1963 Team CJ Lightweight E Type (MW)
Chassis 002

Restoration log by Dan Mooney



 
 

 

This matching numbers 1963 Series One E Type is being restored as a Team CJ lightweight alloy roadster in the style of the 1963 factory lightweight racing E Types. It will be finished in Opalescent Gunmetal over Dark Tan hides.

The car features an aluminum monocoque, complete with alloy bonnet, doors, boot lid and hardtop. Suspension anchor points are reinforced with steel. The original matching number engine will be rebuilt to Team CJ Stage Two specifications, featuring a wide angled head and stroked to 4.2L. It will be conservatively rated at 350 HP and 360 ft/lbs of torque on unleaded pump gas.

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  March 2019
Many thanks to Jay Leno and his crew for the fantastic show they put together featuring our Team CJ Lightweight E Type. We think the car looked and sounded awesome on screen, but we'll let you be the judge!







Yesterday I spent the day as Jay Leno's guest in his incredible garage. Jay checked out the Team CJ Lightweight and also took it for a serious drive through the beautiful hills around Burbank, California. I was a little nervous about doing the show but I really needn't have worried as Jay was an incredibly kind and gracious host. I was truly honored to meet possibly the number one 'car guy' in the world - and the fact that he loved our Team CJ Lightweight made it a very special day! He said it was easily the fastest and most powerful 6 cylinder Jaguar he had ever driven.

For fans of the "Jay Leno's Garage" show, I can tell you that he really does drive (or ride) everything in his collection. I loved the fact that virtually every car was hooked up to a trickle charger and the breadth of Jay's automotive knowledge is incredible. The Team CJ Lightweight show will air in February 2019.




Jay and I talking about the Team CJ Lightweight











This lady had a tough job to do!











The car looked stunning under the studio lighting
























Let's take this thing for a drive!










I couldn't count all the cameras that the crew
attached to the Lightweight!











Headed for the hills!









Not quite finished but close enough for some fantastic road testing and shakedown over the last few days! We will be displaying the car at the Hagerty's car show at COTA tomorrow. Anyone local who is planning to attend the SVR racing and/or the car show, stop by and say hello!










































































































Installing the seats, belts and dash top.



Tan hide a nice contrast with the Gunmetal paint
Driver's seat is anchored to the cage











Dash top now installed




Installing leather bonnet straps, decals, headlamps, etc.





















Fabricating aluminum inner door panels and machining custom center caps for the Dunlop racing wheels.



Jake fabricated new alloy inner door panels





















































Corey machining center caps for the Dunlop alloy
racing wheels

















I am delighted to report that this car will feature on an upcoming episode of Jay Leno's Garage (to be filmed in December).

































Alex has been busy installing the wiring harness and plotting out the layout of the dash.



Plotting out the dash format











Fuel pressure regulator on firewall

















We have now finished modifying the fuel cell and it is ready to permanently install.



Preparing to weld the tank back together
Foam reinstalled











End panel tack welded in place










Tank now fully welded
Ready to install





Fuel cell modifications, continued...










































































































We just received the FIA approved 35 gallon fuel tank from Axminster Specialist Panels in England. This is a stunning quality item exhibiting workmanship of the highest order, although unfortunately we are going to have to modify the tank fairly extensively in order for it to fit. The biggest issues are the rear wall, where the tank does not allow enough room for the boot latch and bracket, and the filler neck does line up with the corresponding hole in the boot lid.



























RH side panel will be carefully cut away
Foam will be removed and replaced











Unfortunately no room for the boot lid latch










Cutting away the center section of the rear wall
to provide clearance for the boot lid latch
Making a template for the boot latch recess










Now room for the latch which can be installed or
removed without removing the tank
Plotting the location of the rear mounting bracket










Tank retaining straps will bolt to the rear mounting
bracket
Hole for filler neck will be moved inboard almost
3 inches to work with filler neck hole in boot lid










Plotting the anchor points for the forward wall
of the tank












Rubber mounting strips glued to floor support rails










Making stainless fuel screens























Rear mount bracket now secured, straps trial bolted
to bracket
Fuel lines will be concealed in front of the
tank and inside right rear wing





We chose some period Italian made DCOE9 45mm Webers for our Lightweight project. Those carbs have now been completely rebuilt and installed on the special wide angled Crosthwaite and Gardiner intake manifold, along with a custom made free flowing Stage Two exhaust system from our friends at Hayward & Scott in England.












































Installing the FIA approved roll cage in the Lightweight.



3.8 pedal box has been modified for use with
later master cylinder and booster
Jake and Gerardo installing the FIA roll cage








































Ray busy installing the custom Hayward & Scott headers and intake manifold to the wide angled head.













The Lightweight on its wheels for the first time!





Installing the engine, transmission and Dunlop racing wheels and tires.




Great to see the drive train installed










Dunlop 6.50 L-15 Racing Tires for the rear
Dunlop 6.00 L-15 racing tires for the front




Time to start going together with this Team CJ Lightweight!















Installing the new engine frames
Ray installing the control arms










Special CJ/Wilwood vented brakes all round





Unmasking the body to reveal the bare aluminum inner surfaces.










We painted the bonnet, hardtop and boot lid yesterday afternoon.




Note underside of bonnet has been left
in bare aluminum























Alloy hardtop was painted at the same time
as the bonnet and boot lid











Time to put this car together!




Earlier today we painted the main bodyshell Opalescent Gunmetal.

































