Jaguar E-type V12
We attempt to rebuild an E-type in just three days…
You’ll have already seen the finished result either in the pages of PC (Big Picture, January 2020) or on stage at the NEC if you were there on the Sunday afternoon, but here follows the tale of how we achieved the impossible. How we built a V12 Jaguar E-type in just three days live on stage at the NEC. Okay, so she didn’t start, run and drive off the stage – fuel pump issues put pay to that – but still, what an incredible achievement.
It all started Friday morning with a painted shell and a large pile of boxes. In went the steering column, fuel tank, heater box and heat shields, followed by the rear bumper and rear lights. The independent rear suspension had been rebuilt back at our workshop with Polybush classic comfort bushes throughout and remote bleed nipples beginning to set the tone for the mild modernization incorporated throughout the build. As the day flew by, Steve and Nathan from GB Classic Trim cracked on – trimming the boot space and laying carpet and panels atop the Dynamat sound deadening previously fitted throughout. I was under pressure to let them fit the dash top, but at the end of Friday I was still fighting the dash wiring and the enormity of the project at hand was becoming more obvious.
Saturday began with the assembly of the front suspension – again incorporating Polybushes throughout. As SNG Barratt’s Peter Stant assembled one side, Paul Raey from Vicarage Ltd worked on the other. CBR’S Jon Bentley worked on the brake plumbing, while I continued to fight the dash electronics.
By lunchtime, the car was on the Strongman lift and we were swinging the rebuilt V12 and Getrag five-speed gearbox over the front frame. We’d already fitted the Classic Fabs exhaust manifolds as access is tight once the engine is in, and were sure to slip the shortened propshaft first, too. It’s a heavy old lump to manoeuvre, but with plenty of experienced eyes on hand, installation went without a hitch. Next it was the turn of the steering rack and power assisted steering pump – and the Fosseway six-pot brake calipers had their Xj220-sourced pads slipped in. Oh, and I carried on with the dash wiring while Paul and Jon fitted the Radtec aluminium radiator, slimline cooling fans and header tank.
By Sunday morning, I’d cracked the electrics and Steve and Nathan could fit the dash top. As soon as this was in, Paul and I fitted the screen – so the roof could finally be fitted. We connected the battery, filled the engine with Penrite 15w40 running in oil and turned the key. A few revolutions on the high-torque starter were all it took to ascertain that we had oil pressure. This meant that Jon could crack on connecting all the remaining engine electronics up – including the sub-loom he’d built to run the XJ-S sourced injection system on this formerly carburettor-fed engine. The penultimate session was meant to
be the big start up, however although she coughed, she didn’t want to fire.
The cause? The new in-tank fuel pump hadn’t arrived in time – in fact, it hadn’t even been manufactured before the show. The secondhand Aston Martin pump we’d intended on using was seized and the in-line pump I’d grabbed on the way out of the workshop on Thursday morning wasn’t providing the twelve injectors with sufficient pressure to feed the cylinders. After we rolled the car off stage, Jon and Matt sprinted across to Hall 4 and the Powerspark stand where we were given another in-line pump to try. We fitted this just as we rolled the car onto stage for the final curtain call, however unfortunately even this brand new pump didn’t have sufficient pressure for the big V12. We did get a cough and a roar with the return pipe restricted to up the pressure, though.
Final flurry
With the crowd happy, having heard the big cat growl, all there was left to do was fit the bonnet. Suddenly she turned from ‘project’ into ‘car’ and looked superb. It was a truly emotional moment. Huge thanks must go to everyone who helped over the weekend, but also those who pulled out all the stops to get the car to the show in the first place. Julian Barratt, Peter Stant, Malcolm Woodhead, Paul Raey, Jon Bentley, Steve and Nathan Elsworth, and finally Danny Hopkins, who laid down the gauntlet twelve months prior to the show and gave me the motivation to crack on with my own project. Thank you.
After the show, we set the front suspension height properly and just as this goes to press fitted the new high pressure fuel pump. She roared into life first time of asking. I can’t wait to hit the road!
‘The big moment came… the engine coughed, but didn’t want to fire’