Why does it take so long to do the little things?

Its been just over a month since my last update.  With holidays and such, I haven't been able to spend as much time in the garage as I'd like. 

Over the last several weeks, most of my accomplishments have been on the little things.  It also seems it doesn't take me long to change my mind.  My last post I said I was not going to paint anything until after I test fit everything.  Before I fit anything, I went ahead and painted the front suspension.  After thinking about it, I decided it would be better to paint the suspension before I installed bushings and such.  After receiving the bushings, I am regretting my decision.  I ordered Urethane bushings and they don't get pressed in so I could have painted everything later.  As it turns out, I might be painting again anyway.  At minimum, I'll have to touch up a few spots.

The engine came back from the builder, finally.  It looks really good and I can't wait to fire it up.  Builder says adapting the new main caps to the block wasn't too bad.  

Having the engine back, I can now address my next hurdle.  You might recall, I acquired 2 engine blocks with the car.  One a period correct W block and the other a later V block.  Not really thinking about what could change in 4-5 years of production, I decided to use the W block.  Well, now I know most of the parts I have were for the V block and parts are hard to find.  

What is different you ask?  The later V block has a hydraulic tensioner instead of a pressure blade type.  The change required a redesign of the front cover and I haven't been able to find the correct cover so what do you do?  You make one.

As you can see from my template, the later model cover extends out more than the earlier.  Fortunately, its basically just a single mount that needs relocated.

First step was to cut out the offending section and weld the mount in the correct location.  I mounted the cover to ensure the mount was right before attaching it.

Next, I used the pieces I cut out to fill most of the holes created.  This way, all I (well OK, the welder that works for me) had to do was minor fill work.

I have to do a little work on it but it turned out looking really nice.  Once on the engine, it will be hard to distinguish it from a real one.  Additionally, the later one uses a rubber seal instead of rope.  This creates another problem though, the oil pan will have to be modified too.  More on that in a later post.

I'll make a big reveal here.  This is unconfirmed information but I believe this will be the first EFI port injected, EDIS XK120.  System designed by 'me'.

I started this design on my E-type but testing on this engine means I can still drive my E.  Once the bugs are worked out, I will install on the E too.

Here is my original design that I am having to modify.  In this version I planned on using the XK150 water rail but I didn't leave enough room to pull the valve cover off.  This doesn't work well for a Jag so I am designing my own water rail.  That too is for a later post.

View from the top

View from the side

Before finalizing the design, I am going to do some dyno testing.  For that, I need to be able to adjust the length and size of the runners.  Once the design is established, Everything will be set.

Angle view

Top view

I don't want to finish the body work until mounting the body back on the frame, there is still some work to catch up on.  Having worked through most of the body alignment I'm confident I'm not taking the fenders back off. Time to finish welding them back together.

Since I painted all the front suspension parts, I might as well see how it all fits back together.  The bushing kit arrived as well as the Wilwood front disc brake kit.

First order of business is to size the steering connector rod.  Another part I was missing and all I could find was one for an MK sedan.  It has a wider wheel base so the rod is too wide.  After doing some research I found that the rod is just a hollow pipe, threaded on both ends.  It should be no problem to cut it down and reweld it.

To ensure the ends remained square, I used a piece of channel.  Then, I clamped the ends straight and tacked it back together.

Until I mount the idler arm and steering rod I won't know for sure but should be close enough to adjust with the tie rods.  I'll wait to finish the welds until I have it all together.

New hubs and Wilwood calipers look fantastic.

One last thing for this post is the oil pump.  Here is another moment of clarity.  This one I knew about but expected the transition to be easier.  Since I didn't have the original main caps and the ones I used are the later model which is good because they use the more readily available top mounted pump but...

I discovered that apparently, the pump mounted is also engine specific.  To align the pump with the drive, I had to create a wedge shim.  What I did was insert a 3/8" drive socket extension in the square drive and measure the angle.  I then measured the thickness required for the pump to be at 90 degress to the drive.

With the pump mounted, I could then fabricate my own oil pick up tubes.  Right now, without the oil pan, I can only make the outlet.  Since I'm using the larger oil pump from an E-Type, I can run a full 3/4" tube discharge.  Hopefully this will help with oil flow/ pressure.

Coming up in my next post, I'll install the motor back on the frame to check for spacing on the air box.  I think I have enough space with my current design but it doesn't hurt to be sure.  One thing I still have to work out is where to locate the MAF sensor.  I thought I could mount it directly to the throttle body and use the factory air ducts in the fender.  Right now, it is not working out that way.

I also hope to have more of the EFI design installed.  Currently waiting for the oil pan to return.  This will allow me to install the timing cover and thus the harmonic balancer.  On front of the balancer will be the toothed wheel and timing pickup.  I can then finish the wiring.