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Re: [OM] Saving the planet or just saving money?

Subject: Re: [OM] Saving the planet or just saving money?
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:13:24 -0500
Here's one that looks exactly like mine including the color except that 
mine had a dark blue interior.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zDCmEkT3CE&NR=1>

This is a '65, mine was a '64.  If there's an exterior difference I 
can't recognize it except that this car has amber turn signals, my '64 
didn't.  My car also had a 4.2 liter engine with triple SUs as does this 
'65.  I was told that's a combination that's not supposed to exist for 
'64.  Maybe late 64 production merging into '65?

It was a grand machine.  Despite the stories of Jag unreliability it 
drove me to work and back every day for about 4 years.  Never failed to 
start up and get me to work on time except for one failing battery. 
(but, twiddling the carbs with a Unisyn gage was a regular activity).

The incident with replacing the rear brakes is what caused me to sell 
it.  Because the rear suspension cage has to be removed to get at the 
inboard brake rotors it took me 6 weeks of spare time working alone to 
rebuild the brakes.  I think it took me a week just to get the 
suspension cage out due to the rusted retaining bolts which I had to 
laboriously drill straight through for about 3 inches.  Hardened steel 
bolts don't like to be drilled.  I also had to pay a machinist a lot of 
money to build some special tools to be able to re-bore the wheel 
cylinders which were pitted beyond honing.  Probably the prior owners 
neglect and choice of the wrong brake fluid.  Girling brakes are fussy 
in that respect.

It was probably stupid of me to sell it at that point since I had 
already done the work and spent the money but I was unhappy with all the 
work and expense that was required as well as the lack of a car for 6 weeks.

I replaced it with the '73 Mercury Capri which tried its damnedest to 
kill both me and my wife.  The first incident was the failure of the 
splines on the steering shaft whilst running down a mountain road.  The 
next was the driver's seat back collapsing backwards when my wife was 
driving it.  And the last straw was the heater blower motor catching 
fire under the dash and costing me $1300 for repair.  Arrgh.

Since then none of our cars has actively tried to kill us.

Chuck Norcutt



On 11/19/2010 1:46 PM, Paul Braun wrote:
> XKE's are one of the sexiest cars EVER. Period. Also have a warm spot for 
> Ferrari 246GT Dinos.
>
>
> Paul Braun
> Certified Music Junkie
>
>
> "The Nachos are still good." -- Jim Peterik
>
> "It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever." -- David St. Hubbins
>
> "Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life" - Harlan Howard
>
> On Nov 19, 2010, at 12:46, Chuck Norcutt<chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>  
> wrote:
>
>> Yes, I sometimes think I'd like another but probably couldn't afford it
>> anymore.  That was about 1973 and a 64 E-type wasn't very expensive.
>>
>> Chuck
>>
>>
>> On 11/19/2010 1:41 PM, Bill Pearce wrote:
>>> But YOU HAD AN XKE! No sympathy here!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> From: Chuck Norcutt [mailto:chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>>> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 10:53 AM
>>> To: Olympus Camera Discussion
>>> Subject: Re: [OM] Saving the planet or just saving money?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Ala Jag XKE.  I remember pulling the rear suspension cage on my '64 XKE
>>> to work on the brakes.  After fighting a couple of thoroughly rusted
>>> bolts that had to be drilled out I got the whole suspension cage down
>>> onto the garage floor.  While on my knees examining it I dropped a
>>> wrench on the floor.  In reaching for the wrench I banged my shoulder
>>> into one of the four rubber isolater brackets that held the suspension
>>> cage in and broke it off!  Didn't injure my shoulder either!  I then
>>> checked the other three and found that all of them were at least
>>> partially separated.  Not long before that I has been touring down a
>>> twisty mountain road.  Gulp!  Reminiscent of the time the splines on the
>>> the steering shaft on my '73 Mercury Capri failed going down the same
>>> road.  Or the time I broke half of the spokes out of the front wheels on
>>> my '57 Sunbeam Alpine while on a different twisty road.  Some things
>>> remind me I'm lucky to still be here.  :-)
>>>
>>> Chuck Norcutt
>>>
>>>
>>> On 11/19/2010 10:33 AM, Bill Pearce wrote:
>>>> Yes, there were a few re-engined with a very small but potnet V8 of
>>> american
>>>> ancestry, but I forget whose. Like many other of these projects, few were
>>>> really thought out. His was probably a TR6, as they all had problems with
>>>> the differential mounting. As the 6 had IRS, the diff was mounted to the
>>>> frame on a bracket with rubber isolaters, which in the cases of either the
>>>> front or rears were quite strong, enough indeed that the bracket, make of
>>>> stamped metal, couldn't hold up. They all cracked, the question was when.
>>> I
>>>> remember having mine welded. Even the torque of the original motor could
>>>> break a diff loose when badly cracked. Oh, those english!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> From: Piers Hemy [mailto:piers@xxxxxxxx]
>>>> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 7:50 AM
>>>> To: 'Olympus Camera Discussion'
>>>> Subject: Re: [OM] Saving the planet or just saving money?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Bill, your words remind me of an off-list exchange with Walt Wayman, who
>>>> discovered that his re-engined TR (I think it might have been a -5 rather
>>>> than a -6, but I can't remember the size of the new and bigger engine he
>>> had
>>>> put in it) had rather more torque than he had expected, and considerably
>>>> more than the back axle could handle.  As far as I recall, the back axle
>>> was
>>>> ripped off the bodyshell. Completely.
>>>>
>>>> Piers
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Bill Pearce [mailto:bs.pearce@xxxxxxx]
>>>> Sent: 18 November 2010 23:29
>>>> To: 'Olympus Camera Discussion'
>>>> Subject: Re: [OM] Saving the planet or just saving money?
>>>>
>>>> When I had my TR6, I noted frequently that generally there was adequate
>>>> space in the engine compartment for a nice Buick/Rover V6 with
>>> supercharger
>>>> or a small V8, so the straight six was easy to work on, but rarely needed
>>>> it. The electricals were remarkably reliable, as long as you didn't want
>>>> lights, defroster, wipers and the radio all at once. Sure had a lot of
>>>> torque.
>>>>
>>>> --snip
>>>>
>>>> --
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>>> --
>>> _________________________________________________________________
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>> --
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
>> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
>> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>>
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