Soooo.... my E Type had only 35,000 mi on it when I started the restoration,
I did pistons, rings, valves, bearings ,etc but I kept hearing Jag owners saying
that I should clean out the water passages in the block ! So I removed the drain
plug at the rear and made up a fitting to attach a garden hose to.
Well I turned on the water full blast and the stuff that came out was horrendous !
Tons of rust and sand, I continued flushing back and forth till it was clear.
I thought that the factory got all of the FOUNDRY SAND out of the block when the the engines were manufactured ??
The engine never overheated but who knows about isolated hot spots where all
this sand was?? Lesson learned !! Flush your block.

 

its not foundry sand , its the crap that accumulates through normal use and storage


so flush every few years

 

+1 . . . absolutely correct . . . not foundry sand . . . that was cleaned out 50+ years ago. Can I venture 2 areas you have NOT mentioned, especially for an engine that has seen such little use, and IMHO, are far more critical . . .

1. flushing the coolant passages in block and head should be backed up by knocking out and replacing ALL the Welch plugs, say every 10-15yrs - my emphasis is because there is 1 that is well hidden, almost inaccessible, and therefore ignored;
2. remove and check the radiator core as these were marginal at best (special note for Aussie, AZ and CA owners - they were NOT adequate even when new) . . . so, being a crossflow, these were susceptible to clogging (50% blocked is common) . . . re-core with a thicker matrix have more rows of water channels, being about 1/2" thicker but not obvious when refitted and in car.

So fitted, our E-Type was driven continuously and often pushed hard, in 40-45+C (that's 105-115+F) Aussie summers while we lived in Sunraysia, with never any overheating issues.

Cheers,

Ken