Running Smooth
Our 1957 Jensen 541R/S is having some final adjustments to its engine and mechanics. We’ve just fitted heat protection to our plug leads, made a bracket to secure the alternator, made a gear leaver and re-bled the clutch and breaks.
Tag Archive: jensen 541 r
Peony Red Grills And Shields
Paul has fit the heat shield into the engine as well as the front grill and badge into our 1960 Peony Red Jensen 541S. Every day our Peony Red is starting to resemble a real car more and more as it makes exciting developments daily.
Lilac Jensen Trim Continues
Recovering the rear side panels and rear side window surrounds included cutting out dark blue leather to cover the wood and glueing them to the front of the wood followed by wrapping around the underneath, trimming to shape and glueing down.
Making the new sideboards on the front squab seats for the Jensen included sewing up the corners first to fit over metal bars, stapling them onto the seat around the back, gluing the front of each sideband onto the foam, trimming away the excess leather and then the process is repeated for the other squab.
Peony Red Jensen Progression: Trim, Engine And Steering
Brian has been working on the door cappings for our 1960 Peony Red Jensen 541S. He began by fitting metal brackets to the rear door capping and then glueing in the wadding. Brian then glued the leather cover to the door capping and turned the leather over onto the back to neaten up the corners and pull taught the material.
Paul and Ady have recently fit the engine into the Jensen which is arguably one of the key milestones in a restoration. With this now in place, engine refurbishments and adjustments can be made to ensure its up and running.
The assisted power steering pump has also been prepared and fitted into our Jensen.
Silver Jensen Gets New Straps And Springs
We’ve been working on securing the 1959 Jensen 541R’s rear axle frame. New rear axle straps have been manufactured by hand in the workshop and bolted in place to avoid unwarranted pressure being applied to the shock absorbers. This also ensures that the rear axle doesn’t move. Our Jensen didn’t originally have these so we’ve had to remove the exhaust lines to fit the straps.
The new front suspension springs have turned out to be too long so we’ve resorted to fitting the old ones back in be recomissioning them by painting and sandblasting them so theyre back to working order.
We’ve also discovered a hole in the front axle which has been welded and fixed before this classic Jensen swiftly leaves us this week.
Both Jensen Interior Projects Continues
Brian and Kath have been flat out the past few weeks since returning to our workshop. They’ve been tackling the interior on our two Jensen 541R’s.
Brian has been mainly working on creating the bespoke wooden panelling and Kath has been working with our leather and fabric.
The old interior has been used by Kath as a template to cut our fresh leather to. She has then fitted the new leather to Brian’s bespoke built wooden panelling.
We’ve now finished work on the front two seats and the rear seat base and back swab of our black 1960 Jensen. The next stages will be to fit the headlining which will be a gorgeous cream colour. This should offset the black leather and black exterior paint wonderfully!
1957 Jensen 541 R Interior Strip Down
Kath has begun stripping down our Jensen interior. She will carefully clean and then mark out all interior fabrics and use these as reference for the new leather. Once the seats and interior trim is all stripped down, we can then work on building them back up with brand new foam and leather.
Jensen 541 R Electrical Update
We’ve made great progress on our beautiful 1960 Jensen 541 R. Bob has installed the wiring harness, front and rear lights and indicators. Paul has fitted the bonnet and bonnet support struts.
This restoration is now really starting to come together. The next stages will be to fit the freshly trimmed dashboard and wire in the dashboard instrumentation.
The wiring harness is labeled by Bob before permanent install.
The bonnet in position before being mounted to the bonnet support struts.
Wiring has now been installed and the lights are tested at this stage.
January 30, 2020 12:14 pm
1957 Jensen Door Hinge Fabrication
Dave has been working on our wonderful 1957 Jensen 541R. He’s had to convert the door hinges to allow the doors to correctly fit.
To do this Dave has cut out the old door plate and fabricated a new door plate, using our 1960 Jensen door as reference to match it perfectly.
He’s then had to modify the ‘A Post’ on our Jensen to sit 4 inches further forwards towards the front of the vehicle.
In order for Dave to check the fitment on the vehicle, the new hinges have been temporarily tacked together with a mild copper. This is strong enough to take the weight of the door during the test fitting process, yet also easy to remove when we undertake the final welding.
Only once we have the perfect fitment will Dave fully weld up the door hinges and get the panels ready for painting.
1960 Jensen 541R paint progress photos
Chris has been applying the first few coats of paint to the tricky Jensen fibreglass shell.
