The 'E' Type Forum

Hello Everyone,

I´d like to introduce myself. My Name is Robert Engelberth and I´m 24 years old. I live in the east of Austria and since November 2016 I own a 1969 Jaguar E-Type Series 2 2+2.

Long Version:

It was a little adventure for me to get the car. All started with searching for a new project one and a half years ago. After a while I came to the E-Type, not really knowing there are different series and versions of the coupe. Also the prices on the internet where far away of what I wanted to spend on a project, but the little devil on my shoulder remembered me every day to check the world wide web and see if there are any E-Types for sale. I started to inform me about what problems people face when buying an E-Type. Figured out that there are different series and types and engines. Also figured out that automatic, 2 strombergs and 2+2 reduce the price most of the time. In June 2016 I found the car, which I bought at the end, at the daily search on the internet. She didn´t look nice, and she doesn´t look nice now at all, but the PO described her as a daily driver and wrote that suspension, ball joints and breaks were new. The car is running and shifting and that it has “MOT” and it was still registered. The only problem was that the car was located in Canada and I am from Austria. So I wasn´t thinking much about buying it. Some days later and some more searching I wrote a mail to the PO. At this point the adventure started. He was very honest and sent me lots of pictures of the car and the previous works done. He even showed me the car via video telephoning, started the engine and so on. We were in contact for about two or three weeks and we agreed that when I want to see the car I can come over and he won´t sale the car to another one.
At this point I was already in contact with the local authorities because of customs and with some shipping companies. So I managed to get a shipping company which would do the whole transport from door to door. I agreed with the company on some optional offers, for example that I bring the car by myself to the harbour in Montreal and I pick it up myself in Rotterdam. My intention wasn´t to save us much money as possible but I thought if the car is able to the distance on its one why not.
At the end of September I took my girlfriend for a trip to . . . guess where? . . . right . . . Toronto, to have a look at the car. When I first saw it in real I was surprised in a very positive way. I had plenty of time to inspect the car and drive it and we had a very nice evening at the PO´s house chatting and drinking some glasses of wine. Again he was very honest and showed me a rust dent on the floor. We agreed that I will come back to him next day and then I will decide. Next day I bought the car and he told me, that the distance Toronto-Montreal (500km) is no problem at all. He even gave us his number plate so we didn´t have to register it and pay the taxes for buying a used car. This was the second day of our trip in Canada and 4 left. So we decided to see some friends and do some sight-seeing. All in all we travelled about 1100km with our new Jaguar and because it everything went so straight I decided to pick up the car myself in Rotterdam. After arriving of the car in the destination harbour, I took my girlfriend on another trip. We picked it up and had a little backlash when seeing the car. The man how showed us the car after unloading told me that the car will not start. They tried but didn´t manage to get it running and the car has a flat tyre. The flat tyre was fine to me, because we had 4 extra tyre with rims in the back (plenty of room in a 2+2 ;-) But the starting problem let my heart beat 100 times faster. I tried to stay cool and asked where the keys are, took them, got into the car, put the keys in, turned it over the first time . . . battery ok . . fuel ok . . gear in neutral . . pulled the choke out . . . turned key to start . . . nothing . . . stept to times on the accelerator . . . turned over again . . . running smooth as we left it in Montreal . . . started giggling like a little girl.
Then we left the harbour to travel to Düsseldorf where we wanted to load the car on the train. Everything was ok until we got stuck in a traffic jam and the car was getting hotter. So I pulled over and checked the radiator fans and the where not working any more. Managed to figure out that the thermostatic fan switch decided to leave the world. After a little bit of trying I managed to bridge over the switch and the fans where running constantly. Not good, but better than getting too hot. In this constellation we drove to Düsseldorf but in the city the car was getting hot again. So we parked the car in a car park near the car-train and left it to cool down. After having a meal I checked the connection again and they were running constantly again. Car loaded on the train, we entered the train too and now it was time for a beer. In Vienna we unloaded the car and drove it to my garage. All in all we drove the car more than 1500km in 8 days (shipping time excluded)

Short Version:

This was a trip I will never forget and I do not know if I would do it again. However it was fun, frightening, nerve-racking and beautiful.

