Not only are there fantasticly exciting sanding parties, occasionally there are paint removal festivities. Lacking some of the parts to continue putting the transmission and the front brakes together, I moved on to striping the paint from the back of the bonnet. It cleaned up pretty well although it became evident that there more repairs required than previously thought. First shot shows most of the paint, but not all removed as does the second. Third shows all done except to the inside of the rear stiffiners where it will need to be soda blasted.


Last just shows a shot of the prop rod so I can remember how to mre assemble. This is an early xk120 so the prop rods front and rear as well as the convertable top frame are chrome plated. Later versions had these painted. Unfortunately, almost all of the chrome plating is gone. And the entire trunk prop rod assembly is lost. If you recall from much earlier there was a strange sort of extending prop rod assembly from some unknown car installed in the trunk. It went away.

The driveshaft with new universal joints and paint.



Next shot is of the transmission mount attached to the frame.


Last shot is of the repaired tailpiece of the transmission mainshaft. The photo is bad, but the far edge was broken through and was rewelded and then reshaped to fit over the rear bearing of the mainshaft.

More on the assembly of the steering box. It went together well. Now to sand it (another sanding party!), and paint it.

Started to reassemble the steering box. New balls and races are installed. The balls are all loose and getting them to stay in place even with using a bed of grease on the race is very fiddley. But I finally got them to stay all together for a bit and the remainder is fairly straight forward. I'm working on getting the rest of the box together tomorrow.

More on the transmission. I was able to locate shim stock to finish the assembly of the constant motion shaft. Turns out that you have to ask for "Shim Stock in a Can". Really. The machinists have it and I bought a small sheet of 0.004 stock and using a scissors and an x-acto knife, cut three washers and ta da-the constant motion shaft is done. So the box itself is closed up. I rebuilt the top assembly from pieces lying around and although it is Moss chunky, it seems to be working fine.

The thing that sets off the proper JH style box is the tail assembly that encloses the longer mainshaft. There is a yet- to- be- installed rear housing that is having some repair welding completed. That final housing contains the rear seal, the speedometer gearing, and the yoke to mount to the driveshaft. I need to order a new rubber bushing for the gearshift- currently it rotates as one moves through the gears. Also, the top cover needs new bolts (they are a British thread style- approximately 5/16" x 21 pitch- try finding those in your local Ace Hardware) and the bellhousing bolts need new locktabs.



The jack is painted.

The clutch and brake pedals are primed.

Other news- the crankshaft that I just bought is bent 0.003". Bouchers is going to try to straighten it next week. Believe it or not, they have this big-a__ machine that has a hook that grabs the crank and pulls it into shape. It cannot be turned again as it is already cut to the max over at 0.030" on the mains. Joy. I am optomistic that it will straighten. Pistons at 9:1 CR and 0.060" over are currently being fabricated.

The cleaned up waterpump. I'm not quite done rebuilding it just yet- note in the first and the last shots that the pin that is used in the top of the impeller shaft is actually an 8 penny nail. Can't exactly tell if the nail was a finish or common 'cause the head is gone, but it was definately not a ring shank. I don't think this is original from Jaguar- they were noted for using aluminum and this is ferrous.

There has been talk of late that some of the sanding parties that occur almost nightly are not as exciting as they could be. (Attendance has been low.) This is of course incorrect as they are terribly exciting as you will note from the following photos: The first two show some of the more incredible things that are occuring and obviously require documentation. This is a before and after kinda deal of the bonnet hinge! Wow. Now I know what you are thinking: "how can this much excitement be occuring on a regular basis and still offer room at the festivities?" It's a mistery.



Third shot is of a primed trunk hinge.


Last is a before and after sandblast of the bracket that holds the convertable top called a tower.