Final Post - A Running XKE!

 Jaguar Blog Update November 2022

• Resolution of transmission gears

At the end of my last post I was somewhat in despair.  My newly rebuilt transmission was broken and the entire engine and transmission would have to come out of the car, after just putting it all in!

I had resolved to wait until I had new gears to take everything apart again.  I had called the SNG Barratt vendor and learned that they may be able to find a NOS gear over in England.  I asked him to go ahead and check.  He called me back in a few days to say that he had found a cluster gear.  I asked him to go ahead and get it!  

After about six weeks I had heard nothing from either the gear manufacturer over in England, or the SNG parts man.  But about that time I received a bill from SNG asking for payment for the NOS gear.  I paid, grateful that it had finally come from England.  Eventually it did come to my house and I resolved to take the car apart now and see what was going on with the transmission.

About this time, also, I had about given up hope of hearing from the reverse gear manufacturer in England, and I happened to find the gear I needed in good condition on Ebay for a reasonable price, so I purchased that gear.  It came.

 

My original cluster gear (damaged) and the Ebay reverse idler gear.  This reverse gear ended up going into the second tranny rebuild.

• Removing engine and transmission

With the transmission removed from the car (and I removed the engine and transmission together from the car all alone, and without putting even a scratch on the car!) 

 

Lifting the car, engine removed.

 I built a wooden test stand so I could run the transmission with an electric drill and listen to the noise with the transmission out of the car.  Even turning with a drill it still made a loud bang, synchronized with the turning of the shaft. 

Transmission test stand, running the gears with an electric drill.

Transmission knock  (This is a link to the knocking noise)

It did not seem to have anything to do with the reverse idler that had been targeted as the culprit by the blog posts I had read.  I went ahead and disassembled the transmission, and found that my original reverse idler gear was in almost new condition, and certainly was not wobbling on its shaft.  

At length the NOS gear that I had paid for from SNG arrived.  It came dipped in its original wax giving it a protective coating that had lasted already 60 years!  But even with the wax coating I could count the teeth on each gear of the cluster, and discovered that the tooth count was not the same as my original gear!  This added to my discouragement.  I could not use that gear.  

I called the SNG man and explained the problem.  He was also surprised as he had been sure the gear was for an E-Type.  But we both learned that there were different gear-ratio transmissions supplied with the car in different years, I guess?  Anyway, he agreed to refund my money if I would send back the gear.  So I was only out the two months of waiting time and a fairly high cost of shipping the gear both ways!

But while I was discussing this problem with the SNG man, he had been searching the Internet for another possible gear.  He told me over the phone that there was a cluster gear for sale on Ebay right then if I wanted to check it out.

I definitely wanted to, so I immediately got on the Ebay auto parts site and found the gear.  In the photos it looked to be in good condition, no spalled teeth, so I called the seller and had him count all the teeth on the cluster, and they matched mine, so I bought it right then.

(No photo of the Ebay gear, but it looks just like my original gear in the photo above.)

It arrived in about three days, and sure enough, it was the correct gear and was in the best condition of any that I had seen.  It was going into the transmission.

By the time this gear came I had already ordered all the new gaskets and locking tabs and things I would need to re-assemble the tranny, so I went right to work and did the job. It is a difficult thing to work on, as are all Jaguar assemblies, but it went together eventually and I tested it for noise on the same wooden mounting fixture I had built for the purpose.  It was not completely silent, but it made no banging noise like the previous gear had done.  I was satisfied that this time, I would have a usable, if not noise-free, transmission.

 

This is the only photo I took of the second rebuild.  I was not anxious to document such a discouraging task!

• Loose lower ball joints

There were a couple of silver linings around the dark cloud of having to disassemble almost the entire car to remove the transmission.   To remove the heavy tie plate between the engine and transmission that holds the front torsion bars, I opted to unload the torsion bars completely by removing the spindle uprights from the front suspension.  Upon doing this I was surprised to find that I had failed to tighten the lower ball joints when I assembled them the first time.  If they had come a little loose they would have wobbled in their tapered holes until the holes would have been ruined and possibly the securing nuts could have worked off.  This would have resulted in a front wheel coming loose from the car and a sure crash.  With my second assembly I have been meticulous in tightening and re-tightening all critical fasteners.

• Starter motor / ring gear damage

Another fortunate discovery I made upon disassembling the transmission from the engine, was that the new started motor I had purchased three years ago for the car was destroying the ring gear!  The pinion gear on this replacement starter engaged the gear from the forward side, and the ring-gear teeth have no bevel on that side as the original starter engages from the back side, where the teeth are beveled to accept the original pinion gear.  In just the six or seven times that I had started the engine with this new starter the teeth on my ring gear had been badly cut up.  This was a serious problem because the gear teeth, unlike those on many American cars which are shrink-fitted to the flywheel, are cut right into the circumference of the flywheel.  To replace the teeth it is necessary to purchase a complete new flywheel!  If I had kept using this starter for even a short time It would have soon ruined my flywheel completely and the whole car would have had to come apart anyway!  So, just one more small blessing hidden in the sorry job of removing the transmission.

 

Damage to teeth caused by aftermarket starter motor

Upon seeing this damage I resolved to restore my original starter motor and use it, and to try to repair the teeth on the ring gear by filing them carefully with a small, fine file to remove the damaged metal and restore at least a smooth face on each tooth.  The filing job, encompassing all 104 teeth, took me most of an afternoon.

Fortunately, with the started rebuilt and the teeth cleaned up the two gears worked pretty well together.  Since I bought the replacement starter more than three years ago, I didn’t think it would be returnable.  But I will not hesitate to advise other Jag owners of my experience and discourage the purchase of these aftermarket starters!

• New gear-shift lockout mechanism

There was yet another benefit from removing the transmission at this point.  I may have mentioned in an earlier post when describing the first transmission rebuild, that when I took it apart there were some unusual things, like two of the three first-gear synchro-pushing blocks hade come out, or had never peen properly assembled.  I will never know what happened to one of them as it was not found anywhere inside the transmission.  The other one was found stuck to the drain magnet.  First and second gears must have been difficult to engage.  Besides this unusual problem, the two small ball bearings that prevent the transmission being put into two gears at the same time were missing!  They had simply been left out of the transmission the last time it was assembled, which I assume was when it was put into the car back around 1967.  

 These two ball bearings and the hardened rod that goes between them prevent the transmission going into two gears at the same time.

Fortunately the transmission had never been put into two gears at once or it would have been destroyed had it been moving at any speed.

I was able to buy these two 5/16 inch ball bearings, but the small steel cylinder that rides between the balls preventing the movement of both shifting rods in the same direction at the same time, was missing and cannot be purchased.  I made the part by cutting off the end of a hardened steel punch of the correct diameter.  I tried to calculate the correct length for the rod, but had to adjust the length by trial and error until it would work correctly.  

So there were several benefits that probably would have justified the removal of the transmission even if the cluster gear had not been making a terrible noise.  I still felt put-out having to redo everything I had just worked so hard to do.

