A supercharged VW Type 2 is an interesting way to start any week. This Type 2 pickup has a 1650cc engine running a supercharger and a single Weber DCOE carburettor. It came in running badly with a random set of jets. After a few experimental runs on the rollers we narrowed it down and selected the right jets for the correct fuelling.
Last week we did a targa rally roll cage for a VW Polo. The car is being prepared for the MSUK Targa Road Rally rules. This requires the installation of a bolt-in rear roll cage. With bolt-in cages you still have to weld counter plates to the floor. The counter plates provide a strong footing for the roll cage to bolt to. They wanted to paint the cage blue to match the OMP race seats. Looking through our swatches we decided that Porsche Arrow blue was close.
The Jaguar XK140 race car has been race prepped and is ready for the continent. Sadly, it may not get to race, due to COVID-19 the Algarve Classic Festival has been postponed. This car can usually be found competing with Motor Racing Legends in the Woodcote Trophy. Due to travel restrictions the owner has yet to race it this year. Fingers crossed for a rescheduled event at Portimao but with COVID numbers rising I think it might be unlikely. Maybe next year.
Our good friend Grant Williams was back in for some rolling road tuning. This time however, he brought the recently restored Jaguar Mk2 known as “JAG 400”. The car is an ex-competition car from the early 60s. It was driven in period by Jack Sears and was even tested at Silverstone by Stirling Moss.
We tuned the Jaguars triple SU carburettors to run with a straight through exhaust. At Goodwood cars are allowed to run without silencers. It is a real privilege to work on cars with such great history and then to see them raced hard on the track. Grant had some rear end trouble on Friday which was quickly dealt with. In Sundays race Grant finished 7th overall and 1st of the Jaguars.
The restoration has begun on this very cool and rare Morris J4 pickup. The less common sibling of the J4 van, the pickups were popular work vehicles, especially on farms, which is exactly where this one came from. This J4 was purchased from it’s original owner, a farmer, who used the pickup to carry farm hands back and forth from the fields. Since 1962 it’s only covered 43,000 miles, most of which was on the farm tracks of High Farm in Ongar, Essex. According to the tax disc in the window it was last on the road in 1978.
The body has a fair amount of rust but could be a lot worse. The chassis also has rust on the surface but looks solid. The J4 pickup is largely complete and original. The 1200c B-series engine is still in place but begs to be swapped out for an 1800cc MGB unit. Watch this space.