In advance I want to thank you all for your input and information you will give to me during my way to a good car.

Attached you can find a picture of the car, which was taken by the PO.

Hi Robert....Welcom to tne forum...great story........you could possibly be our youngest forum E owner.....lots of great info here......have a good look through the Knowledge base section.....I to have a 69 2+2..... they are great cars...whats your next plans...use and improve as you go, or take it of the road for a total refurb....all the best.. Steve

Hi Robert

Welcome along, and great road trip. My car also came from Canada but not quite in the same way you describe :) I regularly drive over to Austria in mine - but to the west. In fact I will be going over Arlberg in about 2 hours!
You'll find lots of useful information here and plenty of people with great advice. I will be interested especially in your experience with the Austrian registration process.

Hi Robert,

Great story - welcome to the forum - you've certainly come to the right place as this forum will give you all the advice & support you could ever need (for an E-Type).

Many congratulations on your purchase, look forward to seeing more photos & hearing how you get on with it. What's the bodywork like ? Are you planning a full restoration or just to maintain & improve it ?

Is your car registered on xkedata.com ? If not, I recommend doing so.

Regards,

Wow! Quite a story. I thought I was brave driving mine the thirty miles home from the previous owner!! How wrong I was...Well done for buying one....you won't regret it for a moment...

Well done, and welcome from another '69 2+2 man

Hi Robert

24 and already owning an E-Type? Excellent, good on you! I had better get a move on and get myself one soon. Your journey sounds eventful and well done for attempting such a thing - I would probably have chickened out and had it shipped to me! I look forward to hearing more of your adventures and stories with your new car

Happy New Year

Simon

Hello Robert and welcome .
I liked very much your story.
Also great to see a young chap like you interested in the E.
Watch out because owning one is like having a love affair, and this could be challenging for your girlfriend.

Hello and a happy new year everyone,

thank you for your nice welcome

My plan is something like a rolling restoration, at least I will try it. But my little experience tells me, that projects like this can escalate very quickly. So let´s see which technical problems, rust etc. comes up and have to be fixed.

First steps will be:
- Remove and clean radiator and rewire the radiator fans, switch, relay etc. to original specs
- Replace cooling hoses with new ones
- Remove bonnet support frame and restore it
- Engine out, intensive cleaning and changing weak gaskets (Engine is running well so I won´t open it)
- Cleaning the auto-gearbox and have a detailed look at all gaskets (there seems to be a little oil leak. Maybe it´s the drive for tachometer because it sometimes stops working
- Removing engine frames etc. to be able to restore the fire wall (maybe not the technical correct term)

I´m thinking of replacing the autogearbox with a manual one from a XJ6 series1 with overdrive, but I will decide this later. Long way to go.

Is it possible to remove the engine and gearbox by removing radiator, bonnet support frame, stearing rack, picture frame and then pull it out from the front?

The bodywork is, I would describe it as “ok”. New floors were fitted in former times. On the body itself is nearly no rust. When you look at the picture above you can see black stains on the bonnet and rear wheel arch, there was rust before it was removed and primed. Left and right bonnet wing, front wing (not the middle section) are already replacement parts and where fitted by a company, but I do not know which it was. Works were all performed by a workshop not the PO itself. I will see during the project if this is good or bad.

First big step is that the car should be technical in very good condition, everything working as it should, wired right etc.
I already removed the bonnet and did a compression test. Maybe I do not have the most exact gauge but it says on all 6 cylinders between 160-163psi.

@mark: I do have some experience with the registration process. I already did one individual permit, but for a motorcycle and there was changed a lot (Café Racer from 83). If you know who is responsible for what it´s quite “easy”. This will be my first registration from outside Europe, so it will be challenging as well. The only thing I want to do is, to register it with original specs (Autobox, colour etc.) because as soon as it is registered in Austria it´s quite easy to change things like gearbox, colour etc. Do you have any experience in the registration process?