• Reassembly single-handed

With the transmission reassembled and sounding reasonably quiet when spun by my ½ inch electric drill, it was time to put the engine and transmission back in the car.  These two items must be installed or removed as an assembly.  Even if it were possible to reach and remove the fasteners holding the bell housing to the engine block, there is no room to separate the transmission from the engine when both are in the car.  

I also took advantage of having the engine out to bleed the air out of the clutch slave cylinder.  This is nearly impossible to do with the cylinder attached to the bell housing as in this orientation the bleed screw is at the bottom of the cylinder and any air will reside at the top of the cylinder where it cannot be pushed out.  But with the engine out the slave cylinder can be inverted and the air expelled easily.  In any event, this cylinder, with its steel supply pipe and rubber hose attached is very difficult to get in place with the engine installed.  The two tasks must be done more-or-less simultaneously to be successful.  

Having done this assembly job previously I knew what had to be done and what to look out for to avoid damage to any parts or surfaces that might be in the way of the task.  I approach the assembly by hoisting the front of the car high up in the air with an engine hoist and a nylon strap.  With the front end high enough I can roll the engine-transmission assembly, on a low dolly, under the car and slowly and carefully lower the car down over the engine.   You might think that a helper would be useful when doing this job, but I prefer to work alone.  With a helper present part of my attention is diverted to what he or she is doing and I’m not focusing 100% of my attention on the job.  I can also take all the time I want when working alone without concern for taking another’s time.  

In this instance the process went smoothly and I soon had the engine back in the car.   The connecting of the torsion bars back to the tie plate is perhaps the most difficult step, and I must confess that took more time and patience than the entire rest of the engine installation.

• Quieter transmission – driveway video

With the car reassembled basically to everything except the bonnet, I tried the starter and it still worked (I had tested it while the engine was still on the garage floor and it had worked), so it was time to try starting the engine.  It started up easily although it idled unevenly.  I tested the transmission by backing down my long driveway and then driving back to the garage.  This only tested reverse and first gear but they both worked.  The air cleaner was still off so I could get to the carburetors to tune them.  I was able to improve the idle some but even now cannot get it to really run smoothly.

Video backing down driveway

After observing that there were no oil, coolant, or gas leaks I ventured to take the car out and drive it around the block.  It did OK.  All four forward gears worked, also the clutch and brakes.  I even talked my wife into going with me for another trip around the block.  She enjoyed the ride, commenting that when sitting on a pillow she can actually see out the windshield as well as in her Toyota Prius.

I thought the car was mechanically all sorted out at this point, with the exception of maybe some more effort on the tuning, but it ran well at higher RPM and I could tell it was going to be fun to drive.  I parked it back in the garage and turned my attention to finishing the bumpers and lights on the bonnet.     

• Leaking brass float

The next day I discovered another serious problem.  I invited a neighbor to come go for a short ride with me and as we backed down to the street I noticed a stream of liquid leaving a trail all the way down the driveway.  I stopped the car and turned off the engine and got out to see what was leaking so badly.  It was gasoline flowing from the overflow pipe on the third carburetor.  The float valve was sticking open for some reason.  We didn’t start the engine again for fear of fire but pushed the car back to the garage. 

Later that day I removed the top of the float bowl on that carburetor and noticed that the float was sitting rather low in the fuel.  When I removed the float I found that it was full of fuel!  It is of soldered brass construction and had evidently formed a slow leak that took about two days to fill up with fuel.  There is no easy repair for a soldered float so I went to my computer and ordered three new floats, thinking that if one was leaking the other two might be not far behind, and also thinking that the three floats should be identical so they would hold the fuel levels in the three bowls all the same.

Old brass floats.  The one on the left was leaking and filled up with gasoline, causing it to sink and allow the fuel inlet valve to remain open, overflowing down to the ground.

The new floats arrived in just a few days and I replaced all three, resetting the float levels in all three at the same time, and checking that the throttle butterflies were all shutting properly and the needles on the pistons were all carefully centered.  Everything looked good when I put it back together.

The engine started fine, but I could not get it to idle smoothly.  I think there may be some leaks in the old carburetor bodies, as they were badly pitted on the inside when I cleaned them up.  But new carbs are very expensive so I will keep working on these.  It is drivable even with a rough idle.

• Front bumper assembly

It was time now to finish assembling the front bumpers, horns and lights.  I had already done some work on the bumpers, grinding them so they would match the contours of the front of the bonnet, including the entry area of the mouth.  I discovered that it was going to be difficult to assemble the Jaguar feature bar across the mouth, mounting it between the two bumpers.  In my particular case it was impossible to get a wrench on the screws that attach the feature piece.  My solution was to put studs in the threaded holes in the bumpers and bend them slightly outwards so a small socket could be fitted up over locking nuts on the studs.  This worked, although I still had to loosely assembly the feature piece between the two bumpers off the bonnet and then offer up the three pieces together all at the same time to their respective places on the bonnet.  

I also had previously glued the rubber seals that go around the top edges of the bumpers so they would stay in place when the bumpers were mounted.   There was a lot of trial and error involved in this task.  If I ever have to do it again I think it will go much better.

• Horns and wiring

With the bumpers on the rest of the internal parts can be assembled to the bonnet, namely the wiring, the horns, marker lights, headlight scoops and headlights.  This is no small job, and, having never done it before, I made many mistakes and had to re-do much of it.

I had tested both the horns on my bench before mounting them in the bonnet, but when I had them in and wired I tested them again and neither one would work!  The wiring was all good, so I removed the horns and tried to diagnose the problem.  I was able to remove the back cover of each horn and discovered that they were full of dust form my bead blaster.  They had been rusty and I had cleaned them by bead blasting, trying to mask off all the openings to prevent glass beads getting inside the horns.  But the dust can penetrate through very small cracks and had got inside and dirtied the electrical contact points that vibrate to produce the noise in the horn.  I was able to clean these points and the inside of the horns and put them back together and they worked perfectly, so back they went into the bonnet.  

The marker lights went in next. Actually I had set the chrome bases for these lights in place before installing the bumpers so the bumper seals would ride up over the light seals as the two seals have to occupy the same space in the final assembly, and the new seals are a little thick and heavy and tend to push each other out of the space!  So I now put in new lamps (not LED lamps, sadly) and connected the wires with new connectors and they all worked OK.  I tested the old headlight lamps and they both worked so I decided to use them. 

• Sugar scoops, headlights

Once again, not knowing the correct sequence for these things, I completely installed the headlight buckets, and lamps and securing rings and then realized that I could not install the sugar scoops with the headlights in.  So out they came and I proceeded to put in the scoops.  They are almost impossible to assemble in any orientation.  The small mounting ears require loose spacers to be placed underneath to set the scoops at the best angles in their openings.  I can’t imagine how they did this at the factory.  Maybe they mounted the scoops to the bonnet bulkheads when the bonnet was being assembled?  It is almost impossible to do with all the sheet metal in place.  Somehow I managed using ice pick tools to line up the spacers and washers where fingers cannot go.  I probably did not get the angles of the scoops quite right but once the screws were in there was no going back.  It’s pretty hard to tell once the bonnet is on the car and the glass covers are installed.  The headlights were not hard to install once the sugar scoops were in place, especially after going through the process so recently.

