So, realising that between the six of us, the TT team are looking after 19 cars (see About Us), in various states of repair, ranging from classics through track cars to sports cars and supercars, and that there are always at least three or four projects/disasters/outings to talk about in any given month, we thought we would start doing some regular update posts on the website.
Spurned on by some top quality forum posts from our readers, such as regular contributor A.J.M’s superb diary of upgrades to his Discovery, we decided to help those readers see just how good they are by posting a far lower quality of work here on the site!
There will be three or four a month, starting with the latest progress with sorry old “Arfur” the XJ6 below. We hope you enjoy. Laugh with us or at us as you prefer.
1973 Jaguar XJ6 Series 1 SWB 4.2 Manual o/d
So, after using old ‘Arfur’ as my daily drive for about a year, I parked him up for a wee rest. This turned into a long rest and so now he’s a “project”. I love that car and am determined to earn it’s forgiveness for the neglect.
Arfur needs some rust and paintwork tackled around the arches and the rear bumper. The steel wheels need re-painted. He also needs all the leather stripped, fixed, re-coloured and sealed.
However, I decided that the first job would be the engine bay. Strip, treat, polish, paint, replace old viscous coupling fan arrangement with a Revotec electric job, put it all back together before the clutch seizes and send it off for MOT. Simple eh? I should easily get that done over the winter. Hmmmmmm
So, here is the sorry looking engine bay before I started…..
Armed with my trusty original workshop manual and the (often more informative) SNG Barratt parts manual, I set about dismantling the ancillary parts.
The XJ6 was originally designed for the V12 engine, so if your car has the straight six XK engine, then there is a ridiculous amount of room. I can get to every inch of the bullkhead etc without needing the engine to be extracted.
Soon enough I had all the rust rubbed back and was applying copious amounts of marine quality rust convertor in the interests of paranoia.
My little workshop also filled up with parts awaiting cleaning.
After mind-numbing hours of masking, a typically amateurish episode wrestling with the air line attached to my spray gun, and finding the patience to walk away at key moments, I now have an engine bay resplendent in new Old English White paint…
….and a workshop full of parts painted mostly in 2-part epoxy satin black, with some pieces in silver caliper paint and the odd one just polished up.
The carbs have been sent off to West Coast Classic Workshop where allegedly there lurks people practised in the dark art of carburetor fettling and the next job is to strip the cam covers and give them a lick of matt black engine paint.
Family weddings and the prep for a superb hoon up North (see below) has kept me away from Arfur for a while, but I’m hoping to have progress to report next month.
1998 Ferrari 550 Maranello
So, with a hoon planned and having noticed that the front discs had grooves like the Grand Canyon, I decided that a wee brake update was easily within my capabilities before the run.
Wheels off…..discs and calipers off…..a good clean…..
….calipers painted and treated with nice new decals……new discs and pads on…..surely just a quick bleed through and we’re all set?
….not quite. Half a brake pedal and several litres of DOT 4 fluid later, I’m shopping for a new master cylinder that, unlike mine, does NOT have seized bleed nipples. I threw my hands up in surrender and decided that I’d let someone with a 2-post lift and considerable professional experience tackle the now much bigger job.
Quick update on some others
E-type is eagerly awaiting a front vented disc brake upgrade from BCC.
Ford GT became a wedding car for a weekend.
Ghibli cooling fan relay seems to have reversed its logic and blows when the engine is cold. Must investigate soon.
Toured vast areas of South Cowal in the Mini getting to know it and the community. Good fun.
