Daimler V8 250 1968 restoration

Yes the MK2 Jags have the same balance weight arrangement, given that the engines don't rev particuarlly high and they aren't especially a precision instrument i've never been concerned by it.  If it were high reving and highly tuned then I would perhaps consider it but an electric fan would probably be the better proposition in that circumstance.

The engine which is in bits has what appears to be a 'late' model Japanese plastic fan with viscous hub. The bolt heads are marked with metric grade 7. I haven't investigated the water pump on this one any further, but don't think this finding is very useful to you.

The parts car is pretty original looking and hasn't been pulled to bits. It is very rusty. It doesn't appear to have a balance weight on the fan, and no evidence there ever was one.

Both cars are 1964 and NZ new.

Thank you Jehu, yeah, lots of work with lots still left to do, hopefully over the 75% complete mark now though.  Your welding story sounds exactly what it was like here around that time too.  Slightest thing and the union rep would blow the whistle and 'All Out!' ..lol. 


Great to see of your progress pics on here too, keep us posted. 

A question for Daimler V8 and Mk2 Jag enthusiasts: After vacillating for ages over whether to drop out my front suspension and overhaul it, I have finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

The question is, where is the best place to get cheapest parts? And are the dearer alternatives (presumably genuine parts) worth the extra especially when there is often a range of alternatives of the same part? The best place in the antipodes is the Daimler spare parts club in Christchurch. They have usually been slightly better priced than UK on most things but they are a club and you have to pay for a membership before finding out price and availability - plus it is a bit trickier working out part numbers.

Comparing steering/suspension prices between SC Parts group and David Manners is an eye popping experience. I started with SP parts because I found their website easy to navigate. The first part I compared, an anti roll bar rubber bush was cheaper at SC parts at £6.20 vs £6.78 (no complaint there) - the second thing I priced was the front sandwich plate mounting - £12.00 at DM vs £37.40 or £52.49 for a genuine Jag one at SP parts. Bump stops are a similar difference - mostly about 3 times dearer at SP Parts.

The problem is I cant find all the parts I want at DM's eg. upper and lower ball joints etc. Any suggestions?

Thanks Goldenrust, that's really useful especially your experience with the cheaper bits (sorry for you). I was thinking of going the cost saving way considering I wont be doing a huge milage and not driving hard - but serious signs of deterioration after just 2 years makes me reconsider.

I just did a quick look at the sngbarratt site. It is disconcerting to see their prices vary wildly too compared to both of the other UK ones. Unfortunately it is too complicated to shop across the 3 of them.

I should have thought of sngbarratt myself as I sourced some parts for my MGB through them and found them very helpful. Amongst other parts they accidently sent me the wrong engine mounts and a telephone call later they had the correct ones freighted same day (and told me to keep the TR4 ones which a friend appreciated .

Yes I'm happy with the engine - looks pretty and I'm keen to get it back in. Of course the paper gasket must have been a spare set for the inlet - red face here!

Thanks Homersimpson, I noticed that sealed ball joints are offered as an alternative for the Mk2/Daimler, I guess they are the same as the XJ6/XJ40 sealed units. Restoring the shimmed assemblies just for the sake of originality is a bit over the top I recon. 

Taking goldenrust's experience of cheap rubber deteriorating  and delaminating, I am now stuck with deciding which parts to order and how much to pay. Across the 3 main UK parts distributors there are at least half a dozen different manufacturers and it's really hard to know how to tell cheap Chinese rubbish from something a bit better without going to the extremely expensive alternative?

Yes the springs look formidable. I am planning to use 16mm threaded rod which voucherboy did successfully lootintheboot.uk/running.htm I'm hoping that will be robust enough not to lose fingers. Homersimpson, sounds like you were lucky - I imagine a spring could do a lot more damage than breaking a few fingers.

Now back to work, October 2024.
Cleaning everything is a pain, back when I did my apprenticeship (late '60s, early '70s) we had a steam-cleaner which was great for removing grease and getting things pretty clean. For the whole front-end unit it was degreaser and high pressure water cleaner, then diesel and a stiff paintbrush, then a wire brush and thinners, tedious but it gets there in the end.

Looking really good, when setting it up on the car I would suggest adding more shims to the top arm to give some negative camber (I think I set mine at 1 degree negative if I remember correctly) and also putting all the ball joint shims on the front of the top ball joint to move it back and increase castor as far as possible to improve straight line stability.