With all the lights and horns installed I tested the wiring again, this time from the 8-pin plug that supplies the power from the car’s front wire harness, and everything worked.  I could now place the bonnet on the car. 

• Bonnet install

Installing the bonnet, for me, is a task that requires six people; two on each side to hold it up and position it, and one on each hinge to place the hinge screws in and tighten them up.  Then all must be careful to not let the bonnet fall forward or it will hit the ground and cause damage.  So I had two of the helpers hold it in place while I installed the spring mechanisms on each side.  With the springs in place it could be let go of and could not fall.  The first thing we noticed after getting the bonnet attached, was that it would not close.

• Closing problems

o Latch  --  The first problem was the safety latch at the rear edge of the bonnet.  It was hitting the inside of the bonnet well before the thing was down all the way.  To eliminate it from the closing problem I simply removed the striker, planning to deal with it later, which I did.  The solution was to remove the striker and bend it slightly until the bonnet would go down without hitting it.  This took several tries, and I will never know how the striker become bent out of its original shape in the first place, because there was no interference when I took the car apart.  Funny how things move without any visible explanation!

But even with the latch removed the bonnet still would not close.  Together with my helpers we determined that it was hitting in two more places, at the mud guard in the right front wheel well, and where the heater elbow mates with the heater fan box on the left-hand side.  These were not so easy to deal with, so I thanked my friends for their help and sent them home, planning to look at the interferences myself the next day.

 Bonnet latch attached to underside of the bonnet.  Its position is not adjustable.

 

Bonnet latch striker.  This piece is adjustable by bending, which is what I did to get rid of the interference.

o Heater elbow  --  To diagnose the heater elbow problem I removed it as I had the center latch.  That cured the interference, of course, but did not solve the problem.  I determined that the heater box itself was not moveable, it was bolted to the firewall in several places and could not be moved without some major modification.  But the elbow itself could be raised a little.  I filed the mounting holes in the elbow a little oblong allowing it to be raised about ¼ inch, but this was not enough.   So I made up a thicker gasket to place along the lower edge of the elbow causing it to tilt up slightly.  

This moved it enough to allow the bonnet to go down on the left side.   I will need to replace the soft, thicker gasket with a solid spacer, because I can’t tighten the mounting screws sufficiently to keep them in place without compressing the gasket so much that it ceases to hold the elbow sufficiently up to give the necessary clearance.

Heater elbow which mates with the heater box mounted on the firewall.  If this elbow is too low the bonnet will not close.  By installing a thicker gasket across the bottom edge I could move the opening up and eliminate the interference.  The soft gasket is supposed to allow for some unevenness in the closure between elbow and heater box inlet.

These are both interesting interference problems seeing that all of the parts involved are the original parts and did not have any interference before I took the car apart.  It makes me wonder how they ever got these cars to fit together at the factory?

o Wheel-well fit-up  --  The third interference was the right-side mud flap hitting the bonnet bulkhead that is supposed to close right next to it, making a seal with a thick rubber flap attached to the mud guard.  Instead of closing right next to the mud guard, the bonnet piece was crossing over the top of the mudguard, holding the bonnet up.

 Mud guard in wheel well that seals against a bulkhead in the bonnet initially causing interference.  This is the one where I drilled out all the spot welds to move back the upper edge of the mud guard, then riveted the joint back together in the new position. 

There was no way to bend the mud guard back out of the way as it is cut at several angles and spot welded together making it completely stiff and unbendable.  I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to cut the spot welds and move the joint back, then reweld the seam in the new position.  I proceeded to remove the guard and drill out all the spot welds, then bend the upper part of the guard towards the rear so the bonnet would not hit.  Even with the spot welds cut it was difficult to make these two panels close together without crossing, but I moved the lower piece as far as I could then, instead of welding the joint back together I chose to use 3/16 in. pop rivets to make the seam.  This worked OK.  I touched up the paint and installed the guard back in its place.  I am a little disappointed that the joint still closes too tight and it is difficult to get the bonnet down, but maybe it will loosen up a bit as the rubber flap becomes seasoned into its better position.  I’m certainly not going to cut it all apart again!

Bonnet bulkhead making seal with mud guard in wheel well.  This piece is not movable!

• Second fan switch

With the bonnet now closing, albeit still too tight, I wanted to install a second temperature switch to ensure that the engine-cooling fan would come on when the coolant got hot.  I had not heard the fan come on yet even when the engine was hot, and I had put in a new “Otter” switch, which is the factory switch.  I had another 180-degree thermal switch that came with the aftermarket electric fan.  I mounted it to the underside of the thermostat housing where it would get hot early and hopefully help the fan to come on sooner.  In at least one recent test run the fan did come on so one of the switches is working.

• As I test-drove the car around my neighborhood a few times I noticed that the brakes were beginning to stick on.  This puzzled me at first but the problem became continually worse and worse until the car would barely move and only in first gear.  The brakes were getting hot and even smoking as I managed to get the car back to my garage.  I left it in the garage to cool down, hoping I had not destroyed the seals in the pistons or the lip seals in the wheel hubs.  Fortunately, when the brakes cooled off (next day) everything seemed to work OK but I suspect the seals in both pistons and hubs are not like new anymore!

Pedal box on firewall with vacuum bellows mounted on top. If the pedal-actuated valve is not working this bellows will push the brake master cylinders in when vacuum is applied

As I pondered the problem I remembered that the brake booster is actuated by manifold vacuum.  I had cleaned up and reassembled the little needle valve in the booster mechanism the best I could when I rebuilt the pedal box, but the parts were old and could easily have been leaking or not even working at all.  If the valve was failed that could allow manifold vacuum to be constantly applied to the booster bellows, effectively applying the brakes all the time that the engine was running.  The simple diagnosis was to disconnect the vacuum line from the engine and see if the problem went away.  I did this but the problem did not go away.

There was an added benefit to this diagnostic test.  With the vacuum line to the brake booster blocked off, I was able to tune the carburetors a little better.  Apparently the vacuum system was leaking and allowing excess air into the manifolds making it impossible to properly tune the carburetors.  

Here was the solution to the brake problem.  An interesting thing I noticed was that with the engine off and the brake pedal released the brake lights were staying on!  This could only be caused by residual fluid pressure in the brake line as the switch is pressure actuated, certainly not caused by residual vacuum in the bellows.  This caused me to go to the “Jag Lovers Blog” and search the archives for examples of brake problems.  I found plenty, including the vacuum issue I just described.  But another problem that was reported was that of having too little free play in the brake master cylinders.  If the pistons in the cylinders cannot retract far enough when the pedal comes up they may not release pressure in the line, thus causing the brakes to remain on and the brake light switch to remain closed.  

