A number of club members have get involved in the ride height debate for a MK 1-2 Jaguar. It appears that 18 1/2 to 19 inches from the ground to the centre of the boot lock is about right.
However members of other registers have also done investigation into their cars and have found some to be well and truly in need of serious adjustments and repairs to the rear end. Malcolm Imrie who wrote an article for the Bits and Pieces section of February magazine on XJ6 rear springs provides a good example of “getting it right”.
The MK 1&2 Jaguar workshop manuals are a little skimpy about ride height for the rear end of these cars. Everybody knows that the correct height for a front end is about 3 finger widths between the top of the tyre and the bottom of the mudguard arch. In the workshop manual there is a specification for the amount of curve in the rear springs but that is about all.
It was not until I had the two MK 1s in the shed that I noticed there was a completely difference in the way the cars appeared to “sit”. The red car was definitely lower in the rear end. With a tape measure I checked the height from floor level to the centre of the boot look . To my surprise I found a difference of 2 ½ inches. The red one measured 16 inches and the white one 18 ½ inches. The difference really becomes apparent when you realise the red one is on standard 185x15 tyres and the white one is on 205x65x15 tyres that have about ½ inch less in tyre profile height.
I would appreciate any feedback from MK1 and 2 club members on the specific height measurement on their cars along with the types of tyres fitted. We have checked another club members MK2 and it appears 18 ½ to 19 inches to the bootlock centre is about right on 185x15 tyres.
I always thought the red car looked to be “dragging its bum”. Once I have established the correct height it is off to the spring works for resetting
One of the biggest pains you can have in overhaul/restoration is trying to use old “hardware” as is a commonly used term in the aviation industry to describe the typical nuts, bolts and screws etc used to hold the thing together. In aircraft many nuts and bolts are “lifed” for relatively short periods more so particularly in helicopters where most are mandated to be thrown away when any disassembly takes place and also at amazingly short intervals where called up on specific service bulletins.
Why then do we restore some 40 to 50 year old motorcar to good condition but use the old hardware to hold it together? Rusty nuts and bolts take time to clean up and will always be suspect as to their integrity. It is easy enough to examine a used bolt by naked eye to establish if the thread is damaged but try looking inside a nut and you will really never know if it was OK. Is it because of the prices you see in local automotive retail sources on blister packs on racks in the store? I noted that a blister pack of 6 UNF ¼ inch nuts cost $2.50 [approximately 42 cents each] in a local retail store.
I recently started on the interior of the white MK 1 and found that there were a number of nuts and associated hardware missing from the wood dashboard panel areas. These nuts are typically ¼ UNF. I dropped into Queensland Fasteners in Robinson Road, Geebung and bought a hundred nuts for $6.40 [or 6.4 cents each.]. Compare the above prices and somebody is paying the 500% mark up in the blister pack.
While I was there I checked on the price of 5/16 UNF zinc plated nuts which hold the exhaust manifold on the XK engine head and they were more expensive due to the plating and worked out at $14.00 per hundred or [14 cents each]. Considering an XK engine exhaust manifold uses 16 of these nuts you would have an outlay of $2.24 to use new nuts when assembling it to the engine head. Pretty cheap isn’t it in the overall cost of engine repairs and overhauls? But you could cut costs by using non-plated nuts if you were really desperate as these are typically 8 cents each.
I also keep a couple of containers of 10-32 UNF nuts and appropriate washers on hand as they are commonly used on trim items in all Jaguars from the MK 7 onwards. The cost is around $3.00 a hundred for nuts and the washers come real cheap at about 1 cent each.
In the front-end department many of the early Jags used Nylock nuts to hold things together. That is a nut with a nylon insert which provides a friction hold to stop the nut from coming loose. I bought an entire set of nylock nuts for the front end of a MK 1 which is basically the same as a MK 2/S type /420 for under $20. In the aviation industry a nylock nut is a one-use device and I will always treat them the same in critical areas of a motor vehicle
Now before you all start phoning me and telling me I have got the prices wrong just do some basic homework and don’t – please don’t tell me the price you were charged in a miserable blister pack of nuts and bolts you obtained from your local automotive retail outlet. Go to a professional outfit and buy these parts at the right price and don’t get ripped off. Please note that the prices I have quoted are standard retail prices from Queensland Fasteners for small quantities and you have to be involved in the thousands of nuts and washers to get better [trade] prices.
