my cheap barge

[samuelellis]

yea the recess is empty and no flap so i assume its gone missing at some point in the cars life

ah well like i said, ebay for it.

I got really really lucky as it only just fits in the garage





as you can see by only just i mean only bloody just, before anyone asks what the cable going into the back of the car is i have put the battery on my big ctek charger, does not need it really but it helps condition the battery and keep it in good nick

[0a]

I'd really like to try one of these - I bet they drive very well indeed, and the whole experience has aged rather well.

[Triumph Man]

I'd get some foam for your garage wall just where the bumper will touch

[PlayersNo6]

Triumph Man said:

I'd get some foam for your garage wall just where the bumper will touch

Or carpet

[samuelellis]

Yep the wall is getting padded at some point soon

[jamiebae]

Looks really smart, I'm loving the car/house mis-match (not that I can talk as I've just cluttered up the underground parking here with two Renaults, which really don't fit in!)

[samuelellis]

OK it is a little bit of a mis match when you consider that the new price would not be that far off what the house is currently worth but ah well, if any of my neighbours want to say something then they really must have shallow lives

BTW did you use to post on talkaudio as i think i recognise your username from talkaudio

[robsa]

For people of a certain age and trade, these make a great deal of sense. If you are doing occasional long journeys and a small regular amount of local driving and can do some of the maintenance yourself these are brilliant cars. Ridiculous value for money if you get a decent one; they tick so many boxes and are both original and British.

I have to say, if I was in that position I would be looking at these.... although I have for a while had a powerful craving for an XJS. The straight six later models are very cheap now and they are getting rarer on the roads. Beautiful cars - although I prefer the earlier rear lights TBH. Anyway, I digress.

Let's see lots of lovely photos of you improving this beauty!

[Shaw Tarse]

samuelellis said:

Yep the wall is getting padded at some point soon

You need all your walls padded!

[samuelellis]

Shaw Tarse said:

samuelellis said:

Yep the wall is getting padded at some point soon

You need all your walls padded!

your not the first person to suggest that, not because i bought this car - just in general

[jamiebae]

samuelellis said:

OK it is a little bit of a mis match when you consider that the new price would not be that far off what the house is currently worth but ah well, if any of my neighbours want to say something then they really must have shallow lives

BTW did you use to post on talkaudio as i think i recognise your username from talkaudio

Indeed

Have you had a haircut yet?

[samuelellis]

jamiebae said:

Indeed

Have you had a haircut yet?

Nope its longer now

[samuelellis]

So like any old car no matter how well looked after it is i have a list of jobs to do, in no particulair order

1. A service - just for piece of mind
2. Flat and buff the paintwork and then protect the paint, no bad marks, just the usual scratches you would expect over time
3. Couple of bits of brightwork could do with replacing
4. Headliner dropped inside (known issue with these cars, can get a replacement for reasonable money, plus gives me chance to add some sound-deadening to the roof and run cable for front and rear dashcams
5. Couple of blown bulbs on instrument cluster
6. get it waxoyled or equivalent to keep any rust at bay
7. Sort out the new armrest with cup holders i bought and fit it
8. Stereo system design and fit


So considering its a 14 year old car, not really a massive amount to do and most of them are upgrades

[samuelellis]

Yes i am 5 years old so i always laugh at this sign

[samuelellis]

So i have been thinking about the best way to attack the audio in this car and it has a few issues

1. They dont make a facia adapter for it
2. A modern headunit would stand out
3. The stock headunit does not have bluetooth so it cant talk to my phone
4. The stock headunit turns its volume up as the car acellerates (this annoys me)


So i have a couple of options, either replace it or live with it.

However i have been doing some reading round and believe i have found a 3rd way to do it. The car has a CD changer in it so I figured it must have a stereo signal going from the changer to the headunit. Some more research found that the headunit and changer are made by Alpine and use the AI net system so adding an aux in should be an off the shelf part BUT unfortunately they changed it slightly so if it does not sense the changer it just shuts down the audio. However more web research brought me to this link - http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-x308-xj8-xjr-... and this suggests how to tap into the left and right channels in the cd changer and this link tells you how to switch between aux in and changer - http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-x308-xj8-xjr-...

So that in theory should give me an aux in, now once i have the aux in but what to connect it to. I have done more research and come across the Fusion BT100 that is just a straight bluetooth to line out device - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxFgfABO1LU

So that will mean that i have the ability to switch between the cd changer and a bluetooth aux in. This will allow me to use a tablet/my existing Samsung s2 mobile for music/internet radio/nav etc

So the next step would be to stop the headunit turning itself up when accelerating, then just feed the high level out to a high level to line level converter so i can run amps.

So first step is to buy a cd changer off e-bay so i can test the theory without damaging my existing cd changer

[jamiebae]

Disconnect the speedo pulse feed to the HU and that will kill the speed sensitive volume control.

Personally I'd just run a secondary HU and hide it away somewhere and control it via a remote or stalk controller, high level outputs never work properly and you can use some kind of deckles HU and mount it wherever you want as there are no issues with CDs skipping or needing to be mounted flat and level. That way it still looks OEM but you get decent sound quality.

[samuelellis]

My google-fu failed me and about 10mins after i posted that i did actually find a facia adapter and a wiring adapter (curse you google, spend weeks looking and then find what i want 10mins after saying it does not exist)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-XJ8-98-02-Car-CD-...

So the change of plan now is to order one of those and get it hydrodipped to match the wood on the dash

Then either
-use my spare JVC AVX44 - this would give me the ability to feed a reversing camera to the screen in the headunit
-Get something like a pioneer 80 PRS - this will give me a lot of control over the sound
-Go oldskool and fit a becker unit/pioneer p77 that may fit the style of the dash more and then just use a fusion bluetooth to phono out adapter to give me mp3/video etc

[samuelellis]

yep the fact that a fascia adapter is not curved is a bit of an issue but the picture on the one above looks ok

The headunit i am considering is the following one i had as a spare

A becker Trafficpro - should fit in with the look of the car and im sure with some filler work i can make the fascia adpater curved enough to fit the look of the dash

[Jaguar steve]

jamiebae said:

Disconnect the speedo pulse feed to the HU and that will kill the speed sensitive volume control.

Personally I'd just run a secondary HU and hide it away somewhere and control it via a remote or stalk controller, high level outputs never work properly and you can use some kind of deckles HU and mount it wherever you want as there are no issues with CDs skipping or needing to be mounted flat and level. That way it still looks OEM but you get decent sound quality.

You don't need to disconnect anything. Push and hold the volume knob in for two or three secs. The auto volume state will be shown as either on or off. To change release and press the volume switch again to toggle between the states. If auto volume is shown as on you can adjust between -IIRC 4 or 5 - different levels of sensitivity by turning the volume control.

[schuey]

As you need to drop the headlining why not hide a modern headunit somewhere in the dash and put the faceplate in the sun visor,connected with some neat soldering and ribbon cable. I know it's a very 90's mod but it works a treat,not too difficult to do.