1975 Jaguar XJ Coupe 6.0 V12

[craigjm]

OK so I thought I would start my own thread. Been looking for one of these for a while and I stumbled upon this in early November. 1975 XJ Coupe modified with the following (so far) -

Mechanical -

6.0 V12 Jaguarsport engine from an XJR-S
XJ Restorations sports suspension (Eibach springs, GAZ shocks, Poly steering rack bushes and superflex wishbone bushes)
AJ6 Engineering performance ECU
AJ6 Engineering large throttle bodies
AJ6 Engineering High torque manifolds
AJ6 Engineering large bore straight through stainless steel exhaust


Looks wise -

17 inch wheels and widened arches (wheels not to my taste will be replaced)
Modified lower front end to feature mesh grille upper and lower and driving spots
Series 3 rear lights and plinth
Series 3 dashboard and centre console
Racing mirrors
Leaper (yuk - will be going when resprayed)

No idea what the colour is and it has been resprayed at some point from its original Dark Blue that it wore when it left the factory. Car has no significant history in terms of provenance. The idea is to have some fun with it.

The Plan

So what I plan to do with it over the next 12 months is -

Remove the vinyl roof and bare metal spray the car - unsure of colour yet will update
Rebuild and retrim the interior as it desperately needs it! - unsure of colour combo as yet will update
Re-veneer all of the wood in piano black
Replace steering wheel with a smaller, thicker piano black wood wheel to match the veneer
Fit as much modern tech as I can subtly hidden so the car will have stuff like the following -

Apple carplay
Bluetooth
Voice control
Sat Nav
DAB
Reversing camera
Decent speaker package
Heated seats
Air conditioning
Auto dip interior mirror
Cruise control
Remote central locking
Tyre pressure monitoring
Rear electric sunblind
Push button start
Front cupholders to replace ashtrays
Universal remote
Heated washer jets
Puddle lights
Mood lighting
Uprated headlamps

Lets see how it progresses over the year.

And now for some "as-is" pictures























I will update this as I go along.

[craigjm]

castex said:

Beautiful car and very much looking forward to the wheel replacement. What do you have in mind?

Not sure yet but they will need to be 16 or 17 because of the size of the arches and the amount of power meaning that going back to the standard type 15 inchers is a non-starter

[craigjm]

leglessAlex said:

This is so amazing, and from the looks of those modifications you want to do it'll be even better.

Are you going to try and keep it all Jaguar?

What do you mean?

[craigjm]

LanceRS said:

Very nice, are you able to reinstate the Series 2 grill, rear lights and boot lid?

I dont want to. Im going to change the mesh in the grilles when I sort it out in the summer so its brigher. I prefer the series 3 rear lights and boot. Im going to change the overiders on the rear bumper to the same as the fronts so that it doesnt foul the light as it currently does.

[craigjm]

leglessAlex said:

craigjm said:

leglessAlex said:

This is so amazing, and from the looks of those modifications you want to do it'll be even better.

Are you going to try and keep it all Jaguar?

What do you mean?

As in, the list of things you want to add like cruise, heated seats, nav and so on, will you be getting them from Jaguar cars or just from wherever you can?

You cant because as you say the age of base car makes that not possible. What I am going to try and do is make sure everything blends in / switches are hidden or discreet etc. I have a supplier in mind for everything on the list. We will see.

[craigjm]

stewy68 said:

Just plain gorgeous! What about bespoke steel wheels (like original only 17's)?

Nah, I want the exterior to look as sporty as possible. I have seen somewhere that makes Kent, Dunlop and Hallibrand replicas in 16s and 17s. Will end up being something like that.

[craigjm]

I have never liked the vinyl roofs Bomma so that is coming off and unfortunately even with knowledge of what paint it is the finish to get the roof right and the cost means I might as well spray it whatever colour I like. I just think they look more progressive without the vinyl and it's not the original roof it's some cheap kit so it's lumpy and thicker in some areas than it is in others. Time for it to go.

Leaders are just wrong for this model I think and it's a cheap one too so it's lost it's chrome and going rusty

I'm going to retain the series 2 bumpers though and have them rechromed when I do the paint and stuff. A few have been upgraded to series three bumpers but not sure it works, same with the door handles. Both shows on the car linked

http://milesclassic.co.uk/cars/daimler-sovereign-4...

[craigjm]

bomma220 said:

but with foresight & bottle (and a bit of cash ) it can be transformed to something even greater.

I wish you well with the project craigjm & look forward to the updates mate

Cheers that's what I am hoping. I will be mulling some stuff over in this thread but the big changes start from May.

I don't mind what I spend on it because I don't plan on selling it. I've always wanted one and either for it to be 100% original or be my own subtle reimagining for modern roads. This one lends itself perfectly to the latter.

