Jaguar D Type

Finished at last!

2007-05-31T08:20:00.000+01:00

Following our test day at Silverstone, the only problem was the need to reset the front ride height. So we reckoned the car was ready for painting. To do this meant we had to take the front and rear bodywork off (again!)

Anyway, the finished result met all our expectations.

The colour is the originally specified BRG .

The number plate lettering is specially computer generated script to the correct period 3 1/2 inch size letters.

We plan to put some miles on the car to fully run it in then - - - - -watch this space!!

Testing, testing - - -

2007-05-02T07:29:00.000+01:00

The picture shows Jerry driving at Silverstone on 19th April at the HGPCA Track day.

He completed some 50 laps to shake down the car and run it in.

We had some problems with air in the brakes but it was a very successful day and the car created alot of interest.

This picture shows Jerry about to leave on his first lap!

Note the period helmet!

Prior to this test day, we had completed assembly of the car and tested it at Tibenham airfield - the place we used earlier in the year when we were waiting for the bodywork.

The next phase is to get the car MoT tested, licensed and then painted.

The Sting in the Tail

2007-04-04T07:47:00.000+01:00

Just as you think you are nearly there, something crops up! For us, this was the bag tank.
This tank was ground-breaking technology in the 1950's but is relatively common in racing cars now. It was a design taken from aircraft manufacturing practice and had the safety advantage of reducing fire risk in the event of a crash as a conventional metal tank could split and lose all the fuel.

So what does it look like?

These views show the top and bottom. The big holes are so you can get your hands into the tank and install the filler, filters and take-off pipes. And you can see the required certification!

And here are some of the components needed for the installation.

The tank fits into an "envelope" constructed in the tail - you can see the tail upside down and the slot. The other pictures show the fasteners: the clips fit through the sides of the "envelope".

And the other ones shown go through the top skin of the tail - you can see 4 small nuts on all D-Type tails - these stop the tank fabric collapsing.

Yes, it does all fit but not easily! - particularly when the regulations now require the tank to be foam filled!!

Just think! - you never see any of this when you see the car!!

The Final Fitting

2007-02-21T08:09:00.000Z

We offered up the nose and tail sections.

The nose fitted perfectly and looked really goood - although some internal panels have to be modified.

The tail looks equally good but fitting will require a bit of fettling!

The tail carries the bag tank which is the last major item to complete the car.

Hopefully, it arrives next week.

Bodywork

2007-02-14T08:25:00.000Z

The last pices of our "jigsaw" have finally arrived.

No we are not building a tractor - this is how the crates containing the front and rear bodywork arrived in Norfolk.

Unpacking the crates was better than Christmas!

The tail section shows the panel behind which the bag tank is to be fitted

Powered by Jaguar

2007-02-08T21:22:00.000Z

The last posting dealt with some of the work we had to do before we could try out the car (minus its bodywork)

We could think of no more reasons to delay so we booked alocal airfield (Tibenham) and took the car there on Tuesday 6th Feb. It was very sunny and very, very cold.

But, as the pictures show, the car looked good - and Jerry's happy face tells you that it worked fine!

Now back in the workshop, we have to fit the bodywork and get it painted!

Brakes and Bits

2007-02-08T21:03:00.000Z

We haven't been idle since our last posting!
Our plan was to get the car running before finally fitting and painting the bodywork.

The first task was to get the brakes fitted and working - easier said than done.
Here are some pictures of the front calipers showing the various parts including the retractor pins.

The only way the rear brakes can be bled is by running the Plessey pump. This means that the car has to be on stands and driving the rear wheels! (The design of the braking circuitry was described in an earlier posting.)

Before we could drive the car, we needed to make the cockpit safe by fitting our smart transmission tunnel. And before we fitted this, we needed to fit the clutch interlock - a device which prevents the car jumping out of gear.

We also needed to fit the engine breather pipe.

For interest, here is a picture of the starter button we have had made as originals are now unobtainable.

