Before Audi was Quattro and before the world thought four-wheel drive was just for mud-plugging Land Rovers, the Jensen FF was rewriting the rulebook. Launched in 1966, this was Britain’s answer to the muscle car. Packing a 6.3-liter Chrysler V8, Ferguson Formula all-wheel drive, and even an early form of ABS, it was decades ahead of its time. It looked like a regular Interceptor, but the FF was longer, rarer, and just plain cooler. Only 320 were ever built, making it one of the most exclusive and technologically ambitious GTs of its era.

This particular example has already been treated to pristine bodywork and a beautifully finished interior, but now it’s in the hands of Project GBG for the next phase of its restoration journey. A full engine bay and chassis restoration is on the cards, bringing these crucial areas up to the same immaculate standard as the rest of the car. Given the FF’s rarity and technological significance, it deserves nothing less than perfection.

The Plan:

Chassis: Replace or restore chassis parts

Paint: Strip off the old underseal and coat in fresh paint.

We began the strip-down process by carefully removing key components to prepare the Jensen FF for its full engine bay and chassis restoration. First, the braking system was disassembled, ensuring each part was catalogued for refurbishment or replacement. Next, we tackled the suspension components, removing everything from the control arms to the shocks and springs.

Attention turned to the gearbox and axles next—vital elements in the FF’s revolutionary four-wheel-drive system. The transmission was carefully unmounted, revealing the intricate drivetrain layout that made the FF a pioneer of its time. Finally, the front and rear axles were extracted, allowing us full access to the chassis and underpinnings.

With the braking system, suspension, gearbox, and axles already stripped away, Rich and Connor turned their attention to two of the most critical components in the restoration process—the engine and fuel tank.

Carefully unbolting and disconnecting every hose, mount, and linkage, they meticulously lifted the mighty Chrysler 6.3-litre V8 from its resting place, revealing decades of wear hidden beneath.

Next, the fuel tank was safely removed, a crucial step in preparing the chassis for deep restoration. Given the car’s age, a thorough inspection will determine whether the tank can be refurbished or needs fabrication of a new unit, ensuring fuel delivery remains reliable and safe for many years to come.

The Jenson is now at our body shop where Lewie has been stripping the underseal off the metal on the engine bay using a combo of blow heater, scraper and a dry ice blasters just to finish off.

Louis has been scraping off the old underseal off the bottom of the car and replacing it with a fresh new coat.

The Jensons engine bay has been masked up and had a coating of Raptor liner to give that area a coating of hard-wearing protection.

The engine has been over to Daz at Hammer Engine Solutions  for a full rebuild as there were running issues and it was down on performance. The engine strip-down revealed a very tired engine with heavily worn camshaft lobes as well as scoring on the crankshaft and cylinder bores. Daz also discovered two different brands and thicknesses of head gaskets upon teardown, that’s a new one.

You can see the heavily worn 2nd and 3rd camshaft lobes in the images below.

While the engine was apart, Guy decided to go for a number of performance upgrades to breath new life into the motor and help pull the car along nicly, the upgrades included:
The Block was bored and honed oversized
Crankshaft ground for fresh journals
New pop up high compression pistons
New eagle H beam con rods
Rotating assembly balanced
New intake and exhaust valves
New Competition Camshaft kit, including valve springs/retainers
New Comp Cams roller rocker shafts
Edelbrock performer intake manifold
Edelbrock 4 barrel carburettor
ARP internal fasteners
New oil pump and crankshaft damper

With the engine back, Rich and Connor refitted it. They have also be cleaning up, detailing or replacing anything that goes back on to the car.

To be continued………