If you are getting involved in an overhaul/restoration you may be pleasantly surprised to find out how little it costs to use new “hardware”.
When I acquired the MK 2 the tachometer [as well as the oil pressure gauge] was not working. It became fairly obvious that one of the problems was that the tachometer [tacho] generator had a broken electrical connecting lug. This tacho generator uses the same principle as a pushbike generator to create electrical voltage by rotating a permanent magnet inside a coil. This electrical voltage is then fed to the tachometer instrument, which in reality is a voltmeter. The principle is that the faster the tacho generator goes the more electrical voltage is produced which produces a correspondingly higher reading that we see as revolutions per minute [RPM]
This same tacho generator is also used in the MK9, S type, earlier E types and Daimler 250. Enquiries for a replacement tacho generator part no C14996 resulted in prices in excess of $300. Hmm –it was time to put the thinking cap on and see if repairs could be affected.
An inspection of the terminal cap of the tacho generator, which uses push on spade connectors revealed that the lug had been broken off flush with the surface of the plastic cap. By using my trusty dremel tool I was able to excavate around this broken lug to a depth of about 4 to 5 MM or 3/16 inch. I was then able to cut the male section of a spade terminal down to a suitable size and solder it to the old lug. The whole thing was then finished off by using a dam of masking tape to allow a suitable build up of epoxy resin over the excavated area and the base of the new lug. This all resulted in a now sound lug projecting from the terminal cap.
I had checked the wiring from the generator to the tacho instrument and all measured OK with about 2.5K or 2500 ohms resistance, which indicated a correct circuit impedance existed through the instrument. I replaced the tacho generator [with a new O ring fitted] hooked up the tacho instrument, started the car and achieved nothing. The b.......y instrument was U.S. ! [unserviceable]. I was also able to check that the generator was working as Ben Stafford had lent me an old battered tacho with a partly broken needle etc. but still serviceable as an indicator and I hooked it up and it worked.
Muttering and cursing I removed the tacho instrument [and a couple of squre inches of skin as well]. I cleaned off the workbench which is a miracle happening in it’s own right and laid out some clean cloth to allow me to dismantle the tacho. It does come apart very simply as the faceplate only needs to be twisted to align the spaces on the faceplate with the lugs on the case. The faceplate can then be lifted off. The tacho instrument itself is only secured in the case with two screws and the clock at the bottom can be left attached to the case.
Applying gentle pressure to the needle revealed that it would move but was rather bound up on the “jewels” or pivots. In my time as a radio technician and later on in aircraft engineering I had been exposed to and qualified to do instrument repairs. One facet of instruments that few people ever consider is that they do need lubrication. More particularly so as they get older and the original lubricants dry out. With an artists brush I applied some penetrating oil to each of the needle pivots and allowed it to take effect. After about an hour the needle was quite free and I applied some sewing machine oil to each pivot. The needle was now quite free and I reassembled the instrument. I made a temporary connection between the tacho generator and instrument, started the engine and wonders to behold it all worked.
Tearing off the usual square inch of skin in the process I refitted the tacho and reconnected the wiring. A quick check ensured that all was functioning and the beer fridge in the shed was raided to celebrate.
With two MK1 cars with sagging rear springs it was time to adopt production line methods. Mark Miosge from North Qld. Jag spares in Mackay [ph 4954 1420] mentioned that he had a good pair of springs and offered them at a reasonable price. In fact the freight was nearly as much as the springs. Inspecting them on arrival showed that they were good and did not require any re-setting. I visited Barry the friendly spring man at Pine Rivers Spring works [ph 3285 7383] and got him to fit the new spring eye bushes and rubber mounting blocks that I supplied.
