David...Thanks for the offer but I have a used one coming in the mail. I could use a rear exhaust manifold though.

Ill try the above mentioned approach and keep you all posted. Got some rare rain and cold coming in to Southern Cal today...

 

Additional thoughts on flushing with garden hose. You will need cap the radiator where you removed upper hose… short piece of hose with plug (like a PVC cap) pushed in and clamped. A 3-4 ft section of (Hardware store) drain hose slid over upper hose will keep dirty water from going all over.

Metal pipe #45 is return for heater loop and will be corroded like your thermostat pic. It is outside of engine now, clean it or replace if before you clean or flush, other-wise the crud will go back into engine.

You may have to do the cleaning a few times to get it all out.

 

Surprisingly, #45 didnt look bad from the outside and flows hose water really well. The nipple on the back side of the intake manifold however is very rusty and will need to be replaced. I think its #24. Also I could not get water to flow through the intake manifold preliminarily. Im hoping a proper pressurized flushing will clear it out. Also hoping the head and block passages are able to be cleared.

 

is the small is the small nipple in the thermostat housing that connects to the radiator supposed to be blocked off or does it go all the way through?

 

If you have an original radiator style, there is the same nipple next to the top hose coupling. It connects there. If you do not, block it.

 

I looked at the place where that small hose connects to the thermostat housing and on the housing behind it there is a little valve of some kind. Unfortunately I pulled it apart and I'm not sure where you get those little valves.




I'm thinking I'm thinking to just leave it open without this valve but if anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm replacing the second thermostat housing, not the one that attaches to the upper radiator hose, but the one behind it. The reason is that it is too deteriorated from the coolant sitting there for 33 years.

Since I want to replace the big giant paint canister air cleaner with some foam air filters, what do you do with the steel breather tube from the valve cover?

 

I know the valve your interested in and have never seen it for sale. I think, but am not sure, that it helps speed up warmup. I would not fret too much about it. Maybe others know more.

You have several options for the air cleaner/crankcase vent.
1 stay original.
2 dump the vapors out. This is not great for the environment. Also, you will be venting to atmospheric pressure versus the negative pressure in the air trumpet. Vapors will not be scavenged as quickly.
3 collect the vapors. Adds to maintenance and may further slow scavenging.
4 ITG makes a foam filter that attaches like the current trumpet and includes the pipe coupling and does not use the canister. It is available from SNG Barrett. It is expensive and the air rush is quite noisy.

 

Thank you for the information. I figured if the valve was easy to get them I would put it in, otherwise I will just leave it out. Whoever worked on the car before sealed the nipple with silicone. I will drill it out and then leave it.

Regarding the breather tube, I just bought a couple of foam air filters that look like they have an attachment for a breather. I'm wondering if there is a better way to create more suction with a PCV valve and using manifold vacuum? Has anyone done this?

 

The breather just send engine fumes (piston ring blow by) back into carbs so it is burned in combustion and not released to atmosphere, there is no performance improvement.
Output from Engine Breather is ¾” ID hose; add a 3/4” to 5/8" or 1/2"reducer fitting then a Y Fitting).

(E-Bay for reducer & Y Fitting) 12mm-16mm-12mm | 1/2 x 5/8 x 1/2 Y 3-Way Brass Fitting Hose Barb

See

 

Air filters arrive today, so I will look into how to hook up the Breather.

I'm not sure what I'm not sure what it's called but the thermostat has two housings that attach to the intake manifold. The one that is on the intake manifold that is behind the thermostat had severe corrosion and so I decided to replace it and that came yesterday. I assembled that plus the front thermostat cover and hooked up all the hoses and ran some sulphamic vinegar through the cooling system. I will do that a couple of times and then drain it and then do it again.

When I'm when I'm confident that the cooling system seems to be clear of rust, I will send the radiator for boiling out and hopefully it's in good shape and able to be used. I also plan to replace the water pump. Is it a better idea to have my pump rebuild or get a new one?

The car ran for about 5 minutes while I watch the temperature gauge. It was almost to the middle of the gauge after almost 5 minutes. This is without a thermostat and I was just blipping the throttle a little bit. Carburators seem to run well and the engine run smoothly still. This is also with the heater system bypassed. That will be its own miserable project

 

Is it a better idea to have my pump rebuild or get a new one?
A new or rebuilt from one of the major Jaguar suppliers should be fine, just price and hassle factor, whether you have to guaranty a rebuild-able core. and extra shipping of core.

