Maurice MrT

[MisteRTee]

That coupe is sweet. Anymore pics? Rebuild in progress?

Here are a few more as it was when I had just collected it from Scarborough (that's on the north east coast). I travelled up overnight on the coach, arriving at 07.30 to be collected by Phil (the builder). After breakfast overlooking the beach, went & concluded the deal & drove it straight home, 300 miles!

The spec is/was:

All steel body (apart from rear fenders), fabricated chassis, 350/350, Jag diff + custom fabricated rear suspension, twin horizontal mounted coil-overs, twin custom SS fuel tanks, cream leather interior, folding fabric sunroof, chrome wires.

I've known the builder, Phil for a long time & he'd had the car for 17 years when he sold it to me. He built it completely from scratch over a 9 year period, making almost everything himself, even down to the bolts! Bolts? you say? Well, as dome-headed bolts aren't available off the shelf like nuts are, he made all his own so every bolt & even the washers (& some nuts) are hand made (& in stainless as well!) All very well, but you try finding a spanner to fit an odd-sized bolt head!

The rebuild didn't start out as such. I'd already had a new SS exhaust system made, the original was virtually straight through & resonated terribly. The new system snaked in & around the trans, fuel tanks & rear suspension with a few bends to alleviate the sound (which it does). At the end of 2009, one rear wheel was leaning in alarmingly, so we got it in to check it out. Turns out the wheel bearings had failed & had ruined the hub as well, so after stripping it all down we decided to check the rest over, found a few more problems & completely stripped the rear end.

This is the cantilever system for the rear shocks, see the cracks in the paint?

This is what we found when we removed everything.

Anyone got a Jaguar repair manual??

After a lot of thought, we decided to re-engineer the whole setup, removing the coil-overs & mounting them in the more conventional position on the lower arms.
(This is just a mock-up pic)

Also visible in the above pic, is the start of a major re-jig of the rear chassis. Because we removed the coil-overs, it was decided to alter the diff mount to completely lower the floor in the boot (trunk, sorry!). Whilst there, we also added an additional section of chassis under the boot floor & incorporated a tow bar (hitch) mounting. This is an under construction shot showing the additional chassis sections & the new crossmember mount for the diff.

Here it is all painted.

Since the pics, the diff has been changed twice & will now been again, as I have obtained & rebuilt & re-painted another trans, a TH 200 4R. As this is an overdrive unit, I recalculated the ratio needed & discovered I wanted a really rare ratio (4.27:1) which I spent two months searching for & finally found. So soon, the rear end will all be dismantled again & rebuilt, some final work on the hub carriers & that section will be all done! That's enough for today, the next installment will be soon.

 

[blyndgesser]

I love the seats. What sort of vehicle did they come from?

 

[Keeper]

That's a great looking coupe. Interesting to see how the rear is going back together.

You really need a jag manual? I am sure I have come across one somewhere.

 

[Corley]

I am pretty sure that any good 4X4 shop can order you a set of gears with practically any ratio you can think of, it is just a Dana 44 diff, right?... There are a few different carriers needed for the different ratios though.

 

[MisteRTee]

I love the seats. What sort of vehicle did they come from?

They are Rover Metro that have been narrowed to fit in the car. However, they are not that comfortable for me on long journeys as the raised sides of the squabs dig in to my thighs & the tilt lever on one is missing & they don't tilt forward very far. I have now got a pair of seats from a Jaguar XJS which are almost identical in shape, style & size, so they won't need modifying & the squabs are flatter. The mounting points for the runners are almost identical, so I'll just need the leather covers either coloured (colored!) to suit or re-trimmed to match. They also have the added bonus of heat pads, so with them & the mini heater I'm fitting, I'll be all warm & toasty!!

That's a great looking coupe. Interesting to see how the rear is going back together.

You really need a jag manual? I am sure I have come across one somewhere.

No, my buddy who's workshop it's in has rebuilt loads of these diffs & is teaching me how, in fact I know quite a lot about them now after all my research into ratios & Power Loks! (PS anyone want a Jag diff? I have 4 now!!) I stripped the diff I will use myself, hopefully I can re-assemble it as well! The diff is the only Jaguar part, everything else is custom fabricated, like the one-piece billet aluminum lower arms, the hexagonal drive shafts & the hub carriers.

Another reason for rebuilding the rear end was that, when viewed from the rear, the diff looked slightly skewed on one side, which intrigued more than few people. Also the drive shafts weren't parralel or looked even in their angles, one angled slight down to the outside, the other angled up! When my buddy fabricated the new diff carrier, he made sure it was exactly square so this wouldn't happen. We never found out exactly what was wrong or why it looked wrong, but it don't now!

One thing we have discovered with this car (& is true for a lot of cars, especially Ts I guess) is that when you alter one thing, it impacts on another! Having changed the trans from a TH 350 to TH 200 4R, (chosen as it was identical in size to the old one & therefore would fit with the least modification) the only difference is the location of the trans mount, 6" further back. Ok, we just need to fabricate a new one, fine, except that the forward mount for the radius rods from the diff are located on the trans crossmember! Placing the crossmember 6" further back, meant shortening the radius rods & they were also custom hexagonal bar with Heim joints in each end!

Could this be why it's taken 16 months so far & it's still not ready to go back together???

Or is it as the emoticon is doing, too many cuppas?