The 'E' Type Forum

Can anyone point me to someone who can refurbish my bonnet stays. They no longer hold the bonnet up and one of them has a broken (brass?) stud.

Update on an old topic. While fitting a fuel pressure regulator cured my E-type of carburettor banjo petrol leaks, the problem kept resurfacing with the fibre washers on the fuel filter housing. Thanks to Geoff Allam's tip to use Permatex Number 2, the problem appears to be banished. Impressive prod...

I'm pretty sure that I once read about an upgrade being developed for the round clutch reservoir on 3.8s. It was to be strengthened where the flexipipe fits in order to avoid the problem of them cracking there. Can't find any for sale. Did anything ever come of this?

Hi Ed, in the 14 years I've owned my 3.8 there have been more moments of frustration than with all the other cars I've owned put together. There have been several Basil Fawty moments with me threatening the car with being broken for spares on Ebay. At which point I always close the garage door and s...

Thanks Geoff.

Update - despite my CTEK apparently going through its full charging process successfully, turns out the battery was at fault. My multimeter showed that the battery voltage dropped from 12v to 1v when I pressed the starter button, likewise when I switched the headlights to dip beam. Co-opting a batte...

After my 3.8 has been laid up for 10 months while I tackled other jobs, it now has an electrical fault it didn't before. When I inserted the electrical cutoff switch and turned it, the low fuel light came on (it only has a gallon in there). But bear in mind the key wasn't in the ignition yet. When I...

Crosthwaite & Gardiner. All the ones I tried previously from other sources were labelled SBS1010 but were much shorter than that when I measured them.

C19524, so correct double V profile.

Success! Ended a rainy bank holiday afternoon on a high. After phoning several suppliers of the C19524 belt, the helpful John at Crosthwaite & Gardiner agreed to measure one of theirs to check the circumference. He quickly came back to me with confirmation that the outer circumference was 1020mm, so...

Thank you David

Can anyone tell me which colour wire goes to the lefthand/rearmost terminal of the rev counter generator? It's the closed-loop two-wire system with one black/red wire and o e black/blue. Removed the wires months ago when I took the camshafts out and forgot to take a reference picture...

Hi Jerome, the correct size is indeed the part number and tends to be printed on the belt (in this case SBS1010), but my problem is that the actual size tends to differ by up to 20%, rendering the stated size irrelevant.

Has anyone found a source of the C19524 belt, labelled SBS1010, that's made to the correct 1010mm circumference? It's the late 3.8 double V design. Back in 2018 when I fitted a ProRace crank damper upgrade requiring a switch to double V pulleys, all the belts I ordered were up to 20mm too short, whi...

What's the consensus on sealing cam covers - dry or with sealant? I have new Cometic gaskets, half-circle seal for the tacho drive side, o-ring for the blanking plug on the exhaust bank and new copper washers. I've had advice to assemble with oil, blue hylomar and red heat-resistant silicone and hea...

As I mentioned in my original post, I did measure the replacement shims before fitting. I learned long ago not to trust markings or labels on shims after a frustrating round of attempts to reset the rear wheel bearing clearances. However, the need for rightangle feeler gauges is new information so I...

Thanks chaps. Yes, replaced caps in correct positions and measured original and replacement shims rather than trust the markings. Also noticed the indents were smaller than my Clarke micrometer anvil. Next batch of shims should arrive tomorrow in time for round 2. Which means I'll need to have one m...

Just measured my valve clearances (3.8, two-bolt cams) and needed to change most but not all of the shims. Put the cams back in, torqued the bearing caps and remeasured the clearances. Despite carefully measuring the old shims and the replacements, and double checking my maths, two of the inlets are...

'A bit of a tease to fit' - love that, the words forming in my head as I repeatedly dropped either the lower nuts, spring washers or both were somewhat less polite.

Thanks David, I was thinking similar, but still baffled how I managed to extract the carb in the first place. Then again, that was many months ago and memories fade.