Herr Doktor Reitzle Most of you know that Jaguar is part of Ford’s Premier Auto Group which is headed up by Wolfgang Reitzle, the would-be president of BMW, who jumped to Ford after he was passed over twice for BMW’s top spot. It is Reitzle’s goal to increase Jaguar sales to 200,000 per year, finally making Ford a profit. The X-Type will be the major component in the algorithm that will accomplish this. I have no doubt that the X-Type will blow the BMW 3 series into the weeds, but please, Herr Dr., if you are reading this, give us the F-Type, and do it soon. Make it AWD, make it an aluminum monocoque, make it a technical tour-de-force that will crush the Z-3 and the Boxster into road kill. Remember how the E-Type took the world by storm 40 years ago? Do it again!

Tappet guide retainers If you have a high mileage XK engine (‘50-’87) you should really consider installing tappet guide retainers. The steel inserts that guide the tappet buckets in the aluminum head tend to loosen with age and heat and if they start moving around, not only will you have a noisy engine, you run the risk of some very expensive head damage. The retainers themselves cost $35, but the labor to install requires drilling and tapping the head and is best left to an expert. Al DeLong quotes $420 parts and labor. Give him a call.

Don’t top up that tank! With gas prices and lines at the cheap stations the way they are these days, it’s very tempting to squeeze in as much gas as possible at each fill-up. It’s not a good idea. All modern autos have a sealed gas tank and a vapor recovery system that catches any evaporation from the fuel tank and directs into the intake system of the engine. If you over-fill a tank on a cool morning, then park the car in the heat of the day without driving it more than a few miles, the gasoline can expand so much that it will flow up the vapor tubes to the engine, soak the vapor storage canister and even leak out on the ground. After the second click-off the tank is full. Unless you intend to immediately drive 50 miles, stop pumping!

Radial engines Spent a few hours last month at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in D.C. while waiting for a flight home and couldn’t help but marvel at the Pratt and Whitney Wasp Major that powered the last of the piston engined airliners, the DC-7. This engine, originally designed in the 30’s, produced as much as 4500 hp, and used such sophisticated technology as turbo and supercharging (dreaming about Group B rally cars again), water-alcohol injection under maximum boost and an elaborate gear reduction system to keep the tips of the humungous props from exceeding the speed of sound. It had 28 cylinders and displaced 4360 cu.in. The most intriguing aspect of the engine to me is the radial layout. The crank is so compact, and the overall volume of the engine so small considering it’s displacement, that it makes you wonder why all automobiles aren’t powered by radial engines. Just lie the engine flat under the rear seat and apply a right angle gear drive (the prop reduction gearing could be used this way). 5 cylinders should do it, although luxury models might have as may as 15. With direction fuel injection and a camless valve activation system you would end up with a piston engine that rivaled the Wankel rotary for compactness and light weight per displacement. Are you listening Herr Dr? If you’d like to learn more about the P-W Wasp Major checkout google.com  Key words are "Pratt Whitney Wasp"

Setright on Jag quality L.J.K. Setright recently held forth in the Pilgrimages supplement to Automobile Magazine on the history and present state of Jaguar. The man has a nice way with the prose, but technically he ranks with Tom McCahill. Particularly erroneous where his comments on Jaguar handling dynamics and quality control. If you haven’t read it and would like me to send you a copy, just e-mail me. The man’s license to write should be restricted to FICTION.

Recycling Plastics Got myself in a little hot water recently when I stated that plastics weren’t really recyclable. I’d like to defend myself. Yes, some plastics can be ground up, melted, and turned into other plastic products like synthetic deck boards and polyester jackets. BUT those products cannot be recycled. To me the term recyclable means that the raw material can be used over and over again. The only materials that I can think of that meet this criterion are water, glass and metals. The steel in your new Jaguar may well have had a previous life in a Ford Anglia, or even a Boer War sabre! It could have future lives in the cars or buildings of the 22^nd century, assuming you don’t let it turn into rust. Paper isn’t really recyclable. Each time the paper is ground up and bleached the wood fibers get shorter and weaker. Eventually, after 3 or 4 rounds, they aren’t even good enough for the cheapest newsprint. Metals can go on forever with no degradation in quality and the energy savings are enormous. You probably know that recycled aluminum can be made for 10% of the energy it takes to manufacture aluminum from bauxite ore. The push is on to make cars lighter. Plastics are being touted as the answer. Check out www.sae.org and their online magazine for the past month. The plastic content of cars will double in the next 5 years. Will these plastics be truly recyclable? I doubt it. If you would like more info on plastics and recycling a good place to start is EBSCHost, available at your local library. It’s the online Periodic Guide to Literature. You can find a reprint from Earth Island Journal, Fall ’96, "7 Myths of ‘Recycled’ Plastics". Read it.

