My Street 289 build

[PDUB]

Nice! Very nice!

[old willy]

Hey,
just following along, try to get me own build back on track after some strange covid delays. Great work so far I am impressed especially with your ability to rebuild a tranny on the kitchen table! Very understanding partner, wow.
But I have a question if we could back up for a moment.
Sorry if this seems like a dumb question but.....
Where did you get that excellent parking brake handle? All I seem to find in my searches is a generic looking street rod builder piece. Yours is the one I am seeking so if you or anyone else wants to chime it I would really like to know where it came from.
Thanks!

[Ivygreen65]

Originally Posted by old willy

Where did you get that excellent parking brake handle? All I seem to find in my searches is a generic looking street rod builder piece. Yours is the one I am seeking so if you or anyone else wants to chime it I would really like to know where it came from.

I was fortunate. I found a member here with a SPF 289 FIA race car who no longer needed their parking brake handle and sold me theirs. You might check with Superformance or look for an OEM Jaguar XKE handle. Building one of these cars with a semblance of originality takes some work.

And a lot of wine.

[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by Ivygreen65

I was fortunate. I found a member here with a SPF 289 FIA race car who no longer needed their parking brake handle and sold me theirs. You might check with Superformance or look for an OEM Jaguar XKE handle. Building one of these cars with a semblance of originality takes some work.

And a lot of wine.

We have supplied the SPF handle assembly.

[old willy]

Thank you gentlemen,
My build is just slowly getting underway, I have been gathering parts when I find them.
Sadly I am not in the position to build an exact nut and bolt copy but would like to add enough correct looking pieces to make me smile when I am out for a drive .
I have checked out you website Mark IV and I will be in touch soon about a handle assembly and perhaps one or two other parts.

[Bill D]

That is one great looking project. Enjoy

[Ivygreen65]

With the cold and wet weather, I have been restoring parts. Today was my day to restore / modernize my DB10. When I restored my wife’s MGB, I found Barney Gaylord’s MGA Guru site (The MGA With An Attitude - intro). It has a wealth of information not only on MG products, but also Lucas parts. One I found especially useful was his article on fitting the DB10 with modern relays.
https://mgaguru.com/mgtech/electric/ts202.htm
The idea of relying on 64 year old analog relays or using a modern reproduction of questionable quality, I opted to follow Barney’s tutorial. I have a Caswell zinc plating set-up I use on small parts, so I stripped and cleaned the parts, replated them, and put the 2 new relays in. The whole process was straightforward and, after bench testing, I’m good to go. Hopefully this exorcised of one of the Prince of Darkness’s demons and my turn signals will be more reliable.

[1795]

Nice work Stacey.

[PDUB]

Nice! Looks good.

[Ivygreen65]

Restored the DR3 today. Fresh paint, plating, new Lucas brushes, and replacement of the crusty lacquered wires (thank you Britishwiring.com). Also, upon disassembly, I found out it was wired for left hand parking. Changed a couple of wires so now it should be a right hand park unit.

[Ivygreen65]

I’m working on routing and assembling the car’s exhaust. Not the most exciting thing, so I took a detour and did some work on the steering wheel. I’ve found that changing gears every once in a while keeps the build from getting stagnant.

The wheel that I purchased from either CSX Parts or Finish Line (I don’t remember) did not have a very good finish, from both a color and sheen point of view. Pretty red and pretty flat. 400 grit paper took off what little, if any, finish was on it and a little walnut stain got me to the color I was looking for. Some time on the buffing wheel brightened up the frame and spokes and left me with a wheel looking like what I had originally wanted.

[1795]

Nice improvement.

[fastpace]

Stacey, really enjoying your build and some great work on some of the details. Hope things are still progressing along.

[Ivygreen65]

Things are progressing. I've been working pretty steadily on my car, but the one thing I underestimated when planning my build was the amount of mock-up, take apart, mock-up again, take apart, mock-up again, take apart, etc, etc, that would be involved. Part of it has been finding fit conflicts, part of it has been finding a better way to do something, and part of it has just been trying to bumble my way through how to do something. I'll post some pics in the near future to show where I'm at.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by Ivygreen65

Things are progressing. I've been working pretty steadily on my car, but the one thing I underestimated when planning my build was the amount of mock-up, take apart, mock-up again, take apart, mock-up again, take apart, etc, etc, that would be involved. Part of it has been finding fit conflicts, part of it has been finding a better way to do something, and part of it has just been trying to bumble my way through how to do something. I'll post some pics in the near future to show where I'm at.

I hope everyone building a kit reads this.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by Ivygreen65

Things are progressing. I've been working pretty steadily on my car, but the one thing I underestimated when planning my build was the amount of mock-up, take apart, mock-up again, take apart, mock-up again, take apart, etc, etc, that would be involved. Part of it has been finding fit conflicts, part of it has been finding a better way to do something, and part of it has just been trying to bumble my way through how to do something. I'll post some pics in the near future to show where I'm at.

Stacey, you're obviously doing it with the right attitude with your build, and what you're saying resonates with me too. I have just finished making the third version of what seemed like a simple bracket ..... I wasn't 100% happy with either of the first two I made, so kept telling myself that I would regret it if I accepted "almost there, but not really quite right".

You will end up with a car that you are really proud of.

Cheers!
Glen

[Ivygreen65]

My Dad always told me to “Do it right the third time or don’t do it”. That never made a lot of sense when I was 15, but as I have gotten older....

[Ivygreen65]

I have my pedal box mostly completed and ready to start reservoir plumbing. A question that I have is - Is there a good way to initially set up the brake balance bar? I have it currently set up for a slight front bias, but if there’s a better procedure, I would like to find out. It’s much easier to adjust things now than it will be once this is installed in the car.

[Blue66]

Friends saying... "we do things nice because we do them twice."

[Ivygreen65]

The footboxes that I got from Bruce (1st pic) were designed for the Factory 5 chassis and engine location. Since I moved the engine forward, and wanted a more accurately shaped footbox, I reconstructed the footboxes. There was a lot of slicing, dicing, and julienning, but I’m happy with the finished product and fit. This allows room for the wiper motor, fresh air vent, and throttle linkage on the driver’s footbox top.