DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Hi Wayne

Thanks for the compliments...sadly I don’t have an idea of who this would be...hopefully it will come to you..!

All the best
Jonathan

This was interesting.


https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/car ... eauty.html

rhd racer wrote:Thanks both. I don’t think his surname was Ballard, I am hoping it will ‘click’ in the database upstairs! I spend a bit of time in Thruxton so will drop by next time I am there, thanks.

Sorry for the highjack!

Hi Wayne,

You could try my pal Paul Slade from Fleet, who is a regular competitor at Gurston Down and Wiscombe in his E type -

http://www.pjsengineering.co.uk/home.htm

Cheers!
JW

Thanks both, appreciated

Amazing attention to detail Jonathan - it's going to be an awesome car!

Since we last spoke, I've been meaning to drop you a note as I happened to come across the guy whose parents apparently bought all the dealer parts stock for E-Types when they originally went end of life all those years ago and (a bit late now), he might be a good contact if you still have some parts you are looking to source... I relayed your comments relating to the quality of reproduction parts and he concurred; whether he'll be prepared to part with any of their remaining NOS items however, remains to be seen.

If nothing else, a visit to his workshops would be enlightening - not just for E-Types (although he has a few), but I saw several F1 cars from the 50's & 60's, plus some very unique Le Mans stuff from a same period in his various units.

Keep up the great work - I'm sure we are all looking forward to the next instalment!

Such a pretty car JP and so beautifully done.......dare you drive it?

Darren65 wrote:Such a pretty car JP and so beautifully done.......dare you drive it?

Hope so.....

Yeah...for sure...am looking forward to that moment....hopefully the exhaust will arrive a week or two and then once it’s on I can get Barry over here again and we can tune the engine
Once the headlining is in and then a few pieces of interior, I could install the drivers seat and try a drive..without bonnet...up and down the lane here for a bit....

Spoiler alert! We were only fitting lights in the last post

I was inspired by your build thread Jonathan and went to have a look at this ..... what a car! Beautiful details and goes very well too. Your car is going to be stunning!







I can’t remember if you have finalised you’re interior colour choice but the deep red on this car looked amazing.

Ah yes...the Woodman and Mortimer car

Would like to see it in the flesh to see exactly how well built it is...what did you think...?

Still don’t like their front bumpers....

Jaguar engaged the original bumpers with the aperture of the mouth...which I think they were right..





Oh...car interior is sage green....



Sneak preview...just for you.... ...looks sublime....

Your car is looking fantastic Jonathan and I like those seats! I would probably have gone for a bit more contrast in the colours but I am sure it will look great.

I really liked the W+M car. It's a very well thought out build and the package works well as a whole. I thought the finish was very nice with lots of great attention to detail, the sort of car that gets better the more you look which is a nice thing. I really liked the colour combination and the slightly beefier stance with wider wheels. It went very well too, didn't quite feel like the claimed 400bhp but certainly fast enough for a nice GT car. That was the main issue I had, given their background, I thought the car would have been a bit more sporting but it was very much a GT car. Great for long trips at speed and in comfort but probably not best suited to tight B roads and Alpine passes. Needed a few more test miles and a bit of setting up, especially the suspension which seemed capable but lacked the right amount of control for a car that quick. Bumpers and the floating badge looked good to me!

It's doing the rounds and certainly worth a look in case you can get some ideas for your car.

Seat!
So very tasteful.

With the wiring gradually nearing completion it was time to bite the bullet and test not only the wiring circuits....but that large noisy thing at the front....

I have to say this was something I was both excited about and also very nervous about at the same time....as much as the proof of whether the big systems of engine/clutch/gearbox and brakes were functional the moment of truth for whether I had built the engine correctly was a nagging doubt

So in true “dial a friend” fashion I had Barry over in late September and we set to......

Bars visit was two fold.....the customised bumpers had been tried in bare metal and used as guides during filler an paint...but we had deliberately not assumed all would be well for chrome until a final check after paint...

so..test an engine and test some custom bodywork....


First off was to hand crank the engine one more time....all good...if you can call needing an extension tube on the end of the 1/2” drive socket bar good........!....it’s a big engine and with all fresh piston rings was seemingly building up great compression/resistance...but it seemed to gradually get easier and proved all was well

so...at least I hadn't put anything in upside down or back to front...

next.........plugs out and crank to build up oil pressure....this took for ever....or so it seemed....and naturally as it took so long I was getting more stressed thinking I had probably installed the oil pump incorrectly...but finally all was fine...a useful feature of the overhead camshaft covers being so accessible is whilst removed the oil can easily be observed as it works its way out of the oilways

Carburettors.....
Hymmm....

The short version of the story is that they work ....except the piston within the front dashpot will not drop back to its lowest setting with that satisfying clunk...we tried for well over an hour..cleaning everything again........and again.......and again..even swopping over dashpot and pistons..but the same result every time....the weird thing is there is plenty of clearance around the needle..and the piston itself..but when the 4 screws holding the dashpot are finally tightened..something happens...the base of the dashpot is something like 1 thou off...ie not level...the piston will drop..but not the last 3mm...after much frustration we decided to leave it and see if it will bed in....lets see...

So...no more excuses...time for some noise...!!...and some....as at this stage I hadn’t ordered the exhaust.... quite why now escapes me...but...i just hadn't....i


https://youtu.be/yXRbgV8_1Us

if you watch my body language i do actually jump as it fires...the noise was unbelievable.....

throughout the next few hours we started her up a few more times...trying to set the idle and so on..she would only run on full choke so this was tricky..but she did just fine...i was so relieved.....

https://youtu.be/htv1LFPh54Y

https://youtu.be/ZU5qwOwVhBM



but after about 6 or 7 goes we stopped...later that night i raised my head was hurting...I wonder why....

last film of the day proved we had decent oil pressure and reasonable temperature..fuel gauge wasn't working and neither the volts gauge....who cares with that kind of roar...!

https://youtu.be/HDs-Kf2EUqU

so next task was to choose the exhaust..so we could prove if the clutch and brake running systems were working....