I checked my pedal linkage and found the free play to be almost zero, but the problem was not related to an adjustment, it was caused by one of the new plunger rods coming out of the new master cylinder that was too long.  This problem was also mentioned in one of the blog posts.  Some vehicle years had longer plunger rods than others.

Notice the difference in length in the first two plunger rods.  These are both old parts from different cars, but they show how different years had different lengths.  The one I replaced was the one on the right.  The one in the picture is my original which I put back in the car.  The one I had installed on the car, that came with the new cylinder, was 1/2 inch longer!

I located my original cylinders in a box and removed the original rods.  Sure enough, my original was 1/2 inch shorter than the new one I had installed.  I removed the long rod and replaced it with the original shorter rod and the problem of brakes locking on went away.  There is still a problem with the vacuum booster but that is an unrelated issue.  I will work on that.  I may have assembled the small control valve incorrectly.

• Here are some photos of the finished car in the driveway.  The driving video will follow, if I can ever get it made.
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

 

• Driving video

I regret that it has not been possible to produce the promised video for this post.  I have been waiting for weeks for everything to be working on the car and then the weather turned bad and the streets have not been dry and clear for many weeks, and I won't take the car out on wet roads. 

I have been able to find and deal with several bugs which had to be resolved before the car could be driven, bugs like a leaking radiator hose, a fuse blowing, clutch pedal adjustment, front brakes sticking on, carburetor float sinking, the steering wheel incorrectly mounted, oil leaks, and a few others. And there are still probably more bugs to be found, but that is a normal part of the process with a complete vehicle restoration like this one.  

The car may never be dependable transportation, but it is certainly fun to drive on those rare occasions when most systems are working.  I will still try to make the driving video as soon as the roads are clear and dry, and I will post it as a separate post to this blog. 

I thank all of you who have followed this project with interest.  Your unspoken support has been encouraging to me when things were looking bleak.  It has been good to share this work.

The Engine Started!

 

Progress to the Point of Starting the New Engine

 

Dear friends, this should be the penultimate post on my Jaguar restoration blog.  As of this post the car has been running, though not driven, and all parts that needed “restoration” have been restored, with the exception of some particularly difficult-to-deal-with parts in the transmission.  When the transmission is finished the car will be complete.

The next post, the final one, will review the final work on the transmission and final assembly and include a video from the cockpit of a test drive.

This current post promises to be a bit long, so let’s get started.

·         Boot lid install and trim

The boot lid was difficult to fit.  Once again, I can’t imagine how they did it at the factory.  I was not able to use any of the pre-fitted screws that originally mounted the door.  I don’t know what moved in the process of painting the car, but the original hole locations were nowhere near correct for final installation.  I had to oblong the holes in the hinges and use different fastening screws to get the lid to fit at all.

The finished lid, ready to install, with original chrome trim in place which had to be later replaced as it would not stay in place in the rubber seal.  The new trim was not much better!

 

 

This view shows the fasteners I had to use to hold the lid in position.  The original countersunk screws would not give the correct position.

· 

·         Doors and windows

At the end of the last post the car was ready for doors.  On the coupe the doors include chrome window frames as well as windows and window regulators and rubber and felt seals.  They are a challenge to assemble but I was glad to get going on it as the parts had been sitting around for three years and I was unsure just how they all went back together.

The biggest challenge was perhaps the felt runners that the glass slides in on the door windows.  The felt came in a flat strip with adhesive on one side that had to be formed into the channel of the window frame and the paper removed from the adhesive side while in place.  This took me more than one try to get straight.

 

 

This is about the only photo I have of assembling the window frames.  Removing the paper strip was very difficult.  The job was so frustrating I didn’t feel like documenting it with photos.

 

While the glass fit back in the channels, the window frames did not fit well back into the doors they came out of.   As with so many other body parts, I don’t know what changed between disassembly and reassembly.  I had to do considerable grinding away of metal to get the frames to go properly back into the doors.  There is some adjustment provided for in the window frame location, but it was not enough to put the frame in correct position so the door would close properly.

With the windows finally installed and new rubber seals glued in around the door jams for the door to seal against, it was time to try installing the doors on the car.  This is a two or three-person job as the doors are heavy and have to be held in place while the mounting screws are put in and tightened.  I asked a neighbor to come help me with the job.

 

Here is the left-hand door finished and operational. It doesn’t close as nicely as I would like but I can continue to adjust it later.

The right-hand door has the same issues as the left.  The new rubber seals are too thick to allow the doors to close.  Some razorblade work is necessary to get them to close at all.

 

We got the doors pretty well aligned with the body but they would not close all the way with the new door-jam seals in place.  The seals were just too thick so that the doors would not close far enough for the striker to catch in the door latch mechanism.   I solved the problem by the tedious process of removing the glued-in seals and cutting them down thinner with razor blades then re-gluing them back in until the doors would close far enough to catch.  This was another one of those difficult trial-and-error processes that make me wonder just how the cars were assembled at the factory! They never could have taken so much time to get parts to fit.

The rear quarter windows went in much more easily without the necessity of modifying any seals.  The little flip-opening latches at the rear of these windows were, however, difficult to get mounted and adjusted to where they would work.  I don’t plan to open these very often!

The left quarter window in place.  No modifications had to be made to install these windows.  The glass and frames are original, not re-chromed.

·         IRS install

It is discouraging to report that everything on this car is so difficult to put together, but the Independent Rear Suspension which is all packaged in a neat subframe, was also a day-long challenge to install. 

With the car up on saw horses I lifted the IRS into position with a transmission jack.  It looked like it was going to go in easily, but I soon saw that the mounting holes in the frame for the IRS rubber blocks were not going to line up with the corresponding holes in the body.  The mounting rubber would have to be stretched considerably to get the holes to line up.  I tried leveraging on the rubber blocks but there is nothing to leverage against without destroying the new paint.  I ended up enlarging some of the holes in the mounts and grinding points on some of the mounting screws so I could hammer them into place forcing the holes to line up.  Once again, I doubt the workers at the Coventry assembly shop could afford to spend an entire day messing around mounting the IRS!  There must have been some kind of fixture they used to force the holes to line up so they could insert the screws.

I had been storing the completed IRS upside down on a cart.  To turn it over I used the engine hoist with a canvas strap, then put it down right-side-up on the transmission jack.

IRS installed showing the difficult screws holding the rubber mounts to the body

IRS finally installed - I hope I never have to remove it!

With the IRS finally installed the hand brake cable and hydraulic brake lines could be assembled.  These actually went together with no problems.

Handbrake mechanism detail before installation of the IRS

·         Windshield & trim

The original windshield was slightly scratched from hardened or dirty wiper blades wiping across the glass and leaving shallow scratches.  I was going to try to polish out the light scratches but new windshields came on sale at Welsh Jaguar supply so I decided to buy a new one.  My son, Josh came over to help me put it in.   It was actually not as difficult as I thought it would be, and within about an hour we had it installed in its new rubber seal.  We did accidentally scratch the paint in two places wrestling the glass into position, so I will have some practice repairing chips in new paint.

