10/31/98
Drove to Montgomery, AL and met with the seller. We went through the paperwork, generated a bill of sale, I gave him a check, and I received the car and receipts for the past six years of ownership (shop receipts, etc). The seller informed me that the radiator fans were not coming on - so we temporarily wired one of them to the A/C clutch relay so I could turn one on if I got caught in traffic. I proceeded to drive to Birmingham (75 miles) without incident. Getting off the interstate, the oil pressure which had been holding at 30 psi, dropped to less than 20. I stopped at a quick stop and refueled and added a quart of oil. One of the bonnet alignment pin brackets was sitting loose in the engine compartment. Pressure seemed better, but still low.

11/1/98
Deciding to play it safe with the oil pressure - I rented a U-haul trailer and towed the car home to Madison. Call me a wimp - but I really didn't want to break down on the way home.

11/5/98
I got the bracket welded up - it looks good as new...actually better - the guy who did it glass bead blasted it. I told him I have a pickup truck load of parts for him to blast. :)

11/7/98
-installed the bonnet alignment pin bracket
-determined the cause of failure or the radiator fans was the fan relay. Temporarily installed a fan relay from who knows what vehicle. It works, but I had to put a bunch of pigtails in there to make up for the lack of terminals. That will get replaced as soon as I put in my first parts order (I'm compiling a list right now). Don't worry - no DPO bodges from this owner. :)
-removed the nonfunctioning horn, and replaced with a pair of very nice, very loud horns. They may not see me coming, but they'll sure as heck hear me! :)
-worked on the door catch striker plate location. The plate was loose, and the door wasn't closing all the way - it's still not quite right - but that may be due to the door sill seal being the wrong one - or installed upside down - I'm not sure which.

Things still needing to be looked at:

1) Investigate oil pressure readings (suspect sending unit)
2) Investigate light flicker when there's low load (suspect voltage regulator or corroded terminals)
3) Seal back hatch glass (temporarily until after painting - then replace seals)
4) Rebuild brake servo (not critical - just causing a strange pedal sensation - like someone's pushing the pedal back towards me).
5) The vacuum line to the distributor is disconnected and a bolt is screwed into a line on the bottom of the front carb. It looks like the distributor needs looking into.
6) ...I'm sure I'll run across a few more items... :)

11/9/98
Well - I just opened up the relay for the radiator fan. It's full of scale and rust and what's left of a paper gasket. I cleaned it up, used a point file to clean the rust off the end of the solenoid, and cleaned up the contact points as well. Guess what - it works now! I glass bead blasted the can and what I could of the inside without damaging the coil. I tested it under load using a headlight. The gasket is worthless - so I reassembled with blue RTV. Once I get a few minutes - I'll reinstall it. Boy - I sure would like a blasting cabinet for Christmas. I hope my wife reads this. Oh yeah - a parts washer too. :) I got a quote from Welsh today - they want $55 for the relay. Glad I fixed it.

11/14/98
I decided that if I'm going to do any winter driving - I need to get the heater fan running. I tested the fan in place - and it doesn't turn. I removed the fan and did what I could to get it to turn, but it's a hopeless cause. I picked up a replacement fan from Grainger as described in this article http://www.xke-lovers.com/heater.htm and work is underway to modify the shaft to fit the old impeller.

11/20/98
The fan motor shaft is machined to match the fan, and all the fan housing parts have been glass bead blasted. I pressure tested the heater core to 20 psig and no leaks were detected, so it will go back in there. This was a late night of reassembly, soldering, heat shrinking all the leads - I need heat for tomorrow's club drive - it's supposed to be 35 degrees in the morning.

11/21/98
I broke the bonnet assist cylinder - actually one of the end fittings broke. I love this car! Installed the heater box with the new fan first thing this morning. Everything went together too well to be true. Sure enough, when I opened the water control valve - it started to leak. :( The worst part was that it continued to leak - even when I returned it to the closed position. The Jag stays home - and the MG does the club ride.

On the way home from the ride - I picked up some 1/2" heater hose and bypassed the valve. I guess it's a good test of the heater matrix. :)

On the way home from dinner - the first real night drive - the lights are flickering. Guess I still have some investigating to do.

