Part 6

Engine reinstallation went without hitch, it fell in the hole rather swiftly. Bear had tarted up the old cam cover, and the overall effect was most pleasing.

What was less pleasing were two immediate problems. First, the amount of smoke coming out of the exhaust. Second, the hydraulic system for the power assisted brakes exploding. Which was actually very funny, because it got the Bear square in the mush, and he briefly looked like he was filming Ghostbusters 3. That stuff is awfully green

The irony was not lost on us that the failed joint was the only one we’d not touched. The pieces to this car are hugely expensive. The old-style XJ40 power assist driven off the front of the engine, with pumps and pressure valves and a gallon tank of hydraulic oil, but try buying any of this stuff and the cost will blow your mind. We wanted to get rid of it, but that’s neither all that simple nor particularly what the owner wants. Repair was simple, a trip to the local friendly hydraulics place, the owner of which now knows us rather well. It took rather longer to clean the mess up off the garage floor.

The exhaust smoke is more concerning. We knew this engine was likely to be troublesome. It got cooked, then grossly overfuelled, and then thrashed, it has smoked hard since about 24 hours after we first built it. Problem was, the bore had been honed initially, and it won’t take another.

We had 2 choices really then, either try to save this one, or it’s a start again job. Bear’s given it a good go, but is this smoke new, or residual oil in the exhaust burning itself off? The running in the X300 hasn’t shown any real issues with smoke save for serious traffic light grands prix launches, but then road cars do try to clean up what comes out of the back in a way that race cars don’t.

The only way to know is to run it, until you get to a track you just can't tell, so it’s going to Snetterton like this. If it’s a smoky lump it’ll have to get looked at again. Not fun, but necessary. It will still go well, but they do get snippy at the circuit about cars that leave heavy smoke, you have to make promises and offer lewd and disgusting favours at race control to convince them to let you test. Might send Bear this time.

With the engine in, reinstallation of all the other components can be finalised. Wiring gets a tidy, and once again this XJ40 shows signs of old XJ40 in the lighting department. We still don’t have permission to tackle the massive job of rewiring this car, but there are only so many times it can be bodged into life. And I’d love to finally get rid of the immobiliser. Imagine a racing car that still has the alarm in for God’s sake.

The final changes to make this time out are to tackle the front camber. Unlike the XJS this is a more significant job, you can’t just put spacers behind the top arm because there isn’t one. Creative solutions are called for.

Bear, under the influence of Power4Peanuts, has the answer, and the car suddenly sits much more aggressively. It’s almost as if it means business.

Once again we have the panic of why the rear camber seems so extreme, but we do remember these days that the owner insists on carrying half a tonne of useless junk in the boot. We have a fairly large lorry with a fairly large trailer, but for some reason the boot is still used as such. Weird.

A new set of 17” wheels and tyres, for the first time on this car, and she’s ready.

To Snetterton then, and testing. A wet test showed promise, the boy is quick in the wet, no question about it. Whether that’s him or the car is unclear, the thing is still so softly setup that it is a big friendly dog in the rain. The rain damps the smoke down, and it’s briefly encouraging, but it doesn’t last. Two races and qualifyings show no improvement on the end of last season, the attempted rescue of this engine appears to have failed. It is breathing heavily, Bear has to fit a jubilee clip on the rather loose dipstick to stop it firing oil up it, and at the end of race 2 there is oil in the cockpit blowing in through the water drain holes.

The brakes have gone bandy, one front calliper is offering greatly reduced effort and the car snaps hard left under braking, slinging a locked rear wheel in the process. That odd master cylinder has quit, we think, though with the car still on original brake lines there are several suspects. None of this is at all good.

It is a measure of the improvement in the car’s grip and the driver’s development that he brings it home as high on the grid as he does. He still harbours dreams of the race win, but the reality is neither he nor this car is quite there yet. Maybe one wild, wet race, but not in the dry, it’s not that machine. Still too heavy, and too soft, it is a work in progress.

The frustration in the boy-child is clear to see, but we are skilled at tempering ego and reducing expectations. You only have to park it alongside Memphis Belle and ask him if he expects to beat it, and a dose of reality is administered.

Home from Snetterton, and a great deal to do before Brands. Failures breed improvements. We’ve not told the Jefferys clan what we’re going to do, they’d never give us permission. What we’re doing instead is fixing the car, and then if it works, then we might let them know what we did. It is better to seek forgiveness than permission....