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My Lucas brake light switch started failing and I priced a new one at $119 and good used ones were not to be found. So... I ordered the below brake light switch off EBay hoping I could get it to fit with some adjustments. However, when I received it, it turned out to be a normally closed switch that then opened when the lever was rotated. What??!! That doesn't even make sense to me unless a relay is put in place. So what did I do? I took the new switch apart hoping I could change that NC to NO, and what did I find but the SAME internal moving parts as the Lucas switch. So I flipped the Lucas fixed plastic backplate with the two brass sorta worn out terminals onto sandpaper and sanded it down to smooth looking brass terminals again. Then I used the new internal plastic piece and the new brass piece that rotates and reassembled the Lucas switch back together with Dielectric Grease. Then bolted the assembly back up under the brake pedal lever and all is well. What a find!
i did not want to spend big money for an outdated brake switch , so poked around Ebay matching some pix, found a switch that was for a 1942 Chevy Army truck, fitted it in place and works great!
question why does Jaguar use such old /outdated parts, ahh, the beauty of LUCAS, buying parts from USA? DUH!
they probably bought 10,000, for $10. dollars because Military surplus leftovers!
ron
the investment must be enormous. If 25 thousand S type were built between 1963 and 1967, Lyons must have ordered 40 or 50 THOUSAND DG250 auttomatic transmissions, half of them for spares, warranty replacements. dealer stocks, etc Mind boggling.
Jaguars have USA parts since the 1950s. William Lyons purchased parts from Packard, Studebaker, GM, and Ford.
example: the power steering assembly in my 1965 S type came from Ford. The Heater Valve from Packard., and the DG250 transmission from Studebaker.
Actually, the DG250s used by Jaguar didn't come from Studebaker but directly from Borg Warner....who operated a plant in England. Take a look at a DG250 tag on a Jag and I can almost promise it'll say "Borg Warner xxxxx Made in England"
same thing, BW was a USA corporation with a plant in UK.
The DG250 was first used in Studebakers of 1955. That is why I said Studebaker. Maybe I should have said BW but what the heck.
The DG250 in my S type does not say USA or England. It does say Borg Warner. The transmission number matches the firewall plate number so I assume it is the original. Very primitive but reliable. 3rd gear is like a 4th gear.
HEY thats how USA American HOT RODDER guys built there cars hand built, from all sorts of parts from anything that would work!
so a Jaguar is an assortment of cast off parts ,and called hand built, HMM interesting.
ron
Different car manufacturers sharing the same parts is (or at least was) very common. The difference is that Jaguar would often keep using an elderly design long after other manufacturers had moved on so, yes, in that sense, they were 'cast off' parts
I think that our 71 AMC, in actuality a Rambler, used the BW. 67 or 66 ? It served us well.
My 94 Jeep uses a SINO/Borg Warner. Solenoids in lieu of hydraulic pressure as the shift controls. It works!!
Aye, many auto makers out source a lot. Supply, budget, sale price of the product, etc..
MY IHC Scout II was a mélange of outsourced parts. Delco, Dana, Mopar. Lockheed, etc...
The charcoal cannister up front in our Jaguars. GM. in my case, almost identical to the donor car's unit... AC Compressor, GM. Differential, Salsbury or Dana.. Ps pump, GM!!
Even the EFI is outsourced and found in other cars. Volvo.. .
OH BOY this thread has opened a world of transmission knowledge!
wikipedia look up Automatic transmission, after that go to Borg Warner, some interesting information.
like the 1st was General Motors 1932, a hydraulic shift transmission,(reason when US was starting to build some Military Tanks, they only had manual shifting trans.) the new young guys comein most never drove a vehicle so they ripped up the gearboxes right and left, so GM designed the Famous Hydramatic hydraulic trans.
most ALL of todays automatics have some design theory related to GM engineering! they later bought ALLISON , even Mercedes Benz uses some of GM designs!
anyway some thing to check!
ron
, even Mercedes Benz uses some of GM designs!
anyway some thing to check!
ron
BMW too, as I recall.
And some Jaguars (V8 XJRs) used a Mercedes-manufactured transmission !
A lot of Euro cars were using BW transmissions in the 50s-60s-70s-80s. BMW, Volvo, Jaguar, And others I've forgotten.
Many of Ford's early automatic transmissions were BW designs or spin-offs. The Ford FMX, used in millions of Fords in the 60s-70s, is a kissin' cousin to the BW66, as I recall.
I do recall the auto box tanks. Not the earlier that you describe, but later. I am surprised that in 32 the army was into tanks. Those years, the army was small and the budget even smaller. Dad told us of those days much later..
In my first ROTC summer camp, circa 1950, we were introduced to the M19. A light tank with a bucket and twin Bofors 40 MM for AA fire. Pwered by twin Cadillac flat head V8's and four speed Hydramatic transmissions A ball to drive. Smooth and fast !!! Also a ball to shoot!!!
years later, I bought a tired 41 Cadillac convertible at a lien sale. Same flat head V8 and Hydramatic. I leaned that it';s failed transmission had been replaced with a military surplus unit. Had I onl;y know what a treasure I had. well, it was just an old car then, but it developed into a lot more. Really nice cars, well engineered and look great...
Carl , most Americans knew long before WW2 that a big war was on the drawing board!
you have to remember that US was in deep depression(no money), so arrangments were to have a loan from a rich family!
so Roosevelt borrowed a lot of money from them, and he started the New Deal, and it really helped US, my fathers week pay went from $12. dollars for 48hrs.
to $45. a week,(WPA,Civel service etc.)
like any good deal there was some stipulations, US government had get accurate records of ALL working US citizens, called" Social Slave Numbers"). SSN.
and at some point after much new factories built and modern production methods, and lots of people WANTING to work, we needed a WAR, shame but makes perfect sense!
as my dad said ? why would Germany and JAPAN be building an enormous war machine when at some point it would have to be used,DUH! DUH!
so much for a surprise attack,, most US people knew it but were not to talk/think about it!
ever wonder why US would build a Secret air base in Utah, that could handle some of the biggest airplanes not even built YET, B29 Superfortress.
we started to build that base in 1938, i wonder what our plans were??
YUP all planned out long before the **** hit the fans! but just maybe thankful for the money lending family that helped US!
OH well just random thinking,, seems something is BREWING again, i hope NOT! i'm to old for anything useful!
ron
10-28-2019, 08:41 AM
Brake light switch
