LISTER XJ40
The exhaust has jumped on, so therefore do the rear wheels, but even a tiny change in various elements can cause these two components to interact when the wheels are in droop. Though they should never be in full droop, hard cornering can achieve something very close, so some further bending of the pipes seems likely. This was originally an exhaust system that we made, and there have always been a couple of elements of it that we thought could be improved. But we know this exhaust is sufficient to allow 350bhp, so it’s worth tweaking rather than redesigning from scratch. Cheaper too.
We'll get to the outside later, honest. For now it can merely float and sputter.
Wiring almost complete. The exposed fusebox a nice touch, but we messed up. No clock.
Tiny changes everywhere. Why should a spacer be steel if it can be alloy? Every little 'elps.
Ignore the shiny blue scaffolding. More on that later. But look, a grille!
We always comply with regulations. Not always as they expect, but always legal.
We've a lot of car still to prep. There are almost no steel panels left.
Sometimes you have to take it all apart again, to put it together for real. Coil pack mounted, and stuff.
The David is still wiring. There is a lot of muttering. In readiness for engine start, and a full smoke test, we’re scurrying to make the car into a car. There’s oil in the engine, the cooling system is now all in and filled, the gearbox and diff have lubricant. The brakes are bled, and after much annoyance, so too is the clutch. The fuel system is already in place and powered, once the engine has sparks you could drive this thing about as a giant beach buggy.
It is one of those milestone moments in the reassembly process, that point at which you realise it’s no longer a sculpture, but a car. A visit from the Jeffery clan at this stage, however, makes it clear that they have yet to achieve that mental transcendence required when looking at a racing car, the realisation that the panels and brightwork are the least important part of the machine. No point in a shiny outer if the insides are rubbish, that’s the entire point of this revamp. The look of horror etched on the face of a Jaguar polisher when he sees his car as a skeletal shell covered in dust and used as a shelf is something to behold.
The state visit over, back to work. The new coil pack is mounted, using recycled parts cut off the shell during the shell prep. We enjoy nothing more than to relocate a discarded piece somewhere different in an entirely new role, and the fact that the radiator supports now hold the electrics brings a moment of glee.
Systems are coming to life. We have lights. The switch panels are trimmed and fitted and labelled. The box of components to refit is emptying quickly. The holes for the seat to be remounted are drilled, as are the holes for the cage mounts, erased during the repair because the car got new floors in the relevant places. Fortunately, not a problem because the plates were not moved.
Extinguisher tubing, pull cables for power and fire are laid and strapped in, the chaos of the interior rapidly empties as it all comes together again and the zip of tie wraps fades. The magic moment is here, time to push the button. That it fires up is a moment to celebrate. When you’ve had a car totally apart, and changed the entire fuel and wiring systems, to have it run again is a momentous event. Were we American we’d probably whoop and high five. We actually had a cup of tea, and a bun. Praise be to Kipling.
There are minor issues. Nothing to write home about, they will require attention, but the tame McGivern’s work here is largely done. Ours is certainly not. As he departs for the South and warmer climes, our task is to turn what is left into a car that can go racing.
The bumpers are going back on, albeit with substantial cuts made to their weight. It can get a bit rough, you need some protection, and with that oil cooler right in harm’s way you can’t leave the front one off. If you carry the front bumper, you should have the rear. Tiny details make a difference, so the steel spacers the bumper bolts inexplicably need are swapped for small lengths of aluminium tube.
The cage changes are in hand. They take time, and effort, and pain, so I’m dodging having to tackle them, but they’re in motion. I’ve made the bits, I just don’t want to be set on fire for a couple of days. The panels, likewise they’re all there, just need finishing. I don’t want to. I hate this bit, I prefer the fire and hammers part.
To distract, we’re doing all the other bits. Towing straps, polycarbonate windows, including the vast sheet that is the rear window. 4kg shed from the car just by changing that one piece from glass to lexan.
Grille refitted. Headlight trim trial-fitted, and a modification made to the nearside. Regs say airflow meter must be retained, and that the majority of the air must go through it. It doesn't actually have to work. OK. An intake in the missing lamp is let into a piece of aluminium. A redundant AFM that looks like it’s been under the North Sea is riveted directly to it. I sawed part of the rear off to make it fit, but nothing in the rules about that.
Seatbelt eyes are refitted, swapped for shiny replated items where necessary. The Bear has become obsessed with gold bolts, and the clash of colour against the metallic blue paint means we seem to be inadvertently building a Subaru.
The clicking of wire strippers sees the fan and demist come back to life. Then the magic moment when the bespoke engine loom appears from the David’s box of tricks, and disappears into its new home. When I say disappears, I mean that other than the wires for the injectors you can’t see it. The loss of heater, fans etc means there is acres of space to properly mount the ECU, no more tape and tie-wraps lashing this magic box to the spaghetti of cables.
This assembly feeds a new alloy airbox, which is a box full of air. Also feeding that airbox is another duct, of what we measure to be very nearly the same cross sectional area as the AFM. The rule says “the majority” must go via the AFM. It is a stupid rule, because all the XJ40s are now running a bespoke ECU that doesn’t use the AFM, but we’re complying with it. I will wager nobody else even tries.
As the sounds of struggle and swearing subside, we have a running, steering, stopping beach buggy in need of a cage and some bodywork. Other than finishing a means of tying down that battery there are very few jobs now I can do to avoid tackling the two large wrinkly grey mammals in the corner.
I think we’ll start by caging the beast.
Next time, part 14 – cage fighting.
Bear is even remaking the sunroof panel in fibreglass. The bucket is for his beer.
Part 13 - Light(e)ning strikes.
Bumpers fitted means trial fit of the bodykit. We did change the boot floor and made big alterations to the sills, so it’s helpful that we were right in our guesstimates and the fibreglass all still fits. Throwing some of the other panels on the car, we start to get an idea of all-up weight and post the scales under the wheels. The numbers are encouraging, the car is shedding about 150kg in the rebuild. That ought to help. Doing so without appearing to have lost anything is amusing, it still looks the same as before, we’ve not binned any trim, or door cards etc, it’s all still there, down to the wood and the Lister plaque on the dash.
With a real sense of momentum, we can write a to-do list. Little details, ignoring the two substantial pachyderms in the room: roll cage, and paint.
