I started the day replacing the grease zerk on the right side outer U-joint. It was easy enough to take the axle stub out of the housing and replace the zerk.


I then switched over to a cover for the AC unit. I mounted a piece of 3/16" plastic then covered it with heavy Hardura. I need to finish the edges but that will be a good job for my Mom.


The Postal Service delivered two Hardi pumps this morning but they didn't include the sealing washers for the banjo bolts. I had a left-over set from when my MGB had an SU pump and while they would fit, I only had one set and needed two.
I'm about to do some work on the MGB so I put the sealing washers on my parts list. I'll switch out the fuel pumps later this spring.

And just like that my to-do list for the Jaguar was pretty much done. I swapped the Jaguar over to the "done" side of my garage and moved the MGB over to the "working" side of the garage while I wait for 4 washers.

 

Sorry. I should have warned you of what the kit consisted. Bracket required for another model Jaguar. Directly mounts into Jaguar coil type bracket with standard rubber insert.

 

Last night's rain cleaned the winter's accumulation of salt off the streets and I was able to get about 30 miles on the Jaguar 420. The new gauges work very well and it's nice to be able to trust the readings. The fuel gauge even works well with the factory senders.

I did turn on the AC blower and got a stiff breeze from the parcel shelf. The volume of air the system produces is really impressive - I can't wait to use it this summer.

My wife and I took it out for an early dinner and as we were driving back home she said "I really love this car. The sounds, the smells, the way it rides - it's really a great car." Yes it is, babe.

 

I've been hard at work on the MGB over the last week (rebushing the front suspension, changing out the wheel hubs for spline-drive wheels, and flushing the brake fluid) but I had some free time tonight. I gathered the two fuel pump mounting brackets and seriously considered just clear-coating them, but I decided that just wouldn't do.


I threw them in the sand-blaster, powder-coated them with a matte black finish, then replaced the nuts & bolts with some zinc-yellow chromate hardware.


I'm hoping to replace the fuel pumps in the next couple of days.

 

Those are tough, robust fuel pumps ~ AND ~ make the right/correct noise. LOL That's why they are fitted to my car.

 

Spring has been mild here in Chicago and I've put about 110 miles on the Jaguar this month. I took it this morning to the Chicagoland MGB Parts Swap meet and the car runs great.

 

One small bit of news and one big piece of news.

I was able to rebuild the Air/Heat/Off switch and can now use it to control the fresh air vent at the base of the windshield. I had been using a generic pneumatic switch I put under the seat to control it, but I really want to make the stock switch functional. The original push button switch had rusted and pitted on the inside - probably the result of a failed heater valve allowing water to pass through the vacuum lines to the switch. The NOS replacement switch would not hold vacuum, so I disassembled it, cleaned it, and put some rubber grease on the sealing blocks. It works perfectly now.

The major news is that the weather warmed up enough for me to vacuum down the AC system and charge it with r-134. i just got back from a test run and while it's not hot today by any stretch of the imagination, I do think I have a pretty good sense of how well the AC will work this summer. And I don't think the trunk mounted AC is going to be lacking. Since my car doesn't have headrests you get a nice stream of cold air right on your neck and the cabin cools down quickly. It's going to be a game changer this summer.

 

Today was an unseasonably warm day in Chicago and I took advantage of the weather to test out the AC in the Jaguar. I drove it to work with the windows down because it was still cool and pleasant, but when I left work it was 82 degrees with 40% humidity. Perfect weather to test the AC.

My drive home is 33 miles and in the afternoon traffic it takes right about an hour to get home. 10 miles of my commute are on surface streets with plenty of stop lights and stretches where you can run 45mph. The rest of my commute is highway/tollway and you can be running at 75mph one minute then go to completely stopped, The fact it took me an hour to go 33 miles means most of the highway/tollway time was spent either stopped or going somewhere around 30mph.

The AC worked perfectly. Within the first 3 minutes I had turned the blower from high to medium and three minutes after that I turned the blower to low where it stayed the rest of the trip home. The cabin was cold and the breeze blowing across the back of my head provided a substantial evaporative cooling effect. Selecting the Old Air unit with two evaporators was the right choice and the abundance of cold air makes up for the fact it's not blowing on your face. The evaporator box I used has two Spal fans; for comparison the Vintage Air box I put in my XJS last year had just one of the same exact Spal fans. Two of those is a lot of air being tossed towards the front of the car. The lack of headrests is a big help too.

Even in the stop-and-go traffic the car never even thought about running hot. I have my radiator fan controller set to keep the engine at about 195 degrees and there's almost exactly where it stayed the entire trip.

You can hardly tell when the compressor clutch kicks on. The engine is so smooth that it's almost imperceptible. My fan controller turns the radiator fans on at about 60% of full rated speed when the AC clutch turns on and that's the easiest way to tell the compressor is engaged.

All in all this was a very worthwhile project and I am pleased with the results.

 

Where was the temp gage at in that slow stop and go traffic _ just curious ?

 

It pretty much stayed at 195 and went up maybe 5 degrees when stopped and went down to around 190 while moving fast. This was measured with a Speedhut gauge so I feel the numbers are relatively accurate.

