup, 200,000 miles and counting. Maintenance this summer included replacing the innards of the driver’s side upper ball joint. The seats (front seats in a 2+2) are MX5 and as already mentioned well worth the change.
And as with the paintwork and the interior, the condition of the engine bay has not changed much in the last 18 years and nearly 70,000 miles.
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What makes an E Type is sort of in the eye of the beholder. How do you drive the car? In the city exclusively, or on the open road?
I live in southern Arizona where it can be 100 degrees and the car has not even left the garage so the first thing I tackled was cooling. I installed a Ron Davis aluminum radiator and bypassed the otter switch with a manual fan switch on the dashboard. My philosophy living in Arizona traffic is turn on the fans before the water gets so hot they are needed. I also converted all my lights to LED’s with super bright headlights.
The rest of the modifications are strictly personal preference so have no real bearing on reliability.
Len Wheeler
Lots of ways to skin a cat, obviously. My two cents is to make sure what you have operates as designed originally before looking at any upgrades. You could add say an electronic distributor and still won’t like driving the car if the suspension bushings are shot. Replace what is worn out and anything that could leave you stranded by the side of the road. When the car is running as designed, then decide if anything needs an upgrade. You may find that Jaguar engineers got it right the first time.
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Hey E Folks
Wow !! What a variety of responses & suggestions. What a wonderful forum of generous & helpful guys (gals?). Makes me so thankful I found this forum. All of your comments are helpful & thought provoking.
I live in the Pacific NW on Puget Sound, on the west side of an island not too far from the great Pacific air conditioner/ocean. So at this point most of my driving will be on the island which almost never gets too hot. However, insuring that the cooling system is fully operational is a priority. I’ll see how it goes before I invest $$$ for a SS radiator.
All of this (comments/suggestions) are so exciting. I’m getting so stoked about this project. Looking forward to this adventure.
Thanks again for all your comments. You are the best.
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I echo most of the other comments, and will add one tidbit. I think much of the Lucas bad rap often comes from simple electrical connection problems, so go through the entire electrical system and pull apart every connector, inspect carefully for any signs of damage or potential wire breakage, replace any connectors that look suspect, and clean every contact before reassembly. All the lights, connections to the back of the gauges, the ignition switch…every single connector you can get at.
After 50+ years, even the best condition cars will no doubt have some corrosion on the contacts. This is tedious work and not the most glamorous of tasks, and won’t give you anything to show off when you’re done except not sitting on the side of the road with an electrical problem.
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And that is probably the best advice so far.
One thing I forgot, and probably most important for you where you are, being close to the salty sea and all…
Invest in a quality waxoyl/dinitrol/whatever applicator, and regularly coat the bits that are not polished to death with the gloop. Inner and outer panels and all the box sections. I do mine every year. Wheel arches, full length of the floors, inside under all the carpets, inside the cills the central and rear box sections, the A and B pillars. I also spray the inside of the boot/trunk, and the inner wheel arch panels. Somewhere either here in the archives or in the E-Type U.K. forum is a diagram of all the spray points.
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Hi,
Something wrong. In +30C weather only stop and go traffic would get the needle to +95C and in some cases I had to put the heater on to save us from trouble.
On the highways it always stayed around +70-75C unless (in Germany) we drove faster than 200km/h which would raise the temp to +90C.
The V12 runs hotter by design, normal is +90-95C in the same conditions. Of course with both you need to allow it to cool before turning ingition off, as the heads and exhaust manifolds are hot if you’ve been running at 4.000-6.000rpm for half an hour or longer.
If your timing is late and/or mixture is weak it runs hotter, if the thermostat is not closing the bypass completely (very common problem) and / or your radiator and cylinder head and block water passages are clogged it will run hot. If the radiator cowl is not perfectly sealed you may be running 30% or more air outside the radiator when standing still.
In my experience it’s mostly a myth, like the saying that the brakes would not be good. They are excellent as long as everything is working as it should. But it’s easy to ruin the whole system by not changing the fluids at least once every two years, and flushing the whole system. I used Bars Nural every four years and Bars Leaks after that.
In the brake system I had DOT5, which some dislike, but I changed the fluid every two years and was happy with everything else, but I had to replace the brake light switch three times over 16 years, one switch lasted less than two years.
Cheers!
I used a starter from an XJ in my 67 instead of a modern high torque starter. So it still sounds like a Jag starter, yet is more reliable than the original.
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What is the difference in the xj starter that makes it more reliable?
What is the opinion on the 3M Professional Rubberized undercoating ??
Thanks for the comment. Good idea & information.
If so, why did Jaguar throw a second radiator and fan into the Series 2?
Pekka, we agree to disagree. I’ve been through this since 1971, and know the ins and outs.These cars overheat in the hotter USA climates. It simply cannot be denied. It is fact, not myth.
Installing a modern cooling system cures the issue, so you don’t have to do the tricks and dances you describe to keep your car from boiling over in the hot sun.
Agree: it’s why Tweety had a huge aftermarket radiator, which, as Dad said, “just staved off disaster longer.” On the track, the stock Marston would not suffice.
Once I installed the CoolCat fan, and ditched the ridiculous Boeing Blade(c), it would idle along in traffic, at 107F ambient, and not overheat at all.
That said, later E Types, if all is in tip top shape, won’t overheat in anything but the worst conditions.
Key point: “tip top” shape. There is really no headroom in a Jag cooling system.
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