JUST ABOUT ROLLIN

[JCS]

3. DRIVERS AREA.JPG.JPG (1.45 MiB) Viewed 2790 times

1.FR.SEAT .JPG.JPG (1.23 MiB) Viewed 2790 times

2.REAR SEATS .JPG.JPG (1.36 MiB) Viewed 2790 times

Guys


Forgive any errors, I am trying to trial post three images of my 1965 3.4S Type MOD. Last Autumn I just about finished the interior as far as I want to go for general touring and I have just completed a change of axle ratio to 3.31: 1 and rebuilt all the braking.

XJ40 front seats in Ivory with red piping and stitching completed, fire extinguishers under seats. Extra gauges , foot rest, covered steering wheel and seat belts fitted at that stage.

Norman

[cass3958]

I like the colour of the seats and the red piping but I have never been a fan of putting the XJ seats in the S Type. I read somewhere that Sir William Lyons wanted the tops of the seats to be level with the tops of the doors.

I know there are lots of plus points to having these XJ seats fitted. Safety with the high backs and head restraints. Better comfort and lateral support. Some have electric motors for fine adjustment and they are cheaper than having the original seats recovered in new leather but........!

The drawbacks are that (in my opinion) they look to big for the cabin. Perhaps it is because of the high backs which take up a lot of room above the door level. I have only seen them fitted to a Mk2 but the cabin size is the same. The backs of the seats are thicker than the originals (front to rear) so they take up more space in the rear passengers footwell and the base of the rear seat in the S Type was originally lower than that of the Mk2 to give more head room in the back but these XJ seat bases are taller making the head room less. I also read somewhere that the XJ back seat is wider than the S Types and they have to be cut back or adapted to fit.

I think seat belts are a must and I like the fact yours are colour coordinated with the colour of the car and door cards. I also like the picnic tables which remind me of my fathers Mk2 Jaguar. Does anyone know if picnic tables were ever fitted to the S type originally?

What are the extra gauges you have fitted for Norman and above them you have three pull switches?

[JCS]

Rob

Thank you for the comments, I always welcome such comment because very often a different view becomes very useful to make a job even better.

However, in this particular case I must add further comment that hopefully will explain why I took that particular route. In spite of the reasons I give, I should say your dislike of XJ40 seats are exactly the reasons why I like them. These seats are in a different comfort league to the originals, if you tried them for a 300-mile journey I think you may change your mind, ditto left foot rest. I can however understand perhaps why you like to keep to the standard specification.

In January 2014 I was traveling with my wife to see the Bentley agent in South Island, New Zealand. About to board a plane at Manchester airport my wife had a stroke, which resulted in her left arm and leg being paralysed and she was then confined to a wheelchair.

At that time, I had been running a 1953 Bentley for some 28 years that unfortunately had front suicide type doors, these are completely incompatible with a wheel chair and the seat bases were too high with little lateral support. With some sadness after an 8000 hour rebuild and many miles of travel the car was sold, that took all of 10 seconds, to be followed by the R-R rear axle rebuild business and others.

As I had been in automotive and large plant production operations for 50 years, I was able to slim my choice of another classic car model down to a few cars. These had to be 1955 or newer, ideal for Continental touring and capable of holding a disability scooter and wheel chair in the boot.

The choice was a Jaguar 3.4 S type (I did not want a 3.8 S) but with front seat modifications to provide better lateral support. After inspecting many of these cars, and finding none fully fitted the bill, I came across a car that had been stripped, repaired chassis wise correctly on a revolving spit, but not re-assembled with attention to any detail. The story is long and twisted, for another time, but I bought the front XJ40 seats in the purchase deal. Red is not my favourite colour…..but it grows on you…..and I have come to like it on the Jaguar.

I retained the rear S Type seats, giving me all the original advantages of rear head room. I fitted the front XJ seats at the identical angles of the original fronts, with the drivers seat base low to suit me. Conversely the passenger seat was fitted higher to suit my wife and her condition. The rear end support structure of the front seats was fabricated to allow rear passengers to place their feet under the rear of the front seats, while the adjacent forward space was used for fire extinguishers. Even that configuration allowed full fore and aft seat movement without any fouling.