That's the big advantage to the PWM fan controller. It doesn't cycle on/off at preset points. You use the dial on the controller to set what you want the outflow temperature of the radiator to be and the controller spins the fans at whatever speed it needs to maintain that. It also soft starts the fans so you don't get a voltage spike when they turn on.

 

I was at that swap meet, and missed your car somehow, although I remember the bent MGb. I have seen it at the show at Harper College though. Close call!

 

I put the 420 on eBay a couple of weeks and didn't make reserve, so I am keeping it and knocking down the rest of the things on my list. This weekend we did 700 miles Chicago to St Louis then back to Chicago again and when I got home today I opened the driver's door for Phase 2. I am replacing inner and outer glass wipe strips, the window channels, and door seals. On the rear I am also replacing the quarterlight seals.
It looks like the doors have to come off to replace the seals which is kind of a bummer but it's not the end of the world.

 

Tonight I pulled driver side front window frame from the car so I could start replacing parts.


It's highly probable these are the original window channels. They are hard as a rock and have complete sections missing.
Luckily they came out easy and I cleaned the debris from the inside of the window frame.


The new channel went in with a little bit of work.


This is the passenger side but it gives you a good idea of what shape the outer window wipes were in. Again - hard as a rock and complete sections missing.


Removing the chrome strip was as easy as taking out 5 screws. Removing the remnants of the old wipe was a challenge. I ended up slicing the old wipe, as well as my thumb, with a razor knife.


The old channel cleaned out next to the new seal ready to go in.
Bloody thumb print on the package is from the step above.


I replaced the window seals on my MGB with the Moss part and they were poor quality rubber. These appear to be much higher quality and are "flocked" where they rub against the glass. I used a little bit of Dawn Powerwash as a lubricant to slide the new wipes into place.


While the door is open I took the time to clean and lubricate the lock mechanism, reattach a piece of the vibration damping mat that had come loose, make sure the bottom drains were clear, and spray the inside of the door cavity with Fluid Film.

 

Don't trim to length for a few days. Some stretching takes place putting them in & they will shrink back a little.

Actual profile cut from my material:

 

It was a busy day at work but I slipped out in the garage this evening to pull the driver's door. New door seals will be here Thursday.

 

It was a frustrating night out in the garage. I ordered 4 doors' worth of window channel felt and I think it was the wrong size as once the channel felt is installed in the window frame, it's extremely difficult to slide the glass all the way in. It's obvious there's an issue.

SNG Barratt is sending me two BD210707 and we'll see how those fit.

As a back-up to that I bought a section of universal .5" by .5" window channel for glass that is 3/16" to 7/32" thick. The Jaguar glass measures 13/64" (right between 3/16" and 7/32") so between the two options I should have something that works.

 

The Channel felt can be a bit of a challenge. The first stuff they sent me was too thin & the windows would leak if you blasted a hose at them. Second stuff I got was spot on. I think I caused a bit of my own problem because I has my side windows media polished to remove even the hint of a scratch.

 

We found a winner in the window channel rubber category. On the left is SNG Barratt's BD210707 which fits perfectly in the frame and allows the window to easily slide up and down. On the right is Moss' BD21070/2 and /4 which is too wide and grips the window glass too tightly.


We also found another Moss part that is not fit for purpose. On the left is the original clip that holds the inside fuzzy strip to the window frame. On the right is Moss BD22312. It's hard to tell from the picture but the factory clip holds the seal from the bottom edge and clips onto the top of the frame. The Moss clip holds the seal from the top edge and clips onto the top of the frame, meaning that you will be able to see the clips when installed. This is why we don't ever throw parts away.


It looks like I'll be sending about $350 worth of useless parts back to Moss. That's incredibly frustrating.

I also tried something different with the driver door seals. Give me a few days and I'll report back on how well they work.

I also think I'm at a decision point with my car. It's extremely comfortable, runs/drives/stop perfectly, and is a joy to drive. I haven't found any rust or bubbling paint on her. Really the only thing letting the car down is the paint job. It's an older re-spray and while I can get it to a half-way decent shine, it's the weakest part of the car. I'm seriously considering doing a complete strip-down to the shell and doing a full re-spray. I'm talking interior, chrome, glass, engine/transmission, everything out and doing it right. It would be a ton of work but then the car would not need a single thing. It would be a forever car. But I'm still thinking about it.

 

If you are going to do it this is the only way to do it. The number of cars I have seen at shows that have had a respray and look great from a distance and then you get up close and you see over spray around the screen rubbers. The door jams are looking faded and shabby. Under the bonnet the paint in the engine bay is dirty and peeling. Generally these cars are locked at a show and the bonnet is never lifted. The other thing is when people change the colour of the car and then paint the engine bay black rather than leave the original colour. Too lazy to remove the engine and end up painting around it with a brush and black paint.
I went from Warwick grey to Ivory on my respray as you can see from the pictures below.
It does take time but you get to clean and paint inside all the bits that no one is ever going to see again once it is assembled. I must go and see my therapist again.

My shell completely stripped at the blasters.

Painted inside, top and bottom with final colour and sat in a high build primer waiting for the top coat.

 

Cass ~ It is the only right way. Your advice is wise. My car started from a blank Media blasted shell. I even went as far as replacing every wiring harness.