WORKSHOP
JAGUAR 1972. E-TYPE ROADSTER V-12
This car is still in progress. Painfull job thou. Needs a lot of care and craftsmanship. Series of pictures bellow show before and after restoration condition of the car. Enjoy.
LATEST UPDATES, January 2017.
During Holidays we finalized some of restoration processes on our Two and a half years JAGUAR project. We started interior and upholstery fitting. Also, the engine has been fired up after two years. All fluids are added and the engine is finally running nice and smooth. Hope that car will be ready before spring comes.
During late January we completed boot section. This is the "smallest" luggage boot ever made in car industry. You can put the toothbrush in, but there is not enough room for toothpaste. Had to make all new plywood boards to match the original. A car came without proper plywood and biscuit color carpets. Plywood was coated with thin epoxy resin. The last picture shows boot release latch that is in the cabin, behind the passenger's seat.
LATEST UPDATE, March 2020.
Ever since we bought this car in the US, and after a complete frame off restoration we had a problem with steering. A car slightly veered to the right. The problem was present until now. We finally discovered one Company that has a great experience in Rack and Pinion servicing. They have a kit not only for Rack servicing, but for pinion tower as well. Here is a link to their site: https://steering-racks.co.uk/
So, we spoke with Mr. Oliver from Kiley & Clinton, and he was very kind offering complete rebuild kit that helped a lot during servicing. When we removed Rack & Pinion from the car and completely disassembled it to pieces, we were astonished to realise that torsion bar inside of a Pinion tower was somehow twisted. This deformation caused central splined shaft, attached to the torsion bar, to let flluid flow by itself through the valve openings, same as if You are keeping steering wheel to the right. Thus, car was veering to the right. It was very difficult to determine weather the Rack was bad, or front wheel alignment. But one day, we were messing with Camber and Caster angles, trying to overcome the veering. We hit the Highway and in the middle of the drive turned the engine off. Amasingly, car started to veer to the other side... The rest is history....
Kiley & Clinton, thanks for remarkable parts, and very professional customer service!
Take a look at some pictures and how we serviced our Rack and pinion... First of all, we removed bonnet, of course. Then, step by step, we removed radiator, AC radiator, and finally Rack & Pinion.
Next, we put Rack on the workbench. There is little plastic bag with Kily & Clinton parts. The lower seal on pinion tower was leaking to the gears of rack and pinion chamber. We fixed that easily.
The main problem was inside the valve mechanism. Torsion bar was twisted. It took several hours to recalibrate torision bar, and to setup a special bolt with eccentric head, so the channels inside the valve mechanisam are all lined up. But, we mannaged to fix that issue, and when we returned the Rack and pinion assy to the car it worked perfectly well.
Here are some more photos of a finished car. Even though it allready won First price on 2017 Concourse de Elegance, we only now can proudly confirm that our Jaguar V12 Roadster restoration is finished. Enjoy.
