Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

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Lost Horizon
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#1 Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:13 pm

I recently purchased the car which came to Victoria BC from California. It has 46,800 miles (documented). My intention is to make it a new reliable long haul driver suitable for crossing the country, including across the Rocky mountains next summer as the excellent bucket list trip and blast from the past. I've driven the car as a daily driver for September, and have just handed it off to my favourite restorer to get it ready; - a full nut and bolt frame off rotisserie job with fresh primer and paint to bare metal, including a full drive train and mechanical refresh as required. The journey begins here, at the restorer's disassembly bay location.


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Last edited by Lost Horizon on Sat Aug 03, 2019 7:55 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Dana
Late S2 1970 OTS US LHD

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#2 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:16 pm

Here is the restorer's initial look-see and impression of the project car:

Initial Impressions
Dana
Late S2 1970 OTS US LHD

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#3 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Series1 Stu » Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:29 pm

That's very nice. You're so lucky to get a car with virtually no rust. Fantastic!

The wiring looks like it needs a little attention though.

Great car. Lucky man!

Regards
Stuart

If you can't make it work, make it complicated!

'62 FHC - Nearing completion
'69 Daimler 420 Sovereign
'78 Land Rover Series 3 109

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#4 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:49 pm

Series1 Stu wrote:That's very nice....
The wiring looks like it needs a little attention though.
Regards
You noticed... :mrgreen: It will get a complete new wiring harness for sure. Why is it that these old cars always seem to get a case of wiring confusion as time goes on.. Does no one teach technique for this stuff to the masses?

It also needs a 3.07 when the rear axle assembly gets redone. It has a 3.54 in it now, and it sounds a bit too busy at highway speeds for such a torque-y engine.

Looking at your paint on the Series 1, I'm leaning to that. It looks just right.
Dana
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#5 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Series1 Stu » Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:20 pm

Something that I've noticed is that there is very little included in restoration guides when it comes to wiring and harnesses. It's strange because that's where a lot of people really need help.

I think the problem is that mechanics are left to sort it out rather than getting in an auto electrician who might, if they give a damn, do a proper job.

Mine is Opalescent Dark Blue and it is very nice. It looks a lot lighter in bright sunlight than it does in the garage under fluorescent light. I'm very happy with it.

Regards
Stuart

If you can't make it work, make it complicated!

'62 FHC - Nearing completion
'69 Daimler 420 Sovereign
'78 Land Rover Series 3 109

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#6 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:32 pm

Series1 Stu wrote:Something that I've noticed is that there is very little included in restoration guides when it comes to wiring and harnesses. It's strange because that's where a lot of people really need help.

I think the problem is that mechanics are left to sort it out rather than getting in an auto electrician who might, if they give a damn, do a proper job.

Mine is Opalescent Dark Blue and it is very nice. It looks a lot lighter in bright sunlight than it does in the garage under fluorescent light. I'm very happy with it.

Regards
I've been a commercial pilot with my own company, and have had a number of aircraft over the years, so am very picky about wiring, cable and hose routing, associated vibration and such detail. When I look at some cars and their restorations, I'm genuinely horrified. This restorer is great for such detail.

The painter sub is excellent, and does absolutely amazing stuff. I definitely like the metallic undertones in the paint, but with a very fine (subtle) pattern on the dark side of blue. What do you have for the interior?
Dana
Late S2 1970 OTS US LHD

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#7 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Sat Oct 07, 2017 12:35 pm

Before taking it apart, all the seams were checked, the hood alignment perfected and so on. Here is the car with the hood removed after the fact. The original glass has the factory stamp markings embedded at the bottom middle of the windshield. The door glass has the same marks.

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4 Hours into the tear down video
Last edited by Lost Horizon on Thu Apr 12, 2018 3:25 am, edited 4 times in total.
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#8 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Series1 Stu » Sat Oct 07, 2017 4:17 pm

The interior is red. Or at least, it will be when it's installed. It's currently sitting in a spare bedroom waiting to be pressed into service. Much to my shame.

Regards
Stuart

If you can't make it work, make it complicated!

'62 FHC - Nearing completion
'69 Daimler 420 Sovereign
'78 Land Rover Series 3 109

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#9 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Wed Oct 11, 2017 5:18 pm

The complete tear down is proceeding ahead of schedule. The car is original in every aspect, with no bothersome rust. The advantage of a California car. The Production Job Number was 9189, as written on the underside of the headlight "sugar scoop" by someone at the factory in August 1970.

