Restoration Progress

Since last December the progress on the Jag restoration has come a long way.

The intakes and SU carbs (six separate units) have been completely restored and assembled to factory specifications with the exception of some stainless hardware in areas that the regular hardware finds undue deterioration. And the Cylinder head is ready for final painting and assembly. I am so glad that I chose a profesisonal to do this. I actually would have tried to put it together...upside down. Well, at first anyway.

The engine block had some dubious work in previous major overhauls that has proved difficult to resolve. Stock cylinder sleeves that would normally be replaced in an extensive overhaul could not be used due to some liberal and undocumented machining in a previous overhaul. The machinist, an artist of sorts, found six cylinders of the correct diameter that he collected from all over the US to accommodate the oversized holes. They thought were a bit too long…that being far less a problem compared to too small in diameter. All said, the new sleeves are in and the mating surfaces honed to specification. Once painted the block will be complete ready for engine assembly.

The crankshaft was fine with the exception of one rod journal (#5). It being egg shaped meant grinding all six journals to a new specification. That should have been accomplished just hours ago.

So, in the next weeks the engine will be assembled. More than a year in the making and yet to be accomplished, the engine will be ready to go...soon.

And there is more. The rear suspension and drive train is being remanufactured. This has been at a restorer for 9 months and it too is nearing completion. The only wait element here is the cadmium platting of parts. Otherwise, it is ready for assembly. So, optimistically speaking in the next few months all the elements of the drive train will be completely restored.