In the photographs it is not possible to pick out, but the seats (Daimler XJ versions I believe) have electric back rest tilt controls and I used electric window switches (Rover?) positioned on the right side for the passenger seat and left side for drivers side, again to suit our needs. The XJ seats were chosen as they are a perfect fit, missing the seat belt rolls etc, and they provide suitable lateral security and easy access for my wife. The original rear seats and the XJ fronts were then trimmed in Ivory leather with red piping and stitching by my local trimmer. Not R-R trimming specification but equal to the original Jaguar trim.

The gauges are left to right, dual oil pressure and water temperature, (non electrical!), vacuum gauge (never be without, engine runs at 20 Hg), and volt meter. All the original gauges also work, except the oil gauge that has been converted to non-electrical……yes I have two oil and two water temperature gauges.

The switches are left to right, Electric fan manual override, Choke feed in series with original auto switch, Spare switch ready wired for engine fast idle control.

Now that I have some practice at posting the images, I will try some more eventually.

Regards

Norman

[cass3958]

Norman your reply explains a lot, a bit of it I already knew having talked to you at Ryton so as I said in my posts the lateral support and comfort are what you have gone for and achieved.
Now that you have explained that it is only the front seats that are XJ that sounds better and I can see in your photos that the backs of the seats do have a lot of knee room. But I have to say you have done this conversion properly and with a purpose. The conversions I have seen in the Mk2s were poorly done with no thought to the rear passengers and they just do not look right. One I saw even had head restraints on the back seats but no room to get your feet in to the rear footwell. I can understand wanting more lateral support and the S Type seats are almost bench seats so cornering fast does make you slide around a bit.
I was planning on putting new foams in to my seats this year and I was thinking of sculpting them a little to give me a bit more lateral support but I would not change the height of the seats for the reason I have mentioned that they just seem to take up all the space in the cabin. My Father in his Mk2 had a set of head restraints that used to hang over the top of the original front seat back. He used to use them when he raced and rallied the car as a just in case safety feature.
I am not adverse to good modifications to the S Type as long as they are in keeping with the condition of the car. A good original car should not be altered but when you take a rusty wreck and as Primaz did, repair all the body and upgrade the chassis, throw in a V8, modified suspension, bigger brakes but keep the 60s external look and the gorgeous wooden interior, what is not to like. I would love to have Primaz's car as it has been done to such a high standard but it would have to sit beside my original S Type in the garage.

[Glyn Ruck]

Hi Norman,
Have you fitted your rear anti roll bar/sway bar yet?
Regards,
Glyn

[jonesdl]

Normal, impressive stuff on your S type interior very professional I must say, looks good and suits your purpose as well a win win situation,
Regards
Dave J.

[JCS]

Glyn

At the moment I have not fitted the anti-roll bar but I do intend to do so in a few weeks time. The delay is twofold.
Having replaced cardan shaft joints, some suspension bearings, altered the rear ride height minimally, altered the camber slightly and most importantly replaced the radius arm bushes, I wanted to acclimatise myself to how the car handles before fitting the roll bar.

Secondly, I may have need to drill and insert the rear chassis box sections to accept the anti-roll bar chassis brackets. Originally the cars had two tapped holes 3/8 UNF in arrested blocks on each chassis rail. These holes are usually blocked with underseal and /or have been eliminated if the chassis rail has been replaced. In my case I can see at least one tapped original hole, but the others need investigating. It is also probable that some repair has been made in the area.

Hopefully I have attached a photo showing the rear sub frame unit being refitted, together with an arrow showing the approximate location of the original tapped holes.

When I fit the bar, I will be sure to attach some images and report on the handling.

The previous owner was a professional coach builder and he made quite a through job of the body work . It has been completed in such a way it is very difficult to pick out original sections from any repaired sections. I do know that he replaced all the jacking points. It was his intention to keep the car in his retirement…..sadly for him that did not transpire.

Position of anti-roll bar brackets

Anti Roll Attachment.jpg.jpg (3.1 MiB) Viewed 2709 times

I will report further on this car, it had many “mechanical optional features” that did not come with the car when new.

[Glyn Ruck]

Thanks Norman, understood. I look forward to your feedback.