12/5/98
Removed the voltage regulator, cleaned up the terminals, and reinstalled. The flickering lights appear to be cured. I took the Jag to our Brit Car club Christmas party and everything seemed right with the world. :)

My parts orders from SICP and XK's Unlimited came in.

12/15/98
On vacation until the first of the year, I'm getting a little time to fix some things on the car, in between Christmas shopping and errands. Today I:
1) Removed the heater valve that was rusted to the heater tube. Part of the tube is still in the heater valve. I'll make a new one using the old one as a template.
2) Installed a replacement gas strut on the bonnet.
3) Temporarily sealed the rear hatch glass with black RTV - This will be replaced during the repaint - hopefully in the spring.

12/16/98
1) Replaced the splash shields (mud shields - whatever) under the bonnet
2) Installed the driver's side sill seal right-side-up (it arrived upside down from the PO)
3) Accidentally lost the heater tube inside the dash - it has to come out - but I haven't located a passageway that I can get my hand into. I also need to gain access to the back of the speedometer to install the new cable.

12/20/98
1) Installed a new speedometer cable, not without some difficulty. The right angle drive was oriented towards the side, making it difficult to start the nut without cross threading it (but I managed).
2) Installed the heater box gaskets that came in recently. This turned out to be straight-forward as the box was recently cleaned and painted.
3) Even though my hands are average in size, connecting the cable to the back of the speedometer was more challenging, and I managed to cross thread the knurled aluminum nut. I cleaned up the thread and finally got it to go on properly. I have expanded my vocabulary (or resurrected some old words that have not been exercised in a long while).
4) During the above work, a turn signal flasher fell from behind the dash (no wires connected to it), and a light bulb with a pair of wires is now dangling. One step forward, two steps backwards. :)
5) I also noticed that the lower relay (behind the battery) is missing a terminal, and the wire hanging nearby has a terminal in it's connector. This looks to be a relay for the A/C so it's been put on hold. I need to make a list of these "things on hold". :)

12/25/98
Santa was very, very good to me. I got my parts washer and blasting cabinet. It's a shame that it's so cold outside, or I'd remove some parts and try it out. :-)

3/27/99
Well it's been quite a while, but our weekend weather has been awful for several months now, and I hate working out in the rain. :-( I finally had a nice Saturday to work on some problems, and of course create some new ones - but that's what these cars are all about. :-)

In looking up under the dash, at the loose bulb on the speedo - I realized I had four loose bulbs dangling there. I removed the driver's seat and crawled in there with schematic in hand and connected everything where it belonged - well - everything except the flasher - I still can't figure out where it belongs! Then I started the car, and tried out the headlights to see if the high beam light was working - and the headlight switch gave up the ghost. All I can say is I'm thankful it happened during the day, in my driveway, and not at a club meeting in the evening. A new switch is on order.

Now - back to the flasher. When I was under the dash, I was looking for three loose wires, which of course were not there. After a thorough review of the factory service manual, I now realize there should be a receptacle somewhere under there. I didn't see anything that resembled it, but maybe I'm not looking in the right place. This is a question I'll take to the E-type list - I'm sure someone has replaced a turn signal flasher before...

I did take it out for a brief run - just to make sure everything else was ok. Once I get turn signals and headlights operating - I'll be able to drive it more regularly.

4/2/99
The headlight switch came in from Welsh - so obviously I have to install it right now! I also finally found the socket for the turn signal flasher and both are functioning properly.

4/5/99
A nice day to drive the Jag to work. Everything is running fine. All is right with the world. I only wished I lived further from work on days like this! :-)

10/1/01
Dear diary...I've not written much lately.  The car has seen little use in the past year, and the long delay has not been good.  I tried starting the car several months ago, and realized that the four year old battery had seen better days.  I managed to get it started, but I needed to keep almost full choke on to keep it running - even after it warmed up.  I'm not sure, but I suspect a carb leak - maybe a bad diaphragm.

10/13/01
I picked up a new battery bracket from John Farrell to replace the badly rusted one that was attempting to support my battery.  Amazingly - the nuts and bolts came free pretty easily, and the new fit nicely.  Thanks John!

