Knowles-Wilkins Engineering

classic spirit rebornkwecars.com

December 2012 Issue 13In this newsletter:

Carfest SouthEventers at KWEJaguar World Monthly article focusing onKWEE-type gearbox conversionMajor 2 year XJS project complete“Dear Chris” tips and info

Rare Eventer Collective!

Carfest SouthAugust 25th/26th

The inaugural ‘Carfest’took place on August BankHoliday and was consid-ered a huge success in spiteof the wet weather! KWEhad two cars at the show,one being the V12 coupéthat James May drove onTop Gear in 2004, the othera V12 convertible whichwas sourced and upgradedfor a customer in 2009.

The show raised £750,000 for Children in Need,and KWE gained a lot of good contacts. A bit ofrain on Saturday did not dampen the event, andSunday was great. All our visitors were impressedwith the sheer presence of the two KWE V12 XJSswe had on the stand.

Me, readyfor sun and rain!

With only 67 Lynx Eventer conversions ofthe XJS undertaken it is not surprising thatthey are very rarely seen on the road, but onone October morning KWE had not one,but three Eventers at our Newbury site!KWE is a specialist in these, along with theXJR-S, TWR, Lister and other XJS variants.

The centre car above was in for a minor repair andis an amazing car having done only 24,000 milesand owned by the same person in West Berkshiresince new. The car on the left is from Belgiumand, having undergone a KWE Condition Assess-ment, will be the subject of a major restoration andengine rebuild. The car on the right is in for rustrepairs and improvements to the driving experi-ence.

In October, Eventer owners from Belgium, France,Germany and the UK met up in East Sussex at an eventorganised by Pascal Mathieu, an Eventer owner andpublisher of the website www.lynxeventer.com. Pascalis keen to track down and record the whereabouts of allsurviving Eventers so if you have any information, hewould be most grateful. Contact KWE for Pascal’sdetails in the first instance.

In 2002 Chris Knowles took the brave step in offeringmodern modifications to XJ saloons and XJ-Ss. Tenyears later, KWE is now at the forefront of maintainingthese highly sought after cars. We ask how thecompany started and why he decided to concentrateon these models

IT takes faith to be a classic car owner; faithit will get you there and faith it will get youback again. It takes even greater faith to turna notoriously unreliable car into somethingthat can be used regularly, especially when

nobody had done it before. Yet this is exactlywhat Chris Knowles has done for the XJ-S.

“ It was a completely new market atthe time,” he says “ and people still don’tunderstand what we’re trying to do andthink of us is as simply restorers. But I don’tlike being labelled as that – we want the carsto be seen as new.” Ten years after KWE’sformation, Chris has achieved his ambitionand the company is widely recognisedfor making the cars live up to their truepotential. "(KWE) turn it into the car itshould have been,” said Top Gear’s JamesMay when he sampled one of Chris’ cars.

An electronics engineer by trade, by theearly Noughties, Chris had risen to the

Faith healerW O R D S & P H O T O G R A P H Y P a u l W a lt o n

One of KWE's earliest cars, an XJ12 S3, hasreturned for servicing

position of Operations Director at acompany but found himself involved morein employment legislation and health andsafety laws rather than the things thatinterested him.

“And so I decided to do somethingelse,” he explains. “Around the sametime we moved house and I soondiscovered our new neighbour – a chapcalled Paul Wilkins – and I shared thesame taste in wine and cars. With Paulnot working at the time, following anevening out and several bottles later, wedecided to start a company together thatinvolved cars.”

Although both men had an interest inkeeping old motors alive, what they didn’twant to do was create just anotherrestoration company since there werealready plenty of those around. “ Wedecided to bring old-ish cars back into everyday use, what I call the third market. In myview you have new cars,

second-hands, then something else – oldercars that can be made new but not at crazyrestoration prices. We wanted to producesomething that could be used as a daily driverthat has some panache and some style.”

Focus on the XJThey decided that the XJ6 and 12 would be theperfect choice. “ Everyone in the world lovesJaguars so it made sense to go with that. Butwhen you start a business you don’t needcompetitors and there were lots of very goodpeople restoring the E-type, Mk 2 and XK butnobody was really doing the XJ.” Ironically, bearing in mind the car KWE ismore famous for nowadays, they weren’t toointerested in the XJ-S, preferring instead toconcentrate on the more sensible four-doorsaloon, although Chris was always aware itwas the same car underneath just a differentbody. But in 2008, the XJ S3’s formerpopularity quickly began to wane. “Suddenly,there was a lot more interest in the XJ-S andeverybody wanted to know us.” Originally, Chris, his wife Theresa (who isnow a director of the company) and Paulsimply subcontracted all of the work to othercompanies and worked from The Knowles'living room. “ If you can maintain qualitycontrol, it’s a good way of doing it becauseyou don’t have to buy the premises or themachinery, just the expertise.” But two yearslater Chris decided to take all the mechanicalwork in-house and move from their homenear Portsmouth to a small workshop on theindustrial estate near Newbury, where KWE isstill based.Around the same, Paul Wilkins (who hadacted as sales manager) decided to leave thecompany. “ We didn’t have enough sales inthe early years to support two directors,” Chrisadmits.