Engine storage stand In the accompanying photos you will see an engine stand that I whipped up out of $10 of scrap steel in about an hour. The side view demonstrates the basic principle. The engine is balanced over its center of gravity. The attachment to the lower rail is as far behind the center of the engine as the mount is ahead. I used 2 in. eighth wall tubing and low hydrogen stick for the welds. This is a great way to carry an engine in the back of a truck or on a trailer. No danger of denting or cracking the pan. You can add wheels. I did, and that old V-12 rolls neatly under an XK that sits on a conventional three-wheeled engine stand. When the stands aren’t in use they take up minimal space in the garage.

click on the links to see pictures

Engine Stand               Balanced Over CG               Toe In Gauge               Upright Detail

Toe-in gauge Everytime I work on the steering of one of my Jags it costs me $35 to get the toe-in accurately set. So I made a simple, universal toe-in gauge based on one that I used back in the 60’s. It may not be quite as accurate as the laser systems of today, but it’s good enough for street use. The photos are pretty self-explanatory. The upright bases are 2 in. square tube, the uprights 1 ¼ in angle, the cross tube is 1 ½ in. square tubing. If I had to make another I would use heavy wall tube (1/4 in.) for the upright bases and just tap for the locking bolts instead of brazing nuts on. Use grade 8 bolts or you run the risk of stripping the threads. Each slotted upright has a 5/16^th bolt with a point ground on its end. To use the gauge I jack each wheel off the ground and spin the tire so that a roller tip pen makes a thin line all the way around (it doesn’t show well in the photos, but there is an L-bracket to hold the pen steady). The pointers are lined up on that line and compared front and rear at a height equal to the axle until the toe-in is correct, usually about 1/8 in. max. The car must be on the ground and rolled back and forth at least 4 feet to be sure the suspension has taken a proper road set. I made both uprights removable for compact storage. You could attach one solidly, making the fabrication easier. This gauge can be built without welding. Just bolt the uprights solidly to the sleeves with a couple of carriage bolts. Total cost of materials is about $15.

Leaking carbs If your Jag has HD S.U. carbs you should replace the main jets as a preventative measure. The jets are about $18 each at XK’s Unlimited and a few hours work will get them installed. The modern crap that passes for gas will make short work of the old rubber diaphragms that allow richening of the mixture when you pull the "choke". Someday when you are on one of Roger’s high-speed tours you will stop and see a big puddle of gas under the car. Maybe you will be so unlucky as to have the gas ignite! New jets are cheap insurance. If your main jets have been replaced in the recent past the rubber will be green or blue in color instead of the original black

Rack bushings You’ve probably heard that replacing the stock rack bushings on an XJ with polyurethane will improve the road feel and accuracy of the steering. True, and you probably won’t notice the difference in harshness. The stock bushings tend to deteriorate quickly if any oil leaks on them. Poly bushings are available from XK’s for about $25. What the pundits don’t tell you is that you have to remove the rack from the car and use a press to get the old bushings out. Harbor Freight Salvage (www.harborfreight.com) sells a crude 12-ton press for $99 that will do a lot of pressing work if you’re a little patient and a bit ingenious.

Old wiring and new headaches Some of you know that our esteemed publisher, Bill McGraw has been perplexed by an electrical problem on his E-Type for the past few months. The alternator wanted to charge at maximum no matter how well charged the battery was. Bill checked all the connections, measured the voltage to see if the voltmeter might be telling a fib (it wasn’t) and replaced the regulator. The problem persisted???? Bill finally solved the problem. In rechecking the spade connections at the alternator one of the wires came off in his hand, spade still attached to the alternator. Seems the copper strands had parted company inside the insulation, making it impossible for the regulator to do its job.