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Here's the cable I bought. I bushed the end with the ring to fit the bellcrank. Throttle Cable for Manco Go Cart... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074WB4271?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
When I moved my stock cruise control, I bought a generic longer cable and modded the end to fit onto the stock bellcrank mechanism above the accelerator pedal. Works well, and made for a clean installation. Jon
How do you get to the "end" of the pedal? I looked inside the driver side footwell and didn't see the end of the cable. Is it behind a false firewall?
There's a plate that the cruise control and accelerator cables disappear into next to the pedal cluster mount in the engine compartment, below the master cylinder reservoir on a non--abs car. It's held on by four small bolts. Remove them, and the plate and cables lift out. As I recall, you also have to remove a rod attached to the accerator pedal linkage under the dash.
@jal1234 - do you by chance have a car without ABS? I just went out in the garage ready to pull that plate and there's a hard ABS line that crosses right across it. I don't think I can pull it out without moving that line and since it's the line from the pump to the ABS block - I really don't want to.
@jal1234 - do you by chance have a car without ABS? I just went out in the garage ready to pull that plate and there's a hard ABS line that crosses right across it. I don't think I can pull it out without moving that line and since it's the line from the pump to the ABS block - I really don't want to.
I don't have ABS. Sounds like with ABS, that it would be very difficult to change either cable. Jon
I have worked on one of these; but without ABS. That plate has to come off to deal with the CC cable, sadly I have no photos, but as per the diagram below, the CC cable is attached at the pivot (9 below) under the cover that your ABS line goes across. So time to go non-ABS??
Just went out to the garage and looked - that plate isn't coming out without removing the brake hard line. It's about 1" above the attachment plate and the hard line is between the cable to the capstan and the cruise control cable.
When I get around to removing the ABS system I'll look at tearing into it then.
The cruise control installation is almost done. There's only one more wire left (the one for vehicle speed) then I need to attach the throttle cable and I am done.
Since I pulled the headlights looking for a spot to mount the cruise control servo, I decided I was not going to put the sealed beam headlights back in. They are only mediocre on a good day and down-right dangerous on a bad day. There are plenty of options for upgrading to LED headlights, but my problem is that the either don't look the part, or they have the ultra-white color temperature that doesn't look right on a classic Jaguar. And then I found the Holley Retrobright LED's. They still have the appearance of a "normal" sealed beam headlight but they have the performance of a more modern LED light.
I got a set in the "classic white" color so not only do they look the part, they perform better, and they throw off the correct color white.
These are DOT approved so if that's a concern for you - you're covered.
I debated what to do with the inner headlights. The Retrobrights are powerful enough that I don't need to worry about using the inner high beams, so I considered replacing the inner lights with headlight air intakes and making a cold air intake. In the end I decided that wouldn't fit the character of the car, so I picked up some sealed beam "conversion" head lamps that I will use as the inner head lights.
Over the next few days I have a few more things to button up, and I still have one more major thing to do until I am happy with it.
Today I installed the new headlights. The LED Retrobrights are on the outside and the "conversion" lights are on the inside. I'm not sure if I am a fan of the two different styles - what do you guys think?
Next on the list was addressing the exhaust. I liked the exhaust going under the cage but there were two things working against me. First, it was hard to get enough clearance between the tire and the exhaust pipe going to the rear silencers. Also, I used aluminized steel and it was already starting to rust. And I admit - the exhaust system looked super shade-tree mechanic. I ended up buying a Bell stainless steel exhaust which is probably what I should have done at the beginning.
First problem, the Bell system doesn't have the pin to hold the over-axle pipe in place. It just has a hole. To make it more fun, the rubber mount hole is 5/16" and the exhaust pipe hole is 5/8".
I took a 4" long piece of 304 stainless steel threaded rod and welded a nut to the end. Then I put it through the rubber mount, put another nut on, and welded it so the threaded rod was secure in the rubber mount. Then I put a 5/16" ID 5/8" OD spacer on to mount the over-the axle pipe. I'm not sure why the Bell system is built this way but is it.
