DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

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There's only one word for the outcome ... breath-taking !

Over the years we've become accustomed to the level of personalisation/detail in your builds but the XK has taken things to another level.

Your workmanship (& Barry's) has produced a truly stunning machine - if I wore a hat I would take it off to you Jonathan.


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Just stunning JP

Absolutely stunning, fabulous workmanship.

You must be very proud of the outcome JP. Stunning.

Regards
Mike

Fantastic work JP - well done it looks amazing

It’s almost more like a fetish than a car restoration

Suits you

That's utterly beautiful, Japes. Beautiful.

Thanks guys, kind words much appreciated, it means a lot.

So, what can I tell you

I’ve been out about a dozen times, one occasion caught me unaware as I had incorrectly wired that alternator so I wasn’t getting charged to the battery… It did leave me almost stranded once summer’s evening after a pint at the pub… After the sixth attempt to try to start it I must’ve had just enough power to crank it over just that once so it started straight away… Lesson learned the hard way as normal

That aside, well it’s just a hoot to drive…. It is just so wonderful old-fashioned.

I have to concentrate how to look for the rearview mirror as it mounted on the dash as opposed to upper the top of the windscreen. That will definitely take some getting used to as muscle memory from all the other cars I’ve driven is different of course.

The gearbox, well it’s direct… Possibly a little notchy… Hopefully this will ease over the thousands of miles I intend to put in the car… At the moment definitely not convinced I would put it into the EType… Let’s see.

Having driven a couple of times it became obvious that the rear of the car was sitting too low and that it was too bouncy over any kind of bump which meant I was grounding out ene on ridiculously small pot holes. There isn’t much you can do about this as the height of the rear suspension is determined by the curvature of the rear leaf springs, so I had two choices, one of which was to add a spacer block and the other was to replace the leaf springs. Although a spacer would’ve been cheaper, it just didn’t feel quite right so this last weekend I replaced both rear springs and the car now sits probably 25 mm higher which has proven to be quite sufficient to make ground clearance no longer an issue. The new springs are somewhat stronger so there’s no grounding out of any sort
I was slightly disappointing that the new springs don’t have the same beautiful care and attention to their fabrication… The ends of the original leaf springs are beautifully taped and feature a radius end, which is not replicated with the new ones which are simply chopped at 90°. I did grind a small radius onto these before I painted and reassemble as I couldn’t bring myself to put them together as they were originally made.


So what is next…?

I need to install the two front wing located vents, but these are fixed to the most crudely assembled/fabricated mild steel box which was fairly badly rusted anyway and is bound to continue rusting along with the hinges so I’m going to have this 3-D modelled by one of the guys at work and then have a nylon print of each made which together with nylon hinges should mean the assembly will last for many more years to come

Once that’s done then I can design and fabricate and install the trim panels to the A post and then I need to fabricate a panel for the battery which is placed in the passenger foot well and then come up with a trim panel for the inside face of that entire front bulkhead.

I also need to keep my eyes out for some different rubber seals for the quarter lights as the ones that seem to be currently availability are is far too hard so I currently can’t close the windows.

Apart from that, I just need to drive it more which is going to be an interesting experience because it’s not the most comfortable driving position, although I increased the rake on the bucket seats I’m still sitting slightly hunched. I need a cushion to support my lower back. I remember the EType was difficult to get used to initially but now as the squab has softened it’s almost comfortable (not completely).

In terms of engine performance I think those fast road spec camshaft which I installed make it into a much more eager engine… It seems to accelerate with more enthusiasm than the EType in a funny kind of way and quite easily revs up to the red line at 5500 without hesitation. There is a curious rattling noise if I accelerate hard… Still can’t figure out where it’s coming from, so all I must do is drive it, drive it, drive it and I guess drive it a bit more.

Plan is to use it to get out to see CLM next year with Barry, I’m going to have to sort out the engine temperature as the inclined radiator which I assembled I think is not allowing the air to pass through the tiny aluminium vanes, I think it’s more bouncing off the surface of the radiator… If I have the fan on it must be sucking the air through therm…and seems to control the engine temperature but that means I have to keep the fan on all the time. Certainly at this time of year… Possibly a cold winter day might be different… I’ll have to look into either an additional radiator or possibly something to cool the oil… Be an extra radiator or otherwise


So….. thanks for persevering with the somewhat dramatic and a bit slow updates… I’ll post a few more pictures when I’ve completely finished but in the meantime that’s all for now

All the best
Jp

Typo….sporadic….not dramatic….

Absolutely F****** amazing Jonathan.
Words fail me..................
Clive

…thats a rare thing Clive

Utterly lovely JP

The rattle maybe a resonance through the new drivetrain?

Cool as

Gary71 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 22, 2026 9:31 pm Utterly lovely JP

The rattle maybe a resonance through the new drivetrain?

Thanks James….

Hi Gary
Yup….thats what I am thinking…will take her out for a drive tomorrow and see if I can figure it out…if I accelerate gently it doesn’t appear…only if I do it more aggressively

Are you sure it’s not detonating? The fact it only happens under load…