Steve works the auto-shift quadrant in the Mk 9 Jaguar

Bob Mitchell told us to replace the wiring harness in his rather nice Jaguar Mk IX Sedan if it looked like a hopeless situation.  I thought not , but the task has fallen to Steve to prove that I’m right.  This is a fairly opulent motor car, and as I remarked to Bob,with its 3.8 litre engine & four wheel disc brakes  it was twice the car that Bentley was building at the time based on comfort, drivability & performance.  The rough carpenters have been at it some, but hey, we’re used to that and anyway Steve can deal.

Steve chases wires with my long obsolete Fluke 73

This is a car with a clock in the dash and another clock in the seat back for the benefit of the rear passengers, neither of which was working so they’ve been dispatched to Nisonger Instrument for rebuilding.  Professional automotive electricians will probably get a chuckle out of my Fluke 73.  Go Ahead and laugh, I say, it’s still a more sophisticated piece of test equipment than this operator.

But shall we talk a little about the basics of british car wiring ?

Close Work: Steve Helps Butch with a Mk2 Jaguar horn ring

BLACK is always the ground (letter “B”). BROWN battery is always hot  (letter N) WHITE is Ignition & fuel pump (“W”) GREEN is switched thru the ignition & fused (letter “G”) powered by WHITE RED is the parking light circuit (“R”) which includes panel lights & foglights BLUE  is headlights (Letter “U”, get it ?) PURPLE (“P”) is the horns

Now that you know that, tracing wires is simple and Steve has all the lighting and all the lighters (four of ’em) working now

Butch wires while John dries contact cement

Butch & John are winding up their ministrations to the Mark 2 Sedan.  If you’re looking closely you’ll notice the high gloss on the polished R/H cam cover, the L/H cam cover is one we use as a paint mask.

The paint & aluminum buffing work are by East Coast Collision & Restoration, as is the metal work on the Austin Healey BN7 work table just behind John.

Wait till next week to see a transformation begin to come over that Healey.  Here’s another perspective on these two cars courtesy of Steve:

Higher order paint & sheetmetal from E.C.C&R.

Don, David, Austin Healey 100M

One of our new clients from California stopped to visit us today and check up on progress which I believe he found to be satisfactory, not the least of which being because his convertible top didn’t leak in an all-out thunder & lightening-driven downpour.

Over lunch he told me how in his part of the Golden State, San Jose/ Cupertino, he has his 911 Porsche serviced by a traveling Porsche repairer, and how it is often times cheaper than a tow call.

We don’t really do what we call “field service”, the last time I was out of the shop for a “car won’t start” was a Morgan Super Sport just over the hill a bit, however if you have a SuperSport and you’re under

100M Cold Air Box

25 miles away just give me a bell and I’ll be right over.

Our longtime friend and fellow enthusiast Don Lippoth called late last week and asked  if we had a couple of six volt batteries for his Austin Healey 100M.  We didn’t, we almost always use an Interstate MT26 12 volt unit in place of them, but our Interstate dealer had a couple of fresh 19 series VW bug

MGC & a Shorrock blown MG TC

batteries and I said what “what the heck” and motored up to Maine.  It’s an under three hour trip depending on when you travel and what you drive.  Since my point of departure was actually going to be Hanover, N.H. which meant four lane divided highway almost the whole way, I opted for my MGC which has been languishing under its dust sheet most of the summer.

Without going into graphic detail, suffice

Ian's last day: stripping a fluid bound Mk 2A servo

it to say the MGC has very long legs.

Don tells me his 100M is for sale and that he can deliver it anywhere not further West than California or further south than Florida.  In as much as Sports Car Services is personally responsible for the drivetrain, I can attest that this is true.  If you’re eager to pay real money for a serious car (it’s a documented factory 100M) please drop me a line.

On a more melancholy note, today was Ian’s last day with us.  This May graduate of George Washington University School of Public Health is off to pursue a career which will more usefully employ his skills, which are immense.  We’d have him back in a heartbeat, but regrettably we suspect that some health service-related employer is going to be the better for our loss.

David with a 3000 Mk III, Phase 1

The Austin Healey 3000 Mk III’s (mine was HBJ8L 40502, now in Canada) break down into early Phase 1 cars up to chassis # 26704 and later Phase 2 cars from 26705 on.  The principal differences being the larger front disc brakes and separate turn signals of the Phase 2 Healeys. Pictured here is a Phase 1 car recovered earlier this week from a barn in Montpelier,  which  for the benefit of

3000 Mk III Phase 2 (Speedo Angle Drive replacement)

trivia buffs is the only State Capital without a Mac Donalds hamburger restaurant. Sitting around in damp semi-damp storage is not always beneficial.  The white smoke behind the blue car is emanating from the blown power brake servo.  Butch & Ian road tested it initially and they had a very bad moment upon discovering the condition at the Putney turn-around where they initially

Skip Tannen's Sprite makes a return appearance

supposed it to be a blown head gasket. Skip Tannen was out in his Sprite last week when he heard and almighty BANG and lost all drive thru the rear wheels.   This is a Sprite & Midget condition known as the ralphing of the half shaft.  The splined inner end of the rear axle half shaft which transmits drive to the rear wheels snapped off inside differential on the right side, the side that

Rear axle half shafts, before & after -click to enlarge-

usually leaks first.  Rectification is fairly straightforward:  Take off the brake drums, loosen the Phillips screw & slide the 1/2 shafts out of the diff.  Take out the driveshaft and unbolt the differential housing from the axle case.  Clean everything thoroughly and reassemble using two new heat treated, bullet proof half shafts from England.

Right along with the biannual brake fluid change and the checking of the spare tire air pressure (how much air is in your spare right now ?), maintaining proper coolant strength in a clean, well maintained cooling system is the key to happiness in hot weather.  We always check that the concentration of coolant is sufficient to carry out its secondary task as a corrosion inhibitor, and sometimes we get some very nasty surprises, like the brown sludge (former coolant) in this Mini.  It was so bad we couldn’t even see the pointer in the tester.

Steve checks the sludge level in the Mini. -click to enlarge-

Steve works on the left side

While Ian works on the right side

Some things are done better by pairing up.  The brakes were coming on hard and staying on in this TC with the result that things were heating up pretty good, even though we still had a stiff pedal and not a soft pedal.  We wanted to push through the brakes in this TC in just one day, so our strategy was to put two men on the job.  The end result was brakes which are sublimely smooth in operation. This car is for sale.  Inquire

John Rummages in Butch's toolbox

Butch preps Jaguar Mk2 trim for instalation

Meanwhile upstairs things have been going hot & heavy.  John has just finished up with an exceedingly needy MGA and turned what was essentially an obstacle in someone’s garage into a car which is a genuine pleasure ride.  While he’s been at it, Butch has been installing trim into the deep blue Jaguar Mk2 Sedan which is on   going here at Sports Car Services.  We’re hoping to turn the key & fire her up next week.

Morgan at East Coast Collision & Restoration

Also on going this week is the final paint going onto this Morgan Plus 4 at East Coast Collision & Restoration.  Cor’ Blimey what a beautiful shape.  I’ve always been seduced by the curves on a Morgan.  It’s a classically beautiful british body line.

We’re really eager to get our hands on it, and that need should be met soon as one of these nights I’ll be traveling up to Mount Holly  and  grab ‘er.