Skip the Shiny Catalogue: Building a £500 E-Type Tool Kit That Actually Earns Its Keep

Every autumn, someone on a forum asks what tools they need for an E-Type restoration. Within ten posts they have been told to buy a two-post lift, a five-hundred-piece socket set and a diagnostic scanner that will never see an OBD port. This is the Coventry Spanner alternative: a £500 kit that gets you through SU carburettors, wire wheels, suspension bushes and body shims without turning your garage into a tool museum.

The £500 Brief

Five hundred quid is not a professional workshop budget. It is a sensible home-garage budget for a car that was designed when Britain still had a manufacturing industry and mechanics used feeler gauges. The aim is not to own every tool. The aim is to own the tools that stop you rounding off a bolt, burning a finger or swearing at a SU float chamber.

Buy Once, Cry Once — But Only Where It Matters

Spend on the things that touch fasteners: a decent 1/2-inch six-point socket set, a 3/8-inch set for the fiddly stuff, combination spanners and a torque wrench you can trust. Halfords Advanced is perfectly good for a home restorer; Sealey and Draper do the job; old Britool and King Dick spanners from autojumbles are often better than new no-name tat. Do not spend £200 on a brand badge and then use a cheap adjustable spanner on a cylinder head.

The Four E-Type Jobs That Decide the Kit

SU Carburettors

SUs are simple, but they are not forgiving of bad tools. You need a carb balancer such as a Unisyn, a jet centring tool, a float gauge, a proper carburettor spanner and screwdrivers that fit. A cheap balancer is better than no balancer, but check it for leaks before you trust it. This is also where a £10 fuel-line spanner saves you from rounding a banjo bolt.

Wire Wheels

E-Type wire wheels need respect. A copper-and-hide mallet is the right tool for knock-offs; a club hammer is the wrong tool for everything. Add a spoke key, a wire brush and a good trolley jack. Do not use the original scissor jack unless you enjoy rust repair.

Suspension Bushes

You do not need a 12-ton press for most bush jobs. A sturdy vice, a selection of large sockets, a hacksaw and a drift will get you through. Polybushes go in with lubricant, not brute force. A 1/2-inch torque wrench and a pair of axle stands are non-negotiable.

Body Shims

Shimming an E-Type is a game of small increments. Feeler gauges, a 1/4-inch ratchet, a magnetic pickup and a notebook are more useful than a fancy alignment rig. This is also where a secondhand vice earns its keep.

Five Tools to Leave at the Boot Sale

1. A 3/4-inch impact wrench. The E-Type's fasteners are old, tired and often seized; a big impact gun is more likely to shear them than free them.
2. A 12-ton hydraulic press. Unless you are doing serious suspension work, it is a lot of garage floor for a job a vice and sockets can handle.
3. A plasma cutter. Buy a grinder and a decent supply of cutting discs first.
4. An OBD2 scanner. The E-Type predates the diagnostic port by decades. Spend the money on a multimeter instead.
5. A 200-piece security bit set. You will use four bits and lose the rest.

UK Supplier Notes and Secondhand Rules

Machine Mart and Screwfix are fine for axle stands and consumables. Halfords Advanced is the default for socket sets and torque wrenches on a budget. For secondhand, try autojumbles at Beaulieu, Newark and Malvern, plus Facebook Marketplace and eBay. Buy old British tools if they feel solid, but avoid secondhand torque wrenches unless you can test them. A £5 vice from a boot sale is a bargain; a £5 angle grinder with a frayed flex is a fire.

The £500 Shopping List

• 1/2-inch six-point socket set, 10–32 mm: £55
• 3/8-inch socket set, 8–19 mm: £30
• Combination spanners, 8–19 mm: £35
• Pozidriv screwdriver set: £18
• 1/2-inch torque wrench, 20–100 Nm: £45
• Trolley jack and axle stands: £70
• Copper-and-hide mallet: £18
• SU carb balancer: £30
• Feeler gauges: £7
• Multimeter: £20
• Grease gun: £12
• Brake bleed kit: £15
• Penetrating oil and copper grease: £12
• Large sockets for bushes: £25
• Wire brush set: £8

Rough total: £400, which leaves £100 for a secondhand vice, consumables and the inevitable extra socket you lose down the chassis rail.

The Point

A £500 kit will not restore an E-Type on its own. It will, however, let you do the jobs that matter without buying a load of shiny rubbish you will never use. Buy the tools that earn their keep, borrow the rest, and spend the savings on rust treatment. That is the Coventry Spanner way.