QUAD-CITIES BRITISH AUTO CLUB 2016 Edition / Issue 1 22 February 2016
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QUAD-CITIES BRITISH AUTO CLUB 2016 Edition / Issue 1 22 February 2016 THE QCBAC GETS STARTED FOR 2016 FIRST EDITION The Quad-Cities British Auto Club started the 2016 season Welcome to the first issue of with a dinner at Pizza & Subs, 3700 Blackhawk Rd., Rock the 2016 QCBAC newsletter. Island, on 17 January. The dinner activities included officer As the year progresses, I elections in which the QCBAC membership elected the following 2016 positions: would like to change this newsletter to reflect your President Jerry Nesbitt * interests and expectations. Vice President Larry Hipple * Secretary John Weber * Please contact me with any Treasurer Dave Bishop * comments or suggestions Board member Carl Jamison * about the format or content of Board member Gary Mascho this newsletter. Autofest Chair Jeff Brock Glen Membership Chair Pegg Shepherd * Publicity Chair Glen Just [email protected] Newsletter Chair (vacant) * = re-elected (563) 594 1993 Congratulations to the new QCBAC leadership! “I once bought an old car back after I sold it because I missed it so much and I had forgotten that it never ran. It was a British racing car. You know, because I just wanted it back. I could only remember what was good about it.” – Connie Chung – GET IN THE PICTURE Great American Road Race 2013 – Davenport, IA If you have a picture that you would like to share in this newsletter, send a copy via email to: [email protected]. Page 1 of 10 FEBRUARY DINNER EVENT The group spent a friendly afternoon at Famous Dave’s in Davenport, IA on 21 February. There were 18 members present including the newest member, Mike Kares from Perry, IL. UPCOMING EVENTS QCBAC Autofest, 2012 – Village of East Davenport March Dinner 20 Mar 2016 4:00 pm Newsletter Contact Brennigan’s 226 17th Street, Rock Island, IL QCBAC Newsletter April Dinner TBD 2703 W 71st Street Davenport, IA 52806 Heartland Autofest 6 Aug 2016 9:00 am – 3:00 pm (563) 594 1993 Riverfront Park, Le Claire, IA [email protected] FROM THE BOARD Picture Archives The QCBAC Board will meet next on 1 March 2016. The qcbac.glenjust.com minutes for that meeting will appear in the next newsletter. I HAVE A QUESTION! LOSS OF A MEMBER Question: The current Jaguar It is sad to note that one of our QCBAC members is gone. manufacturing company was not Walter Lee Terrell, 84, of Moline, died Wednesday, Jan. 27, always called that. When it was 2016, at Heartland Health Care Center, Moline. founded in 1922, it was called SS Walter was born Aug. 29, 1931, in Bedford, IN, the son of Company and later the SS Cars Ltd. Frank and Helen Bales Terrell. He was united in marriage to Some of its first cars were the SS 90 Monica Patterson on Oct. 2, 1953. and SS 100 among others. What did the SS stand for? The answer will Walter served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1948-1968. He appear in the next newsletter. was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for combat action in Korea (1952-1953). He worked at the Rock Island Arsenal for 22 years at the Small Arms Facility and the Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Department. Walter was a member of Bethel Wesley United Methodist Church, Moline, Moline American Legion Post 246, Fleet Reserve, NRA and the Quad City British Auto Club. He and his wife enjoyed traveling in their motor home with the Moline Family Campers. Semper Fi. Walter Lee Terrell Page 2 of 10 CAR OF THE MONTH 1963 Jaguar E-Type Photo credit: John Weber John and Linda Weber shared their journey in bringing this beautiful 1963 Jaguar E-Type to show condition. John wrote: This car has been in our family since July of 1977. We are the fifth owners. It took several months to find the right car because I wanted an early car with the Moss gearbox. I wasn’t afraid of a project car, but that was only because I wasn’t experienced enough to know what I was in for. We paid seventeen hundred dollars for a car that was essentially complete (except for the radio console and front badge bar), albeit in pretty poor condition. It ran nicely though and had only 27,106 miles on it. Rust damage Collision damage There was a troubling clunk from the rear of the car when turning or braking, though. A previous owner had repainted the car a sort of copper color and had covered the original upholstery with a brown vinyl. It was a poor cover up job, but it did