@ralphr1780: As long as the relationship will not be influenced, I will keep my girlfriend

ROENG wrote:
@ralphr1780: As long as the relationship will not be influenced, I will keep my girlfriend

Nasty little voice in my head says, 'there were only ever 72,000 E-Types made of which maybe 20,000 remain. But there are around 3.5 billion girls on the planet'.

Robert, keep the car and the girlfriend. Though as Chris says there are a few more girls available than E Types, and with the E Type you should be more attractive to the girls

If you've not already done it get copies of the E Type catalogues from SNG Barratt and SC Parts. Let them know you have the car and will be buying parts from them.

And search the forum for advice, such as an easy way to remove the bonnet.

Good luck with getting the car registered then keep us aware of how you get on with work on it.

Geoff

Hi

Not the registration process in Austria, but I may need to in the near future. I have experience of the TüV process in Austria, after modifying a vehicle with non-standard external parts. That was quite challenging and caused some expense. Colour obviously not an issue, but I would double check regarding gearbox if it will need an extra TüV certificate.

Your plans seem very similar to what I did. Stripped off the front, changed the clutch and gearbox. Replaced the bonnet mounting frame, replaced the picture frame. Cleaned and repainted the bulkhead firewall. Heat proofed the gearbox area. Swapped to a 5 speed and rebuilt everything.

Engine should come out forwards with the picture frame, rad, steering and suspension et al away.

Check the engine frames thoroughly. Most get them blasted. Be prepared to replace them if necessary, they shouldn't be welded and are an expensive item to replace.

You are getting on already. I would say the compressions are fine. Even balance and good pressures. My electrics were useless when I bought mine but time and patience has brought everything back to life....in my view Lucas electrics, while maybe not rolls Royce quality, are unfairly maligned....after 50 years they are bound to need a bit of tlc....

3 points : 1. removing the picture frame is a very major operation involving dismantling of the entire front suspension and should be avoided if all you really want to do is remove engine/gearbox and generally clean up the under bonnet area . Apart from anything else, the car loses its front wheels and effectively is immobile

2.to remove the engine the general consensus seems to be that it is best to lower it downwards and then lift the car's front up, wheel engine/box out from underneath, and lower the car again . I have taken them out upwards, and this is not terribly difficult, but it does require strong nerves with 330kgs up in the air!

3.Your fluid leak is not to do with the tachometer drive , which is electrical on all E types and ignition driven on an S2. The drive to which you refer is that for the speedo cable

Finally, are you anywhere near the Neusiedlersee? I have spent many happy weeks over the years in Rust

Good luck with it all

christopher storey wrote:I have spent many happy weeks over the years in Rust

Surely, Christopher, Rust is one thing we all try to avoid!!

Hello,

mark10337 wrote:Not the registration process in Austria, but I may need to in the near future. I have experience of the TüV process in Austria, after modifying a vehicle with non-standard external parts. That was quite challenging and caused some expense. Colour obviously not an issue, but I would double check regarding gearbox if it will need an extra TüV certificate.

If the car was never registered in Austria and you do any changes to the car you need for registration extra certificates and the local authority has a look at them and can reject them. If you register your car first with standart specs you also need certifcates, but the local authority does not inspect the changes on their own but TÜV or any institution who is allowed to do. My last project was certified by a private civil engineer who than sent all certificates to the authority with his ok and the authority then sends you the permit. The advantage is that you do not need the TÜV who is quite complicated and as you describe challenging. I did change nearly everything of my bike and I had no trouble with the authorities.

christopher storey wrote:3 points : 1. removing the picture frame is a very major operation involving dismantling of the entire front suspension and should be avoided if all you really want to do is remove engine/gearbox and generally clean up the under bonnet area . Apart from anything else, the car loses its front wheels and effectively is immobile

The picture frame has to come off anyway because of checking and restoring it. I´m searching for the most effictive way of dismantlig the front. The engineframes have to be checked too so they have to come off too because of restoring the fire wall.

Yes I live near Neusiedlersee. Actually my flat is in Neusiedl am See directly. If you are ever near the lake just give me a call so we can have a talk.

Thank you all for your advise