I picked up a set of Hella horns to replace the questionable ones that came on the car. These have a sharp tone and should do a good job getting people's attention.


A new relay replaces the original one that was well past it's prime.

 

Tonight I wired up the left side outer high and low beams and while that's not all that exciting, I was able to test the turn signals and high beam indicator in my new speedometer. I lost the stock turn signal indicators that were in my original speedometer so when I got my new Speedhut speedo I made sure to order one with the turn signals. Here is the left turn signal indicator in the new speedometer.


And here is the high beam indicator.

 

Thorsen - Knowing how particular you are (a major Craftsman in my mind), be aware those bright red horns will very much show through the grill when all is assembled. And... since they are offset from center it might not be attractive to you. I installed aftermarket horns a while back and they showed through the grill, and I really didn't like the look. However, we all have our personal tastes. Just FYI. See below.

 

Thank you, Bill. That would have annoyed me to no end so I went out at lunch today and relocated the horns to behind the front license plate.

 

I like it when you get to the point in the project where you can start to focus on the items that are less essential but still important. That's generally the milestone that says the hard work is done and the finish line is in sight.
Tonight I started pulling out the old speakers that had some buzzing and replaced them with new speakers.


I'm not an audiophile and I don't get snobby about which brand of speakers I use, but I went with the Kenwood's because they would fit perfectly behind the vintage speaker grills already in the car.


After that I moved on to replacing some parking lamp bulbs that were blown and also found some LED bulbs for the brake lamps. I think it's important to have brake lights as bright as possible with drivers these days.

 

Ah, yes.
Ancient speakers in an Elder car's doors, subjected to moisture, temperature extremes, shock and the general abuse of high volume settings.
I wonder why they might buzz.....
(';')

 

I'm close enough to the finish line that I can smell it. Today I started putting the interior back together but I have a few tweaks left. I also cleaned up inside and under the car in preparation for getting it back on its feet next weekend.


All that's left before I can drive is adjusting the rear half of the exhaust system and putting the hood back on. Both those are scheduled for next weekend when Dad comes to town to help out.

 

I'm gonna miss this thread........
(';')

 

About 8 months back I picked up a stainless steel tank to use as a reservoir for windshield washer fluid. The one that came with the car was yellowed plastic and in bad shape.


I'm starting to think it's too blingy. What does the group here think? Install it as is? Paint it black and install it? Skip it and do without?

 

I wouldn't want to live without it. I use my windshield washers frequently.

I could go either way on appearance. It certainly looks nice just as it is, but it's definitely shinier than the other engine bay components. If you painted it matte charcoal gray or matte black, it might blend in better with the cam cover and brake booster. Another idea would be to just sand blast it to reduce its gloss.

Cheers,

Don

 

Black wrinkle finish.

Dave

 

Keep it a is, nothing wrong with bling!

 

This weekend I had a special guest in the garage to help me wrap things up. Dad and I have been working together on cars longer than I can remember. Here I am "helping work" on Dad's 1954 Mercury Monterry.


So this weekend he helped me get the over axle exhaust pipes all lined up.


Today the cat finally sat on all 4 feet for the first time in 9 months.


And first time in the sun in 9 months


I had the hood stored in the garage rafters. Today it came down.


Dad helped clean it underside of the hood before we put heat insulation on.


Hood insulation completed.


I normally wouldn't have done this, but my neighbors have been waiting to see the car come out of the garage. Here is the first drive.

You can't have the ups without the downs. After I filled up the tanks I had a pretty steady drip from the right side tank. After I drained it and resealed the original fuel level sender plate the leak went away,




Now I have a running and driving car. I still have some things to work on but I am finally able to drive the car.

 

Special Day! Great job!!

 

What a Victory!!
(';')

 

I know the feeling, good job.

Dave

 

I do hope you most handsome Father will be allowed to drive when all finished!

 

I put 80 miles on the XJ this weekend. That means in I have driven this car more in the last 2 days than I have in the preceding 9 months before I realized the engine wasn't good. I put 47 miles on it from the day I bought it to when I pulled the engine last summer. I had to put in a lot of work for a car I wasn't sure I really liked, but after getting to spend some time with it this weekend, I have some thoughts:
- The engine has a ton of power everywhere. It's very smooth and delivers the power without drama.
- Using the 0-60 timer built into the speedometer I recorded 6.5 - 6.6 second 0-60's by just holding the accelerator pedal down. One was on an uphill tollway entrance ramp and one was starting from the side of the road where there was loose gravel.
- I got it up to 90mph on the tollway (which is not abnormal for weekend traffic) and the car is silky smooth and wants to keep going.
- The overdrive transmission is worth the price of admission.
- I shimmed the power steering pump to drop the pressure to around 850 psi. That's the perfect amount of assist. It's not over-boosted on the highway and you're not struggling around town.
-The fuel pumps need some sort of noise insulation. The sound isn't that loud but the frequency is really annoying at stop lights.

I do have a couple items on the immediate to-do list. After 80 miles the new front suspension bushings got some exercise so I'm going back and loosening/retightening the pivot bolts. The radio locks up and I do love my tunes - so a new radio is on the way. It's also time to charge the AC system and get that blowing cold air. And finally it looks like the engine mounts have settled and tightened up the clearance to the steering rack. It's not touching but it's closer than I'd like so I'm going to shim the mounts.

One of the 0-60 runs:


The overdrive transmission + larger than stock tires make for very relaxed highway cruising. 70mph is about 2k rpm.


I did give the car a bath this afternoon to get rid of the garage dust from sitting all winter. After that it was time for it to go back in the air while I worked on my to-do list.

 

Today the Retro Manufacturing Europa was delivered. This is a pretty shameless copy of the Becker Europa but with modern internals supporting USB, bluetooth, variable color display to match the gauges, etc.

The face looks pretty busy with the faux radio dial overlay but in practice it works well. Your eyes quickly learn to "see through" the overlay while reading the display.

 

Tonight I got the cruise control signal issue corrected, I shimmed the motor mount to give me a little more clearance to the steering rack, finished loosening and re-tightening the front bushings, and went on a test-drive to see if the cruise is working. Rain cut the test drive short and the windshield wipers not working cut it even shorter, so I get to look into that. They were working last week so I'm not sure what happened. These cars are nothing if not humbling.

So I moved on to the AC system. I cracked the seal on a new receiver/drier and am vacuuming the system down now.