Services OfferedToday, KWE’s core market is improving thehandling of the XJ-S, helping to rediscover the

car’s promise. “ What most of our customerswant is the Jaguar ride; that wonderful,supple, gliding ride. But they don’t want thewallowy bit or the vague steering. And so witha bit of forethought you can make it happensurprisingly well given that it’s a grandtourerand not a lightweight sports car.” Chris has worked hard to determine thebest compromise between originality andmodernity, in terms of both set-up andapplication. “A lot of what we do is thinkingcarefully about what we’re going to useoriginal parts for and which bits we’re goingto upgrade. There is a school of thoughtthat says change everything forpolyurethane bushes, put the thickest antiroll bar on you can and it will be wonderful.In fact, it’s horrible. We know, becausewe’ve done it.” Chris’ basic criteria hasremained the same as when he started in2002: a KWE Jaguar should go in a straightline; it shouldn’t roll very much in thecorners, and it must have a fabulous ride. To this I can testify, since Chris allowed meto experience a KWE XJ-S (a gorgeousconvertible that you’ll read about in a futureissue of JWM). The car still had thecosseting, supple ride with which Jaguarsare synonymous, yet there was a crispnessand an immediacy in its steering thatstandard cars often lack. “ What we set outto do,” Knowles explains on my return “ is tomake the car feel great in terms of handling,suspension, steering precision, goodbrakes.”KWE will also offer packages to make theengines – especially the V12, since the4.0-litre is generally bullet proof – morereliable. Depending on budget, this caninvolve simply giving it a major service andreplacing the perishables (such as therubber hoses), or taking the engine out,stripping it down and then replacing,renewing or reconditioning any parts thatrequire attention. Although KWE doesn’thave outrageous engine modifications, itdoes offer a well-known power-enhancement

enhancement package from AJ6Engineering that adds another 30 to40bhp. Chris will then improve the car’sappearance inside and out with new paintand upholstery (both are outsourced totrusted specialists hehas used since the beginning) and KWEcan uprate various systems such as lights,stereo and add rear parking sensors.However, most customers want their car tolook original but reflect the fact they’ve justspent £40k on it in subtle ways. This isusually achieved with new wheels andunique paint colours.“ We don’t set out our stall as producingcars that have every single accessory –with 90% of customers using their carsregularly, it’s more about making the carreliable and ensuring that everything(electric windows, airconditioning etc)works.”

DiversificationWith good XJ-Ss getting thin on theground, Chris is exploring new areasthat will benefit from the KWE touch,including other Jaguars.

“ We are happy to look at theXK8, XJ40, X300 and X308 but thereisn’t the interest yet in these cars. Theconcept of turning the XK8 into a dailydriver isn’t a novel idea since manypeople already use it as such. It maynot have that rarity or that “ Wow”factor of the E-type or XJ-S butbecause a lot of them were made Ithink it will happen.” Chris is alsoconsidering diversifying into othermanufacturers and the Aston MartinDB7 is an obvious choice since itshares the same basic architectureas the XJ-S underneath. But no matter what area he moves intonext, future owners will be just asgrateful as the 175 existing KWEowners are in Chris’ faith for makingany car feel better.

The Jaguar V12 – huge but generally reliable

specialistKWE

KNOWLES-WILKINSENGINEERING LTD86 Greenham Business ParkGreenham, ThatchamBerkshire,RG19 6HWTel: 01635 30030 www.kwecars.com

Challenger E-type Gearbox ConversionThe Challenger E-type is an accuratereplica of a Jaguar E-type 1961 Series 1.It was sold either as a kit of parts, or asa completed vehicle by the Triple C(Car Care Clinic) company between1984 and the early 90's.