Front bodywork

2006-11-25T17:28:00.000Z

The main things left to do now are:
- fit the brake calipers
- test the brakes and transmission
- tune engine and carburation
- fit rear body work and bag tank
- fit the front body work

All the necessary bits needed are in progress.

The longest lead item is the front body work.
The buck is made. And making the nose section is underway.

Start Up

2006-09-25T07:54:00.000+01:00

Just a post to say that we started the engine on Thursday 21st September.
There are no photos as there was nothing to see - everything worked as it should!

Change of Plan

2006-09-14T20:57:00.000+01:00

Our last posting talked of the next milestone being to get the engine running.
That remains our objective but we got sidetracked by having the opportunity to show the car at the Goodwood Revival Meeting!
That meant that we had to get the car rolling - rather than rumnning -which meant suspension and wheels.
Here are some pictures of the front suspension:
this is the O/side showing the oil cooler now piped up.

Here is the N/side showing the unique top wishbone and upright plus disc and caliper - although the brakes are not connected up yet.

And this shows the mounting pin for the top wishbone which has an eccentric bush on it to enable you to adjust the camber, plus a screw thread to enable you to adjust the castor angle.

The bottom suspension arm carries the torson bar and this is anchored to the frame as shown. You adjust the ride height by taking the bar out of the splines and carefully moving it round bit by bit!
Incidentally, the early E-Types fitted the same size torsions bar.

Here is a plan view of the rear of the car with wheels on it now - - -

- - -and a view of the rear disc assembly

Before we loaded up the car to take it to Goodwood, we sorted out the carburettor linkage and fuel supply.

And we fitted the instruments and steering wheel and starter motor - - -

And finally, on the trailer off to Goodwood - - -

More Interesting Detailed Assembly Work

2006-06-18T12:44:00.000+01:00

Earlier postings have talked about the brake system piping and shewn the resevoir.
Well, its all coming together and here it is installed in the chassis.
It has been very demanding to get the bends in the pipes to look right as well as to fit right!

We have had a radiator made to the original pattern. The oil cooler sits alongside it.
Here is a view of the trial fitting showing the carburettors and manifold also trial fitted.

Our next milestone will be to run the engine in the chassis. This means that we have to get the oil and fuel lines installed. Originally, production cars were not fitted with an oil filter although many cars were retro-fitted. We have decided to fit one to the original design from the outset.
Heres what it looks like.
It just fits in the space between two chassis tubes by the clutch resevoir.

Rear Bodywork

2006-06-17T18:06:00.000+01:00

Whilst all the detailed assembly work is going on, progress is being made on the rear bodywork.
Firstly, a buck had to be made from drawings and from taking readings and measurements off an original car. The buck itself is a work of art!

Panels are then shaped to fit.

Detailed Work

2006-05-19T08:42:00.000+01:00

Whilst we are waiting for the front and rear sections of the body, we are making headway with all the time consuming detailed installations necessary to make the car go! - that is fuel and brake lines, and water and oil pipes.

The wiring loom is installed and tests out OK - although we cant check everything until we have the engine running.

Brake lines are a complicated mixture of 3-16, 1-4, and 3-8 inch tubing depending on whether or not it is rear brakes, front brakes or the plessey pump pressure system.

Here is a detail of the header tank ready for fitting when the radiator arrives

Originally, many parts on the car were not plated but went through a process called "parco luberise- ing." You can still get this done - managanese phosphate is used apparently - and here is a picture of the disc assembly and hub showing the matt black finish.

Installing the Rear Axle

2006-05-18T08:37:00.000+01:00

Installing the engine and gearbox was something of a milestone as the project started to look like a car.

We have added to this impression with the installation of the rear axle.
This was quite easy and rather like a "meccano" kit with lots of links and bushes.
Stage 1 was attaching the top trailing arms to the rear frame and the bottom arms to the torsion bar which runs across the rear frame inside the bottom tube.

We then attached the axle to these links.

This view shows the linkage at the bottom of the axle casing to locate the lateral movement of the axle.

