Finished the carburetors, intake manifold,and water jacket, so all that is set aside for the future. I don’t know if it worked or not, but my coldstart solenoid had a chunk out of the valve and would have constantly leakedgas into the intake manifold I replaced it. I also tested the thermostat, so with a little wiring, that system isready for future assembly. My restorationplan is going well so far- I pull off parts during the weekend, and restore theparts during the week when I have less time. Definitely on track to meet my 3 year goal. J
I am learning how to polish aluminum. Consensus online seems that wet sanding isthe way to go, but given the staining over the years, not sure I can get theparts perfect. I am working from 400grit up to 2000, and then buffing on a wheel with white rouge. Pretty happy with the air intake and one valvecover, but still need to pull the rest of the aluminum parts off of the engine.
I pulled the exhaust system and gas tankthis weekend so I can send the tank out to be cleaned and sealed. The good news is it holds gas. The bad news was that it holds gas, and I hadto (properly) dispose of 5 gallons of very stale fuel. That’s a smell that takes a while to dissipate.
I also pulled the driveshaft, and it is ingood shape. The anti rust system on theunderbody has been working too well, and I see transmission and rear end sealsin my future, but that is for another day.
After stripping a few more pieces out ofthe engine compartment I will start the body work. I have ordered the replacement and patch panels,so I really have no reason to keep procrastinating.
I did finish the interior wood and am veryhappy with the results. I got anotherset of wood to refinish, for the second car, and will do this set with the birchunderlay and burled walnut facings.
Here is another picture of the finishedcarbs.

 

Looking good.

I refurbished my carbs, but for some reason front one continues to run rich i.e. cannot seem to lean it off enough to to do the "lifting dashpot piston" test.

Need to remove it (again) & explore further. First time was to cure the leaks around the enrichment device/float chamber area.

The fun of it all

 

Not a lot of progress in the last month. But I guess even if I wasn’t doing it myself,it would still be slow. I talked to a Jaguar restoration shop that is fairly close and they have a full load of 6 cars in restoration with 35 in queue! I guess it is good to be in this business right now. Not good for me though as they are not particularly interested in doing small projects like refurbishing mytransmission and rear end.

I did get the gas tank sealed and painted, and it looks great. No holes and ready to go for the future. I am making progress pulling parts out of the engine compartment, but it’s really how I imagine wrestling a bear. Very difficult to make progress, and I end up scratched and bruised. With lots of patience and penetrating oil, things are slowly coming out. Got the distributor refurbished so that is ready to go. I am really happy with the quality of work fromAdvance Distributor. I suppose I am procrastinating on the body work, but this all has to come out of the engine compartment anyway. The next task is to get the heater box out, then I will pull the cams and head. Then I’ll start the cutting grinding andwelding!

 

Mostly finished with the pedal box. I have this forum to thank for the help. I always love before and after pictures. This is a case where new parts are key.

Working on continuing to strip down the car. Ran into a snag with the heater box. Sure it was a pain to get it out, but my biggest challenge is that the flaps are frozen and will not move. I tried penetrating oil for a week, but no luck so sent it to the same radiator shop that cleaned up my gas tank, and we will see if sitting in their tank for a while will free up the flaps.

Meanwhile I took off the rear lights. I am taking the metal castings to be re-chromedas they are kind of pitted.The taillight assemblies are kind of expensive, but lots of parts are available, so Ithink I can salvage them. Next I will dis-assemblethe doors, and then I should be able to start with the body work.

 

CSBush,
The restored pedal assembly looks nice.
Regarding the heater box, if you don't have luck at the radiator shop, check out what I did. This is a link to my heater work on my website: Heater ? Valve Chatter

Lin

 

Thanks Lin- love your site, don't know how I missed or forgot this section. I will definitely try it!
Chuck

 

Hey Chuck, Glad I found your restore thread. I feel like you are blazing a trail for me. I think I am a "few" months behind you. You are getting a lot of advice and sources so I'm going to keep watching your thread. I need to re-veneer my wood as well, and I just rebuilt my carbs too. We are treading a lot of the same ground.

Best to you man. Continued success!

 

I had a good time with my heater box. Just disassembling it was a challenge.I got the nut off of the motor/squirrel cageattachment, but the old/dead motor would not come out.I used a metal saw to cut the motor shaft, soI could get the squirrel cage out and remove the motor from the heaterbox.

Of course the flaps were also frozen and soaking them forweeks in penetrating oil did nothing. Itook the box to a radiator shop and had it tanked- that cleaned it up prettywell but did nothing for the flaps.Itook MK2’s advice and set up anelectrical bath for it.I didn’t get quite the chemical reaction that I had hoped for but it was very clean. I used a sandblaster on it, and got the remaining rust off, but no luck with the flaps. Finally after all that, I put some more penetrating oil on the flapper pivot points, and attached vice grip pliers to each end and tried to rotate theshaft with light pressure on each end of the flapper.Very slowly they came free and with more coaxing, they are both smooth and have a full range of motion.

