I asked Chris to bring in the series one XJ6 and run a compression test on it. He never got that far. After working diligently to ease #2 sparkplug out of the engine (Jaguar 6 cylinder engines are numbered from back to front), we decided a compression test wasn’t really going to tell us anything we didn’t already know. This will be a large repair
My guess is that a valve seat decided to see what life was like on the other side of the combustion chamber, and that
produced a result quite similar to the kerfluffle which occurred a couple of weeks ago with the Elva Courrier engine. Because all of their cylinder heads (and some 3 litre cylinder blocks), are aluminum, Jaguar always installed hardened valve seats. Much of the time when we’re overhauling these engines the machine shop simply has to clean up the seats and install new valves to make the head perfectly suitable for unleaded fuels. We have two E-type engine overhauls now on-going.
Earlier this week I handed over my 1967 3.4 litre Mk2 to Dave LaChance and asked him to put new tires on it (Vredesteins from Euro-Tire in New Jersey) and drive it for a month.
Driving an MG TC is almost always a memorable experience. Sometimes the steering can be so bad that trying to best 40mph can feel like a potentially terminal event. Other times, when everything is right, you can understand why MG’s were frequently the preferred ground transportation for RAF Spitfire pilots. This car is a small repair.
Chris Lundberg can be seen here matching up the new Stebro and the old Stebro side exit exhausts for this Austin Healey. Stebro’s still making them in Canada, only now they’re made in stainless steel. We pulled the front pipes out of our attic. They’re used, but not very much
The Austin Healey exhaust manifold studs were very badly erroded. Much of the time we are able to get them out by heating them with the oxy-acetelyne torch and using a stud puller, but sometimes they break anyway. When this happens, it’s a job for the Bridgeport vertical mill because a drill bit won’t center on a broken stud. Here’s Chris, in action again doing his set up. The Bridgeport is a tool he knows intimately, because in a former life he worked in a Precision Valley shop reconditioning screw machines, lathes & vertical mills. Austin Healeys aren’t too daunting after that.