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| Date | Event | |
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01/12/2004 3 hrs Bonnet Rear Body / "B" Posts |
Today was a mixture of ups and
downs. I had decided that the bonnet needed pushing backwards on the hinges,
so first thing I loosened the bolts and pushed it back, retightened the
bolts. It is better but still not a good fit. However I decided to leave it
and come back to it another day. Next I set about finishing securing
the "B" posts to the rear body work. This was an easy matter to drill the
metal backing plate and the body and riveting in place. Lastly I began
to work my way around the back of the car to check the security and
alignment. I was underneath the car and noticed that the bottom edge of the
boot lid was not parallel with the chassis cross member. There was a
difference of 10 - 15 mm between the drivers side (too low) and the
passenger side. I spoke to Chris at the factory to determine where the
discrepancy might be, because there is a lot of variation between the
various bits of the rear bodywork, rear wins and the boot lid. I think
I understand the problem but I need to move the car forward in the garage to
get a good square view of the back. I expect to find that the rear body is
slightly low on the driver's side. If it is it should be possible to unbolt
the rear of the body on the driver's side, slot the securing holes in the
GRP, raise the body slightly and re-secure. |
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12/12/2004 2hrs Front Suspension Anti Roll Bar
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My birthday and the Christmas
festivities have kept me out of the garage for the past 10 days. The
ARB arrived from Nostalgia last Monday. Nostalgia have finally got to
the bottom of why the original one wouldn't fit. It seems they are
bent on a jig but in the process not only is the ARB heated so is the Jig.
The solution is to reposition the mounting holes for the ARB mounts on the
chassis by drilling new holes 14mm further forward. I have to say that
when I tried to fit the original ARB back in June and came across the
problem that the ARB was too close to the suspension, my first inclination
was that the holes in the chassis were too far back. I had mentioned it to
Chris Bowyer but was reassured that they were in the right place since they
are jig drilled and were exactly the same as another vehicle we compared
mine too. This weekend I've started to fit the new ARB. I put
masking tape on the chassis so that I could clearly mark it.
Positioned the keep plates and bolted them in place. Marked the outline of
the keep plates on the masking tape. Removed the keep plates and marked the
masking tape 14mm in front of the front edge of the keep plates position. I
positioned the keep plate up to the new mark. Using the keep plate as a
template I marked the position of the mounting holes on to the masking tape.
this gave me the approximate position, fore and aft for the new holes. Then
using a try square and a steel rule I made sure the holes were in alignment
with the original holes and exactly 14mm further forward. Before
drilling the holes it was necessary to remove the front chassis bung and
remove the inner keep plates. It is not necessary to remove them completely,
besides it is difficult with the body already fitted. You can tap the
heads of the mounting bolts to free the plate (the waxoil internal to the
chassis will act like glue) then slide it forward, as well as turning it on
it's side to give sufficient clearance to drill the chassis. I marked
the centres and drilled a pilot hole the finished it off with a 10 mm drill.
I drilled the font hole first and positioned the keep plate with a
mounting bolt to check that the rear hole was aligned with the position
marked on the masking tape. Satisfied with the position I drilled the rear
hole. Slid the inner keep late in to position and checked that the holes
lined up and could be secured with the mounting bolts. They lined up
perfectly. I repeated the procedure for the other ARB mounting rubber.
The mounting and keep plates have got a bit tatty with repeated fitting and
removal so I've given the a coat of paint to freshen them up and left them to
dry. |
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13/12/2004 1hr Front Suspension Anti Roll Bar
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Fitted the ARB. the procedure was
fairly simple. I removed the support turrets from the lower mounting on the
lower wishbone. Loosely fitted the turrets to the ARB. Then refitted the
turrets to the lower wishbone mounting points and secured finger tight. With
both sides mounted this way the ARB adopts a neutral position. I
placed the rubber chassis mounts on the ARB and moved them so that they were
aligned with the chassis member. I fitted the keep plates and the "U"
clamps around the rubber mounts. It only took a small amount of persuasion
to align the bolts with the holes and screw up a few turns., to hold it
whilst I worked on assembling and locating the other chassis mounting
bracket. The ARB was now in place. Using the Mk1 Eyeball, I checked
the alignment was equal, on the turrets each side and equidistant
in relation to the chassis mounts, as I tightened all the bolts until it was
finally fitted. The bolts will need checking with a torque wrench at a
later stage. |
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20/12/2004 2hrs Radiator Oil Cooler Stainless Exhaust Front Pipe |
Christmas is coming! Over the past
week progress has been slowed by the forthcoming seasonal holiday. I have
spent some time working on the Westfield Web site because it had moved
servers and needed to be got up and running again. not exactly productive as
far as the Jaguar is concerned but it did give me time to think about the
radiator and oil cooler. I had intended to use the radiator and the engine
oil cooler from the donor car. I fished them out of the shed where
they had been stored and studied the build manual again. I examined the
radiator which had a rather nasty blemish in the core caused by a large
stone or some ham fisted mechanic during its life in the XJ6. Never the less
it was sound. Comparing the radiator with the fitting instructions in
the manual there was obviously some discrepancy. the XJ6 radiator was held
in place by some pegs inserted in to rubber grommets. The build manual
referred to tapped screw holes in the side. There were none on the XJ6
radiator. I called Malcolm at Nostalgia. the original
intention was that the radiator was part exchanged for a modified one but
this is no longer the case a fact that had passed me and the build manual
bye. The outcome is the radiator is now special Nostalgia item
and I needed to buy one. The order placed I asked about the engine oil
cooler. This item is no longer fitted by Nostalgia because of
persistent trouble with oil leaks. I would still like to use it and must now
decide whether to do that or blank the connection off on the engine oil
filter block. Malcolm also advised that if I'm going to use it
to replace it and fit new oil pipes. Which brought me to my last
question about stainless exhaust front pipes. The XJ6 front pipe is
solid but rusty. I considered buying a new one or replacing it with a
stainless steel one. I asked Malcolm about sourcing a stainless one on
the grounds of longer life and better appearance. Malcolm said that
stainless ones resonate (ring) and therefore not used for noise reasons.
I must admit that most of the stainless exhaust companies I looked at,
supply complete systems but without the front down pipe. Since a new steel
one would cost £50+ I decided to refurbish the existing one with anti rust
treatment and high temperature paint. |
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22/12/2004 2hrs Exhaust Front Pipe |
The Land Rover needed an MOT and
Road Tax today so while that was being done I finished off the Christmas
shopping. I returned to start on cleaning up the front down pipe It looked
sound enough as I started cleaning the surface rust off with a wire brush. I
was examining the bottom flange that connects to the stainless exhaust
system when I noticed a hairline crack and some perforation where the flare
joins the down pipe. It was only slight but not worth trying to repair
since it would only reoccur later. I ordered a new one from Parts
Direct this afternoon and I should get it tomorrow afternoon. Back
again from ordering the new down pipe I started to clean up the exhaust
manifolds. I removed most of the surface rust and placed them in a bath of
Kurust overnight. The reason for doing this, besides giving me the
best surface for painting, I have asked for a quotation from "Camcoat "
for coating the exhaust manifold and the new down pipe in Cermakrome.
a ceramic chrome finish that will stand up to 750°C |
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Total hours this Month =10 hrs |
Total hours to date = 895 hrs |
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