My name is Craig S. Nelson, US Navy (ret). I am currently a 5th year senior at McPherson College in Kansas and will graduate in May 2016 with a B.S. in Automotive Restoration Management and a B.S. in Automotive Restoration Technology.

I am currently interning at a shop for the summer, started last month, and must depart in early August. The goal is to finish the electrical and final assembly before I leave on a '67 E-Type Series 1.5 OTS with the 4.2L engine.


We are using a reproduction Lucas Model 5SJ washer pump and plastic bottle. I believe it came from XK Limited long before I arrived. Before I installed it, I ran new windshield fluid squirters and new tubing with the T connection equally split between the two squirters.


I then temporarily hooked up power to the wiper fluid motor, filled the bottle with water, and found the unit was very noisy and the plastic coupling disengaged between the upper motor shaft and the lower pump shaft.


The attached picture shows the 2 shafts do not line up straight and the coupler is crooked. In it's natural resting position, this crooked coupler causes the noise and the uncoupling between the two shafts. When I gently place some pressure (cheap plastic) to make the 2 shafts line up, then the unit is very quiet.


If we return and replace the whole unit, will we get a replacement that has the very same issues? Is this a common issue? Are all these reproduction units built in the same place, or are some better than others?


Per the JCNA judging guide, we cannot change to the Model 2SJ glass bottle unit as our car is newer than the cutoff chassis number.


I can always be reached at (619) 944-8971 or nelscra@bulldog.mcpherson.edu.

Thanks.