this got sort of long.
Well I finally picked up the jag I had been looking at. I
queried this list a couple months ago. It's a 1973 XKE series III
roadster. I went and picked it up two and a half weeks ago.
The deal I was able to work out was $24K.
On saturday morning, the 10th I think, I had my wife drive
with me from Annapolis, MD to Great Falls, VA where the car
was residing. We made our transaction and were off. The distance
from Great Falls to Annapolis is roughly 45 miles. This car had
sat for a long time without being driven much, I was a little
nervious about the trip. The previous owner, actually her husband,
kept coming up with other things that I should check out right away.
Kind of, you might want to check those thermostats, and that exhaust
system definately needs replaced, and oh yea you might want to take
a look at those front brakes, and I didn't like the seat belts so
I took them out... Finally we got out of there and were on our way
to the cars new home. At first I found it hard to get adjusted to
the seat in the car, I was trying to sit in it, once I leaned back
and let the seat hold me it felt great. I also played around with
the mirrors a bit, but upon traversing the curves out of Great Falls
I realized that the mirrors weren't that necessary anyway :-). The
trip home went great.
This past Saturday I put an exhaust system on the car. Sunday
on the way to the shop (engine research shop where my brother-in-law
works, and I play) to change the fluids, rebuild the carbs and
give it a tune, my bro-in-law pulled up next to me a a light along
route 50, which is 55mi/hr 6 lane hwy, and taunted me in his '79 Z28
well I knew it wasn't smart but when he jumped the light I couldn't
resist and punched it, wow what smooooooth power, he really had a
big lead but in second I passed him like he was standing still, I
can't believe the feel of this car! When I looked in the mirror
all I could see was white smoke... :-(. Upon checking it turnned
out to be a tiny leak from a water hose. Ok, I'll change the hose
before the fulid change/tune. Poke the hose with a screw driver
and pow, it broke into a dozen pieces, ah ha thats what happens
to rubber after seven years. Check others and they are hard as
rocks, well they're just little connecting hoses so it can't take
too long, right..., wrong the hoses that needed replaced are
connectors from the housing for the thermostats to the manifold.
I couldn't fit the new hose on without removing the thermostat
housings, and once those were out and the glass beader was handy,
and the connecting tube needed painted...
Later that same day, I finally get to the carbs, I figure it's
just like my TR6, I'll just unbolt the carbs rebuild them and
bolt them back on, @#$% it's not the same. The nuts holding the
carbs are a real tight fit. I only got one side done, is it easier
to take off the whole manifold? I think I might try that on the
other side. Well, I finally finished getting the carbs on and
sync'ing them them about 10 sunday night.
Accomplished:
put seat belts in - although I think I put them in backwards
two carbs rebuilt - on one the piston would not even
move up and down!
new exxhaust system - I blew a mouse nest out of the
old exhaust when I left the sellers
house. The new system is a stainless
DICK AMES system made by Falcon
Exhausts, Derbyshire. DICK AMES seems
real good, the system not over priced,
good fit, lifetime guarantee. On my
limited experience I'd recommend it.
new plugs - two were semi rusted, took impact wrench to get
them out.
set timing - timing was set at twenty degrees before TDC
After looking all over for the timing marks,
they are center of the crank at the bottom of
the engine, and looking for the nut to loosten
the distributor, it's a neat screw with locknut
arrangement, not unlike the rocker adjustments
on a TR6, which rotates the distributor when you
turn the screw, I set the timing to twelve
degrees before TDC. I don't like the timing
mark position, is there an easy way to see this
with the bonnet open?
To Do:
* rebuild two more carbs
* put new brake pads on the front
* change all fluids
* put new rubber where ever it exists
* check valve clearance
* replace highbeam dip switch
I really love this car. I can't find any serious rust on
the car, nothing even more than cosmetic. The engine seems
really smooth. The handling feels so much lighter than I thought
it would, effortless may be a better word, the car just goes where
you point it.
The night I picked up the car I was taking a friend for a ride
when the headlights went out, I started to laugh and told him the
lucas/warm beer joke but I don't think he saw the humor in it. The
previous owner said oh yea check that high beam switch. I REALLY
want a tach in the car, well one that works accurately, the previous
owner's husband installed an allison ignition system and the tach
doesn't seem to always know where it should be.
Well the real reason for the post is to ask for help.
How can I make this tach work? Does anyone out there have experience
with allison ignitions/electric tach's?
One thing the previous owner's husband said is that the oil
light will come on when the car's hot and stopped ie traffic light.
The owners manual gives a pressure to maintain at 3000RPM
(40 I think) which isn't a problem, but what about at idle, are
other jags the same?
How much noise should the valve train make? It's not what I would
consider noisy, but I can hear it? How difficult is this adjustment?
What are good sources of info/parts/clubs? I order some stuff from
a place called special intrest cars I think and had fast friendly
service. Does anyone have a good dealer/bad dealer list?
Thanks for listening and thanks in advance for any help.
|