Installing the windshield was not as difficult as I expected.  It is definitely a two or three-person job!

Here is the finished windshield (windscreen in the homeland) with chrome trim in place on one side.

A help in installing the glass was to remove the wool-covered trim piece at the inside top of the windshield opening.  This trim is held in place by the same screws that mount the sun visors and the rear-view mirror.  The next day I put this piece back in along with the little chrome trim pieces at the very left and right-hand ends of the dashboard.  These little pieces also required substantial re-shaping to get them to fit around the new windshield seal and new dashboard cover.  

·         Front suspension

The front suspension A-arms and uprights and mounting blocks had been previously Zinc plated several years ago, and kept in storage until now.  The torsion bars were not plated as plating incurs the risk of hydrogen embrittlement unless done carefully and subsequently treated in a heated oven to remove unwanted hydrogen.  The hydrogen can cause premature fatigue failure on steel parts that see high-stress cyclic loading such as torsion bars.

Reassembly of the suspension was surprisingly straightforward, there were no hidden obstacles as there seem to be with most other parts of this project.   I set the torsion bar preload by re-assembling the bars in exactly the same spline positions at both ends that existed when I took the bars apart.  I also measured the positions of the lower arms at full drop when the bars are unloaded, and reassembled both sides in those original positions. 

 

Upper and lower A-arms in place, also torsion bar which can’t be seen.

 

I replaced all the shims under the mounting blocks in the same positions they were in when they came apart, so the camber and castor angles should be identical with the way they were before.  With the car fully assembled and the weight of the engine and bonnet on the suspension I can recheck the angles with an instrument I purchased to do these measurements.  The front wheel toe setting will have to wait until the car is on the ground and under normal weight load on the front.  I will do this with two tape measures, as I have done on countless cars before and never had a problem.

The Jag steering wheel mounts on an un-indexed spline typical of rack-and-pinion steering which is nice because once you have the toe adjusted and the car rolling straight ahead on smooth pavement you can just put the steering wheel on in whatever position makes it the best oriented and tighten it down.  You don’t have to worry about adjusting tie rods to get the steering wheel straight.

 

Upper and lower arms with hub and brake

 

Torsion bars fixed, waiting for engine and then tie plate.

 

 

 

Left side complete with wheel and steering tie rods

 

 

·         Brake fluid and bleed

With the new brake and clutch master cylinders mounted, and new reservoir bottles installed, and the new brakes assembled to the car, it was time to fill the reservoirs with fluid.  I did some research on the different types of fluids, DOT 4 and DOT 5 specifically, and though DOT 5 has the advantage of being a silicone base fluid that will not harm automotive paint, it has some other disadvantages, so I filled the reservoirs with new DOT 4 fluid. 
The reservoirs didn’t leak anywhere!  The clutch master cylinder, however, did leak a bit where the reservoir tube connects to it, but a little more tightening on the tubing nut stopped that.  The brakes, however, presented a different problem.  With the right-rear brake bleeder open I pumped fluid to the rear.  As soon as the fluid reached the right brake caliper it commenced to run out onto the floor.  I couldn’t see where it was coming from as it is hard to see the calipers with the inboard brake inside the cross-member frame.  I had to wait till I could get some competent help to watch the caliper while I pumped the brake.

I was able to get my son to come over and help me, and he was able to see that the tube entering the top of the caliper was leaking badly.  I think I must have missed tightening it up when I assembled the IRS three years ago!  Josh was able to reach the tubing nut with a wrench and tighten it up and stop the leak.  This was a relief to me as I had been contemplating removing the entire IRS unit to replace whatever was leaking; it is almost impossible to get to the brake calipers from under the car.
We found some similar problems in the front brakes and were able to tighten those fittings and stop the leaks.  The brakes actually seem to work though it is difficult to tell with the car sitting stationary in the garage.  Their real function remains to be seen.

·         Engine, cylinder head, compression-ratio calculation, assembly

The engine block had been sitting on a stand for over a year in the garage, covered, of course, with an engine bag.  The cylinder head had come back to me at the beginning of this year but I had done nothing with it as I was working on other aspects of the car.  The engine had been put on hold.
But it was now time to finish it.  The first step was to seal up the lower end by installing the cast-aluminum sump, or oil pan.  This was a routine task similar to installing the pan on any engine, but sealing around the front and rear main bearing areas was tricky with cork gaskets used in those areas.  It takes a combination of Gaskecinch (gasket-sealing cement) on both sides of the flat gaskets and silicon gasket maker on the front and rear main bearing areas to get a leak-resistant seal all around the sump.  I say leak-resistant because it is nearly impossible to create a truly leak-proof seal on these sumps.

With the sump in place the oil-filter mounting block with associated check valve and bypass hose from the sump bottom can be installed.  This also involves several new gaskets and a new hose with screw clamps.  The unit did not present any particular problems.

Oil sump finally mounted with oil filter mount and connecting hose.

Next was the front cover and water pump.  This cover covers the timing chains and tensioner and oil pump drive and distributor drive.  It requires new gaskets with careful placement of the holding screws of various lengths.  The top of the cover mates with the bottom of the head, so when the top of the block was milled this cover had to be in place so it could be cut to the same height as the block surface.  This I was careful to specify when the engine was in the machine shop.

The cavity in the front cover for the water-pump impeller was pretty badly pitted from cavitation.  Cavitation might have been increased by the engine running low on coolant.  If the impeller has to lift the coolant at all it reduces the liquid pressure in the suction side of the pump and causes vaporization of water in the impeller region and subsequent pitting on the surface of the impeller cavity.   I tried to fill in some of the pitting with J.B. Weld.  I hope it holds OK as broken bits of cured epoxy could get into the cooling system and possibly clog or cause trouble in some of the small passages.

Front cover with JB Weld before sanding smooth

Next I tackled the cylinder head.  This is a large Aluminum sand casting, I believe, with lots of cores and chaplets to create the water jacket and intake and exhaust ports.  The machinist at Clegg’s had installed new exhaust-valve seats and guides and valves and had everything ready for me to set up the valve clearances using shims between the valve stem tips and the cam lobes.  The shims are kept in place by the tappets that operate on the valve stems under the action of the cam lobes.

But before doing the valve clearances I measured the combustion-chamber volumes using a laboratory graduated pipette and water.  The volumes were all equal and measured 99 cc’s.  This allowed me to compute the compression ratio which came out to be 8.6:1, a little short of 9:1 which was the original advertised ratio.  Part of the difference is the Cometec head gasket which is about .030 inch thicker than the original thin steel gasket.

I prepared a curve showing the compression ratio as a function of the total compressed volume and the value of the ratio changes about 0.1 for every one cc of change in compressed volume.

 

Measuring combustion chamber volume to precision of about 0.1 cc.

Curve giving compression ratio vs. compressed volume.

