Dateline Aug 15th – It has been a very busy weekend and have not had much chance to work on the car, but I did get about an hour to swap out the tie rod end. The parts I ordered from Terry’s Jaguar showed up on my doorstep on Friday (good fast service, thanks again!), so I lifted the right side of the car and in about a half hour, had the old end out and the new one in. I was interested in how the car would handle, so I took it out for a drive. It is still pulling a bit to the right (probably could use a professional alignment and a brake rebuild) but it does dive a heck of a lot better! It also tracks much better on the grooved roads out here. So I’m pleased with the fix. My only issue now, do I get the alignment now, or wait until I pull the front end apart this winter to when I replace the rubber suspension bushing with urethane and lower the car!
As I side note, I helped a friend move this weekend and he had an interesting piece of luggage that is going to be in the boot of my car. It’s a small wet bar! It’s missing glasses as such, but I can get those. What a gorgeous period piece! He donated to the Jaguar! What a friend!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Brake Pulling Woes
Dateline, Aug 8th – I’ve noticed that the car really pulls right when braking. I’ve talked about this with friends and I’ve tried cleaning the left side brakes and checking for oil, contamination, etc., but nothing seemed to help. A friend suggested swapping out the brake pads to see if that makes a difference. So when I jacked up the car this weekend and looked under the right side of the car, I noticed that the wheel had a lot of play. Examination showed that the tie rod was worn! The interesting thing was that the left hand one had been replaced already, but not the right! Go figure!
Anyway, to test out my assumption that the tie rod was making the difference, I adjusted the right wheel to be significantly toe in and drove it around. Sure enough, brake still pulled right, but not as much. Time to order a new tie rod end.
Now the interesting part. This is the first time that I tried to get parts for my car locally. It’s Saturday morning, and I’m thinking that I’m going to find a place, no problem. I started calling around. NOTHING! None of the British car parts stores are open! Finally, I called a European car place just down the street and asked if they carry parts. No they said, but you can call this place that they do all their business with. I said, “Thanks! I call them right now.” The guy at the other end said, “Their not open on the weekends. We have been in this business long enough to were we don’t have to be.” WOW! It must be nice to be in a business that does not have to service customers on the weekend!
However, as I started to think about this, I realized why. First, all modern Jaguars are very reliable, much more so then the cars of old. Plus, up until the 90’s, Jaguars were always a poor-rich man’s car. Not as expensive as a Porsche or Mercedes, but not in the reach of the guy who buys the Chevet. Because of this, and because they are British, a lot of maintenance had to happen, and a lot of that done in the owners garage. Thus, parts are available. Now that the cars run in the $80,000 range, I suspect that there are not a lot of Jaguar owners turning wrenches and loosing skin on their knuckles as in the days of old! So it makes sense that the parts stores are only going to be open during the weekday. That is when the repair shops are open!
So, the answer is mail order. Thank you Terry’s Jaguar for having the parts I need!
Anyway, to test out my assumption that the tie rod was making the difference, I adjusted the right wheel to be significantly toe in and drove it around. Sure enough, brake still pulled right, but not as much. Time to order a new tie rod end.
Now the interesting part. This is the first time that I tried to get parts for my car locally. It’s Saturday morning, and I’m thinking that I’m going to find a place, no problem. I started calling around. NOTHING! None of the British car parts stores are open! Finally, I called a European car place just down the street and asked if they carry parts. No they said, but you can call this place that they do all their business with. I said, “Thanks! I call them right now.” The guy at the other end said, “Their not open on the weekends. We have been in this business long enough to were we don’t have to be.” WOW! It must be nice to be in a business that does not have to service customers on the weekend!
However, as I started to think about this, I realized why. First, all modern Jaguars are very reliable, much more so then the cars of old. Plus, up until the 90’s, Jaguars were always a poor-rich man’s car. Not as expensive as a Porsche or Mercedes, but not in the reach of the guy who buys the Chevet. Because of this, and because they are British, a lot of maintenance had to happen, and a lot of that done in the owners garage. Thus, parts are available. Now that the cars run in the $80,000 range, I suspect that there are not a lot of Jaguar owners turning wrenches and loosing skin on their knuckles as in the days of old! So it makes sense that the parts stores are only going to be open during the weekday. That is when the repair shops are open!
So, the answer is mail order. Thank you Terry’s Jaguar for having the parts I need!
New Battery Box
Dateline Aug 5 – An interesting thing I noticed as I have been driving the car is how much engine smell it get in the cabin. I then realized that this car had no battery box (the old one had rusted away years ago, and so the only things cover the holes in the firewall that are used gas/brake/clutch peddles for right-hand-drive cars was the battery itself! So, Also, my battery has been hold in place with a bungy cord, which is OK for troubleshooting in the garage, but not the best for quick stops at freeway speeds! So I bought a new plastic battery holder. I made sure to put a good layer of duct tape down over the holes and installed it. This is a short term fix (DUH! Duct Tape! Really?) until I get to details the engine bay. It sure did make a difference smell wise and I feel a lot better about my batter not flying forward into the radiator, shorting out and starting the car on fire!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
New TV Cable, Brake Check and Speedo
Dateline July 3rd and 4th. I received the new Transmission Value (TV) cable, adaptor and transmission pressure gauge this week and decided to put it in this weekend. The TV cable required removing the carb and putting a plate under it, adding an adaptor to the carb linkage, removing the old cable and installing a new one. The carb, plate and adaptor were all easy. The cable, not so much!
