Some Assembly Required – First Start / First Drive!

Well, Woo Hoo and Hee Haw! The title says it all. After over 4 years from starting the restoration on my “box of parts” 1963 Etype, I finally have reached this significant milestone. It has been a long time coming but perseverance has paid off. To provide a brief history, I obtained this car back in the early 2000’s fully disassembled, in boxes and on pallets. Because basically everything on the car was a question mark, I decided to do a full restoration. My goal would be to restore the car to “how it left the factory”. Bodywork and paint took several years of my time and effort. The engine rebuild was farmed out to Dick Maury. Chrome to S&H Chrome. An upholstery “kit” came from the UK. Most parts came through SNG. And as I have recounted in this series of articles, there are just a thousand and one things to do when restoring any old car, including an Etype.

I had avoided the first start for quite a while for two major reasons. One was that I couldn’t install the gas tank until the left rear bumper was installed, due to access to bolts for the bumper. And after I got the engine to basically run, I wanted the car to be roadworthy so that I could immediately get the car out and put some load on the engine, to facilitate seating of the piston rings, among other things.

Leading up to the engine start, there are some major sub-systems that need to be in order. Fortunately, unlike on modern cars that are computer heavy, there are pre-testing measures that I could take. I was able to check the ignition system for spark, make sure the spark plug leads went to the correct cylinder, and set the spark timing statically, without starting the engine. The carburetors were rebuilt by Joe Curto. He has standard settings that he uses and these turned out to be perfect for getting the car started and running. I pressurized the fuel system using the standard electric fuel pump on an Etype and found/repaired a few leaky connections. I also filled and pressurized the coolant system and also found/repaired more leaky connections. At this point, I attempted to crank the engine with the spark plugs removed. The engine was very stiff due to the standard pre-lube that Dick uses on the various bearings. With the assistance of a second battery jumpered in, the engine would rotate. I put the spark plugs back in. It was time.

The first start actually occurred without much drama. I did immediately notice fluid under the engine so I shut it down. This turned out to be a leak at the old style canister oil filter, which has a finicky gasket. Once this was corrected, I was ready for my second attempt, which is recorded in the video linked below. I was pleased to hear the engine settle into a steady idle after the first few moments and an adjustment of the “choke” lever on the dash. I will admit there is some trepidation when you start a fully rebuilt engine and all the associated systems. This start went as well as I could have hoped.

A day or so later, I decided to take it out for its first drive. There is a short video linked below but since I was basically holding a cellphone in my hand to shoot this video, I cut it off as I was leaving my driveway onto the paved public road. Suffice it to say that the car accelerated and I was able to test that all 4 gears were available. On the other hand, the brakes felt pretty sketchy. After improvement in subsequent drives, I am chalking that up to corrosion products on the pads and disks after sitting in a shop environment for quite some time. I was of course very nervous during this period, when every strange noise has you on edge. I have since developed a punch list of things that need to be looked at but nothing major has cropped up.

So again, first start. First drive. A major milestone in my restoration. I think I do see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a train!

My First Start and First Drive videos are at the links listed below.