Fellow fiends and jag-o-philes:
Excellent adventure! I just returned from the vintage races at Elkhart
Lake, WI and am ready to go again (say, in about a day or so!). Way too
much to detail here but trust me, if you can possibly put it together to go,
you will be very glad you did. High points include an autographed copy of
the collected "Side Glances" and a chat with Peter Egan, all those beautiful
GT40s, meeting some netters (sorry about Sunday, acquaintences were racing
at the time and I lost track of the clock), and the fact that the '67 e-type
got me there and back without a problem.
It really did run well, I am happy to report. The car averaged 20mpg,
exhibited no overheating despite some *hellish* traffic snarls south of
Chicago, and showed steady 35-40 pounds oil preasure. I took a half gallon
of coolant with me and never added a drop! I am alarmed, however, that it
did show high oil consumption (almost 3 gts. in 1100 miles!). This
consumption puzzles me as the plugs are *not* oil fouled (slightly
carbonized, in fact) and there was no puddle in the air filter cannister. I
can't imagine all of that is blowing out of the engine. I do know that
there is a leak in the exhaust cam cover gasket, up at the timing chain end.
A few weeks ago I cleaned the engine and that is the most obvious leak.
There may be another at the back, but it appears minimal and I'm not sure
where it originates. No clutch slip; so I tend to rule out rear seals. Any
comments? Am I misreading my plugs: dry and somewhat black? What can other
jag xk-engined drivers report for oil consumption on road trips (i.e.
sustained 3000 rpm driving)?
Low point: only one; the jag was broken in to in Chicago (sic) and my tools,
spares and some personal odments were stolen. I parked the car in the
garage of my friend's condominium and absent mindedly left the driver's side
door unlocked. Four or more cars in the garage were broken into. Silver
lining: no physical damage to the car and all was (mostly) forgotten when I
turned on to route 67 and heard the whine of a most lovely engine echo from
over the tree tops...sigh...
Cheers,
Will "brot and a beer" Zehring
|