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I need to make a new floor board panel. The one that was in there was made at some point in the past before I got the car, and was made of clipboard, and only 3/4" thick. So it was sagging. Also, the entire bottom side was pretty oil soaked from the leaking Jag motor.

The thickness should be 1" to match the level to the rest of the floor.

True 1" thick plywood is not something any of my local home stores carry. But a had plenty left over 1/2" plywood. So I glued, screwed, and clamped two sheets together. Used nearly every clamp I had.




I had the shape pretty well defined to fit. Just need to bevel and undercut some of the leading edge clear were the jag bellhousing will sit.




Then I give it a coat of bedliner to protect it.

I told my wife I bought her some new jewelry. I don't think she was expecting these.





I was considering having a batch of these produced, but it appears that John Ulrich has decided to have another run of his reproductions made. So I ended up buying a set from him. I'm not sure how many he has made or if he will make more in the future, so if you need Trunk Rack knobs, I would give him a call as soon as possible.

In today’s episode of "How the Crankshaft Turns… "

Using my old engine block is a no-go. Russel stripped it down, hot tanked, and found a block crack in the area between cylinders 2 and 3.

So, he went back to look at the newer block and rechecked and honed the two cylinders that are rust-damaged. One cleaned up well enough to be used, just with some light shadowing that he isn’t worried about, the other one will for sure require a sleeve. So… the plan is to strip and hot tank the newer one, and then magniflux it to verify everything else is good.

It’s been a roller coaster for sure.

The crack explains the mystery and ever-present oil leak.

I can start to see why so many Jag owners opted for a small Chevy V8 back in the 80s and early 90s. An acquaintance did several of the conversions for people up and down the central valley when he had his garage. Said a swap using a new Chevy crate engine plus all the needed brackets etc (which were apparently readily available from several mail order sources) could be done for roughly a third to a half of what it typically cost to completely go thru and rebuild a Jag engine.