Before setting the valve clearances I prepared and painted the head.  I took photos of the original painted areas on the head which I am confident came from the factory, so I repainted the same areas.  I used original-color gold paint purchased from SNG Barratt just for the purpose.  It came out just as I hoped.

Cylinder head masked and ready for painting

Cylinder head painted in factory gold color.

 

With the head painted I proceeded to setting the valve clearances.   The way you set the clearances is to start with no shims and bolt down the cam shafts on both intake and exhaust sides, then measuring with feeler gauges the gap between the back of the cam lobe and the surface of the tappet.  Subtracting the clearance amount ( in this case I used .005 inch for the intake clearance and .007 inch for the exhaust) from the measured gap gives the thickness of shim that is needed to obtain the desired final clearance. 

Setting valve clearances with shims.  I needed 5 iterations to get the desired clearances, a tedious process!

The measurements are difficult to make, and it seems that every time you tighten down the cam shaft the clearance changes.  But with four or five tries I eventually achieved the desired clearances that I stated above, .005 and .007.  These dimensions are one thousandth greater that the standard spec. of .004 inch and .006 inch.  I chose to make them slightly greater thinking that the valves will bed some into their newly-cut seats and that will close up the clearance slightly.  I hope I left them enough oversize that the clearance will not disappear entirely nor will it be so great that the engine will rattle with valve noise. 

The cylinder head went on next.  For some reason, with new chains on the cam-timing gears, and a new Cometic head gasket which is slightly thicker than the original thin steel gasket, the upper chain that wraps around the cam sprockets was very tight, even with the tension adjuster in its loosest position.  But I got it together and I’m hoping that as it runs and perhaps the chains stretch a bit that they will not be so tight!

 

The finished engine.

The rest of the engine assembly was essentially cosmetic; the polished cam covers, polished breather cover and the tachometer sending unit went together OK, with lots of silicon sealer around the cam-cover nuts and the breather-cover nuts.  I will be anxious to see if there are any leaks at first run of the engine.

·         Transmission Rebuild

The last component of this car to be addressed was the transmission.  For the last four years I had been optimistic that the transmission would present no serious problems and could be easily disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled with new bearings, seals, and synchro rings.  That thinking was not wise.  I should have disassembled the transmission sooner and discovered that there were difficult gear problems that would ultimately take many weeks to remedy.

When I got it apart and inspected the gears I found the cluster gear to be badly damaged.  The car must have been driven with too little oil in the transmission for this gear to be so badly damaged.  It is difficult to see in the photo but the teeth on the first-gear part of the cluster were badly spalled, that is the surfaces of the teeth were broken away leaving rough, worn edges that would continue to chip off and cause more damage in the transmission.

Spalling teeth on first gear of cluster.  Every tooth was damaged.

Shopping for a new gear I found that new ones were not available.  I started calling around to rebuilders and wrecking yards but with no luck.  Finally, through a helpful contact in Salt Lake, I got the name and number of a Jaguar restorer in Arizona who might have used gears.  I called him and he searched and found one cluster gear that was not in very good condition, but possibly better than mine.

I resolved to drive down to Mesa, AZ and meet Terry Larson to see his car collection and to personally inspect his cluster gear.  I took advantage of the trip to visit my daughter in Yuma and help her and her husband with some kitchen remodeling they were in the middle of.

Terry’s collection is amazing.  He has a selection of XK 120’s, 140’s and 150’s and several D-Type race cars all in running condition.  His cluster gear was not much better than mine but since I was there and he was willing to part with it I bought it from him.

I ended up putting his cluster in my reassembled transmission as it did have better first gear teeth than mine.  It had some other problems but I thought they would not be too serious.

Terry Larson’s cluster gear.  Only two teeth were damaged

I reassembled the transmission with new ball bearings, needle bearings, synchro rings, seals, and gaskets.  I will mention at this point that the first part to go back in the case is the reverse idler gear.  I inspected my gear, as well as the small shaft it turns on, and both appeared to be in fine condition.  I was later to learn that that reverse idler gear was to cause me to remove the engine and transmission from the car after getting it running.  More on that later.

Transmission main shaft going together

 

New synchros and needle bearings

Ready to close up the case.

Ready to attach to the engine.

 

Transmission mated to the engine.  Clutch and flywheel have been previously assembled to the engine.  It is ready now to put in the car.

 

·         Engine install

Putting the engine into the car is a curious operation.  The best way to accomplish this is to leave the intake and exhaust manifolds off the engine, and of course the generator and oil filter, and lift the front end of the car about four feet off the ground, allowing it to pivot on the rear tires.

The engine and transmission are then rolled on a low board with casters into position beneath the car.  The front of the car is then lowered carefully down over the engine and, when everything is in position, the engine mounts can be bolted in at the front of the engine and the rear of the transmission.

Lifting the car with a strap and an engine hoist.  The engine and transmission are ready to roll into place under the spaceframe on a low cart.

The car is lowered over the engine and the mounts are fitted.

If done slowly and carefully with several persons watching for collisions this can be accomplished without a scratch anywhere on the car.  From here on, however, there are many opportunities to injure the new paint in the engine compartment.  With the engine high enough in the frame, the forward engine mounts can be installed on their mounting brackets.  Also the rear stabilizing mount at the top of the bell housing, and the lower transmission mount with pin and spring underneath the rear of the transmission.

The engine is fully installed and ready for accessories, carburetors, and exhaust system to prepare for starting.

Following this the drive shaft (hopefully set in place previous to the engine or else the entire operation will have to be repeated!) can be bolted up, and the generator (dynamo) and oil filter and soon the intake and exhaust manifolds.  But before those the clutch slave cylinder and hydraulic line should be installed and bled.

·         Clutch hydraulics and install

The clutch slave cylinder used on the E-Type is clearly a throwback from some previous model Jaguar.  The fluid inlet is at the top of the cylinder and the bleed port is at the bottom, making it quite impossible to bleed all the air out of the cylinder when the cylinder is mounted to the bell housing.  To be properly bled it has to be removed from the bell housing and inverted so the air can rise to the bleed port and be allowed to escape.  But this is nearly impossible to do with the engine in the car.  There is no room between the bell housing and the transmission tunnel to get the cylinder off and turn it over.  To be properly done the cylinder should be bled before the engine is fully positioned in the spaceframe.

Of course I didn’t foresee this difficulty with all the other details involved in preparing the new engine to go back in the car.  In order to even get the slave cylinder away from the bell housing I had to unbolt and move the engine an inch or so to the left and lower it down a bit.  Even at that it is nearly impossible to get the cylinder over the studs that are threaded into the bell housing to hold the cylinder.  Since at this point I could reach them I removed the studs and replaced them with cap screws so the cylinder could be removed without having to unbolt and move the engine.  But even with the cylinder separated from the bellhousing I could not invert it to properly bleed it.  So at this point the clutch could only marginally be released by pumping several times on the pedal.  It would not be drivable like this.