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Looks like I have to get on with picking the colors. I'm thinking the dark blue with interior leather cinnamon. The biscuit is too orange, beige is.. well, beige. The Blue is out unless I do a different exterior color.

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#10 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Gfhug » Wed Oct 11, 2017 7:20 pm

Dana, there have been a few S2s recently finished in opelescent dark blue (a 3.8 colour) with red interior. E.G. http://etype.chrisvine.com/ plus one at Moss Jaguar.
Looks gorgeous.
For dark blue you can have a Jaguar light blue interior.
Your own choice, just an idea for you to consider.

Whichever, it'll look great. Good luck

Geoff
S2 FHC Light Blue
S2 OTS LHD - RHD full restoration

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#11 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Wed Oct 11, 2017 7:49 pm

Geoff:
Interesting.. Hadn't really looked at red. I will get a couple of sample shades of the exterior Blue done with and without an opelescent metallic bias and decide.

thx
Dana
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#12 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Series1 Stu » Wed Oct 11, 2017 8:53 pm

Light blue looks really nice too.

Regards
Stuart

If you can't make it work, make it complicated!

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'69 Daimler 420 Sovereign
'78 Land Rover Series 3 109

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#13 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Mon Oct 16, 2017 6:04 pm

Status update: A short video by the disassemble crew as the front end comes apart (torsion bars etc getting ready to pull the engine and tranny today - the engine will be run on a stand to look at what it needs for the refresh). They take a lot of photos of pretty much everything for documentation, if you need a look at
how something went originally for your own car. This one has every series II change update as it was one of the last 483 units of series II's that were built.

Dana
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#14 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Fri Oct 20, 2017 1:06 am

The car is pretty much disassembled now and will head off to the paint division on Monday. The motor will get a full mechanical reset in parallel, even though it seems fine so far.

The mechanical tech says that this would be the time to consider any "in context" items given that the aim is to make the car a regular driver on the west coast and in the mountains. He's suggesting I look at 3x2 weber's or 3x1 SU's that would have been an available European spec. I've had experience with Weber's while living in Germany on my 1969 1750 Alfa Spider Veloce, which was driven hard all over Europe without a single problem at autobahn speeds. I've also had SU's on an MGA that I rebuilt long ago, and did find they needed seasonal attention.

Does anyone here have experience or feedback for either upgrade approach?

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#15 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Gfhug » Fri Oct 20, 2017 7:54 am

Dana, if you look here at Peter Crespin's response you'll see his mod to the Stranglebergs that removes most of their restrictions, plus it seems having a better (UK version) distributer will make a difference.

Geoff
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S2 OTS LHD - RHD full restoration

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#16 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:04 am

Gfhug wrote:Dana, if you look here at Peter Crespin's response you'll see his mod to the Stranglebergs that removes most of their restrictions, plus it seems having a better (UK version) distributer will make a difference.

Geoff
Stranglebergs.. good description :bigrin: Rube Goldberg would be proud of that secondary setup.

I will also look at the ignition side of things as you suggest.
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#17 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by christopher storey » Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:21 am

Forget Weber for road use . They do not in general produce good part throttle results on Jaguars and are very difficult to set up . Also, if you are going to be doing much high altitude work they will tend to significant over richness at altitude. The same applies to the SUs, but this can be dealt with in a matter of minutes with a change of needles .

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#18 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Gfhug » Fri Oct 20, 2017 10:45 am

Dana, I forgot to include this link :roll:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11372

And I can't claim the authorship of the 'Stranglebergs" title, I first saw it in a Peter Crespin post

Geoff
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#19 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by Lost Horizon » Fri Oct 20, 2017 5:35 pm

christopher storey wrote:Forget Weber for road use . They do not in general produce good part throttle results on Jaguars and are very difficult to set up . Also, if you are going to be doing much high altitude work they will tend to significant over richness at altitude. The same applies to the SUs, but this can be dealt with in a matter of minutes with a change of needles .
Thx for the feedback. I would rather have the changes on the streetable side with the best mid range response. I can see where the six barrels of the weber set could be an issue modulating very low individual barrel flows, and end up running rich down low in order to be correct at the top end. In short, it could end up being over carburated based on the stromberg cams profiles.
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#20 Re: Original Late E Series II refresh as it unfolds (Aug 1970 Build)

Post by mark10337 » Sat Oct 21, 2017 7:54 am

Have you considered the fuel injection route as per James's thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10403&p=82526&hilit=EFI#p82526
-Mark

1969 Series 2 OTS, Regency Red
'Life's to short to drive a boring car'

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