2020: Was a very busy year. A lot of work was completed and then had to be redone. Parts that were rebuilt years ago had to be rebuilt again. Changes to one system would cause changes to be made to other things, but in the end I'm slowly getting to my goal of having a "Driver XKE".
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We started the new year off right with 5 new tires from Miami Best Wheels. They had no problem mounting tires on spoked wheels.
I did not like the way my first paint job turned out. The manager at Sherwin Williams Auto Paint convinced me that I really should redo it with a two part paint system. I started out with my Eastwood gun but I didn't like the way the paint was spraying so I put the color on with a $29.00 touchup gun from Harbor Freight and even though I had to fill the cup up 7 or 8 times the paint went on very smoothly. Next I used the Eastwood gun to spray the clear and it did OK but not great. After the job was finished I bought a Spectrum gun from Harbor Freight and it works extremely well with the clear coat. I'm anxious to paint another car with it.
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I spent about 25 hours rubbing out the clear coat and I will go back and work on some areas more but I'm in the mood to finish this project.
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The rear bumpers were installed with trim strips from J&J Auto Fabrics. These came out very nice and are way better than the replacement strips from Moss Motors. The fuel tank was reinstalled.
Installed the windshield washer heads, but one was broken so I had to order another one.
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Installed the chrome piping strips on the bonnet. They look good.
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Installed the door handles on both sides along the windows and the original door panels. They look OK but I'll probably replace them.
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Installed the front bumpers and the marque bar. It is starting to look like an XKE.
Installed the sugar scoops on both sides. These had to be fitted so they would set nicely in the space in the bonnet
The original seat belts are installed. They work well but they are hard to adjust
Started installing the windshield. It is not a one man job because someone has to hold it in place while the second person starts to work the rubber molding in place. Eventually we got it but only after the third try.
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I installed the top frame and hung the canvas top on it just to see how it would work. The job looks fairly simple. I will install a new in the box top from Ampex that I bought 30 years ago for $40.00.
I installed Eastwood's sound mats throughout the entire cockpit. Its primary purpose is to keep the heat down but it also works as a sound deadener. The mats come in 18" by 31" squares and stick to just about any surface when the backing is removed.
While I was working on the sound proofing and the interior I started getting all the parts I would need to convert the Jag over to an alternator.
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The original generator works OK but it does not put out enough power to keep the battery charged with the high bypass fan. If the headlights were on the battery went down fast.
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Moss Motors sells an alternator that looks like the original generator for $700.00 or a GM alternator for $330.00. Both solutions sounded a little extreme for an alternator that can be had for about $75,00 so I bought a Hitachi alternator for a 1986 Nissan truck and built a bracket to replace the generator bracket. I bought a 1965 XKE alternator pulley (they are smaller) and had a machine shop modify it to fit the new alternator. The original Nissan alternator doe not need this modification but the after market one did. The Hitachi alternator already has the voltage regulator on board so all I needed to do was bypass the existing voltage regulator.
I modified the connectors from an old voltage regulator and hid the connections behind the original regulator.
When I got to the front of the cockpit I could see that I had a leak in my clutch master cylinder. The clutch and brakes masters were rebuilt close to 20 years ago and they are worn out just because of the time that has elapsed. All three masters were re-sleeved by White Post with bronze sleeves so all I had to do was to install a rebuild kit. Easy to do but still a lot of work and it delayed the interior installation.
I built a shroud to protect the alternator against the heat from the exhaust headers and it works well.
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Converting to an alternator has worked out well and I'm very happy with the results.
Once the alternator was up and working and the clutch master was rebuilt I continued with the interior install. I used heavy Naugahyde in some area where Jaguar used hardura and Wilton Wool in other areas. I did not try to match everything that Jaguar did on the original cars because this car is going to be a driver.
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I used magnets to hold everything in place while I was fitting the different interior pieces
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I used heavy paper normally used to protect flooring on construction sites to create patterns and then cut the fabric from the pattern. Most pieces were glued into place with contact cement from Home Depot but commercial grade contact cement is far better. Wilsonart 951 is one of the ones that the trim shops use.
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I had the trim shop sew boarders around many of the pieces.
Originally I installed the old door panels that I had recovered back in 1974 but I could not get them to fit as well as I wanted so I pulled the covers off of them and use the original panels to create a new set of panels that I then recovered. The new ones came out very well.
The seats are from a 1965 XKE . They came with the car and I've kept them because they are more comfortable than the originals - which I also have. The seats themselves have been recovered with seat covers and the foam rubber was starting to fall apart so I replaced the rubber pads in the foam from some soft cushions that I cut down to fit in the seat bottoms. The original 1965 XKE seat had a rubber diaphragm that I replaced with Masonite boards cut to fit the seat.
Once the interior was almost complete I installed the soft top. This job turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. I used new plastic tack boards from Moss Motors and secured them through the metal rim behind the seats. This material is quite dense and rigid enough that it has to be bolted into place. I used a nail gun to secure the top material to the tack board then I was able to drill holes for the chrome strip that covers the nails.
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With the top in place I was able to finish the interior install. I also installed the rewired wiper motor and got everything lined up.
My next challenges were totally unexpected. I had been driving the car quite a bit and in September of 2020 I blew out a freeze out plug. I'm not sure why because I do have the proper radiator cap. I was able to get the car back to the house before it got too hot and over the next week I replaced the plug and everything was running fine again.
Since I was wary of the new plug I would always open the bonnet to check on the new plug and let things cool down. I noticed some cooling fluid around the number 2 plug and I assumed that it was leftover fluid from the plug blowout. I cleaned everything up and drove the cars some more and the fluid was back around the plug.
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I retorqued the head bolts and one of the bolts by the plug would only tighten down to 25 pounds.
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I did some research to find an easy way to fix the problem and I could not find any good solutions that looked like they would work so I had to pull the head off and install a Heli Coil I cut out a piece of 2 x 4 so I could lay it flat across the top of the block and then used the drill press to get a straight guide hole in the 2 x 4. I used a Heli Coil kit from NAPA to drill out the bad hole and the threaded it using the tap from the kit.
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Everything went back together and the head torqued down to the proper settings. I have had no problems with it since.
I had never installed a heli coil but it was a very straight forward process and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again if the need arises.
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The biggest problem with a fix like this is the time it takes to disassemble everything and put it all back together. Installing the coil took about 20 minutes.
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A new head gasket kit is a must for a job like this so it costs over $150.00 to replace a $6.95 Heli Coil and about 20 hours of time. Also the is a job best done with two people.
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By the end of 2020 I had the car running very well and I finally got a chance to finish the trunk area. I kept everything that came with the car even when I didn't know if I'd need old broken down parts. The original XKE had heavy cardboard inserts on the sides and back of the boot area. I used these as patterns to make new inserts out of 1/8 inch fiberboard and covered them with beige vinyl. All XKE's had the same beige interiors in the boot no matter what color the car was on the outside.
The original interiors were not padded but I think it looks better. I had Fernando Pava's trim shop sew the boarder around the edges along with a fairly stiff jute for backing. It came out very well.
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The rest of 2020 was spent doing lots of little things that take up a lot of time but they add to the final result.
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I clear coat painted the heater control box and a number of other pieces.
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I ended 2020 by noticing that both brake masters are leaking.
