V12 Engine man

[bobsnicholson]

Having engine issues with my newly acquired 1972 V12 Roadster.

Anyone know of a really good engine man in the Cheshire area????
Ta

[christopher storey]

Andy Lee at Audley ( rather in the middle of nowhere not far from where the A500 meets the M6 east of Nantwich ) is highly regarded by many of us in Cheshire /Shropshire/Staffordshire

What exactly is the nature of the troubles you are worrying about ?

[bobsnicholson]

I am not mechanically minded in the least.
The day i picked it up (last wed) it broke down on me. Got it to local garage on the back of recovery. Turns out it was "An electrical issue".
Then today it overheated and cut out, turns out one has to put the cooling fans on manually??????
It does not tick over, cuts out.
Runs a bit lumpy........blah blah blah.
So my thinking was give it to a man that knows who will sort it for me.
It has had a complete new engine rebuild but i don't think it was tested. In fact the car is nut and bolt new.
It is a stunning car.

[christopher storey]

Right. For that, I can definitely recommend you at least talk to Andy, and if the car is not fit to travel then he can come to you . I shall Private message you with his number. The one snag with him is that he often has a waiting list

[bobsnicholson]

Thanks for that. Very much appreciated. Bob

[bobsnicholson]

Update.
Got the car back after the village garage collected it.
Turns out the cooling fans did not cut in as a wire was not connected???? It does have an override switch to put the fans on at will. The overheating was minor and i had the sense not to re start or try to run it after it cut out.
The reason it would not tick over turns out to have been a vacuum pipe that had not been connected????
Drove it from the garage to home, bout a mile. All appears well at the mo.
Weather to bad to take it out for test.
I will see over the days how it performs before deciding what to do.

[SESH]

Hi Bob,
One of the issues with the V12 electrical system is that the ignition amplifier can temporarily fail when too hot. The amplifier is normally mounted at the front of the engine in the V on top of the block where it gets very hot! Stupid place to put it really. Many people relocate it away from the block on the picture frame where it is a little cooler. Also since your engine has been re-built does it have the original Opus ignition system or a modern replacement. The original Opus system is renowned for its problems.
Mike

[MarekH]

If your fans fail and you overheat, but your engine is still running, then you can get the temperature down to sensible levels with this procedure. It is also useful if you arrive at your destination hot after a lot of stop-go traffic.

See https://forums.jag-lovers.com/t/solving ... ple/377151

kind regards
Marek

[bobsnicholson]

Thanks guys, most helpful.

I have heard and seen mechanics point to the amplifier.

I will get the ignition system checked out.
If my car has the Opus system i would want it changing to a noted reliable one.
Which system is known to be the most reliable.

Ta

[SESH]

Hi Bob,
There are to my knowledge two that are more frequently used.
SNG Barratt do a complete replacement which includes the Amplifier, Distributor, Coil and Ballast Resistor ref DAB113HE and the other which I think is manufactured in New Zealand called Re-Opus.
Mike

[bobsnicholson]

Update, my local garage has had a couple of attempts to sort the rough running.
I believe he has changed all sorts of electrical items, coil, distributor cap blah blah.
He has also spent a lot of time on the carburetors , diaphragm changed and other stuff.

The car ran really nice from Northwich to Capesthorne Hall today, 17 miles and about 5 miles on the way back. It then dropped to 9 again and running rough....again.
So i think it now time to give someone else a chance to sort it.
Is Andy clued up on carb tuning?????
All i want is it sorting

[christopher storey]

Andy Lee does virtually everything. He only deals with classic cars and handles a wide variety of mostly sporting machinery from the 1930s to the 1980s

[SEJohnson95]

If other avenues fail, I could recommend having a word with Paul Brown (of Paul Brown Classic Jaguar) - he knows E-types inside out and always seems to have a few V12s on the go. The only thing is that he's not particularly local as he's in Ripley, Derbyshire. I have his mobile number which I can send via a PM if you like - he doesn't advertise and I don't think his website is running now.

[bobsnicholson]

Simon, would appreciate that. I am building up a file of businesses and people i may need to fall back on.

I did about 130 miles on Bank Holiday Monday and the car ran as sweet as one would want.
Still some minor issues to sort though.