After a stupid (on my part) garage accident in August of 2023, I am finally getting the car back, maybe this week. I am going Wed. Dec 4 to view the car and make sure that there is nothing else that needs attention, before committing to having it transported back to me.
I was adjusting the carburetors, bonnet up and the car went into gear and did a slow roll into some wood garage cabinets. No damage to bulkhead and the birdcage was measured and found not to have suffered.
Photos 1 and 4 are from shop yesterday showing the bonnet fit. Does it look reasonable?
The second photo is a file photo of the car years prior to accident
Third photo is of the damage.

 

Hi Valerie,
Happy to hear that you are getting your car back. The Bonnet gaps look good and even on the photos.
Did you have only the bonnet painted, or the whole car?
I know you are in a part of the country that is difficult to enjoy the car at this time of year. But if you can, take it for a short ride before you put it away for the winter.
I am sure it will feel good to have your E-Type back in your garage.
Bill.

 

Hi Valerie,
IMHO, The drivers side bottom rear corner, looks like it sticks out. I'd take a close look at the gap of the sill to the bonnet. It looks awful close/tight to me. It may look better in person.
Best of luck

 

Went to see the car and the gaps are good, the top sides and center of the bonnet were all original, it was just the lower valance that was pretty much crunched. That left side lower corner has always been that way... only the top front had damage.

It was only the bonnet that was painted and they really did a great job matching the paint. I'm hoping there is some left over so I can have it and then have some put in a rattle/spray can.

We went to visit the car at the end of October and I got to drive it then.

Shop said the car has never run better, but that I probably should look at doing something with the torsion bars. I am going to contact Richard Michael Owen in Canada. He has a video out on YT where he is putting a burgundy S2 convertible back together and he specifically does the torsion bars with some sort of an adjustable 'link' (???) not sure I have the correct name for the part... it's not the reaction plate. It's the torsion bar bracket that the end of the TB fits in that is then bolted, to I think the bulkhead end of the frame, perhaps the reaction plate (?) I'll try and get more info on this. I need to find out where he got that bracket. Supposedly it allows easier adjustment of the TB. I also learned that there are different torsion bar thicknesses. Just when I thought that after 35 years, I knew this car !

The YT video... torsion bar install starts at 1:00 hour in
I will be having the car transported back here to Wisconsin from northern Illinois. Today it was beautiful when we set out at 8 am. We stopped in Madison WI on the way back north and the proverbial weather s**t hit the fan... 35 mile an hour winds blowing snow across the roads, icing them up. We drove probably 14-35 mph in a line of cars and trucks back on roads that are normally 55 and it took us an hour to go what usually takes us 3o minutes. Wind right now is howling across our lake. Snow stopped earlier, so I think Mr. E is garage bound once he gets here.

 

Hi Valerie,
I'm glad your happy with the car! Being without it for over a year must of been hard for you.

As for the weather, thats one of the reasons I left Michigan. It was 50F today and sunny in the afternoon. Had to put the jet skis away 2 weeks ago :-( The last ride of the season was 70+, sunny and the water was very smooth. Met some people at the docks who told me that they have been out on their pontoon boat in January.

 

A week later and the cold and wind returned. Made arrangements with my new shop to pickup the E while they were down in the area delivering a finished car. Probably 5-10 degrees out with 25 MPH winds for their @ 3 hour drive. Got the E offloaded and rolled in the heated garage, didn't start it. After about 20 minutes in the garage, noticed a fuel odor. The E was parked with the gas filler facing the house to garage door. We looked for gas leaking, checked carb fittings for wet, opened hatch and checked spare tire/fuel pump area and no smell there. It seemed to be strongest under the gas filler flap. Do have vented cap. Removed that and refit it. Left portable fan circulating air. This morning the smell seems to be gone. Just wondering if that super cold 'shrunk' some of the connections. Have not noticed this before in the winter, but that's because he usually goes into his zippered cocoon in our storage garage in mid November. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated!

 

I would really like to hear the story about how your E-Type managed to go into gear.

 

On my knees on driver's side..not really sure what happened, switched the car on and next thing I realize is that I'm being dragged on my knees. Shut it off ASAP. I had been attempting to adjust the carbs. Several iterations of remove air trumpet, check carbs, attempt the limited adjustments that can be made to these CDSE 175s. Put trumpet back on, take car out, test choke, come back to garage, shut car off. Repeat. A really stupid day on my part. Biggest thing was to fail to set parking brake. I don't usually set it in any car I have... VW has clutch switch where you have to depress the clutch to start. The F (also manual trans) automatically sets its brake when you shut it off. I weigh setting the brake on an old system where it might stick. Mindfullness is now foremost in my car work. Taking my time to think through what I am doing and making sure all the precautions are in place. I should have learned from Jay Leno and his "stupid garage mistakes". Fortunately, only my knees were ripped up. Hope this is what you were looking for, PM me if you want me to do a deeper dive into this painful episode.

 

Simple slips are part of working on any vehicle, I wish I had a dollar for everytime I tried to bump an engine over, only to find it was still in gear, cars and bikes alike. I fortunately never had that happen to a Jag XKE. Oh, maybe that's because I wasn't lucky enough to ever own one. But I guarantee you I put a dent or scrape in several others. LOL. It's only funny because we've all been there. It just really hurts are hearts, when it a truly special vehicle. Hope your knees fared out as well as the Jag did. Repairs look excellent.

Jack

 

We've all had an experience or two wrenching on our cars that we'd prefer to forget. As long as no one is hurt it's a minor thing. Don't ask me about the oil filter washer I put on backward on my V12 (despite the fact I'd changed the filter dozens of times). It's amazing what a big puddle 12 quarts of oil makes.