Jaguar XJ-S V12 from the opposite end of Britain and a MG
Discussion
alabbasi said:
No interior pictures? That might be the prettiest part of these cars
That's a good point - I've just taken some. Please excuse the lighting but it didn't seem worth a cold-start to move the car out of the garage just for interior photos. It's light grey inside.Generally the interior is good. There are no obvious cracks, breakages or other damage on the dashboard, doorcards, switchgear of the wood inserts. There's some wear showing on the driver's seat bolster, but I am happy this is a Furniture Clinic job rather than in need of re-upholstering. The back seats are like new and the front passenger seat not far behind. Even the driver's seat foam is excellent. The carpets are intact but a bit dirty and in need of a good shampooing, and there's a cigarette burn beside the passenger sill. The headlining is new but strangely the trim pieces either side were not renewed and these are the scabbiest bits of the interior and definitely need replaced - all four bits are dirty/discoloured and the passenger side one has a cigarette burn at the top of the door aperture whilst the driver side one is just ripped. The sunvisors are likewise discoloured but otherwise in good condition - I'm concerned they'll be the weak link in the interior - the jury is out on those... The boot is in good condition with the jack etc still present.
The seats are so different from modern cars. They're soft and squishy. They are supportive enough but in a more comfortable way. Modern seats are extremely hard - my 2014 XFR-S was a massive step down in seat comfort compared to my 2005 S-type Sport which itself was inferior to my 1998 Rover 620iS but this car is in a different league. Modern cars are like sitting in children's high-back booster seats - very hard foam made slightly less objectionable by offering 18 electric motors in them to move the solid slabs around.
Edited by jamieduff1981 on Monday 14th March 08:56
jamieduff1981 said:
Stick Legs said:
Having owned a few of these I just had an involuntary imagined olfactory response!
I swear looking at those pictures I can smell petrol, leather and damp!
I swear looking at those pictures I can smell petrol, leather and damp!
Due to a weep from a cam cover mine mostly smells of petrol and hot oil. It's very reminiscent of my Cerbera
jamieduff1981 said:
That's a good point - I've just taken some. Please excuse the lighting but it didn't seem worth a cold-start to move the car out of the garage just for interior photos. It's light grey inside
It looks good. I'm always impressed at how well interiors hold up in the UK. Most are ruined here.LanceRS said:
It’s a British Leyland smell, I seem to remember that Triumphs smell the same
Now you come to mention it, it's been a while since I sat in my MG but that smells similar also. Perhaps a more vinyl than leather smell, but still... alabbasi said:
It looks good. I'm always impressed at how well interiors hold up in the UK. Most are ruined here.
I think things vary a lot depending on the specific people involved. There are interiors here in bad condition also. How careful someone is matters a lot. Some people just wreck everything they touch - I suppose I'm lucky that my family is very careful and doesn't destroy everything so if we get an interior in good condition it tends to stay that way. How physically fit versus overweight etc can change a lot about how a person sits into a seat and gets back out of a car also in that some can better control where they land and how hard whilst others are like a 200lb sack of potatoes crashing into the seat sideways across the bolsters every time they get in.Despite having a new MOT, the rear fog lights didn't work. Also, not an MOT issue but only driver's side reverse light works, the Lucas front fog lights don't seem to work and the red puddle lamp on the driver's door doesn't work.
The rear fog lights now do work with new bulbs, some contact cleaner and spraying a reflector who's chrome had turned black with silver.
The front fogs have yet to be looked at.
The passenger side reverse light has a dead festoon bulb, but I live in the middle of nowhere and don't want to crash into anything I own in winter when it's dark for long periods up here in the north east (of Scotland, not 250 miles south in the north east of England!) so I've ordered a set of these LEDs which are brighter and direct the light out behind the car. There are no reflectors for the festoon bulbs as standard so they're more "watch out old boy I'm reversing at you" lamps than things which actually illuminate the space you're backing in to.
https://bettercarlighting.co.uk/index.php?act=view...
The driver side puddle lamp bulb seems good, but I don't have 12v at its connections so that needs investigated further.
I forgot to see if the headlight wipers worked when I bought the car. I've just checked and only the driver's side works so the passenger side headlight wiper can be added to the list of things to check out.
All of the above is firmly in the realm of "niggles" though, and nothing which prevents me getting into the car and driving it somewhere.
My 12 new spark plugs arrived so once back from having the dodgy exhaust taken care of, I can strip off the fuel rail from the engine to change all the fuel hoses and seals and replace all 12 plugs with new whilst we're in there.
