So…I rescued a dog in February, a border collie (mix, I think) named Brodie. Since then, I have essentially spent most of my time hanging with him, and absolutely none out in the shoppe doing anything useful on any of the vehicles! But I have washed nearly everything with wheels on it in the last month, so here’s some shots of the stable being hosed down, with the help of the pupper.
Continue readingCategory: 1973 XJ6 (Page 1 of 2)
Series 1 XJ6.
Moving stuff around in the shop to get the Morgan back on the “working” side, now that I’m finished with my friend’s E-Type.
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Many many moons ago, my buddy Paul gave me this gearbox in exchange for some help on his Mark II (to be clear, he’s an innocent party here). That’s a genuine XJ6 gearbox, and I was going to use it as the centerpiece to convert my own car to a manual. But, and this is what life is now like for me (alas, alack, etc.), BAC Rusty (who sold it to Paul) had created a special lightweight version which might just be too hot for this car.
This project was long, involved, and expensive–but in the end the car runs better and is a lot more responsive, and while I haven’t actually measured it yet, the fuel economy seems better. You can see that the Strombergs are gone, and in their place are a couple of HD8s–in this case partially from a Rover 2000 (bodies, choke linkage) and partially from a Mk. X Jaguar (dashpots and pistons, throttle plates). The inlet manifold is an English-spec SU manifold (in this case from a 2.8) and the air cleaner is a very early XJ6 cleaner which has been modified to allow the engine breather to feed into it.
I am now down to finding a replacement front exhaust manifold. It’s a long story, but suffice to say that late S1 XJ6’s use a different exhaust than earlier cars, and frankly the earlier one is a superior design. I have three front manifolds, none are right for the early system. Sigh.
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While I was going to wait until later in the year to do needed work on the XJ6 rear suspension, my hand has been forced: the bodged exhaust system wouldn’t allow the rear brakes to be bled, and had to be sawz-alled off. And with the exhaust off, taking care of the numerous issues in the back makes sense now.
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Just a few quick snaps to show some in-progress of the XJ6 front suspension rebuild…after 41 years, it was probably time. I’m taking the opportunity to reseal the rack, replace everything rubber, and generally make things ship-shape.
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My poor XJ6 is, indeed, a daily driver. Roads around here accumulate a lot of muck, and a lot of it sticks to the car! Thankfully it is very rare for it to snow, and hence no salt (car does not go out in the snow in any case). Other shots I liked after the jump.
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Just finished this poster for the upcoming All British in Bellevue. That’s my XJ6 (oddly enough!) and my good friend Paul’s very original Bugeye. Both are used regularly and neither has been restored…the theme this year is “Drivers & Survivors”. (I hope to have the E-Type done to take to the show, but that will be a challenge!)
Nothing too exciting here, just a few shots of the XJ6 on a foggy night.
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