Garage Find 65 E type engine start up

Good morning everyone,
I have an oil pressure question? Drove car yesterday. Using 20-50 oil. Mechanical gauge shows good pressure. No engine noise. On startup, pressure builds up to about 40-50 & steady. After driving when warm stays about 50 at speed. When stopping, goes down to 20, then rapidly builds back up with acceleration. Is this acceptable for the 4.2?
Thanks,
Ted

Palo Alto Speedometer 650-323-0243 is another source for instrument repair. They worked my tach, speedo, elec. and water temp gauges back in 2000 and have been going good since.

www.paspeedo.com

David Barnes
68 E-type FHC

Hello again,
I have been working on the 65 and encountered 2 problems: I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice:

#1. Oil pressure gauge quit working (broken post in back). Mechanical gauge shows 50#. Any advice on where I can get the original rebuilt?

#2. Cranks & Idles well about 500 rpm. This weekend got fan working and water gauge. Let run a while. Engine smooth at 500, about 7-800 there is a knock to the engine that goes away at 900. No oil consumption or smoke. Also, a whine at the front like a bearing on the water pump or tensioner that comes & goes.

Thanks so much for any help.

I wanted to give an update on the Jaguar. Running better. Got brakes working some after cleaning bottles & replacing the cracked hoses below bottles. Need to flush system. Still has silicone fluid.

Working on cooling system (new thermostat, hoses, thermostat switch) Fan works. Going to reverse flush system.

Carburetor nearest front kept overflowing. Float full of gas so I guess I'll try to fix it or get another.looks like it's leaking at the seam.

Starter Solenoid sticking some, Hitting it with wood block works for a while. Maybe will need new one eventually?

Oil pressure gauge quit working. A mechanical one shows 50# pressure. I looked on back of gauge and one of the posts was broken. I've got the stud piece & nut. Do you think a solder would work or can gauge be rebuilt ?

Ammeter gauge working. Tach works. Fuel and water temp gauge not working yet. Windshield wipers and washer not working. Cigarette lighter works. Lights work. Blinkers not working yet.

Has been an interesting project so far. I am looking forward to taking a drive soon.

Ted;
If the previous owner used Silicone brake fluid, continue. It will not absorb water. It should be purple in colour. Do not mix with Dot 3 or Dot 4. A test for silicone vs Dot 3/4, is to spill some on a fender. The silicone will have no effect, whereas the Dot 3/4 will curdle the paint.

Well everyone,
I bought a wire set on the classified and made my wires. New distributor cap, points etc. Amazingly the car fired right up and has about 40# oil pressure! Tach works. Ammeter works. Fuel gauge and temp gauge not working. The front carb was spilling fuel and I found a float stuck. Cleaned and now no spill.

Now on to the cooling system as the water doesn't seem to be circulating and the fan never came on.
Ted

Thanks so much everyone. I can see you understand the "Feeling" of the spirit of these cars. Especially trying to bring one back alive again. I'm looking forward to the driving experience-- with brakes of course! More pics to come.

Ted,
I sit here getting goosebumps thinking about the great enjoyment, and some heartache, you will have, but that is always part of a love affair. What a wonderful find. I've had my E for 43 years and never, never, ever do I ever want to part with it. You will find, once you get her out and cruising, there is no experience quite like it.

Once running, do the Bob Faster advice and redo THE BRAKES! before going out! You are not used to the car and your first time out may present you with a situ that needs the best brakes you can have.

I wish I had one like yours to start all over again. It looks and sounds like you have found a great car.

Welcome to the world of E-types. congrats on the new car. this is the place to ask.
my two cents are this. make sure you have the big green service manual for your car. then start shopping every other book you can find, look in the shop here at the top, the prices here are the best, unless you find a used book in good shape on ebay.