I am pleased to report that we have now begun the process of painting the Lightweight.



The underside of the floors will be first to be painted












Sealed with epoxy primer










Gerardo applying the first of the Opalescent
Gunmetal paint











Note all the rivets which are a feature of
the Lightweight's construction




With all of the body and panel work completed, the lightweight is now only a few weeks from its Opalescent Gunmetal paint.



Bodywork has now been completed
Panel fit has now been finalized






















Interior of the car will be left bare aluminum
Exposed rivets a feature of the quarter and
rocker panels




Trimming the driver's seat...



Reinforced steel frame fabricated for mounting
seats to floor
Seat back support brace for driver's seat






















Bracket is tied to the main cage












Submarine belt installed through seat base























Carlos did a beautiful job fabricating and installing
the tan hide seat covers





Carlos busy making your hide seat covers..
































Matt has been busy putting the finishing touches to the roll cage installation.




Threaded steel mounting plates will be positioned
beneath the aluminum skin



































Welding the alloy skin back in place























Repeating the process on the other side of the car











Cage is now bolted to the steel brackets












Note how all the boot floor rails are secured
with dozens of rivets











Boot compartment and cabin will be left unpainted
bare aluminum




The bare aluminum is first treated with a special conditioner that is specifically designed to clean, condition and fortify the alloy substrates for maximum adhesion and corrosion resistance. It is then coated with a Spies Hecker 'wash primer', before being primed in the traditional sense with a 2k sealer. We will be leaving the cabin, underside of the bonnet and boot compartment in bare aluminum, per the original Lightweights.



Bare aluminum is first treated with a conditioner
which fortifies alloy substrates
Special 'wash' primer is applied











Followed by our regular 2K sealer










Cabin will be left in bare aluminum




Custom forged CJ pistons designed to work with ultra large valves of the wide angled head.









Following your visit the other day when we "trial fitted" you inside the cabin of your Lightweight, we decided to reduce the overall width of both seats by just over an inch. We have also now received the peg drive hubs and new Dunlop alloy wheels from England - and they are absolutely beautiful.



Marking out area to be sectioned in order to
reduce seat width by approximately 1 inch











Seat cut down the centerline











Note difference between the two seats after the
driver's seat had been modified











Finalizing position of driver's seat











New Dunlop alloy replicas are superb quality
Spinner from Steve McQueen's XKSS side by
side with one of your new spinners




Roll cage installation, continued..



Notching sections of the cage tubing for
perfect fit























TIG welding upper screen protective bar in place























Trial fitting hardtop over cage




Trial fitting and welding the roll cage...



Sample 'test' weld to be submitted for FIA
approval
Trial fitting screen surround










Rear section now virtually complete
Lower/rear anchor point















Block machine work in progress...



Magnaflux checking block after de-sleeving
revealed no cracks
Machining for custom CJ top hat liners










Align honing in progress
Surfacing the deck of the cylinder block










Checking for zero deck with gauge block
Block machine work now completed




The following sequence of photographs show Matt starting to assemble and install the roll cage, the Suffolk & Turley tan hide we chose to trim the seats, and corrective work done to the wide angled cylinder head. The last two photos show the carbon fiber driveshaft.















Matt has huge experience with roll cages and is
enjoying working on the lightweight cage





Beautiful tan hide will be used to trim the seats
Valve stem to guide clearance was more than twice
what we like to see










With guides removed, we ported intake and
exhaust runners











Special 'Trojan' CJ guides bring F1 technology
to this special engine build
New CJ guides installed










Head now flows 20 cfm more on the intake
side, 15 cfm on the exhaust
Note stem to guide clearance now .001"










Machining out seats
Seat pockets sized for custom CJ valve seats










New custom CJ seats installed
Cam caps were between .003" and .006" out of
round on the intake side - align hone required










After align hone, cam caps now perfectly
sized and aligned
Machining multi angled valve job











Team CJ Lightweights feature high tech CJ
carbon fiber driveshafts






IRS components have been media blasted and powder coated, front suspension Nickel plated...















Front suspension has been Nickel plated
Note modified control arms, per original




I am pleased to report that we now have your wide angled head in hand so we will be pushing ahead with your Stage Two rebuild over the next few weeks. We have also been busy modifying your front control arms and rear wishbones, and have continued gathering together all the various parts that will be used in the project.



Wide angled head and special Weber manifold
Special Weber manifold for use with wide
angled head











Upper control arms modified per the original
1963 Lightweights










Front suspension components going out for
Nickel plating
Uprated rear calipers and vented rotors










Reinforcing the rear wishbones with 7/8"
chromemoly tubing












Bracing prevents flexing due to hugely increased
torque of the Stage Two engine





Setting aside some of the components for the Stage Two engine. The build will feature a billet crankshaft (stroked to 4.2L), forged Carrillo rods, ultra-light forged pistons, a high output billet oil pump and a 12lb Team CJ billet steel flywheel.








Just how much does a fully assembled Team CJ Lightweight E Type body weigh?









This car features a lightweight aluminum monocoque with chromium molybdenum engine subframes and steel reinforced suspension anchor points.























Time to tear down the donor car and harvest the parts we need for this Team CJ Lightweight E Type.



Matching number engine block will be used with a
wide angled head











Gauges are about the only things we need from
the cabin
Not much of use left in the engine bay!










Body shell cut in two during tear down
IRS will be rebuilt and upgraded










Steering and suspension components will be
salvaged and upgraded
Carte Blanche...indeed

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