1974 E Type roadster (FC) Driver restoration with HP upgrades

Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows: Improve panel fit, eliminate rubber bumper overriders, fit aftermarket enclosed headlamp kit, repaint and perform major mechanical rebuild and upgrade.

The following sequence of photos show how we dealt with some minor clearance issues between the accelerator pump rods and the valve covers, and also the linkage fouling against the back left carb at wide open throttle. With both problems solved, we are now getting very close to firing your engine!

Rather than shorten the accelerator pump rods, we  decided to machine grooves in the cam covers	Not the best photo, although you can see where Kevin machined some relief for the pump rods	Trial fitting and testing for clearance
Notice how the nut on the end of the accelerator  pump rod now clears the cam cover at WOT	Once repainted, the machined groove is barely noticeable	Linkage was also fouling against back left  carb (area of contact marked X)
After shaving a little material from carb body, we now have clearance at WOT		Weber installation now completed

Installing Rob Beere's excellent Weber conversion kit. We machined 1/8" from the custom intake manifolds to give us a little extra under-bonnet clearance. The last photo in the following sequence shows the resultant clearance above the six twin choke carbs with the bonnet trial fitted.

	Scribing and matching gaskets	Material to be removed marked 'X'
	Probably best not to check your fuel mileage....
Trial fitting bonnet shows plenty of clearance above Webers

Engine now installed...

We are scheduled to install your rebuilt engine and CJ5/600 five speed later today.

	CJ5/600 five speed bolts directly to factory bell housing
Team CJ headers look great and provide  a nice performance gain

Your engine rebuild has now been completed...

Installing and wiring in lighting, including the custom enclosed headlamp covers...

Short block now assembled...

Assembling your short block...

Carlos has now trimmed and assembled your seats...

Honing the cylinders to fit your Team CJ forged pistons.

CJ pistons save 100g per piston	Using torque plate to hone cylinders	Skirt clearance set at .004"

As we continue with your Stage II engine rebuild, we also have the restoration of the interior well underway. If you look carefully at the close up of the cam lobe (last photo below), you can see where the original lobe has been welded up and then re-shaped, providing increased lift without changing the base circle.

New biscuit hides feature red piping		Surfacing the cylinder heads
New uprated camshafts	Increased lift achieved by welding up and regrinding the lobes

The following charts show the gains we made by porting your cylinder heads. When we did our base line testing last month, not only were the flow numbers (measured in cfm) very poor, put the velocity through the ports was also dismal. If you compare the color coded before and after images of the respective ports, you will see that we have dramatically improved port velocity.

In terms of flow, the intake ports picked up 36.4 cfm and the exhaust ports flowed 21 cfm more. At .450" lift, intake flow increased by 40.5 cfm, with peak flow numbers maintained and no loss of velocity all the way to .550" lift. In view of these gains, we have decided to go with a more aggressive camshaft profile. The new cams will have a maximum lift of .438" with a huge increase in duration.
 

Intake base line flow numbers	Intake flow numbers after porting
Exhaust base line flow numbers	Exhaust flow numbers after porting

Matching the new Weber intake manifolds to the intake runners...

Weber manifolds have to be matched to intake ports	Joint between manifold and head is now virtually invisible	Note valve guide and open valve seat in distance

We have now finished porting your cylinder heads and will have them back on the flow bench early next week.

Your heads on the porting bench	Note how bottom of CJ valve seats are blended into the throat	Look for new flow numbers early next week!

With the basic (shallow) valve job cut, Chris has the porting process well underway. The torque plate will be used when we cut the liners to size for your custom forged pistons.

Close up of a 5 angled valve job	Our porting should provide us with significant gains
Torque plate will be used when we hone the liners to fit custom forged pistons

The following photos show one of your heads being heated prior to installing new custom CJ valve seats.

The following photos show Chris pressure testing then flow testing your cylinder heads. The flow numbers are very poor, so we should be able to make some significant gains when we port these cylinder heads.

Pressure testing cyl head	Testing flow on the Superflow bench
Exhaust flow base line	Intake flow base line

Your Webers have arrived and we have been busy rebuilding and restoring your alternator, coolant fans and power steering pump.

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Alternator now rebuilt	Distributor upgraded to Crane  optical trigger kit
6 x twin choke down draft Weber carbs		Power steering pump rebuilt

We now have your engine machine work well underway. The following photos show the tear down and align hone in progress. In the first photo you will see that it took three men, a crane, a block of wood and a large hammer to remove your cylinder heads! The short video clip shows Kevin starting your align hone.

Neither head seemed willing to part company with the block..	Success!
We will use custom forged pistons for this particular rebuild		Rods cleaned up, ready for re-sizing and re-bushing
Main caps cleaned up	Cutting main caps square
	Preparing for align hone

The factory hardtop you bought on eBay arrived safely a few days ago. We have already stripped it down and refinished it in Signal Red.

Top was generally in good shape, although back  window will have to be replaced	All the chrome was in pretty decent shape
Headliner and glue removed	After some minor repairs, Slick Sand was applied	Refinished in Signal Red to match the freshly painted body

We now have the doors and boot lid installed and adjusted and have been busy restoring your dash panels and switches. The new wiring harness has been laid in place and next we will be embarking upon a full (Stage One) rebuild of your engine.

Doors have now been installed	Both doors now fit very nicely	New rear bumper have now been installed
	Dash panels were media blasted	Then painted and trimmed
	Brightwork waiting to be installed	Scoops for enclosed headlamp conversion painted silver
	Stage One CJ engine rebuild about to get underway

We have now completely stripped the interior from the car and installed Dynamat through the cabin and boot compartment.

Old interior and dash were removed
	Dynamat installed throughout cabin and boot compartment
Steering rack being rebuilt

We have now repainted your car, along with the firewall and engine frames and the reassembly process is well underway.

Grade 8 fasteners used thro'out	Front suspension has been Nickel plated	Jay installing new/upgraded brakes

We have now completed the bulk of the bodywork, installed and trial fitted the new bumpers and overriders and modified the bonnet to accept the aftermarket enclosed headlamp kit. Our next task will be to strip out the engine bay in order to refinish the firewall and engine frames. We will be painting the engine bay and engine frames in the next couple of days, followed by the main body shortly after that.

Marker lights (front and rear) are being eliminated		Trial fitting new 71 style bumpers and overriders
Note cut old overrider support bracket (marked X) inside indicator housing	Engine bay is very grimy
Engine removed	Modifying bonnet  for enclosed headlamp kit	Finished result looks good, but installation  is extremely involved

I am pleased to report that we now have this project well underway. I hope you enjoy following the work in progress over the next few months!

We will retro fit earlier style bumpers and overriders	Car being largely disassembled for repaint	Enclosed headlamp kit will be installed
Huge overrider mounting brackets will  be removed	Boot, bonnet and door fit will be dramatically improved	Door edges were welded up and ground back to help improve fit