10/20/01
I finally decided that the car has to be running this fall/winter. We don't get snow here in Alabama, but it does get a bit cold to be driving the MG.  The heater tube that's somewhere loose in the nether regions of my dash has to be extracted, and a new one fabricated.  I already have the new heater control valve, so this is the task that's holding up having a functional heater.  I enlisted the services of my nine year old daughter and her nice thin, but short arms.  With the battery disconnected, and instructions to take everything slowly, I guided her through the instrument panel and over to the driver's side where she found the heater tube.  :-)  With the heater tube removed, I now had a pattern for my new tube.  The hardest part was removing the old D-washer that was brazed to the old tube!  I bent a piece of 1/2" stainless tubing, and brazed the washer onto it, making sure the orientation was the same.  Everything went together well, and I now expect that heat will soon be available...as soon as I get the carb overhaul complete.

11/3/01
I also had an exhaust leak on my "to-do" list - so I removed the 8 nuts to put new donuts in.  When I dropped the pipes to get the old ones off - I saw the source of the leak - a hole in a weld where someone had made some adapters to a custom exhaust system.  Everything else looked very solid, so I dropped the whole exhaust system, and welded the hole.  Well - everything was real solid back to the resonators.  One was showing signs of rust, the other was showing signs of air.  Guess I need to pick up a set of resonators.  Darn - some just went off auction the other day.  Now all I can find are Series I resonators.

11/17/01
In between finishing up painting the house, I've managed to pull the ZS carbs off and clean them up some.  The bad news is that they really don't look too bad.  I was hoping that something glaringly obvious would pop out at me - like a torn diaphragm...no such luck.  I replaced all the soft goods, put new needle and seats in, and readjusted the float heights. Everything went together too well.  I'm worried.  :-o  The ignition switch I bought from XK's is not the correct one, but Mike Frank on the XKE list had a spare - THANKS MIKE!!!

11/24/01
Carbs installed, exhaust in place with old rusty resonators, new ignition switch installed.  The switch was fine, but it took me a while to figure out the wiring.  I guess when they made these cars, they actually had color codes on the wires - at least my schematic makes me think so.  :-)  I also had another relay that was marginal, so I opening it up and cleaned it.  I'm now 2 for 2 on relay resurrections...which means that the next one will be one that can't be found, or costs more than any other one on the car...that's usually my luck.  :-)

12/3/01
OK - the car starts - but I still have a mixture problem.  If I drop the rpm down to under 1600, it stumbles and dies.  I also have to keep the choke on to keep it running.  I'm thinking I must have an induction leak to need this much choke, even with the engine warmed up to temperature (good to know the fan relay is still working).  As I sit here and type this - I realize that the front carb had a vacuum hose attached to it that had a bolt in it when I removed the carb.  Surely I reinstalled it, didn't I?  Hmmm...I'll have to take a look this coming weekend.

12/6/01
I'm getting ready for vacation - and got some parts on order...resonators...a few spare spokes...a door window wipe...and seals for the two doors and rear hatch...and a mechanical oil pressure gauge - thanks to the info on the list for that one - I really didn't want to chase sending units and gauges like others have done...and I see in the historical records that the previous owner went through that a few times before me.

1/8/02
I've done quite a bit over the Christmas vacation, thanks to some saved up vacation and some mild temperatures.  
- The exhaust is complete - replaced exhaust donuts, cleaned up and painted the exhaust manifolds, installed new manifold to head gaskets, welded up a few bad spots in the exhaust system welds, painted the pipes from the mufflers back with high temp aluminum paint (this is a custom installation, but the layout from the mufflers back looks similar), and installed a nice pair of Series II chrome resonators/tailpipes from the guys at XK's Unlimited.
- I've installed the mechanical oil pressure gauge, and the readings seem much more in line with what folks on the list indicated that they should be.
- I've replaced the door frame top seals and the rear hatch body seal.  Still left are the A-pillar seal and the door to rear pillar seal.  The A-pillar seal looks like the door may have to come off in order to reach the lower portion - I sure hope there's a better way to do this!
- I've been troubleshooting the high idle speed - checked to make sure the power brake booster isn't the cause - and happened across something on the Triumph list - something about the throttle bypass valve leaking and causing the symptoms I'm seeing.  It should be warm tomorrow - so I have something to try.  :-)