We made up some adjustable links in order to tension the torsion bar correctly and so set the ride hieght to the recommended setting. This is done by means of the splined inserts which attach the end of the torsion bar to the bottom trailing arm.

Engine Installation

2006-03-22T07:54:00.000Z

Contemporary pictures of the Jaguar Factory building D Types indicate that the front frame and engine were assembled first and then attached to the monocoque. If you are repairing or servicing the car, the Service Manual tells you that you can only install the engine from below the frame. Well, this is what we chose to do - although we lowered the frame over the engine.
It was slow as everything is a tight fit!

The engine and gearbox assembly are attached to the chassis frame in three places.
The centre mounts are unique and are shown in the pictures. They are fitted when the engine is in the chassis.

Everyting fitted perfectly and the project is starting to look like a car!

The "eagle" has landed

2006-03-13T08:40:00.000Z

The monocoque and frame have been built in New Zealand over the last 6 months.
They have now arrived in the UK ready for us to start assembling all the components we have been building here.
First we had to unload it!

Then we put it into our workshop. Two of us can lift it quite easily in this form.

We have decided to start assembly with the "plumbing" - so wiring and brake pipes will go in first!

The loom is made to original design and from original specification materials. The exceptions to this are that it has additional wires built in to it for an electric fan (for cooling) and for indicators

Detail Work

2006-03-06T10:33:00.000Z

Quite apart from the main components of the car, there are a multitude of smaller parts to get ready. Of these, the carburettors are yet another "hard to find" part. We picked up a set of the correct 3 x 45DCO3 Webers at an auction in France. They were in reasonable condition overal but still needed rebuilding and re-jetting.

Other unique parts we are currently acquiring are:

water pump- aluminum casting
dynamo and water pump drive pulleys
starter motor - runs opposite way to normal and has aluminum nose casting

Transmission Assembly Continued

2006-03-06T10:11:00.000Z

Having sorted out the concentricity of the bell-housing, we were able to add the clutch and gearbox.
We chose an AP multi-plate clutch rather than fitting an original D Type one. This was because its design is very similar to the original and yet it had the bonus of sintered linings which will give longer life.
Prior to fitting, this item had been balanced with the crankshaft.

The clutch requires a clutch release mechanism which is unique to the D Type. Jerry designed an incredibly neat solution for this part.

The gearbox is an original D box which we were very lucky to find.

The box is an all-synchro unit and has a drive at the rear for a Plessey pump - thats an hydraulic pump for brake actuation.

Transmission Assembly

2006-02-03T10:06:00.000Z

We encountered our first real assembly problem - aligning the bellhousing to ensure concentricity the clutch / crankshaft assembly and the gearbox input shaft. The first picture shows the way this is measured.
The D Type Service Handbook gives clear guidance on the acceptable limits and advises that if the assembly falls outside the limits, then "a new clutch housing must be obtained and fitted" - easier said than done 50 years after the event!

Our problem was that the location of the dowel holes on the block did not match the dowel locations on the bellhousing. On checking the drawings and after careful measurement, we found that it was the re-maching of the block that was in error - by about 0.50mm.
We rectified this by making a laser cut jig - see second picture - and redrilling the misaligned dowel hole in the block - phew, it worked!

Cam Timing

2006-01-12T20:45:00.000Z

We spent an interesting morning making sure that the cams were timed correctly.
Reading Des Hammill's excellent book on "How to power tune Jaguar XK engines," we followed the advice given. That is to say, the damper was carefully marked with "Full Lift" marks for both inlet and exhaust. The usual Jaguar cam timing tool surprisingly served only as a rough guide and we used a Dial Indicator on the cam buckets to get exact timing at these full lift points.

Final Stages of the Monocoque

2005-12-27T10:18:00.000Z

The frame is now installed and detailed panel work round the engine bay is needed.
When this is finished the frame will be removed for painting and then refitted so the car can then be built up.

Further Work on the Engine

2005-12-27T10:05:00.000Z

The drives for the scavenge and pressure pumps are taken from the existing distributor drive gear at the front of the crank. The distributor drive has to be modified slightly to fit it but its a very neat installation.

