8hrs

Heater Control Valve,

Reversing Light & Reflectors

Boot lock.

I arrived at Nostalgia just after 8:00 am, the goal was to have completed all that I needed to do so that I need not come down next week.  I started by fitting the heater control cable, as with all control cables,  the operating run need to be kept as straight as possible.  I marked a place on the rear bulkhead straight behind the operating lever. I checked that this was free from cables both inside and outside. I measured the grommet I was going to use to protect the cable as it passed through the bulkhead and drilled an 8mm hole.  Inside the car I needed a mounting bracket to accommodate the Push / Pull operating knob. A simple right angle bracket will do  mounted under the bulkhead just to the left of the steering wheel.  I made the bracket from an off cut  of 3mm aluminium plate approx 70mm x 30 mm,  The plate was bent, at the 30m, from the top edge. To just over a rt angle to match the angle of the underside of the bulkhead, the front face was drilled to accommodate the cable.  the new bracket was bolted in to position under the dash using 5 mm bots , spring washers and M5 nuts.  The complete assembly was fitted and the cable passed through the grommet in the bulkhead.  The cable outer was shortened to match the position of the clamping plate on the valve.  the inner was shortened to slightly longer than the position of the operating arm and wrapped around the operating arm a couple of times. Any excess was trimmed off.  This simple job had taken me all morning to complete.

After lunch I fitted the rear number plate / reversing light.  Nothing remarkable about this except one of e mounting studs had broken  away from where it was braised to the  internal back bone of the lamp and we had to re-weld it.  I mounted the lamp to the bracket  and secured it with 1/4 UNF nyloc nuts, a spring washer and plain washer.  Before you say why it was merely to get the lamp secured and be able to trim the studs to the correct length. Later we will replace the Nyloc nuts with 1/4 UNF dome Nuts.  Next I refitted the rear reflectors. To complete the work on the boot lid I fitted the boot lock and operating handle.  Fitting was uneventful until we tried to lock the boot. The boot would not fully lock . Probably caused by the fact the the boot lid position was not exactly as originally fitted. We  finally got the boot lid ot lock, by adjusting the lock and handle position slightly and extending the slot in the slam plate a little and dressing the slam plate upwards  with the gentle persuasion of a hammer.

I wanted to run the engine to eliminate any air locks and recheck the coolant level.  I refitted the dash only to discover a wiring fault to the instruments.  The main +12v feed had become disconnected from the Mate-N-Lock plug. .  Without my electrical kit to hand I couldn't extract the connection and remake the lead. A job for when I come back next Wednesday,

Registration

I'm now the proud owner of  WXK 828.  The retention certificate arrived today . Now I can order the number plates and be ready with all the documentation for the DVLA inspection after SVA.

Brightwork

Electrics

Airflow meter

Trim

9 Hrs

I arrived at the Factory today to find the bonnet polished, the under bonnet heat reflective pad fitted and the whole assembly fitted to the car.  The windscreen had been sealed and the wiper arms fitted.  In order to get the wiper arms to park correctly they had remove the cap from the wiper motor and make an alteration. This is quite common and usually involves moving a peg 180° to the opposite side of a gear wheel

I intended to fix a wiring problem fist but since the whole car had been polished I started by fitting the grill and the bonnet badge. Be warned; Do not over tighten the bonnet badge. I had forgotten this and did over tighten it and chipped the background enamel in the process.  I've just ordered the replacement one. A costly stupid mistake at £35.00 +VAT and postage.  However once the bonnet anf grill were on the car took on a new look.  I fitted the windscreen washer jet.  This  was slightly troublesome, in that the securing thread is plastic & tapered. It was difficult to get enough thread through the bonnet to safely secure the jet assembly.  However with perseverance we made it.