We met the owner of this particular car at Carfest South, where he expressed an interest inchanging the current manual gearbox for an automatic. We agreed that we would do thework and in fact we already had a donor gearbox from a Series 3 XJ6 4.2 that would suit,so the car arrived in our workshop at the end of September and work started soon after.There are, of course, many issues to overcome when replacing an auto box with a manual(and vice versa), both inside the cabin and under the bonnet. Firstly, we needed to modifythe E type pedal box to replace the clutch pedal with a spacer tube. We retained theexisting narrow brake pedal (and S3 XJ6 brake servo) as the owner requested plenty ofspace for his feet!Then we needed to design and make an adaptor for the speedo drive to the gearbox as wellas make up transmission cooler pipes, fit a new cooler and a new kickdown cable arrange-ment..The gearbox mounting needed to be modified to suit the new gearbox - too high and thegearbox would be rubbing the top of the tunnel, too low and it would be rubbing againstthe crossbeam.In the cabin we needed to design and build a box that would support the auto gear leverand keep out road dirt and noise, as the new lever would sit in a slightly different position

The view from the cabin downinto the gearbox tunnel

A new box fabricated tocontain the gearshift &controls

The new shift in pace withnew, re-trimmed surround

Whilst the car was in our care, we noticed that it had a slight water leak, and we realisedthat the fan had been mounted directly to the radiator with three screws pushed throughthe fragile heater matrix. The right hand one had punctured the radiator which wasleaking. After agreement with the customer we removed the fan and had the radiatorreconditioned. We then designed and made a steel frame which would connect to thetop and bottom of the radiator to which the fan could be safely mounted.

The fan orig-inally fitteddirectly tothe radiator,damagingthe matrix

A steelframewasmade tomountthe fan

The fanmounted tothe re-cored

radiator

2 year major upgrade project complete!Our brief for this car was to lighten it as much as possible, to moderniseits appearance sympathetically and to add a raft of internal improve-ments and modifications. While the cost of re-making major body panelsin aluminium proved too expensive, a useful 80kg was shaved off thetotal car weight - 10 of that being the modern aircon pump! The manualconversion initially was problematic as the specified lightweight flywheeland racing clutch gave rather rough changes and detracted from theoverall driving experience.

The client chosehis own paintcolour fromswatches and theresult looks su-perb - some-where between

Jaguar’s Cobalt Blue and Solent Blue.The black rubber bumpers, front spoilerand wiper grille have been rendered body colour - a nice subtle modernisation. A pale beigeconvertible hood was specified and this will look very good in the sunshine of the south of Francewhere the car will live.

As a golfer, the client wanted maximum flat area in the boot, so a new floorwas made and the battery and spare wheel re-located under it. This issomething Jaguar should have done!

Apart from the gearbox conversion, the major modernisation is the KWEDigital Engine Management system which uses a top of the range engine

computer to manage both ignition and fuelling. For a V12 this is quite complex and not availableoff the shelf. The KWE system gives better starting and very well controlled idle speed - anachilles’ heel of the Jaguar system. Oh - and more performance as the system has been tuned tothe individual car on a rolling road dynamometer. The client is very pleased with the result andhis video testimonial with more detail and more pictures of the car can be seen at kwecars.com.

SpecificationLighter convertible LHDbodyLighter mechanicalsPower-enhanced V12 en-gine6 speed manual gearboxModern, lighter airconCustom colour re-paintUpgraded KWE suspensionKWE custom alloy wheelsNew leather & carpet interi-orHID headlampsFlat boot floor (hidden bat-tery)Light alloy radiator

Dear Chris…

This is most likely due to a fault in the seat controller unit.The failure is usually due to excessive damp in the foot-well. Sometimes removing the controller and leavingindoors in a warm room or putting on a radiator for a dayor two will fix it, but really the case needs to be openedand the printed circuit board properly dried out andcleaned.

However, the unit may have suffered a permanent faultin which case a new or second hand unit is required. Youwill see the Jaguar part number on a printed label (it mightbe "DAC 5723" or similar. If you then Google this youmay find a vendor with one in stock. Or trywww.grublogger.co.uk. I'm afraid we don't have anystock, but if you get really stuck you could send us theunit and we'll see if we can fix it - no guarantees!

Rear springs: We would recommend the Sportspack springs as they provide animprovement in handling without noticeably affecting ride. The original partnumber is C39692, and the Sportspack is JLM11311. However, these are usuallyunavailable from the OEM manufacturer, and the various aftermarket versionsfrom the well-known suppliers are usually poor quality - wrong length, rate andthey sag. We have our own springs made in Sheffield - though not for every var-iant - and for the XJS V12 we have one type which is equivalent to the Sport-spack spring fitted to all V12 XJSs after VIN 188104.

We have moved from Gaz dampers to our own-spec AVO dampers. Please getin touch with us for prices.

Visit our website www.kwecars.com or contact us on (t) 01635 30030 (e) info@kwejaguar.co.uk.

GallerySome of the cars completed since July 2012

Video TestimonialsWe have recently started asking our customers whetherthey would like to discuss the work done to their cars oncamera for the benefit of others who might be thinking ofhaving a KWE modernisation and upgrading carried out.

We now have several vide-os and they can be viewedon our website by clickingon News Press & Media,Client Testimonials.

You will also find writtentestimonials on this page.

These and the photo galleries are updated regularly andrepresent the most potent appreciation of our work.

And finally............