3.8 OTS(LHD)Starter Motor Cable Routing Info.

[StefanS38]

Hi, Can anyone help me I am restoring my 1961 Type 3.8 OTS. from a box of bits. (I did not take it apart). Can anyone explain or show me a few pictures of where the Routing is meant for the Long Cable 70"/1780mm, Starter Motor to Solenoid? I am starting from Scratch.Anfd cannot find any visual references.Thanks Stef...

[Gfhug]

Welcome to the best place for all things E Type. Please add your name and car type to your signature, click on your user name top right. It makes it so much easier for people to properly respond when they can immediately see which version you have.

If you look at the associated topics listed below you’ll find lots of help. There are four topics in particular that give you the answers. The search facility is also very good.
Do you have copies of the owners workshop manual? You should but you can also look at it in the knowledge section where you can download pages to print for ready use in your workshop.

Good luck

Geoff

[StefanS38]

Hi, This may take time.As am an older guy, with limited knowledge on how to navigate these forums. I have only just joined.Please bear with me.And if possible I can still request and answer in a very basic manner.As not as computer literate as some.(old school) . Any images from an early 1961/2 outside bonnet lock would be appreciated.As this is my car.(RHD will not necessarily apply). Regards Stef.

[Gfhug]

Ok Stef, first off and keeping it simple….
Have you opened the topics that show at the bottom of this page? If so, you’ll see there is a lot of info and from what I can tell the routing of these starter cables has been pretty much the same from the beginning.

Have you any books about rebuilding an E Type? Please let us know which then we can suggest others. I shall also look in my library and list those that I feel could help.

Enough for the moment, except to say computer literate is not a requirement. A little looking on the screen, in the technical section, etc. will give you lots of info.

Geoff

[mgcjag]

Have a look at these links
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14036
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16547

[Gfhug]

Stef, books to get, beside the E Type Service Manual (for 3.8 and 4.2 models) the pages from this are in the knowledge section but you really should own the book
Anders Clausager “Factory original Jaguar E Type”
David Barzilay “E Type Jaguar Restoration Manual” features a very early 3.8
Haddock “Jaguar E Type 6 & 12 Cylinder restoration guide”
Do you have a copy of SNG Barratt’s E Type catalogue? Get one as it is very useful.

There are lots of other books listed in the knowledge section, but these should be a good help, especially for an early car.

As the LHD and RHD cars were built on the same production line there is a significant amount of similarity between fitting of cables e.g. the starter cable. Differences really come down to when controls or steering wheels had to be one side or the other. So much else is common.

Hope this helps

Geoff

[rfs1957]

When you DO find pictures of how it was done, Stefan, your next question on the Forum will be - WTF did they go around the front of the engine to get to the starter motor ?

Unless you are aiming for a 100-point period-correct restoration, this is one area where pragmatism pays every time ; I could not bring myself to waste all that copper and clutter up the frame rails with unwieldy cable, when you can make a neat (and perfectly safe and secure) routing around the edge of the bulkhead and above the bell-housing to get to the starter motor from the back.

Maybe I’m just lucky that people this far south are just happy to see an E Type, and don’t suck their teeth over (virtually invisible) cable routing.

[Allrand]

[rfs1957]

Emboldened by Randall's show of encouragement, here are a few I took earlier.











If I had worked this out properly before I had the engine/gearbox in place, it would have been very easy to make an even better job of it by having a cable support on the shell - perhaps accessible from the gearbox-cover aperture ? - to guide the cable in the centre of its run behind the engine.

Despite that, however, I consider it a much neater way of getting from A to B, and it comes into contact with nothing along its way, being self-supporting.

If you do it in black rather than red then only an anorak could really pull you up over the detail.

PS - I always wonder how many cars have been sacrificed on the alter of "originality" as intoned in the pages of Clausager, where details like the run of the 3.8 wiring harness across the LH picture-frame area - that actually feature even on the cover of the book - are so obviously wrong.

[StefanS38]

Thanks for the last pictures posted. Anything helps, as I have most of the extensive restoration books.And there is very little shown on actual routing (Where cables go).

[265bhp]

When you DO find pictures of how it was done, Stefan, your next question on the Forum will be - WTF did they go around the front of the engine to get to the starter motor ?

Unless you are aiming for a 100-point period-correct restoration, this is one area where pragmatism pays every time ; I could not bring myself to waste all that copper and clutter up the frame rails with unwieldy cable, when you can make a neat (and perfectly safe and secure) routing around the edge of the bulkhead and above the bell-housing to get to the starter motor from the back.

Maybe I’m just lucky that people this far south are just happy to see an E Type, and don’t suck their teeth over (virtually invisible) cable routing.

Totally agree…I did exactly the same…shorter route..more efficient and better looking…