Waxoyl!!!!

If you've never used Waxoyl, it's an experience that everyone needs at some point.  Waxoyl, for those who don't know, is a wax that has, evidently, a very low melting point used to coat the inside of any closed areas that could be subject to rust.  You have to heat it up by putting it in the oven or on a hotplate...  or letting the can sit in hot water, which is what I did.  It was a learning experience.  I borrowed a can containing about 2 liters from Mike Darby and the applicator gun and hoses.  I heated the can like instructed, but I failed to warm up the frames at all.  it was kinda chilly in the garage and I think the Waxoyl just clotted up inside the frames..

To make a long story short, I made a mess, finally got the frames coated inside, I believe, by sitting them out in the sun the next day.  After I poured the excess Waxoyl out of the frames, I started installing them on the car.










 That made me feel really good..  I was finally making some noticeable progress. The Frames are new from E-Type Fabs in the UK and they fit PERFECTLY!!!.  There is a guy named Uryk that owns the company and is an absolute artist.  Whenever I look at these frames I marvel at the amazing perfection with which they are put together.... He is also a first class individual... so much so that I have now entered into a business venture with him to give E-Type Fabs a better presence in the U.S.  E-Type Fabs US .  I'm excited about the things to come with this relationship.

Rodney McDonald came over today and helped me continue assembling things.  We got the frames all fitted, sorted out which bolts went where, I'm not totally sure that I have them all right just yet, but I'm getting closer. We got the steering rack, sway bar and lower A-frames and their bushings mounted.  He was a huge help (he promised me that doing the interior was his long suit so I can't wait till we get started on that, because I'll need some expert help)  Maybe it doesn't sound like we did much, but I feel like we accomplished a lot.  It's starting to look like a car... and a beautiful car at that.

Rough day in the garage

Have you ever spent half the day looking for something that you JUST  HAD IN YOUR HAND YESTERDAY????   I did that today.  Yesterday I found a bracket that goes under the bonnet. I wasn't quite ready to install it at that time so I put it somewhere so I would know where it was when I needed to install it.  Yeah, I spent most of the afternoon looking for it today. I couldn't find it so I just finally gave up and started on something else.  Remember that B-Post seal I spent so much time describing the other day?  I couldn't figure out why I had 2 extra seals.  I called BAS, the people that make premium Jaguar interiors and from whom I happened to have bought my interior and rubber body seal kit.  The guy there didn't know where the other 2 seals went either.  I spent quite a while looking at pictured of restorations on a number of websites..  I finally discovered where they went and also discovered that the ones I had installed in the B-Post were in backwards.  So I proceeded to remove them and re-install them correctly.  I fixed the one on the driver's side, then got a phone call.. and then fixed the one on the passenger side..  or so I thought.  Turns out, I reversed the driver's side seal twice and didn't touch the passenger side one.  So in essence, nothing changed and I had to do it all over again.  The two other seals go on the back side of the window frame...  in case you were wondering.
I got that project finished and went back to the bonnet for one last look for the bracket.  I looked down and there it was...  inside of the area behind where the headlight goes.  I'll install it tomorrow... if I can find it again.

Rubber Seals

Today, the first thing I did when I got out to the garage was to pick up all the tools and put them where they belong.  I had stuff scattered all over the place. Then I started working with the rubber seals that fits in the B-Posts to seal the back of the window frame when the door is closed.
This is a short piece, about a foot long, that fits in a groove in the B-Post. (they sent me 4 of then, but I can't figure out where the other two go, if anybody knows, give me a holler) Simple enough you say?  I thought so too. But it proved to be a little more than I had thought. The rubber has to be slid into a slot and if it would slide past the beginning of the slot, it would have been a piece of cake.
Unfortunately the Brits didn't take into consideration that someone one day would want to replace this.  With the help of a flat head screwdriver, some Windex, and a hard piece of plastic, I managed to poke it into place without doing any apparent damage to either the rubber or the B-Post.  I then decided that it would be a good idea to put some generous amounts of tape on all the edges of the body and in areas where I would be working to protect the gorgeous paint.
I then installed the cantrails that hold the rubber gasket around the rear quarter windows.  Using the same technique as before, I was finally able to fit that seal as well.  I polished the B-Posts and fitted them to make sure everything was in order. 



I am a little disappointed with the job that this outrageously loud vibrating thing does on the nuts and bolts that I put in there.  I think I could do just as good of a job with a bench grinder and wire wheel, but I'll give it a little more time.  I probably have the wrong kind of media in it. 



While I was doing all that I also watched the NFL playoffs...  I wasn't too concerned with who won, since the Saints were out of it.  It looks like it's going to be the Packers and the Steelers, two of the really old teams, should be a good game.  Too bad it's being played in Dallas.