 

Wow, you are putting some work in to keep that one original!

 

Moving very slowly, but I am making progress with disassembly. I need to disassemble the doors for metal work, as well as getting the door handles re-chromed. Getting the first door stripped down was pretty simple. It all came apart nicely. Getting the door off the chassis was not so easy! I unscrewed the hinges from the body, but found that they will not come out without the door first being removedfrom the hinges. I got one of the three bolts off the bottom hinge and could not budge the rest. I soaked everything with penetrating oil and let it sit for a few weeks.I finally got an impact driver and with a large hammer was able to get the hour upper hinge bolts loose.The bottom bolts would not budge, and the way they are seated in the hinge don’t give much surface to grabso the wrenches slipped off. I finally got a little tool that catches on the bolt head, but it was still too tight. Eventually, I decided to give thetorch a try. I blasted the upper bolt until it was red and everything was smoking.That did the trick, and I was able to get it out. I had no access to the lower one, but since the exterior panel was rusted out and I was going to replace/patch it anyway, I used an electric saw to cut a hole in the exterior of the door and was able to torch the lower bolt too.I was finally able to get the door off. Seemed like a simple task, but of course it was a pain. Only three doors to go!

 

Heat (allot of it, to the point of cherry red) to the nut(s) will always work.
The heat expands the nut and chemically changes the rust (turns black) and breaks the seal which is keeping the bolt from coming out.
In cases like this no penetrating oil can get past the rust deep inside the threads.

 

I appreciate your advice on this from previous posts, which is what made me decide to try it on the door. I am a true believer now and the torch is my new best friend! I am careful though, and keep an eye on the car for several hours after torching to make sure nothing is still smoldering.

 

Yes, that's the problem _ smoldering _ catching fire...
One has to be careful of course, especially when working in old cars with body underlay and paint etc.

 

I finally had some time to work this weekend. I pulled the front and rear window’s out, and finished pulling off all the chrome. I got the last two doors stripped down and removed from the car. This serves three purposes- get the door handles off so I can get them re-chromed, polish and fit new rubber in the window frames, and do the rust repair and metal work on the doors. I hope to get started on the body and metal work in the next few weeks.The rust isn’t too bad so that part shouldn’t take long; just a lot of time cleaning and stripping. I hate pulling out all the interior soundproofing, but it all smells. I have been following the Kriss Motors blog which has some great examples of sound proofing, so will eventually go down that road.
I also took some time to further strip the engine. I pulled the cam’s out, and they look pretty good.There is some light wear on the bearings, but nothing significant, and no scoring. I’ll measure them at a later date. I then proceeded to take off the head to see a little more of what I was facing in the engine.The head came off pretty easily once I found and removed the 6 (!) bolts holding the timing chain housing on the front of the head. Getting the head off revealed why the engine would not turn over- two of the cylinders have corrosion in them- the one pictured has a lot! There is a nearby Jaguar shop that specializes in machining and rebuilding older jag engines, so I will eventually get it to them to fix the block and rebuild the head.
My last project for the weekend was to start refinishing the second set of interior wood. With this set, I have a better understanding of how the maple inlay’s in the walnut are supposed to look.The first piece I am working on is the dash, as it was mostly ready for the new veneer. Cutting and placing the strips was a little tedious, but I am very happy with how it turned out.After a little more sanding I’ll start with the sealing and finish coats.

 

Nice thread, thank you. How much veneer (number of sheets and sizes) should one buy, given the fact that it is going to be my first attempt and school fees may be in the order of the day?

 

Not sure where the OP got his veneer, but this is where I got mine. You can see exactly whet you're getting.
You have to hunt around a bit to match up the dimensions to cover the dash, for example.
Then move onto the instrument cluster, glove box area, door cappings etc.
All are mirror imaged and are also matched from left to right/right to left sides of the car.
The site makes it easy.
Prices vary according to colour and size.


Walnut Burl Veneer Stock List

 

Jeff- that is the same place(website) I use. I probably got the link from you in the first place. I highly recommend them for the reasons you mention. Yes, I always start with the dash because I need the longest pieces. Instrument cluster is next.
I did mirror image (bookmarked) the dash- makes a nice pattern.

 

If spending money is making progress, I am making a lot of progress I am still working on rebuilding/ refinishing components I have removed.


Parts that needed re-chroming are back from the shop with a new shiny finish, the upholstery kit I ordered from England came in, as well as a complete rubber kit from SNG Barratt. I am refinishing the window frames and replacing the rubber, redoing all the lights, and will start on the re-upholstery of the seats. Why do the seats now you ask? Because the old ones are stinking up my garage. I need to get them stripped down and re-done.


I'll get started with the bodywork this Fall when it is a little cooler.

 

You're chrome must have been in pretty bad shape, you're even had the door catches and one internal engine part done.
99.9% of the time people never bother with stuff like that given the expense, sure looks great !

 

CBush,
Who did your chrome and were you happy?
How long did they take to do the job?

Thanks very much!

Lin