I finished the morning by fixing the wring fault that was stopping the voltmeter and oil pressure gauge from working.  It was broken wire  connecting the +12 volts to the instruments.  The fix was simple extract the socket (connector) from the Mate-N-Lock plug. Crimp a new new socket on the wire and re fit to the Mate-N-lock plug

This afternoon I fitted the bracket for the air flow meter. Also I refitted the closing panel to protect the air flow meter.  I finished securing the air flow pipes to the air flow meter. the air filter and the ram pipe intake.  I was left with one problem. The air filter was fitted suing the bracket and ant--vibration mounts from the XJ6 but this was pretty floppy. I need to find some way of stiffening it up yet still use the original mounting and make it easy to remove.  Chris pointed me in the right direction and I filled in the detail. I made a "C" bracket to fit one of the securing bolts for the engine bay closing panels. On the upper arm of the bracket, I pop riveted a cable tie holder. With the bracket securely fitted to the closing panel, two cable ties joined together and passed through the cable tie holder and around the body of the air filter and pulled up tight  , The air filter is secured so that it will not become detached from its original mounting, yet stiffened sufficiently that it will still absorb any vibration.

Last job of the day was to start the engine again and check the coolant levels and that all the instruments were working. We ran the engine for a while and it looked as though it had insufficient coolant and / or an air lock. Stopped the engine and put in another 5 - 7 litres of coolant . This time we tan the engine without the radiator cap until we thought we had expelled all the air.  After replacing the cap the  radiator warmed through as did the heater and the temperature settled at 90°.    As for the instruments, all are working except the rev counter.   I'll go down to Taunton to fix this next week and complete any outstanding jobs before it goes to the trimmer.

The letter has gone to the trimmer giving the specification for the trim materials and the seats will go to the trimmer tomorrow so that work can start before the car gets there.

Number Plates

A while back I contacted Pete Drury about number plates.  I had fixed in my mind that I did not want modern acrylic number plates but more traditional aluminium plates similar to the ones Pete has on his car.  Pete put me in touch with MGM spares. Pretty good service. 7 days from placing the order via the Internet I have  2, traditional style plates with raised 3.5" characters,  in silver, on a black background. £31.00 including fitting kit

8hrs

Bonnet Badge,

Electrics

Heater Fan

Another early start on a Wednesday to be at Taunton fro 8:00 a.m.  I arrived on time and first job of the day was to fit the new bonnet badge. These badges are backed with vitreous enamel and should only be done up hand tight.  This time I got it right and applied thread lock to the stud and tightened the nut up  with a socket but only only finger tight. 

Second job was to find out why the rev counter was not working.  that didn't take long as I discovered that the +12v lead I repaired last week had come undone again.  the problem was the gauge of the wire was slightly too big for the Mate-N-Lock socket.  So I resorted to soldering the lead in place rather than risk another failed crimp.  Job done I restarted the engine and all was OK.

Chris had got me a new Brake Light switch and I fitted this as per my original one.  The switch was exactly the same as the one we tried last week , With the same problem of insufficient adjustment to switch the brake light on even with the pedal fully depressed.  After a bit of head scratching the solution was found. The switch needed moving backwards to the the operating arm had more travel  to make the switch close.  Fitting some spacer washers between the mounting  bracket and the pedal box did the trick.

After Lunch I fitted the pipe between the additional heater fan mounted on the LH under wing closing panel and the heater. The most notable part of this operation is the pipe must be stuffed in to the  rectangular outlet of the fan . The corners sealed with body caulk and finally made air tight with Duck Tape.

Whilst I had the car up in the air I took the opportunity to go round all the fixings for  the front wing closing panels and secure them with nyloc nuts. I also checked there were no Hydraulic or oil leaks.

The car should go for trimming at the end of this or the beginning of next week. 

Dashboard

5hrs

The car is ready to go to the trimmers.  Since my last visit to the factory , the hood frame has been trial fitted and the rear wing closing panels have been fitted.  The latt4er required the fuel pump and filter to be fitted further back with some adjustment to the pipe work . The front number plate plinth and the sill guards have also been fitted.

I've done revised drawings for the dash panel layout. this mainly involved repositioning the ignition, oil pressure, brake fluid level and main beam  warning lights from the cluster I had in front of the steering wheel to the centre panel. Repositioning the turn and hazard warning indicators and the fog lamp warning lamp in the RH panel. the aim was to distribute the lights around the dashboard so that their visualise was improved in relation to the gauges and  the driving position.   I've also made a preliminary drawing to accommodate the radio, lighter socket and analogue clock in an XK140 style auxiliary panel to be mounted under the central dash panel.  I think it will work and enhance the appearance of the dashboard but await confirmation from Nostalgia.

For the latest photographs go to the Painting and Finishing section of the Photo Album

Total hours this month = 30 hrs

Total  hours to date =    2142 hrs