Note the clutch slave cylinder on the lower right side of the bell housing.  Here it is mounted with studs making it impossible to remove after it is in the car.  I replaced the studs with cap screws so the cylinder could be removed without having to loosen and move the engine.

Now that I have to remove the entire engine and transmission from the vehicle again to replace the reverse idler gear, I will take advantage to remove the clutch cylinder and invert it and properly bleed the air out of it.  That should allow it to work properly.

·         Radiator

The original radiator appeared to be so clogged up with decades-old antifreeze residue I decided early on to replace it with a new aluminum radiator.   Cooling these engines on hot summer days can be difficult with the original radiator and electric fan, and I wanted to give the cooling system every advantage that was practical while I was doing the restoration.  I have the original radiator and fan if it should ever become important to put them back as original equipment.

The replacement aluminum radiator went in with no problems.  There were no interferences with the fit and the hoses all worked.

The new aluminum radiator is painted flat black, the best color for efficiently radiating heat to the outside air.  Note the new overflow tank above and just behind the radiator.

Side view of the new radiator.  Note the intake side of the engine is all assembled except for the carburetor piston pots.

 

·         Electric Fan

The electric fan I had purchased earlier had been sitting in its box for about three years, and when I opened it I realized that it did not come with the necessary mounting brackets.  These I could order from the fan manufacturer and they came in just a few days.   The electric fan also came with a new 40 amp. 12 volt relay and new thermal switch and wire to hook it all up if you were installing on a vehicle that had used only and engine-driven fan.  But the Jag already had an electric fan with thermal switch (Otter switch it is called) and all the wiring and relay to operate an electric fan. 

The new electric fan mounted.  This is quite an improvement over the original fan.

 

Either I lost it or the original fan relay was missing from the car when I got it, because I could not find the relay in any of the parts that I had saved and stored as I disassembled the car.  So it was fortunate that a new relay came with the fan.   I mounted it near where the original had been and it works fine there.  There will be a problem if I ever wish to replace an original Lucas relay because I don’t think they are available new any more from the usual vendors.

When the new mounting brackets came I discovered that the mounted fan interfered with the rack-and-pinion steering.  By carefully bending the aluminum bars that mount the fan to the radiator I was able to position the fan closer to the radiator and move it just slightly away from the steering rack.  It looks like it will all work out OK now.

 

·         Overflow tank

Working together with the radiator to keep the engine cool is the coolant overflow tank.  This is a silver tank that mounts above the fan just behind the radiator and collects hot water when it expands out of the cylinder head and the radiator.  The tank that came on this car was strange.  It didn’t look like any of the tanks I saw in photos of E-Type engine compartments.  The tank also did not fit on the mounting places that were provided with the original radiator mount.  It just didn’t look right!

New overflow tank being painted to match the air intake plenum

I decided to take it up to my consultant in Salt Lake City and ask him about it.  I drove up to his home unannounced when I was on another errand up in the city, but fortunately he was home.  When he saw my tank he said it was not a Jaguar part at all and had probably been homemade by someone to replace the original tank.  So that explained its strangeness.  I resolved immediately to purchase a new tank.  Fortunately they are easily available new at a reasonable price.  The new tank came painted with a nice hammer-finish silver color, but I wanted it to match the air-filter plenum that I had already painted.  So I repainted the new tank to match my earlier paint.  The two colors were so close you really could not tell them apart without putting them right next to each other.  The new overflow tank fit perfectly and made the engine compartment now all original-looking.

New overflow tank installed, note the original Otter thermal switch

 

·         Generator

I was wrong earlier when I said the transmission was the last thing to be restored on this car.  I had not yet done the generator or starter motor.  Both of these had been sitting in boxes for almost four years and I had not looked at them for that long.  The starter motor I had earlier decided not to restore, but instead I purchased a new after-market starter that was much smaller, lighter, and more powerful that the original.  Again, I have the original if I ever need to put it back.

I could have done the same for the generator.  In fact, many restorers recommend replacing the old generator and voltage regulator with a modern alternator.  They even make a modern alternator housed in an original-looking body that replicates the original generator so it all looks correct.  Those are expensive and I could see no need to do that at this point at least until I discover that the generator/regulator system is not working.  Then I may choose to upgrade to an alternator.

The generator cleaned up fine.  I ordered a new ball bearing for the pully end and new brushes.  It looked and worked fine when I put it back together.  It has to be mounted on the engine after the left-side engine mount is in, so it was one of the last parts added to the car before starting the engine.

When I had the generator fitted to the engine I found that the drive belt, a double-vee belt that drives the water pump and the generator, was too long and could not be adjusted sufficiently to drive those accessories.  Upon calling the SNG Barratt technical help I learned that there was a shorter belt that was used on one of the other models.  I ordered one of these shorter belts and when it arrived, it fit properly, so another problem was solved.

I failed to take photos of the generator rebuild process.  The only parts I replaced were the drive-end ball bearing and the armature brushes.  The rest of it was in OK condition, just dirty!  This photo also shows the drive belt, with the tensioning adjustment at almost full extension even with the shorter belt.

·         Exhaust studs

Mounted on the same side of the engine as the generator are the front and rear exhaust manifolds.  I had sent these out several years earlier and had them re-porcelained in glossy black to look just like the originals, in fact better than the originals. 

I mounted the manifolds easily on the cylinder head over the original studs that had come with the head.  I also used the original brass nuts, just cleaning and polishing them to look more-or-less like new. 

I was excited then to bolt up my new stainless-steel exhaust pipes to the manifolds.  When I tried to do this, however, I discovered that the new packings that seal the pipes to the cast manifolds, were thicker than the original packings, and that additional thickness together with the rusted threads on the last ½ inch of the old studs, would not allow the nuts to get hold of good threads and pull up the pipes tightly against the manifolds.  What I had neglected was to replace the corroded studs that are threaded into the exit sides of the manifolds for attaching the header pipes. 

The best solution to this problem was to replace the corroded studs with new ones.  I wanted to get extra long stainless steel studs so there would be no problems with adequate length.  Before shopping for studs, however, I had to remove at least one of the old ones to verify the thread that went into the manifold flange.

 After trying the usual methods of double-nut on the stud, and even heating the stud red hot to try and loosen it from the manifold thread, the studs would not budge.   I finally determined to weld a nut onto the end of each stud and then use my pneumatic impact wrench to unscrew the stud from the manifold.  This actually worked great, but cost me eight old 3/8-24 nuts and a little acetylene to weld one onto each stud.  The thread in the cast manifold was also 3/8-24 UNF.  This was a surprise as all other studs on the car had been fine thread on the outside and course on the inside.  New studs were available either way.

The four threaded studs on the exit side of the manifold were corroded so that the nuts would not get hold.  They had to be replaced.  I removed them by welding nuts onto the stud ends and then unscrewing them with a high-torque pneumatic Impact tool.

These are the eight removed studs showing the welded nuts on each one.  This removal method actually worked well with no damage to the manifold.  The new stainless steel studs screwed in easily and gave plenty of length for holding the down pipes.

