Domestic Short-hair

[Renrut]

Pleased as punch today - MOT passed with only one advisory - Handbrake adjustment!

So I'll do that tomorrow if the auctioneering doesn't go well tonight.

Found that Mountune do a racing Jaguar V6s:
http://www.mountune.com/Racing/Engines/jaguarv6
Obviously not ideal for a 1600kg road car. I might give them a bell at some point and see what they can do regarding road cars.
I found the old Pistonheads link regarding the V6 and Nobles modifications that allow them to handle up to 500bhp:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=973036
And the manual gearbox is a Getrag 221 although I'm struggling to find a max torque for it - some web hunting suggests 245Nm but the V6 normally kicks out 280Nm peak. I know peak and continuous aren't the same thing but that sounds quite close to the limit already.

[Renrut]

Not much of an update. I'm booked into the RWYB on saturday at Santa Pod, so I've done the important bits, checked oil, coolant etc. All of them were spot on anyway so I left them be

I've swapped the tyres round front to back to give me plenty more on the rear so I don't end up with bald tyres for the drive home.

Hoping for low 15s over the quarter.

Planning for the future I've done some research - STR brakes will fit and use braided hoses as standard. This should be a direct bolt on swap. But I will need 18" wheels to clear them as my 16s only just clear the ones I've got. I've seen sets of 2nd hand but usable STR brakes going for about £500 inc discs and pads. Set of 18s with tyres will be about £300. Something to consider after I get back from holiday when the finances aren't so tight. Once I've got good stoppers that'll be brakes and suspension sorted. Next will be more power. This is where it gets awkward as I have lots of potential options and I can't see any being much easier than the others:

1 - tune the V6, maybe turbo it a la Noble ~400bhp but £2-3k by the time i've got 2 turbos, manifolds and done all the pipework, block mods and setup.
2 - fit a V8, jaguar did a 4.0 V8 model as standard with 280bhp but it was auto only. It does mean all the mounts etc and positioning of stuff will be ok without any headaches. So I could just fit the V8 to the manual gearbox. Adaptor plate and a different clutch setup will be needed. ~ £2K tops by the time its setup even if I have to get an aftermarket ecu.
3 - give up and buy a 400bhp STR and live with the Autobox - £5K minus whatever I get for mine.
4 - yank V8, not really thought about this much but having seen how compact they are I could fit one easily. Will almost certainly need a new gearbox to handle it. Corvette / Mustang drivetrain would get me gearbox plus engine. No idea how much though.
5 - Nitrous a lot. £500 to get it sorted which probably safely gives me 300 bhp.

Any thoughts?

[Relentless Rob]

Option 3 will be cheapest and easiest; but not as much fun. If you go for a V8 conversion (best way would be to buy an accident damaged import and sell the parts you don't need if you decide to go American) you'll have a V6 you know very well to fit into your Midget.

[Renrut]

The gearbox I think will be the sticking point, if I have to replace that with something beefier then it gets much more expensive unless I can drop lucky on an ebay bargain.

The other option I didn't add on was getting rid of the jag and buying a TVR Cerbera. I've fancied one for a long while. at 10K I figure by about this time next year I should be able to afford one and that gives me around 400bhp, 500kg weight saving, a manual gearbox and tiny back seats that I'd never use anyway

V6 into the midget has already been thought of. Lots of shell cutting to make that fit under the bonnet although I suppose the whole rear subframe could just be bolted on to give me an IRS rear end and a diff that can handle the power...

No, I must get it on the road first!

[Relentless Rob]

Old school hotrod with modern power. I was kind of joking but....

[Renrut]

Nothing much to report, the RWYB went ok. Ran a best of 16.2s @ 86mph.

The tyres seemed to be the main failing, even straight after a run they were stone cold. The silver lining is that they didn't appear to have worn any worse for the treatment. Too bloody hard basically.

So if I go again it'll be stickier tyres a necessity.

In other news I've finally managed to find someoen with those camber bolts at a sensible price - £20 delivered! 2nd hand from the local breaker, he finally had an S-type in again. Much better than the £120 from Jag or anyone else who would sell them. They should turn up just after easter. I'll get them fitted at that point and hopefully get the alignment sorted once and for all.

[Relentless Rob]

Nothing much to report, the RWYB went ok. Ran a best of 16.2s @ 86mph.

That's as fast as my stripped out E36 was and you had 600Kg more to push up the strip. Good show.

[Renrut]

And here you go:





Looks quite impressive but he did pip me over the line with a 14.5. His was fully stripped out and caged but I didn't find out what engine it was. I suspect a 2.8 or at least 2.5 for it to have proportionally more grunt.

[Renrut]

Wipers packed up yesterday, locking in full upright position which no amount of persuasion would release without bending the wiper arms. So drove to work like that.

They then flatened the battery while I was at work thanks to Jaguar's clever auto wiper parking system having a unswitched live to the wiper to park it when you take the key out. Of course if its jammed in the unparked position it keeps trying until it flatens the battery.

Jump start and wiper fuse out and it started and drove no problem. Removed the wipers, mechanism and motor last night. Mechanism siezed solid (steel spindle in ally frame) so thats gone in the bin. New mechanism from Jaguar = £150 + VAT. The motor is more

So I'll be picking one up from the local breakers tomorrow morning on the way to work for £50 inc motor. I use these guys - http://www.jojags.co.uk/ always helpful and really supportive of the DIYer!

[mjslonergan]

If you drive fast enough you don't need wipers, as the rain moves up the screen in a nice linear manner, giving very clear vision, so driving faster is really safer

[Renrut]

Thats exactly it!

It made me think that perhaps there is something better than wipers out there - perhaps an exhaust powered hairdryer to blow at the screen. Or maybe just design a blower assisted engine bay venting system that can force air up the screen even at a standstill.

The linkage and motor were quite heavy. If a simple blower and duct system was effective then it would be a big weight saving. But I'm not sure it would work well against dirt and grime unless it was pressure washer level strength. This idea needs more thought...

[mjslonergan]

I think you are on to something there...

[Renrut]

What pressure do pressure washers run at? Where's Dazzler when you need him!

Turn the washer nozzles into pressure washers and have some sort of industrial dryer plumbed into the scuttle. This might work. Dunno if there is a legal requirement for wipers or if anything else that does the job would do...

[mjslonergan]

Rolling Film Screen With scraper/cleaner/dryer mechanism in the valance, kinda like the cameras on F1 cars

[Renrut]

Wiper motor in but it was a struggle. Car now back to running although the idle seemed to be drifting a bit on the way home. Not sure if thats a sign of worse things to come. I'll keep an eye on it.

The OH is trying to persuade me to buy her car off her so she can afford a new one.