Been quite a bit warmer over the last couple of months, so working in the shed isn't so much of a chore!
I've sorted out the final arrangement of cooling bits and pieces for the front of the car.
Made up some filler panels for either side of the radiator. These will simply screw in place so they can be removed easily for any future maintenance. The edges that rest against the radiator tanks will have rubber fitted. There are still a couple of holes to be cut through the panels for A/C lines, trans cooler lines etc, so they aren't painted up yet:
A nice, clean way to mount the power steering cooler wouldn't present itself, so I got a little carried away and built the cooler into the driver's side filler panel:
My search for a half decent sized, yet easy to fit and appropriate looking air cleaner assembly has been solved. I bought a Range Rover classic (cheap replacement filters and easy to find) air filter housing, welded a bracket to the throttle bracket above it and used a generic 75mm silicone bend to join them together. A hole will be cut in the driver's side radiator filler panel for cold air intake. The filter should be large enough for the 5 litre engine and being metal, I can modify the end cap with the silencing snorkel on it to fit cold air ducting if I choose to:
The bumper reinforcements have also been sorted out. The bar reinforcements that came with the car were pretty average, and the front one was rusty to the point of disintegrating:
The photos tell the story. I had been really putting off sorting out the bumpers as I assumed the parts car bar reinforcements would be equally shagged. I was very pleasantly surprised to find them in much better condition and the front one was near perfect. interestingly, the front bumper reinforcement on the parts car was raw, unpainted steel with surface rust that wire wheeled off. Why it was unpainted I don't know, I am going to assume it was replaced with an unpainted factory replacement at some stage.
Anyway, they were cleaned up and painted with red oxide primer, then matt enamel. I used a 3" foam roller, was perfect for the job and really suits painting enamel:
Then I fitted them to the car so they'd be out of the way, but also offer some protection to the ends of the car whilst it sits in the shed. They make the car look much more complete:
Considering the bars were really scrubbed clean of rust (where I could get to) and that they have two good coats of paint on them, they should last forever, unlike the factory ones!
I've also started some interior work, with underfelt being cut and fitted. I will leave the carpet until everything else is done so it doesn't get damaged or dirty. I still want to get the cooling system pressurising so I can check the heater core, run the climate control etc, so there may still be plenty of interior work to go yet. I also need to trial fit interior pieces like headliners, so the carpet can stay out for a while.
Here's the first piece of felt being positioned & cut to shape, using my trusty magnet helping hands:
A lot of people will say cotton waste underfelt is no good, but I've worked in trimming for a long time and it's as good as anything else you'll buy for the job. It's cheap, readily available, very easy to fit and dries out if it gets wet, unlike rubber or bitumen deadeners.
The proprietary accoustic mat type deadeners are good, but ridiculously overpriced for what is basically OEM bituminous sound deadener sheets with foil bonded to them. The true way to make any sound proofing work is to ensure a firm, permanent bond to the substrate. The only way to reduce sheet metal from drumming and transmitting noise is to change it's frequency, and that means stiffening it (adhesive bitumen sheets) or changing it's density (felted mat materials), or both like some high end cars do. As the Jaguar doesn't have many large, flat panels, plain old felting works just fine.
Either way, the fit and bond is critical, not so much the material used. Anyway, rant over! Buy the mega dollar stuff if you want, or just buy generic sheets of adhesive bitumen or cotton felt like I am using.
Here is the felting on my car in place. I haven't done the floors yet as I will be making them as separate drop in, vinyl backed pieces so they can be easily removed in the future for cleaning and drying:
I've sorted out the final arrangement of cooling bits and pieces for the front of the car.
Made up some filler panels for either side of the radiator. These will simply screw in place so they can be removed easily for any future maintenance. The edges that rest against the radiator tanks will have rubber fitted. There are still a couple of holes to be cut through the panels for A/C lines, trans cooler lines etc, so they aren't painted up yet:
A nice, clean way to mount the power steering cooler wouldn't present itself, so I got a little carried away and built the cooler into the driver's side filler panel:
Anyway, they were cleaned up and painted with red oxide primer, then matt enamel. I used a 3" foam roller, was perfect for the job and really suits painting enamel:
I've also started some interior work, with underfelt being cut and fitted. I will leave the carpet until everything else is done so it doesn't get damaged or dirty. I still want to get the cooling system pressurising so I can check the heater core, run the climate control etc, so there may still be plenty of interior work to go yet. I also need to trial fit interior pieces like headliners, so the carpet can stay out for a while.
Here's the first piece of felt being positioned & cut to shape, using my trusty magnet helping hands:
The proprietary accoustic mat type deadeners are good, but ridiculously overpriced for what is basically OEM bituminous sound deadener sheets with foil bonded to them. The true way to make any sound proofing work is to ensure a firm, permanent bond to the substrate. The only way to reduce sheet metal from drumming and transmitting noise is to change it's frequency, and that means stiffening it (adhesive bitumen sheets) or changing it's density (felted mat materials), or both like some high end cars do. As the Jaguar doesn't have many large, flat panels, plain old felting works just fine.
Either way, the fit and bond is critical, not so much the material used. Anyway, rant over! Buy the mega dollar stuff if you want, or just buy generic sheets of adhesive bitumen or cotton felt like I am using.
Here is the felting on my car in place. I haven't done the floors yet as I will be making them as separate drop in, vinyl backed pieces so they can be easily removed in the future for cleaning and drying:
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