After a great deal of time spent upgrading various parts to the old girl, it is time to tackle the elephant in the room, which is the destroyed engine.
Obviously Stewert himself will not be allowed anywhere near it. Also quite clearly the new engine will not be a scrap 5.3 this time. Eleanor may have won 4 championships on the trot with a free and unmodified engine, but that’s not going to stand up to Classic Thunder, it’s rather higher pace and 300 and odd horsies aren’t going to pull those wings through the air fast enough.
ELEANOR;
THE QUICKENING.
The new engine is already under construction, but for now the old has to come out. Someone ought to persuade Stew to fit a supercharged Jag V8, but he does like his V12. There are a great number of other components requiring attention whilst he’s in here. Gearbox and radiator are foremost on the list, and the need to remove nearly everything to get the engine out affords the excuse and opportunity to deal with such things at this point.
Another Gertrag 5 speed is purchased, but then immediately sent for a serious overhaul, which sees it refurbished to better than original specification. Changes to way in which it mounts to the engine are also needed, this being a flaw in the car’s initial assembly, a faulty adaptor plate causing numerous gearbox woes over the years.
With some reluctance that vast slab of engine slithers out of its hole. They are what you would call a bit of a lump. Ideal for a game of giant conkers, though this one clearly has coffee table written into its future.
It is then time to deal with the body, because with great power comes a need for great grip, and the slicks she will be wearing are big. Very big. So big that the 18 x 9 wheels she is currently wearing are too small, and to get the right size in there we’re running out of wheelarch.
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The solution is clear. Get more wheelarch. Aftermarket flared arches are not exactly commonplace for the XJS. The most common approach seems to be to adapt the Broadspeed kit you’d fit to an XJ saloon, but that’s rather expensive, and Stewert has never liked to follow the conventional route.
Mk1 Escort is his preferred solution, these are commonplace, cheap, and he won’t therefore have to cry if he messes this up.
Adapting the front end of the car is difficult. The wheelarch is cut away, and the bubble arch cut into 4 pieces, modified, reworked, added to, carefully trimmed to fit and grafted on.
The wing is further modified to create an exit vent to the rear, a modification achieved by simply cutting and bending the original metal, then working out the rest of it from there.
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Fortunately, none of this is left to Stewert. The car is with Phil Woods. A collective sigh of relief should now escape you.
The rear is more complex. These are not bolt-on panels, which means cutting into the shell and tubbing the wheelarch. It is at this moment that Eleanor turns her back on her roots completely, there is no coming back from this sort of modification and she cannot ever now revert to JEC-type races. Original bodywork is a requirement for some series, and this is now certainly not that.
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A large section of rear wing is cut away, and the process we all refer to as “tub”bing completed. The XJS wheelarch of course has both inner and outer skins, and both are cut away here, the work is not insubstantial.
The Escort bubble arches have to be cut in half and fitted, then the missing centre pieces created from scratch to create a truly bespoke fitment. Paint and putty can now be thrown by the expert, and Eleanor’s dramatic new look is complete.
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The problem with this is that there are no replacement parts, it’s a one of a kind job. Moulds are therefore take off the car to allow replacements to be made, in the event that damage occurs.
It is almost inevitable that one day there will be a collision of some sort, though so far the most damage she's ever sustained was when Simon Seath reversed into her in the paddock.
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The new wheels are a foot wide, and rather shiny. The track of the car is increased at the rear by some 6cm, and the monster rims fitted with the giant slicks. How the suspension and mounts take the abuse from so much grip, pressed ever harder by the car’s aero package, remains to be seen.
The wheels are split-rim, and too shiny for Stewert's taste, so some cosmetic fiddling will need to see the centres turn black, but they clear the vast arches. The effect the increased track will have on the suspension is in the "unknown but predictable" category.
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What is clear is that Stewert is not going to be strong enough to steer this beast. With the best will in the world he’s not a bodybuilder. He’s more like Morph. Power assistance for the steering is now needed.
Conventional Jaguar is not on the cards, instead an electrically-powered steering column with adjustable assistance is fitted. The level of assistance is adjustable on the fly. Letting Stewert alter anything on the move worries us all, because he's so addicted to his telephone that a hands-free kit is surely next. But the concept appears sound. How it stands up to the unconventional strains of racing remains to be seen. It looks the part, with rose joint support and a rollcage bracket, but how it stands up mechanically is the test.
How successful this is will need to be determined in testing, a great deal of this car is experimental at this stage, it may well be 2015 before it is deemed “sorted.” But therein lies the challenge.
Now, has anybody seen that big loud bit that goes in the front?....
There is still work to be done, however. A diffuser, turning vanes, and all manner of cosmetics are still outstanding.
The diffuser presents a bit of a headache, because the centrally-mounted exhaust cannons are located right in the middle of the available hole that would otherwise lend itself to this job.
The bonnet still needs proper repair, or replacement, the fractures it sustained over 7 years of high speed airflow tugging at that front lip are many, and on both the obvious and microscopic scale. Repair adds weight, however, something we know from long experience. There comes a point at which you have to effect major repair, or simply throw it away. That call has yet to be made.
It is clear, however, that this project, that began as a mere rebuild, has become a complete reworking of the car from stem to stern. The days of slowly drifting sideways round circuits on screaming road tyres are now long gone.
Front wing vents under construction.
Subtle new wheelarches also making their debut.
Eleanor has a wheelarch-ectomy.
Not as extreme as some, but both inner and outer skins require work.
Crouching Woods, Hidden power tools.
Cut and shut arches with an invented centre to show off Phil Woods' expertise.
Paint prep. Repaired bumper and spoiler also in for attention.
Filler and primer complete, it looks a little odd, but that could be the now-too-small wheels.
Wrapped in brown paper because Phil sold it on Ebay when Stew was out.
After he painted it.
OK, that does look a little better.
Whether it actually works is another question.
The front end treatment does work much better than the rear. Who said Modsports had died away?
It's growing on me now.
There isn't another one like it, that much is certain.
Better get some stickers on it quick, that's a lot of white. New steering column being fitted.
Looks better in daylight.
He's vandalised that, no mistake.
No going back now!
He could have cleaned the engine bay though!
We're a little sad that the big shark mouth is still here, but it's her look.