I recently inherited my dads 69 E. It had been mostly stored for many years as well, you are going to find that no matter what you think you are going to end up going all the way thru the brakes, at least I did, I figured that if they didnt work, any other work I put in the car wouldnt matter the first time I rear end someone, I ended up replacing most of the big parts and rebuilding the calipers. its not that difficult a task if you study all the books and take your time.

as for parts, get the big catalog from XKS Unlimited, it has a lot of big diagrams that is a huge help. another great supplier is SNG Barrett. in fact they have the best replacement brake bottles and senders. (XKS has the best clutch bottle)
and then there is Terrys Jag and a host of other suppliers. (listed on this forum as well)
Just about everything for your car is available new these days, in fact I read somewhere that the list of things NOT available is easier to print because there are so few things.
the only catch is. nothing is cheap ! it will add up fast, no way around that. so be prepared.

make a list, prioritize your mission and tackle it bit by bit. you will probably end up removing a lot of parts in the engine area to clean up or repair, take lots of digital pictures so you know where things were. and then take more pictures. as you are cleaning and detailing you will find more things to replace or repair, its just the nature of the beast.

from the looks of the car you will be doing all the hoses and belts and some of the rubber bits and pieces, none of these are terribly expensive by themselves, assuming you are a do it your-selfer. but it will start to add up quickly!

there are a lot of knowledgable and helpful people here on this forum. so ask away. someone is usually around to help.

I will be watching to see how it goes!

Bob F.

69 E OTS ( in almost the same color, I have regency red)

Inside the trunk was a few extra parts. A chrome trim piece that I'm not sure where. The original Dunlop spare 6.40 x 15. Jack. A girling master cylinder. A pressure plate. A Black boot for the car. The spare and gas tank are covered with carpet and wood.

Interior. Both the parts and service manual dated November 65 were in the car. As well as the maintenance book. No tool kit however. And I found a pack of "Kent" cigarettes under the seat.

Passenger side engine picture.

Here's an engine picture. Is this thread also where I ask about potential used parts needed and if they are available? As you can tell the little plate in front of the brake/clutch fluid resorvoirs is missing and the middle bottle has a silver tranducer in side that is about half gone. The owner told me that he put silicon brake fluid in it so I'm not sure if it's compatible with British cars or not. I read somewhere else that Castrol LMA was the only one to use.

See if the link below to my smug mug site works for a picture of the car.

Thanks for the advice. I had been told by someone here that the cams on this engine were like an airplane's and if it wasn't really lubed up well before fire that damage could occur. I was just wondering if I should use some assembly lube or not since I wasn't rebuilding the engine just trying to start it.
I am waiting on a set of wires as these were really cracked all over. Very interesting, the wires screw into the distributor and coil. i've never seen that before. I hooked up the battery today and the fuel pump began clicking and pumping after a little soft persuasion on the cap.
I'll get back to you when I get it to fire, hopefully to fire and run and not catch on fire. Fire extinguisher will be on hand.
The car is opalescent maroon. I'll see if I can figure out how to put a picture on here.

AFAIK combustion effects put far less pressure on the big ends thanend-of-stroke load reversals at higher revs, which is when the really heavy stresses occur. So starting the engine with wet but unpressurized bearings is not a significant source of loading and therefore harm in the 2-3 seconds it takes for oil to build up in the galleries and drillings. I always use plenty of lube during the build and squirt the oil can into various drillings before buttoning up the engine. I do also spin it with the plugs out, but I don't always wait for an a tual pressure to register if it has had, say, fifteen seconds of turning over sith no plugs. To each their own I suppose.

Pete

The point that Peter makes, is exactly why I build up oil pressure first "it can take a long time" in fact it may not even build up pressure. Running the engine free puts minimum pressure on the bearings whereas running the car with the full force of the combustion is likely to do some damage to the crank and upper engine components. I like to hear the change of crank speed once the oil is circulating

Yes, it can take a long time to build pressure. The quickest way is to fire it up. Check the plug wires are correctly sequenced. 65E garage find - everyone's dream!

Since you've already run the starter without plugs to circulate the oil I would say, fire it up!

It appears that you have done things properly, usually in this kind of situation with a rebuilt or long standing engine i remove the plugs and disconnect the ign wire. I then turn the engine on the starter until I get oil pressure on the gauge. Only then do I fire it up.