I Bought a Jag. An Old One. Jumping into British Car Ownership with Both Feet.

Lamentably, the Jag's been sidelined for the stupidest reason ever, for most of the summer. 

Well, sort-of two reasons, once of which is less stupider.

Reason the first:  The last time we went on a motoring adventure, the power steering decided to dump its contents all over terra firma.  This is the second or third time it's done this.  I wanted to fix it, and fix it so it stayed fixed, this time.

The second reason is the car seems to run a bit hot when its over 85 or so outside, and being that it was summer in the mid-Atlantic and all, I was waiting for cooler weather for cruising.  This winter I plan on pulling the radiator out and having it flushed, since I've pretty much cleaned out and/or replaced every other part of the cooling system and made sure it was up to snuff.

Regarding the power steering: there's a fitting on the front of the steering box that looks to be some sort of a bypass that feeds into another part of the box, with a banjo fitting on one end and some hose and hose clamps and other hodge-podge in between.  The hose likes to keep sliding off the fittings, as the barbs aren't very sharp, and I'd double-clamped it the last repair.  So, naturally, this time, the hose simply burst.  Lovely.

I took all the hoses off this time, went down to NAPA, got a new barbed threaded fitting to replace the worn-out banjo fitting, and had them fab up a new high-pressure hose from the pump, and got some raw hydraulic hose (without the metal jacket, so it can be hose-clamped) for the little bypass line thing.  Bought brand new fuel injection hose clamps for it, everything new and high-pressure rated.  NAPA had to special order one of the fittings, but it showed up around noon last Saturday so I had the hose by 2 o'clock. 

I got everything buttoned up and back on the car right at 3:30 when Mrs. VCH came out the door and said it was time to leave if we wanted to make it to the winery for our date at 4 o'clock...

Robbie said:

I did see the article - loved it. 

Old Jags are in such a weird spot. They are like the only high volume "exclusive" car manufacturer. So they seem exotic (and are often well taken care of), but there are lots of them around. So they are cheap.

Perfect!

Brilliantly said.  While I've always raced my Jags, I'd imagined them to be as unreliable as the ill informed claim. It's really nice not to hear that to be true and I've been denying myself  the great pleasure of ownership by not  daily driving one.  Thank you guys. 

Nope.  Not unreliable at all.

Despite having been let sit idle for months and then being pressed into a 20 mile round trip with the whole family in tow for an outing, the Jag performed flawlessly.

En route to the winery, we spotted a yellow Sprite stopped on the road ahead.  We pulled over to see if we could be of assistance.  The driver and his wife/ copilot waved and told us everything was OK, they had a truck and trailer coming.  Their fuel pump had gone out.  It was a nice-looking Sprite, white racing stripe, #6, and a black roll bar. 

We rolled on, and upon pulling into our destination spotted, and parked nearby, another fine old British car.  Apparently early October is when they all come out for a drive.

I chatted with the owner, for perhaps longer than I'd meant to, when Mrs. VCH appeared, lightly flustered, and wondered where I'd gone and, more importantly, why had I not bought her a bottle of wine yet? 

Later that evening, the TR3 owner's wife met Mrs. VCH outside the ladies' room and told her, "Sweetie, when your husband owns a British car, you're just going to have to get used to things like that."  We had a good chuckle over that. 

Apparently, I'm "pretentious".  Huh.

By the time I thought to take a picture of the Jaaag for documentation purposes, it was late and about time to go home.  Neither attempts sans flash...

Or with flash...

Came out terribly well.  C'est la vie.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

You should have told the driver of the Sprite  to clean the contact points regularly. The SU fuel pump is a reliable work horse that lasts for decades but the points ( like any set of points get dirty and need regular cleaning. 
Just unscrew the plastic thumb screw on top of the cap.  Pull a piece of folded over1000 grit sand paper through the points about 2-3 inches long. ( obviously grit side out)   And you're good for another 6 months. 

In reply to frenchyd :

I asked him if it was an SU pump, but he said no, it was something else I can't recollect now...I think it started with a 'T'?

Edit, if may have been a Facet pump. 

Boy, when they start coming out of the woodwork...found this one for sale near me, too!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1267611506954221

Adventures in overhauling the rear brakes!

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/rear-brake-calipers-1966-jaguar-38s-what-fresh-hell-is-this/198320/page1/