The 'E' Type Forum

Reading several posts many owners seem reluctant to take their lovely cars out in the rain.
Well we had little choice as it decided to throw it down on our way home from collecting the car. At least it proved that the windscreen wipers do a decent job.

Not all bad weather, though, and we had a super run through some stunning countryside.

An advert on Autotrader saw me going from a wishful thinker to a new owner of a light blue S2 FHC that was in Edinburgh. A test drive and inspection went pretty well and had used various gleanings of posts on this website and others, plus useful books to help me assess and decide to buy.

A wet Saturday in Edinburgh seeing the castle, fringe etc. then off to collect the car last Sunday. A bright start, all paperwork in order and agreed and we set off. Ann, my wife as happy passenger and navigator, and me as even happier driver. Off down the A7 through the beautiful countryside on the way down to Carlisle, then onto the M6 to Chester. That's when the rain came and was unpleasantly heavy for a while, but the car, wipers and all coped well.

Our friends in Chester were expecting us to overnight with them, but didn't expect the car. First, fun type of comments 'buying second hand cars now?' soon changed to admiration, and they could see by the continuing smiles on our faces that we were happy people.

Monday saw the first of our 'vintage motoring' experiences. The water temperature started to climb higher than we had seen even in stationary traffic the day before. A call through to the JEC helpline and Ken Jenkins put me in touch with a good engineer near Coventry. The Otter switch was the culprit (what an appropriate name for the temperature controller) and Chris Forbes was able to by-pass the switch to leave the fans on all the time. With no tools or overalls in the car I couldn't even contemplate trying to sort out the problem myself. Well thank you both Ken and Chris, Chris even phoned me later in the day to see if all was well. He also gave us very clear instructions to find our way from his countryside location that saw us passing Brown's Lane for our onward journey home. Top man.

The rest of the journey went well, though too much was on motorways just trying to get home. But that didn't detract from the joy of motoring in an E Type. What a beautiful car and such a pleasure to drive, not least due to the admiring looks from people in the streets.

A few things I'd like to sort out and what would be ideal is to find a friendly person to give the car a once over to assess if there is anything that ought to be done to keep her in top form. I don't think there is anything major, but a knowledgeable and helpful engineer who can keep an eye on me and the car would be a good next step.

Having enjoyed and appreciated all the posts and advice on the forum I have now felt to be justified in contributing. Interestingly, the car has the Elan rear lights, straight exhaust and a steering wheel not dissimilar to one restored by Moss Jaguar featured in a recent write up on the forum. Wonder when both were so modified?

Greetings from a happy new E Type driver, and one thing both Ann and I agreed on, the seats are more comfortable than in our new XF 3.0D Portfolio. Why do they make car seats so firm, we don't all go racing in them!

Geoff

Welcome to the Forum Geoff. Please post some pictures, particularly of the modified rear end.

Thank you, David.

Going to read your post of how to include photos and try to get some included in the next few days.

Regards
Geoff

Great news and really good to hear that the E type network worked well in solving your fan issue.

Yes, the E Type network really did help.

David asked for photos so here are a few:



Showing the steering wheel which I think is similar to the Moss Jaguar one I mentioned in my first post (http://www.mossjaguar.com/grey-s2-fhc.html). Like the look of the door mirror fitted to the Moss Jaguar, the temporary ones I fitted for the journey home vibrate far too much. That looks like one of the Tex mirrors, any comments from knowledgeable forum members?

Next is the modified rear end:



I rather like the straight exhausts you get with that modification.

And a couple of general shots:





Learning more about the car and one of the first things that needs sorting is the bouncing speedo, bouncing so much to be almost useless and over-reading. Using the tacho instead with chinograph marks against GPS measured speeds. Now the speedo is a 6332/08 1120 which Anders Clausanger's book suggests is for a 3.07:1 final drive, yet the GPS measured speeds give 3.54:1 (somewhere on the forum it suggests that speedo is for KPH, so which is correct?).

Two things, therefore, one to get the speedo overhauled, secondly to consider changing to a 3.07:1 diff, any ideas of the cost for that?

Tick over is high at 900 rpm when warm and judging by the exhaust pipes she is running rich. With three carbs to adjust don't fancy trying that yet myself. So another job that'll need asking for help. The engine runs smoothly and had in theory been adjusted before I collected the car.

The seats have headrests, or more like shoulder rests, should they move up and down?

Found a tool roll in the car with original Jaguar stamped spanners, screwdriver, etc. It looks like it might be one supplied to the American market. With the 3.54:1 final drive and this tool roll makes me almost wonder if it's a converted car, yet there are MOTs from 1981, surely too early in life for a conversion. And the serial numbers for body, engine, etc all stack up to be correct.