 

Ok, while I'm waiting for the radiator to be cleaned out by the radiator shop I am painting some of the bits and doing a lot of cleaning. I noticed when I pulled the radiator out that the lower radiator hose was rubbing on the anti sway bar. I figured it just wasn't positioned right but that doesn't appear to be the case. It looks like the lower radiator support bracket has broken off the forward rod on the passenger side. There is a whole piece missing.




Here is a picture taken from the other side showing what it is supposed to look like although there is an air-conditioning hose on top of the forward rod:



https://youtu.be/QJho1TsFfeM

Now what???

 

With Radiator already out, remove bonnet (make sure you remove license plate till actuation rod first) You can undo hinge and then lean it forward on a pillow or rolled blanket to a vertical position --- Secure vertically to Garage rafters if you are indoors--- then remove the radiator mount sub frame. Welding shop can make repair and sand blast whole frame in prep for full repaint. You will only remove this once, might as well do it right.

 

removing the removing the Bonnet and subframe for repair is certainly one option I considered. One of the problem is that I need an extra set of hands to remove the Bonnet and I only trust my brother who did it with me when we were much much younger before the car was parked.

my first option will be to enlist the help of my first option will be to enlist the help of a really good welder friend of mine who said he would be able to bring his equipment over in a couple of days. If I can get him to weld it back to stock then that is my first option.

second option is that a local Jaguar parts guy has a used second option is that a local Jaguar parts guy has a used subframe in stock and I may purchase that from him. If this is the case my brother is supposed to be visiting the next week so we would do that project next week.

in the meantime, the radiator shop finished cleaning out my radiator. They said in the meantime, the radiator shop finished cleaning out my radiator. They said it was 95% blocked but it is 100% free flowing now so that's great news. I've been restoring the fan shroud and fans to the factory Jaguar paint colors using the judges guide for Concours events. I repainted the expansion tank and I'm going to paint the vacuum tank.

I'll keep you guys posted on the radiator bracket repair.

 

I am still wavering between having the lower radiator bracket welded versus replacing the subframe. I will still keep you guys posted on this issue.

I bought I bought an aftermarket water pump from my Jaguar parts place plus a few other parts for the cooling system. Flushed out the block so the water runs clear and water ran out the drain hole in the bottom of the block.

I have a question regarding Distributor and vacuum advance and ported vacuum in the Zenith Stromberg carburetors. I believe the 1968 E-Type came with a blanked off distributor, meaning no vacuum advance or retard. The distributor on my 1968 appears to have a vacuum advance although it's disconnected. I noticed there are some threaded ports, one on each carburetor right above the throttle plate. Although both appear to be plugged one looks like there may have been some kind of pattern in it so that it would be easy to drill out the center and screw in a nipple in order to obtain vacuum Port. This is on the rear carburetor. My question is what size hole is drilled and any other details I should know?. Can it be hand drilled or must a drill press be used.?

 

Those holes look like they are angled so that, if you drilled through, you would come out upstream of the throttle plates which is what you want. Because you need that angle, I would do it by hand. I thought about that in the past but decided not to do anything. The potential benefit is improved cruising mileage and perhaps better behaved deceleration. No power increase. The Strombergs have an internal bypass to help with high vacuum conditions and I am not sure whether the combination would work well. Once you have the car running and get the mixture correct, I bet you will be happy with it as is.

 

My question is what size hole is drilled and any other details I should know?. Can it be hand drilled or must a drill press be used.?
Should be a #60 to #59 drill. It can be drilled by hand and as Bill said, it should go from center of threaded fitting hole to just behind throttle disc on air filter side of carburetor throat , so you need to set up a reference to get angle correct while your drilling. The fitting could be a Moss Motors 365-315 vacuum fitting (call first as it is expensive~ $26) or (1/8 hose barb 10 x 32 thread is what I used ~ $6; auto parts store or E-bay). It will improve mileage some and smooth out deceleration. Rgds David

 

Thank you both kindly for the advice. I know that vacuum advance should improve drivability. I will pull the carbs and drill the hole and screw in a Barb with the correct thread.

I had my I had my welder friend weld the lower radiator bracket this morning. after he welded it I noticed that the other side was scrunched up. I hope that the bracket is not raised up to high. My friend said that the quality of the metal on the Jaguar subframe was very poor and difficult to weld.





Here is a further away view..



After these after these pictures were taken, I sprayed some primer on the welded area and I plan to paint it with some matching Sable Brown. Anyone know a fairly close Dupli-Color or spray can spray paint that's close to Sable?

 

Be careful with the frame, it is an alloy that is not weldable and will become brittle if subjected to high temps. I am not sure if that is true of the radiator support bracket. Suggest you check further. Earlier posts (some years ago) discussed this and you may want to review the archives.

 

If it is if it is not weldable, then how are the pieces attached?