A couple of hours under the car including welding up part of the left hand spring mounting box and the red MK 1 3.4 was back into action. It really does sit correctly and this is emphasised when the two red MK1s are sitting adjacent to each other. There is a really apparent rear end sag in the 3.8 car. The springs that came out of the 3.4 will be re-set and have new hardware fitted before going into the red Mk 1 3.8. I will then have a spare set of rear springs so if anyone is desperately in need of them contact me.
Youngest son's hood lining in his XJ6 Series 3 was pretty bad. Previous owners had injected contact cement to hold the hood lining up but it looked awful and as it turned out the "card" i.e. the backing piece for the hood lining was quite damaged anyway.
After some months we finally got the tip off that someone in Beenleigh was wrecking a series 3 with a good hood lining. I ripped down there in the Falcon Ute one Saturday morning and the hood-lining card was as good as described. The deal was struck and I also picked up a dash panel upper that was not cracked/crazed etc for a reasonable price.
My son was more than happy that he now had two items which he had been chasing for some time but stated the colour of the cover on then hood lining was not "right". Hr then hived off to Daley's motor trim supplies at Rocklea just immediately south of Archerfield on the road into the speedway and secured enough material of his desired choice for about $60.00.
A couple of cans of spray pack contact later the hood liner was now finished in the right colour and ready to mount. The whole thing then spent some weeks sitting ion top of my MK 2 while he raced all over the country playing in his band.
He then approached me to remove the Series 3 front windscreen to allow the hood liner to be inserted. I refused and let me tell you readers do not fall for the trap of removing front windscreens from Series 3 Jags. They are actually glued into the body and I have spent an hour cutting the thing out of the car by use of a fine piano wire cutter. Leave it to the professionals who typically charge about $40 to $50 to do the job.
With only a moderate amount of bending the new hood liner can be inserted through the left hand rear door provided the rear seats are removed as well as the front left hand passenger seat with the right hand seatback laid flat. This also applies to series 2 XJ 6 vehicles provided they are the "L" series with then longer wheelbase. Get a tape measure and check for the widest part of the opening.
The hood lining was inserted and lifted into the supports and definitely looks much better than the original grungy mess. However youngest son has still not finished the job of putting back the seats that are cluttering up one end of the shed.
A club member contacted me recently about recolouring interior trim items. He had found a set of original door linings for a MK 2, which were in reasonable order but were the wrong colour for his car. Could I advise him if it was possible to change the colour?
My advice was yes it is possible to change the colour. There are however a number of considerations. Are the original backing boards in good order because it is a waste of time and effort to start off with a crook sub structure, New material for backing boards is quite cheap and obtainable at Daleys auto trim supplies just south of Archerfield aerodrome on the road leading into the speedway. New boards can be cut and the old door linings transferred onto the new bases,
I also advised him of the need to clean the old door lining up so that there is no grease or oil on the vinyl. Jaguar did not use leather on the door trims. It is just English vinyl known as "Alamba". Proprietary detergents will do the cleaning trick. The vinyl should also be wiped down with "prepsol" to get rid of silicon that was pretty common in interior treatments a few years ago.
The decision should then be made whether to use "vinyl" paint or automotive lacquer. Vinyl paint is available in basic spray packs and does a good job but has a limited colour range unless you can find a paint manufacturer willing to mix it for you. Automotive lacquer is more easily mixed and matched to the colour of your desire but there are two problems. It is shiny and does tend to be less flexible. These problems can treated by adding appropriate amounts of "flattener" to get rid of the gloss and "flex aid" which stops the lacquer from going rock hard.
The trick I have learned when using automotive lacquer is to etch the vinyl with a rag soaked in thinners just prior to coating.. Immediately after wiping it down and while the vinyl is still "tacky", spray on one thin coat of colour lacquer. The next coat should also be sprayed as soon as possible after the first coat has tacked off. It is important that not too much paint build up takes place, as the "grain" of the original vinyl will be lost in the paint build up.
Whilst not being concourse this system is relatively cheap and the results can be very good in restoring door linings, arm rests, under dash cover plates and front kickboards to a sanitary serviceable condition. Old faded vinyl can also be treated this way.