Not a very productive day day

I had a "real" job in Mobile today.  I was planning to shoot Quarterback drills to use in a recruitment video for a young high school football player...  drove over there only to find that the field that we were to use was occupied with a kicking camp.  The coach that had hired me to do this had failed to check on the availability of the field.  Nonetheless, the rest of the group had arrived when I discovered that I had locked my keys in the truck with all my camera equipment.  As it turned out though, the field was taken, the young quarterback had injured his shoulder yesterday and one of the receivers was not able to be there at the last minute.  So my locking my keys in the car was of no consequence...  unless you were my wife.  I had to call Donna and ask her to drive to Mobile and let me in my car.  Which she very graciously did.  After that, I went to Harbor Freight which was nearby and bought one of those vibrating machines that cleans nuts and bolts and small parts, so the trip wasn't entirely wasted.  When I got home, Donna and my sister were in the kitchen making bread.  Yumm.  By then it was mid afternoon.  I came out to the garage and put the vibrating thing together and threw some nuts and bolts in it.  turned it on and it was so loud that I will have to do it overnight when I'm in the house.
Other than that, I put the handbrake actuator together.  I had taken it apart yesterday cleaned it, sprayed it with some cadmium spray and let it dry overnight. It made a huge difference.

I started with a very rusty piece, functional... but rusty.  After about an hour or so's work, it's looking pretty good.

I'm not sure what I'll get started on next... tonight after dinner.  There is SO much to do it's hard to know just where to start...  maybe the wiring harness????  Hmmm

Final Buffing

Today Jerry Tomecek, the guy that painted the Jag came over to do the final work on it.  He had just one run that wasn’t noticed until it got home.  He fixed it with a RAZOR BLADE!  Just scraped it right off, then a little sanding and buffing and it was totally gone.

Since I had the car on a rolling cart when I took it to him, he wasn’t able to sand and buff out the roof.  So once I got it here and on my lift, I was able to lower it down to a height that was easy to work  with.  Once he got here, he also noticed several small places that needed a little more attention so he spent the better part of the day here working on it.

In the meantime, I worked on restoring the handbrake pad actuator mechanism.  It was pretty nasty so I took it all apart (I’m almost confident that I can get it back together) cleaned it, soaked it in phosphoric acid to rid it of surface rust and such.  Then I sprayed it with some Eastwood cad coating.  Once that dries, I’ll put it back together.  I also worked on fairing the heater box and the air filter assembly.  Jerry offered to take them back home with him to paint for me.  He is very obviously a better painter than I.

What's next?

I got the KoolMat all installed this afternoon.  It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be.  I had to do some "real" work in my studio this morning so I couldn't get out the garage until later. I had time to finish up with the mat and caulk all the seams.  We had a SABCC Exec meeting in my garage tonight so I wasn't able to get much more done.  But there were a lot of people over that were admiring my car and it's new paint.  I think the next thing I will be getting started on is running the dash wiring... that should be interesting.  I'll keep ya posted

finishing KoolMat

Today I worked some more on installing the KoolMat but first I had to make a quick trip to Mobile to get some stainless steel pop rivets and screws. One of the brackets that positions the trailing arm to the body had to be removed (pried off) when I was removing the rear suspension because it had rusted to the inner part of the trailing arm bushing.

To mount it back, I had to use steel pop rivets... Threaded Fasteners didn't have regular steel but they had stainless steel... even better I figured. I decided to remove the other bracket as well because it appeared to me that the PO had used aluminum rivets and I wasn't comfortable with that. Well... I got home and tried to rivet it with my rivet gun... not a chance, the gun was nowhere near powerful enough to pop the steel rivets. I called my usual savior, Mike Darby, he had a monster pop rivet gun (I presumed that he had experienced the same problem somewhere along the way). I drove to Mikes, and borrowed his souped up pop rivet gun. It worked like a champ.

In the meantime, Jerry, my painter, came by to look at the few things I had found that needed addressing. He agreed and will come here Friday to get to work on them.
After he left, I cut and glued a few more pieces of KoolMat down and got the handbrake out to measure how I needed to cut the KoolMat around it. At that point, I remembered, that was one of the things that I needed to get re-chromed. So started taking it apart.... Now let me tell you... the guy that designed this thing NEVER intended for it to come apart.

It took me over an hour and about half of that was just figuring HOW it came apart. My only hope is that I can get it back together.

Finally my hands are all washed and I'm sitting down to do my blog. Rodney would be proud.

The Jag's back home

Believe it or not, I'm going to give this blog another try. At the urgings of my good friend Rodney, I'm going to try to keep everyone who cares updated on the progress I make on my 64 E-Type.

It came back home from the paint shop last Saturday. I have to thank Rodney McDonald and Mike Darby for helping me get it home. Without them it would have been a real struggle, and would not have happened last Saturday. It wasn't a long trip, but the body was on a rolling cart and the bonnet was on a rotisserie, so it took two trips. It pretty much took all morning, afterward, their efforts were rewarded with lunch at Kravers. I think I got a pretty good deal.

I have gone over it with a fine toothed comb to find any imperfections. The painter said he can come by and fix them. Other than that, I have started putting the KoolMat in, again with Rodney's help. That little process is going pretty well. The KoolMat is some pretty neat stuff. I had a choice between KoolMat and DynaMat. The DynaMat is probably more popular, but the KoolMat seems to suit my needs a little better. DynaMat is used primarily for sound deadening. The KoolMat is a fiberglass backed silicone that will shield the interior from the road and engine heat. Something I care far more about than sound deadening. It has to be caulked with silicone caulk and I'm a lousy caulker. Fortunately it will all be covered with carpet.

Short blog, but it's a start. I'm going to attempt to keep this going this time. It's easier than constantly updating my website.