New owner of a Contemporary. A few questions.

[edd]

Hi guys,
I bought a contemporary. Thanks for the input that helped me decide what manufacture to buy. I'm realy happy, the car came from IL. and was much more than I expected. Anyway, the car was built in 1982, for Karl Baughman, and is #3012. Some of the questions I have for now are, were all the Jag front ends the same, as far as if I need parts, (bushings ect.), same with the rears what type of gears should I expect.
The car came with a hard top and a soft top, but the frame for the soft top was misplaced over the years, are there frames available?
Thanks in advance for your help, you guys have been great so far.
Ed

[767Jockey]

Originally Posted by edd

Hi guys,
I bought a contemporary. Thanks for the input that helped me decide what manufacture to buy. I'm realy happy, the car came from IL. and was much more than I expected. Anyway, the car was built in 1982, for Karl Baughman, and is #3012. Some of the questions I have for now are, were all the Jag front ends the same, as far as if I need parts, (bushings ect.), same with the rears what type of gears should I expect.
The car came with a hard top and a soft top, but the frame for the soft top was misplaced over the years, are there frames available?
Thanks in advance for your help, you guys have been great so far.
Ed

Congrats, Ed. Contemporary's are really nice cars, you're going to enjoy it. A car built in 1982 almost certainly has the Jaguar torsion bar front suspension. Get a Jag parts catalog, and any of the series one XKE parts will fit. Your front brakes may be Series One or Series II depending on the build. Series I are Dunlop calipers, Series II are Girling calipers. Both say the brand right on the face of the caliper, so you know right away which you have.

The rear gears could be anything, although most were 3:31's, next most popular being 3:55 or so, I don't recall the exact ratio but that's pretty close.

As far as the top, I'm not sure if the parts are available. The original owner of Contemporary is a guy named Peter Bayer. He is now the owner of Nisonger Instruments, an advertising vendor here on Club Cobra. Ring him up, he will likely remember who the original supplier of the tops was. Let us know what else you need, there's a tight group of CCX guys here ion the forum always willing to help.

Doug

[mickmate]

I make soft top frames and a few other CCX parts. Suspension bushings and Jag parts I have great service from http://www.sngbarrattusa.com/

[edd]

Thanks Doug,
Ed

[edd]

Thanks Nick,
The car is going up on the lift next Wednesday. We'll see what it needs at that point.
As far as the frame for the top goes, what would you need from me ( any measurements, the top itself ? I have no idea how to go about this).
Ed

[mickmate]

You can check distance across roof ferrules and that they are 3/8 ID if you like but CCX is as good as it gets and standard parts fit.

[edd]

Thanks Nick,
I'll check tonite, and get back to you.
Ed