Very old windscreens are dangerous because they get badly worn with stone chips and general scratching. The windscreen in the red MK 1 looks OK but coming over the rise looking west just before sundown on the last lap home just like driving into a whiteout. I have had to put my head out the window to see forward.
I have also dreaded the possibility of getting a broken windscreen because I have only one spare. Repeated approaches to many sources for a new MK 1 windscreen have met with many rebuffs and continuous mix-ups as I try to explain that it is not a MK2 windscreen and YES THEY ARE DIFFERENT.
In addition some manufacturers have said that they will supply a MK 1 windscreen provided I give them a sample windscreen to make a pattern and order a minimum volume of 10 production screens. Heck there are only about 15 MK 1 cars in the club!
Finally I hit paydirt when I rang a local windscreen manufacturer by the name of “Moran Glass” at Tingalpa. [PH 3390 8855]. Peter Moran after the usual mix-up of MK1 versus MK 2 sorted things out and advised yes they could provide me with a MK 1 windscreen but would need a few days notice as they did not have any in stock. He had the dimensions off pat e.g. the MK 1 windscreen is deeper than the MK 2 and slightly narrower. He advised the price would be around $110 plus GST.
It was only after I put the phone down that I realised I knew the organisation I had been talking to. In fact my family and friends have done business in the past with Moran Glass. They replaced the windscreen in my son’s Toyota 4 wheel drive Ute, the Ford LTD and the Ford XF Ute we used to own and also a number of friends’ vehicles. We were all very happy with the service and the relatively low prices charged at the time. I also suspect that the new windscreen I fitted to the Series 3 some years ago came from there.
I recommend you check with this company if you need a windscreen. At least they are local for the Brisbane members.
Recently I was talking to a couple of our airworthiness engineers over the lunch table. They are heavily involved in older vehicle restoration including types such as MG TFs and Sunbeam Alpines. I ventured to ask them how you could decipher or make sense of the nomenculture used by SU to delineate the size of a carburettor. As we know a 13/4-inch SU is a 6 e.g. HD6 and a 2-inch is an 8. They admitted they had no idea and I was in no better informed either.
Wandering into the room arrived one of our administrative persons who is also well known in historic racing circles for campaigning a supercharged Austin 7 and being a bit of a devil on hill climbing. The question was put to him and he replied immediately “it is all very easy” and he went on to say: -
“The original SU carby is a 1 inch carby. As they made them bigger they simply quoted the number of 1/8 inches over one inch. Hence the HD6 you mentioned is 1 inch plus 6/8 inch [3/4] inch giving an overall diameter of 1 3/4 inches. A HD8 is 1 inch plus 8/8 inches giving an overall diameter of 2 inches. In addition the H stands for horizontal throat and the D means the main jet is mounted on a flexible diaphragm. By the way always measure the diameter of an SU carby at the outlet end where it joins onto the inlet manifold.”
With that he finished filling his coffee cup and wandered off out of the room leaving three highly technical trained engineering people reeling in his knowledgeable wake
A JDCQ member had a problem with his Jag 420 series brakes. The power boost system appeared to have failed and it required incredible pressure to stop the car. We got involved in a diagnosis one morning with the car upon his hoist and to be very honest it took a fair bit of effort to sort out the problem.
What appears to be a dual brake system is not quite what it seems. The master cylinder is in fact a single primary system that then feeds pressure and air information to the remote power booster system where the system becomes dual. Each primary and secondary system has its own hydraulic reservoir.
The power booster system uses vacuum on both sides of the air piston. A remote air valve mounted on the primary master cylinder supplies vacuum on the drive side of the piston but when the master cylinder is depressed introduces ambient air pressure to the drive side of the piston hence assisting the hydraulic brake action. Heath Robinson would have been proud of this arrangement.
The final diagnosis was that the air piston/diaphragm in the booster unit was leaking badly. By serendipity another acquaintance was "parting out" a 420 with a good booster and this was acquired to get the car back on the road while a more extensive overhaul takes place on the original booster.
It should be noted that we discovered that a number of E types from roughly 1965 on share the same braking system.