[OUR CARS] 1962 Jaguar E-type S1 FHC
Does it sound kinda glamorous when I casually mention that my Jaguar has always had something in common with the Lockheed SR-71 plane. Yes, they’re both products of the Sixties and have striking slippery shapes, but the Blackbird really is aerodynamic. Yes, they’re both quite quick, but plane beats Jag by some 2050mph.
Where they both have some stronger commonality is a propensity to piddle fuel at standstill. The SR-71 does this because its fuel tanks formed by the aircraft outer skin don’t properly seal until they’ve warmed up with increasing air speed. My E-type does it because the fibre washers sealing various banjo joints between the fuel tank and the three SU carburettors don’t like modern fuels, or so I’d led myself to believe. Without washers of an alternative material available, I’ve resorted to re-tightening the carburettor banjo bolts before each starting attempt, noting that eventually the problem lessened, perhaps because they become fully compressed. Fine, until the banjos need dismantling again.
I’ve tried all sorts of well-intended wisdom, from pre-soaking new washers in fuel before fitting to adding a light smear of sealant. None worked. Once the engine was running with recently nipped-up joints, I could drive all day without a whiff of fuel. Stop for long enough and the problem would be back. Scary, especially when I rocked up at an event and spotted smokers wandering around the cars.
What I hadn’t done was check the fuel pressure. The big restoration before I bought the car included upgrading the original SU fuel pump with a modern solid-state item. Because it was hidden inside the tank, this was another of those modifications I was happy to keep. Until I learned that some of the pumps on the market were producing excess pressure, enough to overwhelm the fibre washers.
The answer, according to assorted wise folk on the E-type Forum, was to fit an inline pressure regulator. Opinions vary on which pressure to set, but I decided to start with a middling setting and adjust down if the leaks persisted, changing in small increments to minimise risk of the mixture becoming too lean at high rpm.
A popular recommendation is a Filter King device that looks like a larger version of the glass-bowl inline fuel filter it replaces but includes a discreet adjustment mechanism. With no marked pressure settings, it relies on you adding a separate gauge. Instead, I went for a more discreet adjustable regulator that was small enough to mount inline, on the rear bulkhead underneath the false boot floor. Helpfully, the Aldon Automotive/ Redline device I bought is marked 1-5psi and fitting was simply a case of cutting the fuel line and using the supplied clips to secure the hose to its unions.
Inevitably I question why I didn’t do this 15 years ago, but then I would have erased my Lockheed SR-71 boast. Old car life is full of compromises.
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