The 'E' Type Forum

At Coys auction last week were s few E Type s up for sale and this one caught my eye . A 4.2 lightweight replica and on the whole a well executed car and conversion ( apparently it was a coupe the start off with ) obviously with what I'm building at mo I was like a bee round a honey pot with it . It had Ali doors bonnet and boot lid . Yep one handsome car very very clean . It sold for 130K on the hammer so there would be some comision on top too . Then because I'm a bit of an anorak I took some photos in some of the more hidden areas


Zoom in this is up in the A pillar around door hinge .... lack of clear coat /just a light coating of paint. A hole with cable going through with no grommet around it and a birds nest of wiring . . Now I'm not saying that Coys was selling rubbish cars on anything like that as usually it's buyer beware. What winds me up is some one has paid probably very very good money to have this car built by a "renowned " E builder (it said so in the catalogue blurb ) and it's still been done to a " thatll do standard " yep I know it's not my problem but that really gets my goat grrrrr .
Worth going to these auctions a real eye opener

Looks pretty poor. Crimped connectors in blue and red...a give away of a bodge...I HATE them...awful things....even worse than bullet joiners. My car was infested with them by a PO. I have systematically removed the infestation

When you have rebuilt/restored a car from the ground up you suddenly realise that when you buy a car from anywhere, dealer, auction orprivate its very very difficult to determine exactly what you are paying for. What with the plethora of poor quality of parts, and the unseen internal components of the various rotating bits it is and I guess always has been 'buyer beware'
That's why the very top cars are subjected to a lot of due diligence bur the prospective buyers and the top. top cars are also subject to lawyers DD to confirm the provenance. People like Chris Keith-Lucas especially are consulted on original Dtypes and listers etc.
All of that said the issues you have identified on this lightweight replica are obviously very concerning and would put me off.

Best regards

Julian

Regarding connectors - would be keen to know what you like to use. Always looking for good recommendations - I have some of those horrid red/blue crimps to sort.

thanks
Ash

I use either soldered brass bullets or soldered spade (Lucas) terminals with suitable insulating sleeves. I use traditional lead based solder....properly soldered joints do not fail....

I don't mind using the red or blue connectors l have a proper rachet crimping tool once crimped with that you could toe a vehicle with the conector but i also try to cover all with black heat shrink

It's true what cactus man said about a well soldered joint being very strong , but you have to be careful not to let the solder run up the wire , this has a habbit of making the wire brital and this is why I prefer well crimped over solder

Regarding alternative joints, has anyone used those heat shrink solder joints for butt joints when joining two wires ?
They look very neat with a clear heat shrink cover over the solder joint incorporating waterproof seals each side, but as they use a low temperature solder, just wondered if this could be a problem if the joint was subject to further heat once spliced ?
Regards,
Dave

Don't people just twiddle the bare wires around each other and seal with sellotape?

Hi Dave.....just looked at these low temp joint sleeves......not convinced on the quality of the solder joint......many years ago when i worked for BT i literally soldered thousands of joints........a "dry joint" where solder dosnt flow properly is the one thing you dont want( a good joint should look shiney..a dry looks dull).......personally you cant beat a soldered joint....and as Julian has mentioned previously use solder with a lead content and mulit cored containing flux.....then use a heat shrink sleeve....Steve

As Steve says....shines is good. Looks dull is bad. Personal taste to a degree but the crimped blue/yellow/red terminations just look naff to me. And they were never a feature on factory cars either. Beware also that the quality of connectors does vary. Cheap ones tend to be economical with the thickness of the metal and then no matter how crimped they are they loosen...same applies to cheap crimpers for a few quid on well known auction sites. If you are going to use them get quality terminations and a quality and expensive set of crimpers and the right jaw sets for the terminals you need. Their one advantage is speed. For me though....60/40 tin/lead for me

malcolm wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 20, 2017 9:26 am

Don't people just twiddle the bare wires around each other and seal with sellotape?

Poser! At least confirm you used your teeth to strip the insulation and tear the tape off the roll?

I presume that's sellotape of course!!

PeterCrespin wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:27 am

malcolm wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 20, 2017 9:26 am

Don't people just twiddle the bare wires around each other and seal with sellotape?

Poser! At least confirm you used your teeth to strip the insulation and tear the tape off the roll?

Of course I use teeth. Mind you, it's a bugger when the sellotape attaches to your lips and you rip some lip-skin off as you tear.