Next up was to do something about the heat and the rear brakes. The nice thing about going under the cage is that you keep the heat away from the brakes. I wanted to make sure I kept the brakes cool so I found some really nifty stamped aluminum heat shield. This will help cut down on the radiant heat from the exhaust cooking the brakes.
First attempt.
I'm using some 304 stainless steel threaded rod hangers to mount the heat shield. The 304 means I don't have to worry about galvanic corrosion since the pipes are made out of 304 too.
It's hard to get a good picture but here it is in place.
Just my opinion (but you did ask for our opinions), I think the vastly different types of headlights look odd.
Really odd.
I personally don't like the inners very much at all as they don't go with the style of the rest of the car.
It's like something I might expect from a Boy Racer who hasn't learned what looks good or not.
I started out today working on the exhaust tips. The S-shaped tips are really an iconic part of the Classic Jaguar look. They are also difficult to find new, so I refinished the ones on my car today. Here's how they look fresh off the old resonators. It looks like they have some road tar and who knows what else on them.
The tips and clamps after a trip through the sand blaster.
And here they are after a couple of coats of high-temp paint.
And back on the car. I'm not a big fan of the black look but between that or silver paint - I'll take black.
Next I moved to underneath the car. I replaced my cast aluminum pan with a stamped steel one to get some more room for the exhaust pipes.
I also made a heat shield out of the embossed aluminum to keep the heat from the exhaust away from the transmission.
These embossed aluminum heat shields are really easy to work with. You can cut them with either tin snips or a nice pair of scissors. The embossing helps add rigidity so it's not a floppy piece of aluminum.
I'm in the process of bypassing the transmission fluid cooler in the radiator. I drove it last week and felt the line from the transmission cooler in the radiator to my front-mounted cooler - and the fitting was too hot to touch. I'm going to just run the front-mounted cooler and watch it with a temperature gauge.
A front mounted cooler and not through the radiator is definitely the best choice. With the exhaust tunnel silencers you may find you have to adjust them after a few miles, as they are so close to the tunnel sides. MY Bell system is 21 years old and still as good as new.
By the by, the exhaust tips are stainless, so if you get fed up with the black, you can always polish them up. New ones come up pretty frequently on UK ebay, too.
Overall, I really congratulate you on the car, it looks really good.
It's certainly not going to be highly accurate and it's definitely not going to be a permanent install, but I picked up this dual probe thermometer to check the transmission fluid temps into and out of my cooler. I'm going to tape one probe to the inlet and the other probe to the outlet of the cooler so I can get a sense of what my fluid temps are and how much heat the cooler is shedding. The cooler fittings are aluminum so it should give a reasonably close indication of the fluid temps. It's as close as I am willing to go without moving to a "wet' measurement set up.
The controller runs off anything from 4 to 48 volts (t's running off a 9 volt battery in the picture) so I'll plug it into my cigarette lighter while I am testing things out.
These cars are great for humbling you really quickly. I was almost ready to go for a test drive....
First, the good news. I got my second pair of Retrobrights and have them installed. I'm done with that.
I also finished the plumbing of my transmission cooler as I took the radiator transmission fluid cooler out of the circuit. I spliced the two braided stainless steel hoses together, poured in a half gallon of ATF, and started the engine up to circulate the fluid. I checked the fluid and turned off the engine while I added about a quarter of a quart of fluid. I like it to be right at the 1/2 way point on the dipstick.
I go to start the engine up so I can see how close I am to the 1/2 way point, and all I get is a click from the starter. The new gear reduction starter I put on exactly 10 months ago just goes "click". I run a wire to the "start" terminal on the starter and it just clicks. The pinion pops out but does not turn.
At this point I am slightly mad but I say F it - I'll buy a new starter and deal with returning that one later. So I go to BritishStarters.com, order a new one, and feel slightly better. Except I didn't notice that they are doing Inventory this week and it won't ship out until next Monday. So now I have to cancel my Jaguar drive to Wisconsin to bootleg some Spotted Cow beer for my Dad. It's not the end of the world, but disappointing when you think you're getting close to the end.
Does anyone know if these gear reduction starters are a common application? I know the mounting plate is custom machined but are the actual starters themselves something I can pick up from my local auto parts store?
04-03-2022, 05:43 PM
