I’m just about done with a 250GTE engine we rebuilt this past winter, but I wanted to share with you some small details on this engine.

Each area on this engine has details that make it all correct. In this picture, it shows the front of the engine. The steel stand pipe of the coolant hose is supposed to be painted black wrinkle paint. The brass collar between the two radiator hoses is the thermostat. I need to get four Cheney type hose clamps to secure this large pipe. These are available in reproduction from a Jaguar E-type supplier. They’re about $10 bucks a piece, but it is what it is! I have smaller ones installed on the small 5/8 inch pipe seen on the left side of this picture.

The spark plug wire keepers are installed. along with some o-rings around the wires. If you look closely, the carburetor nuts are small, like 11mm or 12mm across the flats. These are thin walled nuts that would normally take a 13mm nut, but Weber used smaller nuts for better clearance next to the carbs.

Although I am largely done on this engine, we’re still looking for some parts to make things perfect. There is a special bolt that tightens this clip that secures the oil filler pipe to the engine. When we disassembled this engine, a regular hex bolt was installed, but it would be nice to replace it with the right bolt. I’m sure this bolt can be found or bought somewhere, but we’re looking!

Small details in these engines may seem pedantic to some people, but some details are pretty important. A common part I often see missing is a clip that secures the coolant pipe to an exhaust stud on the engine. This long pipe comes from the back of the engine and attaches to the front stand pipe I talked about earlier. This clip helps relieve some of the stress on this long pipe when attached to the engine. This clip often gets misplaced or is not connected because it has to go on after the exhaust manifold gets installed. I left ours hanging and hopefully I’ll remember to install it when it comes time!