Category: ’61 E-Type (Page 2 of 5)

I agreed to join Mrs. Rustyheaps (and her father) in taking one picture per week and posting to a shared blog…with a secret motive being to do quick updates here, as I’ve been so pressed for time the past few months and have let all sorts of things slide, including updating this blog. My theme for the photos, is… “British iron.” Wow, who would have guessed?

This is the first photo–and I will try to mix in some posts about actual work in the shop over the next year!

I guess I missed a post in here about getting the car running for the first time since the mid-1980s (!), but I’ve been so busy I’m surprised I even remember it happening. I’ll try to put that post together at some point soon.

In the meantime, I got the bonnet on tonight as I took a few minutes to do something other than stare at a computer screen. Below is how I did it–by myself. As expected from the epic struggle with the engine frames, it doesn’t quite fit right. The right side looks OK, but the left side is in about 3/8″ at the back, and is probably in need of a similar amount of movement forward. I might try my hand at adding a shim–it would be nice to be able to latch it!
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The “heater side” of the engine bay is fairly close to complete. As usual, fitting everything was a chore, and I don’t expect Eagle is worried about the competition, but it’s looking pretty good for what it is.
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I have thankfully been very busy working the past few months, and have had little time to fiddle with the workshop. So not much has changed…the photo is where progress on the E-Type has been stalled while I try to keep things solvent!

Just a quick note–work, for once, and thankfully, has been very busy–but I’ve found some time to get a bit of work in on the E. The new porcelain exhaust manifolds are things of beauty, but the Double-S exhaust system aft of them is a big disappointment. Years ago, I put a much cheaper Falcon stainless system on my 4.2 coupe, and it essentially fell into place. On this one so far I have over 20 hours of time trying to get it to fit, and it was a huge premium in cost over the Falcon. More details later, if I can ever summon the energy.
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The oil filter head on my E-Type engine was missing the large disk that the filter is supposed to fit against. I believe the originals were just a press fit over that shoulder you can see a ways back along the center piece. This one came off at some point, and was probably discarded since it’s not shown in any servicing diagram. With the paper filters you can get nowadays, it’s probably OK to run without the disk, but it’s better to not do that. My friend Dave sent me a spare disk he had, but it turns out his spare was the easily obtainable (but no less appreciated!) upper disk–which has a raised section and a much smaller hole. The lower one cannot be obtained any longer. So I made one.
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After sitting around for 12 years, the carbs went onto the car in the last couple of days…though there is still some work to do. The water rail needs a bit of work, hence it’s just lying in place here, and I need to fit the breather pipe and choke cable. But it’s starting to feel more like a car all the time.
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The engine, gearbox and body are all back together for the first time in more than 10 years. I took some video and hope to edit it in the next couple of weeks to show the process of inserting it into the car.
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I have the two outer dashboard halves in the car now, and the speedometer and tach in place. I really need to finish the wiring…mostly routing it all and connecting the sub-harnesses together.
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This is the first time in a decade the engine, gearbox, and car itself have all been in the same room. The engine looks great, and after some minor touch-ups and some more prep on the body, will go in sometime soon.
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