Project Journals

Owner: Ken Hiebert
City: Toronto, Canada

Car Model: 1965 Jaguar E-Type FHC

Engine: 2002 GM LS1 V8

Cooling: Afco dual pass aluminum radiator

Exhaust: Dual 2 1/2" into one 3" Magnaflow muffler into two 2 1/2" Vibrant resonators

Transmission: Tremac 6 speed

Rear Axle: Salisbury 3.54:1 with Powerloc limited slip differential

Front Susp.: Fast Cars Inc. IFS

Rear Susp.: Modified Jaguar E-Type IRS

Brakes: Wilwood all around

Wheels/Tires: Americain Racing Classic 100 wheels with 245/45/17 front and 275/40/17 rear tires

Body Mods: Bumper delete

Interior: Mazda Miata seats, Vintage Air A/C

Electrical: Modified GM harness using all Delphi Metri-Pack connectors

This project is to create a restomod of a 1965 Jaguar E-Type FHC, (fixed head coupe). A restomod combines the performance, comforts and reliability of a modern car while retaining most of the appearance of the original car. Just my style, my passion.
I'm starting out with a very rough, original car, no engine, no transmission, a good candidate for this project. The car came with a dilapidated white Series II bonnet which can be seen in the purchase photos of the car and it also came with the original Series I bonnet. These photos I took when I viewed the car for the first time:










Three weeks later, this is what I dragged home:




My inspiration for this project comes from a few Jaguars already on the road. One of my favorites is Larry Ligas' full race car from Predator Performance Racing Inc. of Largo, Florida. That was listed for sale on Fantasy Junction, brokers of fine collector automobiles and vintage race cars.
[www.fantasyjunction.com]
It is pictured here:







This car, I saw on BAT. It was listed for sale not so long ago:




The car in my project, which I hope to finish one day, will not be a full race car, but will be driven and driven hard. Touring, autocrossing and the occasional track days will be it's duties.
I hope you find some interest and entertainment in this adventure.

Please note: The photos in this thread are displayed at 600x450 pixels. If you see a little box-in-a-box logo in the upper right hand corner of the photo, click anywhere on the photo to blow it up to full size - in a new window. This new window can then be maximized for a still larger image.

One of the first purchases I made for this car was the engine and transmission package. This was shipped up to Niagara Falls, N.Y. from a dealer in Philidelphia. I rented a truck and brought my baby home.






The original Jaguar E-Types were a monocoque body with a subframe mounted to the firewall. My car will have a full tube frame, custom made. To properly build a custom frame, a chassis table is a must. I located this used conveyor at a local scrap yard.







With the tools in place, it was tear down time.





Alot of these parts I recycled to other needy Jaguar enthusiasts.




Construction begins:
With the chassis table leveled and squared, the first step in building the frame is establishing my ride height. This is calculated using the amount of suspension travel I want and where I want the wheels in the wheel wells. Everything on this car hinged on the bonnet height. I made the bonnet as low as I could and still have 3" of suspension travel. From there, I knew where the body would sit and where the IRS would sit, all at normal ride height. I figured building the frame rails 3" above my chassis table would give me good working room. It ended up, the front crossmember would be 3 3/4" above the table and the differential, 4 1/8" above the table. Then it was all a matter of placing them center on the table and at the established 96" wheel base. I welded lengths of angle iron under the exact wheel base lines, marked my hub to hub lines on them using a plumb bob, checked my 96" wheel base and checked corner to corner for square.
This is the front clip I purchased from Fast Cars Inc.
[www.fastcarsinc.com]
It gave me a head start on the project.

Setting up for the differential.



These differential side mount brackets, Jaguar made three different versions, giving an upward pinion degree angle of 0*, 3*, and 6*. I purchased the 3* version that came in the 1960's 3.8 Saloon cars because the 6* ones that the XKE used would not line up well with my engine. My engine is mounted at 3* and with a combined offset of 1", this gives me a "good drive line angle", keeping the u-joint working angle at 2*
.







96" wheelbase and 110 5/8" measured corner to corner for square. Checked and rechecked.







Now, all I have to do is tie it all together.



With the differential sitting on the chassis table, I now needed to fabricate mounts for it. The upper mount would be poly bushed, bolted to an assembly of three 2"x2" tubes, what I call, the rear crossmember.
Diff mount

Bushes in

Assembling crossmember on flat surface

The outer tubes are directly above the dual coil overs shocks. Those outer tubes are .065" wall and weigh in at just 3 lbs., 2 ounces each.

Welded

Check level and square





This project uses different wall thicknesses of ERW and DOM tubing.

Remember, at anytime, click anywhere on a photo to blow it up to full size - in a new window. This window can then be maximized for a still larger image.

