Our workshop are a bit of a dab hand when it comes to Jensen’s – it is without doubt the most frequent car that we have restored in nearly 20 years. The most recent 541 which our team have been working is this beautiful Grey 1956 Jensen 541.
Most recently, Jon has been working on tuning the classic GT car to run perfectly. To do this, Jon stripped down the intake side of the engine by removing the air filter box and housing to gain access to the carburettors. Carefully, he removed them and stripped them down on the bench to remove the pistons and suction chambers, from there Jon could accurately measure the jet depth for each individual chamber, lowering each one slightly in order to richen up the air/fuel mixture, while apart it gave Jon the opportunity to thoroughly clean up the pistons and suction chambers before refitting back onto the car.
With everything back together, Jon could run up the straight-six and begin by firstly tuning the carburettors by ear to get them roughly into the right area before the team deep dive into tuning the car completely. The keys were handed over to Big John, our workshop manager, to perform the road tests.
While out on test, Big John made some notes about some small changes and areas which Jon would need to take a look into once back at the workshop. With the car back at our Suffolk HQ, Jon got the 541 back onto the ramp. From there, he could slacken off the exhaust clamps and apply a small amount of sealer before refitting the pipework back together, and whilst under the car he could adjust the clutch arm to give it more clearance.