First I had to get the old cable out. Only one nut was holding it in, but it took two long extension and a universal joint on my 3/8" ratchet handle to reach it. I got it loose and pulled the old cable out and realized that there was no way I was going to reach from the top to put the new one on. So I jacked up the car and crawled underneath. No luck there either, since the exhaust pipe was in the way. I had to release the pipe at the manifold and move it out of the way just to get my hand in.
Once I got my hand into the spot, I figured out that there was going to be no way that I could attach the cable to the little wire with a hook on it, put the cable housing back on and tighten the bolt, knowing that everything is still connected. So I had to drop the transmission oil pan! The pan has a drain plug, so I was able to get the oil out easily, and 16 bolts later, the pan was down. Now I could see the TV plunger and the wire the cable needed to hook to. I jammed the plunger so that the wire was fully extended and it was just a matter of treading the wire into the cable end.
After putting everything back together, putting oil in the tranny, hooking up the cable to the adaptor and plugging in the pressure gauge, I did the recommended pressure tests and adjusted the linkage. Everything works great. The linkage is pretty cool because you can adjust the shifting feel of the transmission to really tight, hard shifting and high RPM, to smooth, cruiser type shifting, all with a small Allen wrench!
That was Friday. Saturday I decided to check to see why the car pulls to the right when braking. I thought that perhaps there was something on the left hand brake pad or the calipers were not working right. I jacked up the left side, pulled the wheel and brake pads. Nothing looked amiss, so I cleaned the rotor and pads with Emmery cloth and brake cleaner and put everything back together.
Since I had the car up, I decided to check the speedo cable at the transmission since I new that the cables from there up were OK. Sure enough, the small cable segment that goes from the transmission gear into the 90 degree cable adaptor was twisted in half! So, I took a long screw and filed it into a square shaft and inserted into both ends. Low and behold, I have a speedo! I don't know how long this will hold, but it works right now!
I took the car out to test the brakes and it was still pulling. Disappointing, but I have some ideas about how to troubleshoot this weekend.
Pictures this week are of the carb adaptor and TV Cable setup.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wax Day, Driving Weekend, General Cleanup
Dateline - June 27th - 28th. This was the Greenwood Auto Show weekend (http://www.greenwoodcarshow.com/) and I wanted to see what was going on in the hot rod world. I spent a good portion of the morning finishing the wash and wax job (removing all the old sap on the body), then took a drive to Greenwood. This was the longest drive I've taken the car on, and it ran fine! Love the V8 power. I even lit the tires a little off a stop light, and I didn't even mean too! I am going to need to watch this!
After getting back from the show, I decided to put the back bumper back on, which I got installed, and did a little more cleanup in the car.
Sunday I spend about four hours vacuuming the foam off the ceiling. The head liner had been pulled out by the prior owner, but the thin foam was still partially attached. I noticed as I was driving around that parts of the foam were falling down and I really didn't think it would be a good idea to breath this stuff. So I got the shop vac out and got rid of the foam.
I also installed a hidden radio antenna, getting rid of the old one that was in the pictures from a couple of posts ago. Finally, I installed a switch plate to hold the power window switches. I'm finding that I am using the power windows a lot, and it was getting a bit hard to use the switches when they were flopping around in the center console. So I made a plywood frame to mount them on.
Bit by bit, I'm getting the car in good driving condition. I've got a transmission TV cable coming next week which should allow me to better tune the transmission performance. While I'm down there, I am going to try to figure out why the speedo is not working. After that, it is all just cosmetics!
After getting back from the show, I decided to put the back bumper back on, which I got installed, and did a little more cleanup in the car.
Sunday I spend about four hours vacuuming the foam off the ceiling. The head liner had been pulled out by the prior owner, but the thin foam was still partially attached. I noticed as I was driving around that parts of the foam were falling down and I really didn't think it would be a good idea to breath this stuff. So I got the shop vac out and got rid of the foam.
I also installed a hidden radio antenna, getting rid of the old one that was in the pictures from a couple of posts ago. Finally, I installed a switch plate to hold the power window switches. I'm finding that I am using the power windows a lot, and it was getting a bit hard to use the switches when they were flopping around in the center console. So I made a plywood frame to mount them on.
Bit by bit, I'm getting the car in good driving condition. I've got a transmission TV cable coming next week which should allow me to better tune the transmission performance. While I'm down there, I am going to try to figure out why the speedo is not working. After that, it is all just cosmetics!
Sealing Windows
Dateline - June 18th - Last weekend it rained and I noticed that I got a lot of water in the car. A LOT! So I thought I would try sealing around the front and back window to see if this helps. I masked off the windows and got some black RTV. After everything cured, I tried it out by washing the car. No water! So looks like I have some work to do around the windows this winter. The seal should hold until then.
Trying out some ideas
Dateline June 16th - I'm thinking about doing a really radical interior with carbon composites on the dash, center console and doors. They make a Green Kevlar and Carbon Comp fabric that I wanted to try out. So I got a picture of it on the web and printed it out with a color printer. I then glued it to a piece of plywood door skin and put think clear vinyl over it to simulate a clear coat. I'm glad I did because I'm not sure I like it. I may order some just to make sure, but I think it may be too much!
I also installed the rest of the shifter housing. Nice to have that closed in!
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