| Last September, the electric fan on the E-Type stopped working. This is a particular problem in the E-Type as there is no mechanical fan. At the time I assumed the coolant temperature sensor had failed. It would seem that many people have trouble with these sensors. I knew the coolcat fan was fine, as it roared into life when I applied 12v directly to the fan. When I had bypassed the switch, I broke one of the connectors off the Lucas relay that controls the fan. Therefore, I ordered an upgraded temperature sensor from Coolcat. I also ordered a new […] Unlike most cars of its era, the E-Type uses an electric fan rather than one driven by the engine. This was probably due to room in the engine bay, as other Jaguar models of the era used engine driven fans. True to form, Jaguar used a very cheap fan (actually a windscreen wiper motor) with two blades like a propeller. This fan was barely adequate in the UK in the 1960s and is completely unsuitable for the Australian climate. When I purchased my car, it had been upgraded to an aftermarket fan, but not a great one. I replaced it […] About 18 months ago, I had my E-Type upgraded from sealed beams to Halogen headlights. Last night, I took the car on the first extended night drive since the upgrade. What a difference! The Halogen upgrade also included relays and wiring directly from the battery to the lights. Before this upgrade I never felt particularly comfortable driving the car at night. With this upgrade both the dipped and main beams really illuminate the road. I took the car on a drive through Galston Gorge and then up the Old Northern road, almost to Wisemans Ferry. Hawkins lookout is a nice […] My E-Type has had ongoing problems with the brakes holding on. This has been on and off since I bought the car in 2010. Over that time, I have pretty much renewed the entire braking system. Turns out, that might be part of the problem. What I have learned, is that the reproduction E-Type Master Cylinder can be problematic. So much so, that rebuilt units are probably better. The unit on my car was only around 18 months old, and it was clearly the problem here. When removed and bench tested, the piston was obviously sticking in the bore. The […] I’ve owned my E-Type for over 5 years now. During my ownership there has been one issue that has consistently plagued the car – brakes that do not release when they should. Over my ownership I have replaced pretty much the entire braking system, and some components twice! A couple of months ago, I had the master cylinder and booster replaced. At first, I thought this had fixed the problem as the very uneven pedal pressure was gone. However, sure enough after a couple of more sustained uses of the brakes, the non-release problem was back. This time, I suspect […] The E-Type was going in for its annual service and rego check, with the view to move from full rego to the new logbook based club rego system. In addition, the braking problems that have plagued this car had re-surfaced on the drive back from Oberon. Yet again, the brakes were not releasing properly. I also noticed a fairly bad fluid leak after the British Car show from the front left caliper. The front calipers had been re-sleeved before, but the seal was not quite the right size and so it was causing the brakes to hang up and not […] Old performance cars are not particularly fast by modern standards. They are surpassed by a garden variety hatchback in performance. But while they might not be particularly fast, they are a lot of fun to drive on a winding country road. Today I met up with some of the members of the Topklasse forum for a drive to Oberon. I had never been there before – but I will be back. The road between Mt Victoria to Oberon has minimal traffic, is not clogged up with hoons on motorbikes and has wide sweeping corners and 100km/h speed limits. On the […] On the 17th of September, 1965, my E-Type rolled out of the factory in Coventry, and was dispatched on the 5th of October to Fayetteville North Carolina. The first owner, was Spencer Augustus Folsom, Jr. It shows how far car technology had come in the preceding 50 years, in that when this car was manufactured, a 50 year old car was a horseless carriage, yet now this car despite being 50 years old can still function well as a car on todays roads. In 50 years on the road, this car has been driven cross country, stolen and recovered, slain […] In this world of monster 4 wheel drives with inattentive drivers at the wheel, a horn is an important feature of a small, low sports car. However, the horns on my E-Type had not been working. I had previously checked the actual horn units on a 12v battery and got a very feeble croak out of them, so since they looked rather rusty, replaced them. However, the car was still not able to honk appropriately. I had been able to hear the relay click when I pushed the horn button, so I was pretty confident that the button was working, […] A while ago the E-Type speedo bezel and glass that protects the speedometer had fallen off. I had tried to replace it in-situ, but the bezel fell off the next time I drove the car. I later learned the correct way to do this and it is not very hard. The panel under the dash that protects all the wires is easily removed providing access to the back of the instruments. The speedometer has two thumb screws that hold it secure against the dash board. They are hard to see, but can be felt. They had slowly worked loose, letting […] | |
