I finally retrieved the c.1885 FE Reed lathe from storage and have it assembled in the shop, though I don’t plan on powering it anytime soon–it will act as a dust collector and something to knock my hip against.
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Mark Jones of Britsport just sent me a few photos of what happened in the paint booth today. Car will sit for a couple of weeks in the booth, and then it shows up here for the big mechanical pieces to go in, and then back for color sanding and polishing before exterior trim and interior.
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The E-Type is about to be painted! It’s in the booth and is having a final wet-sand before being sprayed next week.
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Happy 2012 from all of us (well, OK, me) at Rusty Heaps! I had to run to the store and as it wasn’t raining, I got out Reg the MGB today. The MG hadn’t been out in a few months and it was a blast to drive it again. It feels faster than the XJ6 (it’s almost certainly not) and is a lot more involving to drive.
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I picked this set of triple-SU carbs up from craigslist awhile ago; they were cheap enough that even as a source of parts they’re a good buy. I had a vague notion about putting them on the XJ6, and they would fit, but the lack of manual choke would be annoying. (These came from a Mk. X and won’t work in an E-Type as a conversion, as the inlet manifold is different.) Still, with a couple of HD8 rebuild kits included it was a decent deal.

I created several mosaic posters to raise some money for the “data” car registry sites. I have uploaded about half a dozen to the cafe press store so far. You can see the one I purchased for myself hanging to the left of the toolbox, featuring Chuck’s 1965 OTS on a winter’s day.
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Finally got a set of used 7″ headlight trims from the UK. The trim pieces aren’t great, but a lot better than the first set I received. The swap was pretty easy to do, though the generic plastic headlight buckets I sourced might get swapped for a Lucas set if I ever get ambitious.
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Here’s the inside of the shop, as you can see I haven’t done a whole lot with the organization of the space. (You can click for a larger image.)

I hope to build in some cabinets and what-not this winter, mainly on the wall where I have a couple of ancient Ferrari posters tacked up (I found a stash from ages ago…anyone for a 1980′s Testarossa poster? I managed to put that one back in the tube). I did get casters onto the metal work tables, they’re now handy for moving close to the action or allowing access to all sides of an unwieldy project.
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Took a few photos of the XJ6 after giving all of the cars baths today. My 7″ headlamp conversion pieces are on the way, so this may be the last set of photos with the standard US lights. Some additional, very similar, photos after the jump.
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It only took slightly longer than painting the Forth Bridge, but I have the new headliner installed in the Jaguar. I also rebuilt the headrests and re-glued the fabric on the back of the front seats. I think it all looks fine though, as with most things I do, doesn’t bear too close an inspection.
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