[craigjm]

stuttgartmetal said:

Steed it.

No way that body kit is hideous not to mention it would no longer fit with the rear modifications already made. I think that kit only works if you can run it without bumpers like the race cars

[craigjm]

mak250300 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TMgIkx40tI

I tried to find out what Harry has done with his because he did say he was going to follow up but no such luck yet

[craigjm]

cb1965 said:

How about de-chroming it..... I think it would look epic with the right wheels!

I have thought about that but I want to keep the bumpers and door handles and mirrors etc. If i decrhromed the rest of it I think I would have to take it all away like this -



Dont fancy it though

[craigjm]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

I'm glad you said that.

I love your car, and admire what you're planning to do, but I'm glad it's not chasing the look of that black car.

I think they suit the chrome so its staying

[craigjm]

P5BNij said:

If you're definitely ditching the vinyl roof but keeping the chrome bumpers and going for a complete colour change I'd go for something dark, like a very deep racing green (maybe even metallic at that), a midnight-ish dark blue or possibly black. With the other mods you have in mind I think these colours would work very well. I'd add a bit more retro (I hate the word but it fits!) detail by fitting some period raised digit / reflective yellow and white plates, rather than the flat reflective modern sort, they would give a nice bit of relief to the overall monotone look of the car. I'd also go with a set of bespoke Kents.

Blimey, 'ark at me getting all OCD over someone else's car...! Best of luck, it sounds like a great project and I'm looking forward to the updates.

It will be a darker colour. Im a bit gutted that its an October 75 registration because the law now allows you to use black and silver plates up to Jan 75 and I would quite like that. The period pressed metal might be a good idea though.

[craigjm]

Janluke said:

I keep coming back and looking at it :-)
I know you have all sorts of plans but I love it as is. I'll be watching with interest
I really admire all the guys keeping these beautiful old cars in use

Thanks! interior definitely needs an overhaul the leather is all split and stitching failing and the seat stuffing needs redoing. Lots of the veneer is chipped away too around the ventilation controls etc. Bizarrely someone who owned it before (and im assuming not long ago) had the boot retrimmed and the the headlining done in alacantara whilst leaving the rest like that!

[craigjm]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

P5BNij said:

I have a strange fetish for number plates!

For posterity!

Would make an interesting court case for the newspapers

[craigjm]

klunkT5 said:

OK Craig, I cant help myself so here goes... I take it you've got a decent budget? If so this is what I would do! Get it back to bare metal, Get the rear arches and any other body mods back to standard, Paint it aqua marine and sort the interior out in Terracotta like the S1 Daimler in Breadvans thread, It looks bloody gorgous! Re-instate all chrome, Including S2 bumpers. Get a set of Kent alloys and decent tyres and while your at it do a manual gearbox conversion, Perfect (IMO )

If youre gonna do that buy a standard one first and save some cash Aqua marine and terracotta would be very period but im gonna try and push the boundaries. I think im going to offend a few people with my plans A manual gearbox would be great if my left leg worked better than it does. Its a shame that there isnt a later auto box that fits to give you 6 cogs.

[craigjm]

klunkT5 said:

Nah i meant keep all the mechanical and planned tech mods you have, Just keep it looking standard (Bar the paint and trim colour combo!) Ultimate sleeper that would do the original justice...

Thats what I really wanted to do originally was find a good standard looking car and then fit the 6.0 engine and all the mods so it would be like you said. This came up though with all the mods done and I just had to have it, was the most cost effective and least hassle way of getting what I wanted. Its a shame they have messed with the arches.

[craigjm]

pingy said:

Good luck with the build Craig, here's a link to a chap in Finland who embarked on a similar journey

http://jaguar.fiboy.com/XJ12C.htm

Yeah I've seen that Pingy and it would appear a previous owner was inspired by him which is why it has the external changes it does. I contacted the Finland guy and he spent the equivalent of £65k in total ten years ago!!!!!

[craigjm]

DocJock said:

How about a supercharged (XJR6) version?

Funnily enough I was offered such an engine the other day in exchange for mine but they wanted money to flow their way even though they wanted the modified v12!

I still think the V12 is more special

[craigjm]

OK been having some thoughts about wheels. They need to be 16 or 17 inch as the modified arches would make 15s look like castors and I need the wider tyres available on the larger wheels for the power so going back to any original wheels is a non-starter. I want to make it look more period wheels wise so I have found three options.....

1) 17 inch replica Kents

|http://thumbsnap.com/YSW61r1E[/url]

2) 16 inch replica Dunlops



3) 17 inch replia Hallibrands



Im not convinced I like the Kents as I never really liked the originals. Which of the three, if any would you choose? Or....

Keep them as they are until It's sprayed and trimmed and then decide?

Edited by craigjm on Wednesday 17th February 00:00