Technical Workshops at P&K Thornton Restorations – 17th May 2025

It was a pleasure hosting the E-Type and XK Club members at our P&K Thornton workshops over the weekend (17th May) for our technical workshops. Starting at 10 AM and finishing around 4 PM, the day comprised of 4 interesting and informative technical workshops. These 4 seminars went over Metalwork, Electrics and Engines along with Servicing and General Maintenance. We got the opportunity to try out our new barista coffee machine served with a small buffet lunch.

We had about 40 people attend the event, they were split into 5 groups, alternating between each seminar. The metalwork seminar was presented by Darren Edwards, our lead panel beater at P&K Thornton. He has been working in the trade for over 35 years and has a vast wealth of knowledge and experience. The workshop comprised of a variety of demonstrations beginning with how these classic cars come to us after the dipping or blasting process, conducting a visual assessment on what work needs completing. Additionally, we explained how we custom design the metalwork the customers desire, whether they would like to be original, Concours or restomod conditions. We demonstrated a custom XK120 chassis we have been working on recently, which has been heavily modified and upgraded. Additionally, there was a demonstration on wheeling, discussing how we beat and shape panels. 

The electrical seminar was presented by our workshop manager, Paul Fletcher, aka “The Wiring Wizard”. This seminar talked about old wiring looms and what you can expect to see on classic cars. Going on to discuss how you can make a custom loom to your desired spec, along with the introduction of modern ECU and power boxes to improve performance and reliability.

The engine building workshop was hosted by our Managing Director at P&K Thornton Restorations, Ciprian Nistorica (Cip) who is a specialist in classic car maintenance and restoration. Cip delivered a detailed seminar about the key stages and requirements for rebuilding an engine. Going into detail on the preparation and planning such as cleaning and correctly labelling and storing the components. Additionally, he explained how to strip the engine down and inspect each element thoroughly and the process of ordering required parts.

In addition, Cip also hosted the dyno tuning and race preparation seminar in our state-of-the-art rolling road workshop. Integrated into the engine building seminar, we demonstrated how our rolling road dyno works and explained the benefits it provides. These include diagnosing performance issues that only appear at specific RPMs for short periods of time and allowing for fine adjustments to carburettor fuelling.

The final seminar we had on offer for the E-Type and XK Club members was a servicing and general maintenance workshop, this was presented by Michael Monaghan, one of our top Restoration Technicians at P&K Thornton. Michael went into detail on how to service a classic car and how to conduct a visual inspection. In addition to some maintenance tips and tricks.

Overall, the technical workshops were amazing, this was one of our best open days to date, with great engagement and conversations between our staff and the attendees. The technical workshops worked well with a captive and technically savvy audience. We had a fantastic turnout of E-Types and classic XKs, some local and some travelling from a considerable distance, which we were grateful to see. We are looking forward to hosting other events similar to this in the future.  

The next event we are hosting is the Carburettor Coffee Club member's meet-up on the 21st of June. We will have a wide range of Jaguars on show and our specialist technicians on hand for any questions. The Carburettor Coffee Company will be serving their specially crafted coffee at the event. If you are a Carburettor Coffee Club member and would like to attend the event you can get tickets on their website.

 For any classic Jaguar race car build, track support, rolling road tuning and preparation, please contact us via the usual channels.

📧 info@thorntonrestorations.com

☎️ 0115 926 2266