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.