June finds be back home after the road trip. Made the 900 mile trip with no license plate or temp tag of any kind. I fully expected to be pulled over several times. That's about as far as I like to drive anymore. My back side doesn't have the padding it once had. ;-)

Rather strange for me this week as I haven't touched my computer in quite a while. I'm usually pounding on the keyboard or building web sites all the time. People are telling me this is a good thing. Maybe.

Anyway, I started getting familiar with this beast. Cleaned it inside and out. When washing it I found a leak at the top center of the windshield. It dripped from the mirror onto the console. The boot leaks just a bit also. Was able to apply a weather strip to knock that down. Surprisingly, the windows don't seem to leak even though the rubber is all hard and cracked from age.

I contacted Richard Calver after finding some information on his web site. He has massive amounts of info on Jensens. He was curious about some items on my car. I answered as much as I could. Still looking for the engine number though. It's not very visible, either that or I'm just looking in the wrong place. Some things I've found…

• The bonnet, boot and front cross member all have the correct VIN on them. 133/5535.
• The tach and speedo are original. The speedo shows 31K miles. If it's original and not been altered, It seems to be either a rough 31k or a very light 131K.
• The temp and oil pressure gauge have been replaced.
• The two front door panels are from two different cars, 5505 and 5508, both blue and have been dyed black. They'll be replaced as they've sustained heavy water damage over the years.
• The sunroof is not factory. Looks good for aftermarket though. It's a pop out and has no markings on it.
• The car originally came with a vinyl roof. Glad that's gone. I can see a trace of it on one of the door pillars.
• The interior was originally black. At some point someone wanted tan and swapped out the whole interior. At a later point, someone decided it would be best to make it black again. So they dyed the leather black. In some places they did a very good job and in others, just a bit sloppy. Will have to clean that up.

OK, so what now that I have some time to play with this. I called K&D Enterprises and spoke with Keri Meyer. I could feel her enthusiasm for Jensens when we were talking. She was very helpful and was able to answer my questions. I'm afraid I might spend some $$$ there. I ordered a shop manual, parts guide, and an electrical schematic. Also ordered sway bar links and bushings. Interesting to note the links came in a Mercedes bag. Hmmmmmm.

I installed the sway bar links. After the first drive, I noticed one of the brackets was bent up. Come to find the lower bolt was cross-threaded and pulled out. Sure didn't feel that way going in. Tapped it and installed another bolt. Broke the tap when it bottomed out on something inside the frame. The car stayed pretty flat to begin with but much better having a sway bar.

Spent some time rejuvenating the leather in the back seat. Added some color and moisture. Seems much nicer now. Still can't imagine anyone riding back there though. The right front seat is pretty much trashed. The drivers seat has been redone fairly recently so it's not bad.

Removed the door trim panels to see what was in there and to possibly find out why the drivers window is slow going down. Found the trim panels are both from different cars. Both blue too. They've had some water damage, so I think they'll get replaced. Need to reinstall the water barrier also. Was able to make a big difference on the window speed with some white lithium grease. I found a box with used window motor gears for the right side. Looks like someone was in there.

The altitude is giving the carb a real hard time. It's jetted for sea level I think. It just loads up at lower RPMs. Trying to find someone who knows how to rejet for high altitude. Talked to several people who seemed afraid to touch it. I know a tech that told me once that he loves electrical problems. I thought, now here's a challenge for him. Drove it over and he said, "that's an easy one, I don't work on those". He did agree to do some things if I needed him to. So what now? Most shops don't know what a carburetor is anymore. The local Chrysler place said "what's that"?

I talked to a couple British repair shops that didn't really want to get into this. I did get a referral to a small shop not far from my home. Andy's Automotive at 3481 W. 88th Ave. in Westminster CO. 303-427-7673 Talked with Dave, He says I know what that thing is. Dropped by the other day to meet him and show him the car. He says he can do pretty much what ever I need. Seems at this point to be a technician and not a parts replacer. Will take it over to him on the 23rd to get the carb and the brakes right.

The Jensen spent the week at the shop. Dean was the tech who did most of the work. He's a Mopar fan. He has Dart with two Edlebrock carbs on a 383. Nice under the hood but the body has some work to be done. Anyway, all the calipers are moving and no leaks. Not sure why the previous owner bought caliper kits. Had the brake system flushed. Doesn't feel a lot different, but I do. Changed the oil in the rear end. The carb was rebuilt and tuned for the altitude. ON the test drive it was cutting out pretty badly between 1500 and 2000 RPMs. The tech seems to think the distributor is bent because of the way it seems to vibrate independently of the engine. Hmmmmmm. Not sure on this one. It ran better before all this. The emissions output was reduced by quite a bit at idle, so that's a good thing. Couldn't quite figure it out at the time. Took it home anyway.

Drove around a bit that night and it was pretty rough. Installed the front dash pieces I had received and dyed. Looks more finished now. I thought something was missing. Parked it and said good night.

The next day I started looking closely at the left side of the engine, hearing a clicking noise I hadn't heard before. Thought maybe a plug wire was loose. Pulled some cables off the cap to see if anything changed. Saw some arcing on the coil when I did this. Decided to check the wiring on the coil. Replaced one wire to the resistor that had cracked insulation. Found the other terminal was less than finger tight. Cleaned all contacts and put it back together. Seems to run about the same. Maybe it's too hot still. After cooling down, I took it out in the evening after it rained. Nice! Seems to run strong and even. After driving for a while I can still feel a bit of hesitation in the 1500 to 2500 range but very slight. Drove north on I-25 and easily took it to 100 MPH. Seems to shift into third a little later than before though. Still much nicer. Wish I could figure out how to keep it cooler. I know, don't drive on hot days!

Installed weather stripping on both doors. This is the strip around the top of the window frame. Seals rather nicely now. Cut down on a bunch of wind noise. Removed some old aftermarket weather stripping on the right and cleaned up the gummy glue. Now if only the sunroof would go away.

Was checking some other items and connected the blower motor directly to the battery. It runs and blows strong!! Now I just need to figure out what keeps the switch from operating it.

Looking closely under the hood I found a hose that has a T in it. One end goes down on the right and to the frame. (Found out the frame tube is a vacuum reservoir) The other end goes around to the left fender well and is just hanging loose. Noticed another T in the line with a small vacuum hose running from it. This line is supposed to be used for vacuum but isn't doing this. Took the hose from the manifold that was routed to the brake booster and connected it to the large T. Connected the loose end to the brake booster. Voila, Now there's vacuum in the line. I think at this point the small vacuum line is for the dash vent controls. Not sure yet.