Our 1972 Jaguar E-Type V12 Series 3 has had new manifolds installed by classic car technician Jon.
There was lots of stripping and refitting to be done throughout the process but, the end result made all of the effort very much worthwhile.
While Jon was working to strip components to access the offside exhaust manifolds, there was a particular bolt that proved to be quite challenging. The problem was that the bolt was seized and, each time Jon tried to remove the bolt, it felt like it was going to snap. Fortunately, with lots of patience (and even more lubrication), Jon was able to successfully remove the bolt and continue his work on gaining access to the offside manifolds.
Once the manifolds were removed, Jon cleaned everything up in preparation for the new ones to be installed.
The new manifolds were put in place and secured before Jon reattached the engine to its engine mounts.
When the new exhausts were fitted and secured, the original front pipe was found to be too long. Classic car technician Monty stepped in to help at this point and shortened the pipe while Jon continued his cleaning and reassembling.
While Jon was putting our E-Type back together, he noticed that a small coolant pipe was completely blocked. He unblocked this and replaced the hose from the header tank to this pipe.
As they were disturbed during the process of installing the new manifolds, all of the fuel hoses going to the carburettors leaked. These were stripped and replaced, as was the braided fuel pipe as this had gone hard and leaked too.
Once everything was back together, Jon found no obvious leaks. He replaced the vac hoses before starting the car. It ran as expected and Jon was satisfied.
The coolant vac filled and held pressure as it should.
Jon wasn’t done with his work on our E-Type just yet though as he went on to fit a battery isolator. To do this, he removed the top pad of the dash to meet the criteria of the car owner who wanted this part to be hidden. The glovebox and trim were removed so Jon could make and install a bracket to hold the isolator behind the glovebox.
A safe route needed to be found to route the cables through the bulkhead. Once Jon had decided on the best route, he drilled the holes accordingly. The isolator was then wired up and secured before the glovebox and trims were refitted.
Jon has spent quite a bit of time with our 1972 Jaguar E-Type V12 Series 3 lately and lots of progress has been made. It won’t be too much longer before we have to say goodbye to this beautiful classic car as it returns to its owner to enjoy being back out on the road again.