There's no paperwork for the modified rear with the Elan lights, so I've no idea when any work like that was done but that might trace back to when the car was repainted blue for somewhere in my research it showed as starting out as beige (think they meant Ascot Fawn). Will wait to see what the heritage certificate says but can't apply for that until the DVLA have updated their records.

Another job I'd like to get going soon is the seats. They are rather faded, so could do with both a clean and a re-colouring. Any suggestions of a good, easy to apply product?

Geoff

Hi Geoff, welcome to the forum, like the car with the mods! As for reconditioning your seats, a friend of mine had great results using Gliptone leathercare. Hope this helps. Graham.

The Furniture Clinic , who run the JEC courses on trim refurbishment, do a wide range of products , and what you probably need if the leather is still in good condition i.e. not cracked , is their intensive cleaner , a bottle of their leather binder coating - which I think is just PVA adhesive - a bottle of Jaguar dark blue colour, and a satin finish . I can give more comprehensive advice if you give us some detailed pics of the seats . What I have done with some success on my Mark 2 and my Rover is to strip the sealant with cellulose thinners, work glycerin ( available from pharmacies ) into the leather - perhaps 5 or 6 coats - use the PVA type binder coating, then spray with several coats of colour and 2 or 3 coats of satin sealant . If there are cracks or fissures, they also do a splendid flexible filler which fills the cracks and after rubbing down with first 400 and later 1200 and 2000 paper is hard to detect once the binder and finishes are applied

Graham and Christopher, thank you both for your suggestions.

Edited to add a few photos and further assess the seats, which don't seem to have any tears or broken stitching, mainly fading to a tan colour, or should that be un-tanned (sorry!)

Even the scuff marks and crazing don't seem too bad that they can't be tidied up rather than recovered.





Yes, outside paint is in much better condition than the seats.

Silly me had thought it might be something I could quickly do to put some colour back into the seats. Whichever I choose it looks like a winter job and perhaps going on one of the JEC clinics would be a good start. Certainly reading about Gliptone and Furniture Clinic, they both have their adherents and I'm sure either could work well, so many thanks.

The JEC course is a splendid do , and very definitely recommendable . We did not take our own seats along , and I think we gained as a result, because we were able to participate as a group of 7 or 8 in every stage of the restoration of a rear seat .

Your seats look pretty good to me. Stripping the seal off with thinners, working glycerin in, using a little flexible filler on the deeper creases, and then a few coats of colour and finishing seal will make them look like new ! Or, to preserve the patina, you may omit the filler which will leave the creases but restore the colour

Gliptone products are good for cleaning /preservation but they are not AFAIK in the business of recolouring

This is a comparison akin to before/after of two of the cushions on my Rover. The cost for the whole car was about ?85 but it did take me 8 days to do !

Its worth noting that Furniture Clinic operate a franchise system. They have branches across the Uk. If you dont want to do the work yourself you can take your seats to a local branch and they will do the work for you.. They have recently carried out some small repairs and resprayed various trim bits including the complete rear seat for Series 3 project we have on the go. Made a very nice job of it.

Christopher, the before and after really show what I could achieve, and 8 days definitely equate to a winter job. But well worth the time and must be pleasing to see that reward at the end of the day. Thanks for that pointer V12, will look for a local one, if nothing than to get face to face advice when buying.

As for 'Or, to preserve the patina, you may omit the filler which will leave the creases', not sure if that's what my wife claims her potions and lotions do.

I should be safe as I know she doesn't go on this forum!!

Reading through Cliptones website they have a comprehensive set of restoring colours, so now I shall have to see which company can provide a ready kit which might be easier than trying to source the items from pharmacies (or in old money chemists).

Now to find someone to give the car a once over to assess if there's anything I missed, check/adjust the mixture and tick over and perhaps to give advice on changing the differential ratio. Any suggestions would be most welcome, and no I don't expect it to be a freebie

Don't know of anyone in your area but you could give Ken Verity a call 01709 838352. Based in Rotherham but well worth considering especially as he only charges ?35/hour and has a huge supply of parts. Other option is Angus Moss but I think he is booked up until 2016 with restoration work.

Rotherham is quite a distance, but I've spoken to Ken in the past when searching for an E Type and he sounds like a good man. If no local suggestions then will chat with him.

Going off subject we'll be passing not far from Angus Moss's on Saturday giving the car it's first outing since bringing her to her new home. Off to listen to and watch eight Merlins and judging by other postings you would like that David. Going to the original and best Flying Proms at the Shuttleworth Collection near Biggleswade and the two Lancasters are scheduled to display, weather permitting. If you've never been: think last night of the Proms with vintage aeroplanes and cars. One of the best moments was Raymond Baxter introducing the next piece by the orchestra 'Spitfire Prelude and Fugue' and timed to perfection a Spitfire zooms up from behind the trees rolling over the orchestra and display line. Pure brilliance.