Frame Rails:
Tying the front and rear suspensions together will be done with perimeter frame rails. The E-Type has large 7" high body sills which gave the original monocoque body it's strength. I'll be running my frame rails through them. I ran the 2x3" rails mid-height in the sill and ran a secondary shaped tube below it to join the bottom part of the outer sill and the floor together.
The lower shaped tube is 2x2"x .065 with a 1" corner cut from it. I did the cut in several sections but it still had to be straightened.
Tacked it to heavy angle iron:



Welded 18 ga. in:



Straightening the length:

Assembly of the frame rail showing the shaped lower tube which is really more a part of the floor and sill:

The previously assembled rear crossmember needed to be connected to the new frame rails. These 2x3" tubes would be welded together but wouldn't be installed untill other work was done to them.
Setting up:

Joining the two tubes using fish plates. I used this method wherever possible





Tacked in place:







Sitting in place but not welded:

My plan was to have three separate assemblies, the rear crossmember, the perimeter frame and the purchased IFS. To control warpage from all the welding, I'd continually check and correct warpage as I went, then do a final assembly of the three on the table.

Bridging the gap.
Connecting the frame rails to the front clip, i.e., independant front suspension, meant bringing the 2x3" tubes in and up at an angle. I decided to just set the tubes in place, fabricate curved fillers with fish plates, then weld it all together. The connection to the actual IFS would be prepared but welded later. I carried on with the ladder frame theme using a 2x2" lower tube, tying into the LCA area.
Tube set in place:

Fish plates installed:

Four in total to do. Plug welds:

Welding in filler:

Cleaned up:

Final connection point:



Lower tube prepared with frame rail backed off:

Left side done:



Frame rails are still not connected to each other at the rear. That was so I could bench weld the underside with some convenience:

Done for now:

Next will be IRS upgrades.
P.S. I'm loving my chassis table so much, I gave'er a coat of paint.

Watts Linkage:
Under hard acceleration, the Jaguar IRS can experience wheel hop due to the lower control arm flexing. I'm going to try and lessen that by adding a watts linkage to the rear hub and I'll widen the spacing of the rear springs.
Here are two links to a similar item produced by Acton Custom Enterprises:
[actoncobra.com]
[www.clubcobra.com]
A video of their quality product in motion:
[tinyurl.com]
Shaping the cut, 3/16" aluminum plate:




Squaring the upper link bracket to the Jaguar hub:

3/8"x16 threaded insert nuts:

Formed, welded and through holes drilled:

Bushing tube in place:

Welded:

Finished:

Billet aluminum top link with needle bearings and O-rings:

I'll clean them up and make them pretty later:

To complete the watts linkage, I need to install the four attachment points for the heim joints on the frame. Those will come later.

Lower Control Arms
These, on the Jaguar IRS, do too many things. One thing you don't want them to do is twist. Under heavy acceleration or hard braking load, they do. To help lessen this, I picked up on a theory from a post on the Independant Rear Suspension Forum. In the first post of the thread, "Ralphy" states "The further outboard you mount the coilovers, the better. In the third and fourth post, "Tyrellracing" talks about a FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS done to show that the arrangement of the coilovers further apart, would give them a greater ability to act as a TORQUE COUPLE and resist rotation while supporting the weight. Here's the thread:
[irsforum.boardhost.com]
I liked the theory, right or wrong, and implemented it on my lower control arms.
Widened the coilover spacing by a total of 3 1/4", (my width was limited by the placement of the fuel tank in the car):

Rough cut EMT to fit the space, made a paper pattern then transfered it to my 1"x.065 wall DOM tubing:



Parts all set:

Welded:

Adds a total of 1 1/2 lbs. to each lower control arm:

While I had them on the bench, I covered up the holes to keep the squirrels out:




Torque Arms or, if a little bit is good, a lot must be better.
The Jaguar IRS was mounted in a "cage". Very effective in the original car but I'll be stabilizing my differential using Torque Arms. Most people use one pair, some use two pair, I'll be using three pair. All bases covered.
The torque arms themselves consist of a cut length of DOM tubing, threaded tube adapter, clevis and a short piece of tubing for the polyurethane bushing. I put together a jig to assure they all went together inline:
Lined up:

Clamped in place:

Tacked:





The industry standard is to run a pair at the front of the differential that angle forward and outward at 60 degrees. To locate those on the frame, I added a pair of 2x2x 0.065 wall tubes, added weight= 31 ounces each side.
I first welded brackets to them on the bench, then added the assembly to the frame.
Tacked together:

Welded:

Assembly finished:




Thanks for looking.

Here's a link to "Part 2" of the project:
[forum.britishv8.org]
Ken



Edited 15 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2013 11:09AM by TR6-6SPD.

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