The system held a vacuum overnight, but I also like to test it under pressure. So this morning I hooked up a bottle of nitrogen to my manifold and pressurized the system to 100psi. The system held that pressure all day so after work I replaced re-vacuumed it down then charged the system. I'll need to fine tune the pressures when the weather gets into the 90's but for now I am good with the 37 degree vent temps.

After that it was on to trouble shooting the wipers. I pulled the wiper stalk from the dash and found the wires for low and high speeds. Using this handy Lucas Wiper wiring guide I ran two new wires to the engine bay, wired up two relays for low/high speed, and tested it out. I was happy to see it all worked.


Tomorrow the goal is to clean up the mess from re-wiring the wipers and get it ready for a trip to the alignment shop on Friday.

 

I realized that the four 4" speakers don't cover a wide range of frequencies. The high and mids seem to be well covered but the lows are completely absent. To combat that I put an 8" powered subwoofer under the driver's seat. It provides enough bass to balance the other speakers but not so much that it rattles the car.


This morning I got the car back from the alignment shop - that's another story in itself. I'm going back Monday morning so they can explain how they corrected the rear toe when there's no provision for adjustment, and how they adjusted the rear camber without removing the drive axles. Or how they changed the front caster without moving, adding, or subtracting shims. Anyway I'm trying to not let that bother me, so I mounted a fire extinguisher to the rear transmission tunnel.


Then I cleaned up and buttoned up a few other things and looked around - and other than waiting for Mike Eck to repair my clock, I think I'm done. There's nothing else to do on the car right now. This must be what a mother bird feels when she watches her babies fly away - a mixture of pride and sadness.

So I did the only thing I know how to do - and that's to keep busy. So I decided to rebuild a set of Lockheed calipers for my MGB to replace the perpetually squeaky aftermarket ones I picked up. And it's time to change the oil. And I need to grease the front end. And......

 

Hey nice early B!

 

Thanks - it's a 1970 with the split rear bumper

 

Tonight I finished adjusting the hood so it would not pop open when going over rough pavement. I also made a slight tweak so the hood closes straight - it's a big improvement over how it was before.
I've also just been driving the car. I'm a firm believer in keeping them moving so I try to make sure she has plenty of exercise

 

Noice! Vewwy Vewwy Noice!
However, Time stamp on that video sez March 2, 2017.

 

I was too lazy to set the date

 

In addition to being a very good mechanic, Thorsen has also invented a time machine in his spare time.

 

I'm up to 450 miles on the car including a 120 mile beer run to Wisconsin this weekend. Everything continues to work well with the exception of the fuel pump situation. When I run the right pump, the one-way check valve for the left pump isn't check valving and the left fuel tank will overflow if it's full to begin with. At first I thought I was having an issue with thermal expansion but after doing the math - I'm pretty sure that wasn't it. I took apart one of the check valves and was supremely disappointed in what I saw. I assumed there was a spring-loaded ball bearing as the valve - nope, it was a piece of some type of plastic that was acting as a reed valve. So now I am investigating solenoid valves to see if they can handle the job and if not I'll be moving to motorized ball valves. My other option is to ditch the twin fuel pumps and have a single fuel pump that draws through the six-port valve I am using for the fuel return.

 

What an Awesome excuse for a Maiden Voyage!

That's what they did to my car at the time of Conversion. Both original pumps are still in the tanks but only for the anti-backflow function. Otherwise, the single pump draws off both tanks more or less equally.
I don't have to worry about changing tanks that way (Unlike my work truck!)
(';')

 

The OE fuel change over valve system works so long as everything is super clean, which most often means new fuel tanks. Filters before the valves help, but the magnetic field in the valves seems to stick fine particles back together. Some have swapped to valves of the type in the link below - I've no experience of them. Apparently, there's also a valve on some Toyota Land Cruisers that's supposed to be good.

https://www.oilybits.com/pollak-6-po...th-switch.html

 

With the help of @Greg in France I finally solved my cross-feed issue with the fuel pump. The problem I was having was then when I ran the right pump, the check valve to keep fuel out of the left tank wasn't doing it's job 100% percent. If both tanks were full it only took a few miles of driving before the left tank would overflow.

Here's a diagram of the original setup:


Here's the new layout I switched to. Rather than using check valves to prevent cross-feeding the tanks, I'm using the 6 port Pollak valve to isolate the non-operating tank.

I did keep a check valve between the Pollak valve and engine to keep the fuel rail pressurized when the pump is off. This helps the engine start faster after the fuel rail is primed.


It's such a simple solution and it was right under my nose the entire time. I'm not even sure why it never occurred to me to use the Pollak valve instead of check valves and a tee. After 20 miles driving on the right tank the fuel level in the left tank did not budge. I appreciate Greg's help in talking through the problem and coming up with a solution.

 

Here's how the fuel pump situation ended up. The Pollak valve is on the left side of the picture just above the right side fuel pump. The left side fuel pump is on the right side of the picture.