The new stainless steel studs arrived from Grainger and the exhaust system went together without any further issues.  The tail pipes had to be cut an inch shorter to attach to the hanger below the rear of the car.  That left the exit ends of the tail pipes a little shorter than I would like but I think they will work OK.

The new stainless-steel exhaust system installed and ready to run.

Another view of the installed exhaust system

·         Engine start-up

The day finally arrived that it was time to try starting the new engine.  The three carburetors had been stored in plastic containers since the time I had rebuilt them, which was reported in an earlier post.  I had to center the main jets on all three and set the idle mixture screws and throttle plates as close to the same as possible, and the float levels to 7/16 inch hoping the initial settings would be good enough to at least start the engine.  I also set the timing statically at 10 degrees BTDC and the points gap at .015 inch and all the spark plugs at .025 inch gap.  By the way, I cleaned up and used the plugs that came in the engine as they appeared quite unused, even though they were over 30 years old.  The previous owner must have changed them near to the time when he parked the car for the last time.

I took a 5-gallon plastic gas can to a local station and filled it with 91 octane, Ethanol-free gasoline, and poured a couple of gallons into the tank.  Immediately I discovered that the fuel-filler hose leaked and several of the banjo fittings along the fuel line leaked, but these could be remedied by tightening.  The fuel pump worked when I turned on the key and filled the float bowls.  Only one float valve stuck initially and created an overflow leak in the front carburetor, but we soon had that fixed so there were no more fuel leaks. 

I had previously filled the engine with eight quarts of new-engine break-in oil which is high in Zinc to aid breaking in of the cam shafts and valve tappets.  In this case the cams were originals and had not been reground, the tappets also, so the only break-in issue was rings and bearings.  The extra Zinc is still beneficial.

The transmission was also filled with new GL4 gear oil as specified in the owner’s manual and by numerous comments on the Jag Lover’s Blog.  Everything was ready for startup.

I had my son come over to help me with this exciting moment and a neighbor came over to make the video of the process.  The day was Friday, the 13^th of May.  Probably not a good date for trying to do something with lots of possible failure modes!  But we gave it a try, and with just a few cranks of the new starter motor the engine coughed a couple of times then sprang to life!  It ran smoothly, hitting on all six cylinders, and made no unusual noises.  Unfortunately the transmission did make an unusual noise, and so loud you could hardly hear the engine.

The link below should open the short video of the starting of the new engine.  If it does not work please send me a note and I will try connecting the video some other way. 

Engine first start

·         Transmission noise!!

Hearing the noise from the transmission I shut off the engine.  With Josh in the car we started it again and tried disengaging the clutch.  This stopped the noise, but as soon as the clutch engaged the noise came back.  I tried putting the transmission into all gears, but the noise didn’t change.  It was a loud rattling noise like something was loose inside the transmission and banging around the inside of the case whenever the cluster gear was turning.  I couldn’t imagine what the problem was so shut the engine off to do some study and research on transmission noise with this particular box.

In one post on the Jag Lovers Blog several commentators described what sounded like the same noise I was getting from my transmission.  The source of the noise, they reported, was a worn bushing or shaft on the reverse idler gear.  This little gear runs constantly whenever the lay shaft is turning, or whenever the transmission input shaft is turning.  I had inspected this gear and its shaft before assembling the transmission and I did not see any unusual wear, but I could have missed a worn bronze bushing.  The wear would be increased if the transmission were run low on oil so that the bushing was not completely submerged in oil, and I had suspected that problem already because of the wear on the cluster gear.  The unfortunate outcome of this diagnosis was that the transmission had to come out of the car, which means the engine had to be removed also, and everything disconnected that I had so recently finished installing.

The small gear on the left is the reverse idler gear.  It is what’s making the loud rattling noise inside the transmission.  It runs constantly in mesh with the cluster gear shown next to it.

 

To try for some confirmation that the reverse gear was the source of the noise I resolved on a test.  I wrapped a wire around the reverse actuating lever and brought the wire out under the loosely placed transmission cover.  When I started the engine this loose cover was going to throw oil all over the inside of the car, so I packed rags all around the open gap between the cover and the gear case.  With the engine running I tried pulling on the reverse shift lever to apply a force to the gear, pushing it up against the end of its travel on its shaft.  When I applied such a force to the gear I could hear a change in the noise, so I deduced that the reverse gear did indeed have something to do with the noise.  The engine and transmission had to come out!

Testing for the source of transmission noise by pulling on the reverse idler gear with the engine running.  The many rags are to prevent oil being thrown all over the inside of the car.

At this point I have not done that discouraging task yet.  In reading about the reverse-gear rattle on the blog one commenter advised everybody that he was manufacturing new gears and shafts over in England.  This was good news because the gears were not available from any of the parts vendors.  I contacted this supplier and he agreed that he would be manufacturing a batch of gears soon and I could purchase one.  I am still waiting for an update of the availability of the gear.

Since I was going to disassemble the transmission again I thought I should try again to find a good cluster gear.  I called one of the parts specialists at SNG Barratt and asked him about any possible source for a good gear.  He informed me that there might be some NOS (New-Old-Stock) gears available in Europe and he would check.  Calling me back a few days later He told me he had found a NOS cluster gear but that it would take few weeks for it to come to the states.  I asked him to order the gear for me and I would wait for delivery.  Thus I have been waiting for two new gears, the reverse idler and the cluster, for about 6 weeks now. (As of 23 June the awaited cluster gear has been shipped and should arrive at my home next week!) I have chosen to leave the car together until the gears come so I will not have loose parts lying around the garage for an indeterminate length of time.  It is safer to leave everything together until the parts are ready to go in and then do the job in as short a time as possible. 

While I have been waiting I have kept busy with several other projects.  I am preparing an area next to my garage to be able to park my two trailers.  This will let me park the Jag when it is finished in a safe and dry trailer, almost as good as in a garage.  Preparing the space for parking is a big job that will probably not be finished before the Jag is, but it is coming along.

I have also been giving thought to finishing the restoration of my 1927 Ford Model T Coupe which is stored in a trailer currently.  I am shopping for new wire wheels to convert this car from wood spoke to wire wheels, which it originally came with in 1927.  This one had somehow been down-graded to wood wheels somewhere along its nearly 100 year life, but it is going back to its original condition.

I have also been looking at my 1959 Austin Healey Sprite, and shopping for a set of cast-aluminum wheels to fit it.  This is a challenging search because the original wheels were 13-inch diameter but I want to fit 14 or 15-inch diameter with 5-lug bolt pattern instead of the original four lug.  I will possibly start another blog to document the restoration of this car although it does not warrant the interest of the XKE.

The next post on this blog will be the last.  I will report on the rebuild of the transmission and the final assembly of the bonnet and any other details required to put the car on the road.  I plan to mount a camera inside the car and take a video of an early drive in the car and include that on the final post.  Hopefully that day is not six months away.