current project (not a Honda)...
jhota
familEE
so, for a multitude of reasons, i've decided to replace my Wagon.
but to replace it, i need a replacement, right?
so i'm currently refurbishing my 1967 Jaguar 420G to roadworthy condition.
once it's done, the Wagon will be sold, and i'll be back down to one car.
the Jag has a couple issues. firstly, the motor was locked up. the car has less than 18k original miles, but sitting isn't good for a vehicle. the head gasket had rotted away and the cylinders filled with coolant.
so the rings rusted to the cylinder walls.
pulling the motor:
teardown of the engine went rather well, with the rings breaking loose and the crank turning during the disassembly process. i'm going to send the head out to a machine shop anyway, however, both to have it tanked to clean it and to have valve seals installed - these "early" 4.2 motors don't even have any provision for them, so i'll have to have the guides modified to accept them.
pretty block goodness:
other issue is that these cars are monocoques and known for rust problems. this one's no exception - if a customer had brought it to me, i'd have told them to look for another one. but since i've got essentially no money in the car (and am doing the work myself), i'm actually reapairing it.
i'm having to rebuild both front stubframes and body outriggers, the rear body outriggers, and the complete sill/floorpan area. since no sheet metal parts are available for this car, i'm having to fabricate everything from scratch.
at least i've got a good working area:
the car on top is my Jag. the car underneath is the next project, my father's "new" 1956 Austin-Healey BN2. the Healey is in a lot better shape than the Jag (structurally), but will probably take longer and cost more to complete (because it's going to be a full restoration, rather than a driver).
so, when i'm done, i'll be moving from my 2000 lb, 110 hp Wagon beater into a 4600 lb, 270 hp Jaguar...
some tidbits about the "new" car:
it's a UK market model, so it's right hand drive... JDM wannabees, eat your hearts out!
it's got the rarest transmission for these cars - the 4-speed with overdrive. most were Borg-Warner 3-speed automatics.
i need to clean off the pumpkin to find the final drive ratio - if it's got the Euro final drive (rather than the UK, which seeems likely given the O.D. trans), it'll cruise at 120 mph at only 4k rpm...
fuel economy will probably be in the 17-18 mpg range around town...
but to replace it, i need a replacement, right?
so i'm currently refurbishing my 1967 Jaguar 420G to roadworthy condition.
once it's done, the Wagon will be sold, and i'll be back down to one car.
the Jag has a couple issues. firstly, the motor was locked up. the car has less than 18k original miles, but sitting isn't good for a vehicle. the head gasket had rotted away and the cylinders filled with coolant.
so the rings rusted to the cylinder walls.
pulling the motor:
teardown of the engine went rather well, with the rings breaking loose and the crank turning during the disassembly process. i'm going to send the head out to a machine shop anyway, however, both to have it tanked to clean it and to have valve seals installed - these "early" 4.2 motors don't even have any provision for them, so i'll have to have the guides modified to accept them.
pretty block goodness:
other issue is that these cars are monocoques and known for rust problems. this one's no exception - if a customer had brought it to me, i'd have told them to look for another one. but since i've got essentially no money in the car (and am doing the work myself), i'm actually reapairing it.
i'm having to rebuild both front stubframes and body outriggers, the rear body outriggers, and the complete sill/floorpan area. since no sheet metal parts are available for this car, i'm having to fabricate everything from scratch.
at least i've got a good working area:
the car on top is my Jag. the car underneath is the next project, my father's "new" 1956 Austin-Healey BN2. the Healey is in a lot better shape than the Jag (structurally), but will probably take longer and cost more to complete (because it's going to be a full restoration, rather than a driver).
so, when i'm done, i'll be moving from my 2000 lb, 110 hp Wagon beater into a 4600 lb, 270 hp Jaguar...
some tidbits about the "new" car:
it's a UK market model, so it's right hand drive... JDM wannabees, eat your hearts out!
it's got the rarest transmission for these cars - the 4-speed with overdrive. most were Borg-Warner 3-speed automatics.
i need to clean off the pumpkin to find the final drive ratio - if it's got the Euro final drive (rather than the UK, which seeems likely given the O.D. trans), it'll cruise at 120 mph at only 4k rpm...
fuel economy will probably be in the 17-18 mpg range around town...
Comments
I always liked the older jag's and rolls royce's, amost bought a 1966 jag E type coupe couple of years ago but didn't have the space and time to restore it. still regret it because it was cheap as hell.
anyways, good luck with it and keep us informed on your progress.
some.
here's under the driver's side of the car, where i had to build a new frame rail and body outrigger from scratch:
i need to finish up re-boxing the sill on the driver's side and patch the floor pan before i go over to the passenger side.
the passenger side underneath only needs patching of the frame rail and a new outrigger, which is good. it's got some rot around the trans tunnel, though.
then it'll be on to the back, where i have to patch both frame rails, rebuild the rear body outriggers, box both rear sills, and rebuild the trunk floor.
then i'll see about fixing up the engine bay.
and then i'll get back to building up the engine...
yay!
moving right along...