 

I'm up to 700 miles on the car now and got back from a Chicago-Milwaukee run for Coffee and Classics this morning. I like to take a set of tools with me "just in case" but I don't like them sliding around the trunk so this weekend I made a buckled strap to hold them in place. I inherited Mom's old sewing machine when she upgraded hers and she'd be really disappointed to see it out in the garage


Here is the tool box nicely buckled in:


And while I was it, the case for the trolley jack got a buckled strap too.


My wife was driving the car last weekend and asked "how fast is this thing?" I told her there was only one way to find out so she floored it on the entrance ramp to the tollway:

I did get a chance to test out the AC yesterday. We had 82/28 F/C and a hot sun and I had to run some errands so I rolled up the windows and cranked the AC. The AC was ice cold and the cabin was nice and comfortable. I'll be the first to admit that 82 isn't much of a test but it was good to see that it kept the car cold and the engine never thought about getting hot.

Finally, after getting back from Milwaukee I noticed there was still a bit of a gasoline aroma in the trunk. I found some weeping on the high pressure end of both fuel pumps. I took the left pump out of the car and when I removed the metric to AN adapter I found galling on the threads. I went out of my way to buy genuine Bosch pumps but I'm not sure that I didn't get a set of counterfeit ones. Looking at my options now.

 

My Wife is a big quilter. And I showed her the pic of the Bernina because I recognized the brand. Not just any 'ole sewing machine. Top of the quilting machine. When you're done with the car (Ha! Are we ever done!?), you can start quilting and makes lots of money!

 

HA! I wanted to try my hand at interior upholstery a few cars back and she loaned it out to me. I think I'll stick with greasy things.

 

Ya know, Thomas, you might have just made a Big mistake letting Andrea drive that car, cuz she might not want you to sell it (as you do when you get bored with your finished projects), she might want to KEEP IT FOR HERSELF!
Well Done!

That clip is making me itchy to get Nix out burning up the Passing Lanes!
(gotta get the ac charged first)
(';')

 

With both of the Bosch 044 (technically 0580464200) pumps leaking, I packed them up for a warranty claim and put in two Walbro GSL391BX fuel pumps.


I started having doubts if the Bosch were genuine or counterfeit, but when I heard the Walbros run I got really curious. The Bosch pumps were loud - loud enough to hear with the engine running at a stoplight. The Walbro pumps are very quiet by comparison - with the trunk open and the floor out you can barely hear them; with the trunk closed you can not hear them at all.
At the end of the day the view of the trunk still looks the same.


I also put some 3/8" spacers between the steering column mount and the body. This dropped the top of the steering wheel by about 3/4" - just enough to put it in the right spot. I was cruising home from the FedEx dropoff so RockAuto could have their noisy fuel pumps back thinking about how everything was "just right" with the car. The seating position, the noises, the smells, the way it drove. I was pretty proud of myself. But there's no better car than a Jaguar to keep you humble because as soon as I had that thought the engine got louder and seconds later I heard the unmistakable sound of exhaust dragging on the road.


The clamp that held the left exhaust pipe in the muffler gave up the ghost for no apparent reason and the muffler started dragging on the ground. I nursed it home and welded that section together. If that lasts me through the summer then this winter I'll do it the way I really wanted - full 2.25" all the way, with pipes under the rear cage and an X pipe.

 

We are seeing more and more evidence that many counterfeit parts are being produced in certain parts of the world and packaged to look like OEM products. I would not be the least bit surprised if your Bosch-marked pumps were in fact not made in a Bosch-certified plant under the quality control of Bosch engineers. But why Rock Auto would be selling them is concerning.

Another interesting thing is that on at least two occasions I have purchased fuel pumps packaged and offered as Bosch, but the actual pumps were marked Walbro... There's a lot of cross-pollination among the aftermarket vendors, purchasing and re-branding parts from competitors so they can offer more complete vehicle coverage to the market.

Cheers,

Don

 

I'm up over 1,300 miles now, courtesy of a 600 mile weekend road trip to celebrate Mother's Day with my Mom. I had dog as my co-pilot for a part of the trip.


I rendezvoused with Gary from Jag-Aire to give him the Delanair servo from the HVAC box I pulled out of the car. He had a nice XJS that made me start missing mine a little bit.


I followed him down the road until he turned off to head back home.


Dad's Charger and my XJ.


We can't have the ups without the downs, and although the car was a pleasure to drive, I was forced to do the second part of the trip without AC. We took the Jaguar to dinner Saturday night and the AC was blowing cold on the way there. When we left dinner I turned the AC on only to be greeted by warm air. I hooked up a set of gauges to the system and it had no pressure - so there was a catastrophic failure. I use AC oil that has uv dye in it and I found the culprit to be the high side fitting. Luckily that's an easy fix and I'll have it blowing ice cubes by the weekend, but that didn't make the 5 hour trip home without AC any fun. The dog rode with my wife and I hear they all enjoyed a cool car with AC seats

EDIT - forgot to mention I averaged 25mpg for the trip which I thought was decent given I had a head wind + AC on the trip there and a tail wind + windows down on the way home.