The last two weeks I have been able to complete a few difficult restoration tasks and discover a few more that will be challenging. I ordered and received a new set of four wire wheels from SNG Barratt and a set of four Vredestein tires form the Tire Rack in Nevada. Both orders arrived very quickly and I had the tires mounted at Big-O in Orem, and balanced with stick-on weights. I put the new wheels and tires on the car to see how they looked and was pleased with the results. They seem to clear everything but may touch the rear swing arm bottoming blocks at full drop.
I also succeeded in removing all of the gauges and switches from the instrument panel. All are a bit rusty and I broke off a few of the welded-on studs that were too rusty to unscrew. But I think these can be replaced. The switches all seem to work and I think the gauges will work, just need cleaning up. I had two duplicate keys made in case the one gets lost again.
I also got back the repaired clock. I have not tried it but there was no note so I assume it is now working. That will be a treat to see working again.
The big project this week was the removal of the gas tank. What a mess!! I had to cut the hardened filler pipe hose and vent hose to get them out. The sump on the bottom of the tank was not willing to unscrew with any bar I could put on it, but it did succumb to my new 800 ft-lb pneumatic torque wrench. That beast slowly unscrewed the sump with no obvious problem except the partial rounding off of the corners of the 13/16 in. hex at the bottom of the sump. But it came off in one piece and without damaging the tank. The fuel gauge sending unit and the old submerged pump also came out eventually, the pump inlet was badly stuck in the sump but came out with some damage from twisting. The pump came out as a shapeless mas of horrible tar that can only be removed by chisel and scraping. No solvent will do much. It was still submerged in about five gallons of 30-year-old gas that I suctioned out of the tank and put in a gas can to somehow dispose of. Fortunately I don't have to try to restore the pump, I have already purchased a new after-market pump from SNG. But I will try to clean it up just as a memento. The sending unit may be restorable.
The gas tank may be impossible to clean. One suggestion is to cut it into two halves, clean it out, and then weld the halves back together. I will look into this but it might be wiser to just buy a new tank. I don't know how much they cost because they are not listed on any of the vendor web catalogs.
I also ordered a bunch of new miniature lamps from Grainger for the dashboard and they have arrived. XKs has sent me a complete rubber seal kit and a front-end rebuilding kit. Not cheap but totally necessary to the restoration.
I really should be setting the Jag aside while I finish painting the back porch and getting the Model T motor together, but I can't resist working on the Jag a little. Sometimes it is still hard to believe I actually have in out in my garage. It is still a dream come true for me.
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