Mk 1 Front Subframe

[richard3.4mk1]

I would just like to introduce myself (being new to this forum).

I have been a life long Jaguar enthusiast helped no end by my grandfather/uncle and father all having owned Mk 1, mk 2, s type, 420 and between us 4 e types.

Over the past year have been wanting to get into a Mk 2 for myself, but then I saw the Black Mk 1 at Gaydon being manoeuvred and thought I quite like the wackiness of the inset rear axle, the small back window, the 4 spoke steering wheel, shapely front seats and the wooden dash design and recalled the maroon 2.4L Mk 1 my uncle had when I was a child and when no one was around would grab the keys, start her up and get a great buzz from starting her up and revving the engine I was probably about 10 at the time!

One rarely sees a Mk 1 on the road, and so when a 1957 3.4mk 1 manual/o/drive came up at auction in Canada, 60 k miles, (taken apart over 20 years ago), BRG with cinammon interior I bid on it and won! It is somewhere in the shipping process and should get it before Xmas. It will be a full nut and bolt rebuild.

Already I'm looking to decide on areas to improve such as a quicker steering rack from a company called ICS steering specialists and somewhere I read that the front suspension geometry is improved by fitting the Mk 2 front sub frame and wondered whether anyone could advise?

The 57 cars had drum brakes and I have a disc set up coming over from California from a wrotten 59 Mk 1 that is currently being broken. There are other major decisions to be made with regard converting or not from LHD to RHD. I'm comfortable driving eitherside in the UK, also whether to go to another paint scheme.

I'm usually very conservative keeping to build sheets but I have seen an Australian car with a grey/green colour which suits the Mk 1 very well. It seems that BRG was very popular in the 50's no doubt due to the race winning c and D types but I personally find it a bit dull.

Anyhow the first issue I would like to discover is whether it is difficult/impossible to fit the Mk 2 front suspension for the better geometry, I don't think I will fit a Mk 2 rear axle certainly not for the forseeable future.

[Ronniebiggs]

Ooh, you may stir things up!

Some say you should keep a car standard, so a Mk1 should behave like a Mk1.

But...

The single biggest improvement you can make is with Mk2 geometry. The roll centre was below ground level on the Mk1 and this contributed more to the poor handling (especially near the limit) than the much-reported narrow rear axle.

To get a feel for how good they can be, drive a 3.4 Mk2 that's been fitted with the Varamatic power steering. Utterly transforms the car!

My advice, for what it's worth, is to drive a 3.4 Mk1 and a 3.4 Mk2, in whatever form, and see what you think. It's your car, so do what suits you.

Jay

[richard3.4mk1]

Thank you Jay,

Will try that proposal and see!