The next step was to fit the timing gear. New chains were used and a new gear on the crank but otherwise this was straightforward.

Work Starts on the Engine

2005-11-30T10:32:00.000Z

We have used a 1955 block and kept to 3.4 litres.
However, we have used Venolia forged pistons (ex USA) giving a 9:1 compression ratio.

You can also see that we are using "wide blade" rods in the interests of reliability.

This meant we had to do some fettling at the botoom of the cylinder bores in order to ensure adequate clearance.

Another practical modification is the use of a modern oil seal at the rear.

Below is a picture of the special front main bearing cap required for the dry sump installation - more of that later!

The Monocoque Nears Completion

2005-11-30T10:23:00.000Z

The previous posting showed the monocoque being built on a jig.
The frame that carries the engine has now been completed.

Here it is prior to installation in the monocoque.
Whilst it may look like an E Type frame, its not the same!
Great attention has been paid to using the correct size of tubing.

Here you can see the monocoque again.

Further Work on Rear Sub-Frame

2005-11-30T10:02:00.000Z

These pictures show some components of the rear suspension prior to painting or plating.

The single torsion bar can be seen clearly together with the special bushes to fit in the suspension arms.

Note the detailing

Bushes

Progress on Rear Sub-frame and Axle

2005-11-24T16:15:00.000Z

Whilst the moncoque is being built, we are working on other parts of the car. Here is a picture of the rear-sub-frame, rear axle and some of the axle links.

Building the Monocoque

2005-11-24T16:10:00.000Z

The monocoque is designed as an 18 gauge aluminum eliptical tube with two "holes" cut in it for the driver and passenger, and both ends of the tube having bulkheads.

On the rear bulkhead, the rear suspension is attached via a subframe. At the front, there is a tubular frame projecting out of the eliptical tube and this carries the engine and front suspension.

Construction of the monocoque started in July and here are some pictures:

The Production Cars

2005-11-11T08:56:00.000Z

The Jaguar D-Type has a very special place in most enthusiasts hearts.
Why?
- because of its outstanding looks
- because of its design and engineering excellence for its time, and
- because it was so successful in its day

The cars were built between 1954 to 1957. Records show that 17 Works cars (in various guises)were built, 54 Production cars and 16 XKSS models. (These are my records and this is not meant to be a definitive history of all the cars!)

Justifiably, most publicity has been given to the Works cars and their International successes. The XKSS has also had more than its fair share of the limelight - probably because of its rarity and the ultimate "hooligan" image it had - where are you Steve McQueen?

But the Production cars were the backbone of this legend. Based on the 1954 Works specification but "productionised" (eg removable steel front subframe as opposed to integral magnesium alloy one) - here was a car that you could buy from your Jaguar Dealer, drive away and race (competitively) wherever you wanted!

This is our inspiration for our undertaking - and here are some pictures of Production cars which were still being used in this way in historic racing in the 70's and 80's.

Recreating a dream – building a copy of a D Type Jaguar

2005-11-01T08:00:00.000Z

This is a story about a group of friends setting out to build an exact copy of a 1955 Production D type. The story started early in 2005 but right now, we don’t know the end of the story as the car is not finished! We want to share the progress with as many people as possible so that you can live the dream too by following our trials and tribulations and by contributing your thoughts.

The first thing to get straight is that our story is not about building a "look alike" car. We are setting out to build an exact copy of what the Jaguar factory produced in 1955. Our aim is to get an Historic Technical Passport (HTP) for the car when completed, as issued by the FIA.

So how will we know that the car will be correct in every detail?

For aficionados of all things Jaguar and D Types in particular, you know that there is a mine of information in all sorts of books, period publications etc. But you will also know that a D Type has virtually no standard Jaguar parts and so will be a complex and expensive project to re-create.

So, over the years we have collected some original parts, some remanufactured parts but most importantly we have acquired a comprehensive set of drawings of those parts unique to the D Type.

Rear subframe / drawing