Just a few notes on things which have happened this year, posted in the hope that they may save others from making the same mistakes.
My car (as long-term readers will know) is a 1966 E-Type Roadster, owned by me since 1976. It's been through all the usual evolutions from old sports car in decent nick, to everyday transport, to rusting old heap which will get restored some day, to fully restored and well and truly used. Could now be a concours winner given a week's work, but I don't do Q-Tips and lining up the letters on the tyres. Good luck to them wot do, but I prefer driving the thing, not taking it to events on a trailer.
Roll back four or five years - had a sroke, DVLA said thou shalt not drive. So car stored for a couple of years. Didn't expect it to be so long before I got my licence back so didn't take the correct actions - just shoved it into the garage.
Fast forward- licence restored, driving again. E-Type running beautifully. Now unable to do even routine maintenance, entrusted the car to "Jaguar Specialist" for servicing. On third visit (yes, it does have rather short service intervals) it started to run on five rather than the six which Sir William intended. Thought it was probably a dodgy plug cap - happened before - but a compression test indicated 50/60 on five of them, but zero on no 3.
Head off, melted piston. Former aircraft engineer friend did a bit of forensic engineering and found stuck linkage to the middle carburettor. Therefore ran permanently lean on middle two pots, equals hot combustion, equals melted piston. For the want of a few drops of oil on the appropriate bit of linkage a pretty hefty bill.
So - all bolted back together, back on the road. Only problem was a loss of water. Not much - a kettle-full after every 100 mile fast run or so. Not really a problem, just worrying. Tried replacing all hoses, catch tank to see if it was rad pressure - all sorts of things. Finally jury rigged a device which indicated water coming into the cylinder on no 4. No option - engine out, strip down, found a cylinder liner corroded (from the outside). Only possibility is that it occurred while the car was laid up - if I had realised it would be so long I would have drained all the fluids.
Had to strip down engine completely before taking to engineering shop for new liners. Horror - all main bearings down to copper, including the thrust washers each side of the centre main. Big ends OK. Conclusion after much thought, later verified by measurement - crank which had been reground about
10,000 miles ago during first engine rebuild was actually three thou out of true. It's quite a long crank, and needs a supporting piece in the centre when machining - either it was left out or fitted upside down by the firm who did the job originally.Anyway, all back together now and running well. Looking forward to terrorizing the natives again.
Hope this tale of woe helps others to avoid my mishaps!
Geoff MacK