conceal the fact the there was no floor on the passenger side. That was the source of the clunk, as the trailing arm was no longer connected to the body. Page 3 of 10 I started the restoration right away by pulling the engine and removing the interior. I diligently documented the tear down with photos so that I could get it back together. Of course my career promptly got in the way, and the car had to go in storage along with the new rocker panels and floor pans I had purchased. Fast forward now to December 2008. As I approached retirement, I pulled it out of storage and started working on it on Saturdays. I spent several months stripping the car of paint and undercoating in preparation for the body work. Seven Saturdays were spent under the car lying on my back with a heat gun in one hand and a scraper in the other removing undercoating. Note the temporary carriage I made to replace the Independent Rear Suspension so that the car could be moved. The wooden bonnet rig allowed me to get at the underside also by just tipping it up. Undercoating removal Body stripping Bonnet stripping rig Bonnet stripping The car then went to the body man. At age 63, I rightly assumed that I was too old to learn the fine art of body work from scratch. The body guy did his magic, part time, in about nine months or so. Page 4 of 10 Rotisserie New floors installed Primed Painted While the body guy was at it, I started work on the rear suspension. That took nearly a year. Rear Suspension - before Rear suspension - after It took weeks of soaking in penetrating oil to get the emergency brakes apart. I replaced all of the bearings and bushings in the suspension and was able to retain the original brake cylinders and calipers. I had calipers and the emergency brake mechanism plated rather than paint them so that they would be Page 5 of 10 more durable and would have an original look. I retained the original coil-over springs too. It took 8 hours apiece to sand blast and paint them. Shocks were replaced, of course. There are four on the rear. I had the housing and suspension arms powder coated. Everything else was sand blasted and painted. The front suspension was next. A-arms were plated, as were front calipers. Cylinders were retained and rebuilt. Front and rear, the rotors were replaced. They were already too thin to trust turning them. Front suspension - before Front suspension - after When I started routing the brake lines I discovered that all of the photos I had taken 30 years ago were missing. So was the title to the car. In Illinois, that’s bad. In order to get a replacement title, I had to post a $5000 bond for three years. The missing photo’s made it difficult to locate things like the brake fluid reservoirs. Every restored car I looked at was different. The engine was next. I decided to do a complete rebuild. That meant new bearings rings, timing chains and valve job. I didn’t do the valve job myself because I don’t have the needed tools. Engine – head removed Engine - pan & pistons removed When I stored the engine in 1979, I put oil in the cylinders and closed it up. Five years later I added more oil but after that it went untouched for 25 years. When I started the project in 2008, I tested the engine with a wrench on the crank and it turned easily. By the time I got to work on it three years later, it was frozen. Turning it had wiped the oil off of the cylinder walls. A couple of weeks after that, it was free Page 6 of 10 again. That period was a little stressful. Carburetor rebuilding was a little touchy, because I wanted to return all adjustments to their original settings as a starting point. After reassembly, I ran the finished engine on the floor on the stand I built for that purpose. Engine rebuilt and ready for installation When we fired it up, it coughed and choked for about twenty seconds and then smoothed out. Another twenty seconds and it idled down to a purr. It was interesting to see an engine sitting on the floor, running. I was ecstatic. Reinstalling the engine in the car turned out to be quite a challenge. It took three of us more than a half a day to get it in. The car has to be elevated for the gearbox to clear the floor when swung in place. Everything is tight. In fact, when I removed the engine in 1977, the manual said that the timing pointer screw had to be removed in order for the engine to clear the frame. I said “bullcrap, nobody designs an engine compartment that tight.” I tried it and it did not clear.