We're hoping to take the car on a week's holiday in August so my wife has asked if I can get the air conditioning pressure tested sooner rather than later. I expect all the seals are knackered and it'll leak like a sieve, but if I confirm that soon enough we might be able to get it working in time.
The rear fog lights now do work with new bulbs, some contact cleaner and spraying a reflector who's chrome had turned black with silver.
The front fogs have yet to be looked at.
The passenger side reverse light has a dead festoon bulb, but I live in the middle of nowhere and don't want to crash into anything I own in winter when it's dark for long periods up here in the north east (of Scotland, not 250 miles south in the north east of England!) so I've ordered a set of these LEDs which are brighter and direct the light out behind the car. There are no reflectors for the festoon bulbs as standard so they're more "watch out old boy I'm reversing at you" lamps than things which actually illuminate the space you're backing in to.
https://bettercarlighting.co.uk/index.php?act=view...
The driver side puddle lamp bulb seems good, but I don't have 12v at its connections so that needs investigated further.
I forgot to see if the headlight wipers worked when I bought the car. I've just checked and only the driver's side works so the passenger side headlight wiper can be added to the list of things to check out.
All of the above is firmly in the realm of "niggles" though, and nothing which prevents me getting into the car and driving it somewhere.
My 12 new spark plugs arrived so once back from having the dodgy exhaust taken care of, I can strip off the fuel rail from the engine to change all the fuel hoses and seals and replace all 12 plugs with new whilst we're in there.
We're hoping to take the car on a week's holiday in August so my wife has asked if I can get the air conditioning pressure tested sooner rather than later. I expect all the seals are knackered and it'll leak like a sieve, but if I confirm that soon enough we might be able to get it working in time.
Sf_Manta said:
My dad's manager had one of these, and my dad would loath driving it when he had to borrow it for customer visits.
Any kind of rain, even light drizzle would result in a full on rainstorm hitting the windscreen due to the length of the front end. Is this the case? curious to know
They're not that bad, but you do get spray from the headlights coming up over the bonnet sometimes (but rarely to the screen). I always thinks its like an F1 car with the spray off of the wheels Any kind of rain, even light drizzle would result in a full on rainstorm hitting the windscreen due to the length of the front end. Is this the case? curious to know
Sf_Manta said:
My dad's manager had one of these, and my dad would loath driving it when he had to borrow it for customer visits.
Any kind of rain, even light drizzle would result in a full on rainstorm hitting the windscreen due to the length of the front end. Is this the case? curious to know
There was some moderate rain and enough to cause a lot of road spray on the way up the road. I noticed nothing at all untoward however an interesting feature which doesn't impact safety is that due to the thick lip caused by the windscreen seal, water runs up the windscreen and collects in a pool an inch from the top of the glass as it's reluctant to cross the seal and run over the roof. It looks a bit like you're driving in zero gravity or something...Any kind of rain, even light drizzle would result in a full on rainstorm hitting the windscreen due to the length of the front end. Is this the case? curious to know
I honestly can't say anything bad about the car in wet weather thus far though.
A new thing that appeared yesterday at the petrol station was a dead ignition key. After a few attempts the dashboard lit up and the car started right up. This morning it did it again from cold and there was something buzzing under the bonnet. When I asked my wife to identify what was buzzing, the car started instead so I still don't know and it's been dropped off to have the exhaust fixed.
The car seems to have some aftermarket immobiliser fitted and my instincts are directing me to that as it's as though the car's battery has been disconnected when I turn the key but I can't prove it yet. Assuming it behaves for the garage to fix the exhaust, I will look in to that as a matter of priority when I get it back!
The car seems to have some aftermarket immobiliser fitted and my instincts are directing me to that as it's as though the car's battery has been disconnected when I turn the key but I can't prove it yet. Assuming it behaves for the garage to fix the exhaust, I will look in to that as a matter of priority when I get it back!
Just catching up on this - looks like a good one from the pics here, all XJSsessaes are going to have a few bodges if not recently restored! I had a 3.6 manual that was a complete seive. It had to go.
Buzzing could be a starter solenoid or a relay energising incorrectly if under bonnet?
Buzzing could be a starter solenoid or a relay energising incorrectly if under bonnet?
The car has been picked up tonight after getting that exhaust sorted properly. The car is back to its original very quiet self again. I'm not going to start on the fuel injection refresh and spark plugs tonight - that can wait for a weekend - so instead I changed the tail light, brake light and reverse light bulbs for LEDs. They're much brighter now and in the former two cases give me slightly more comfort that your average inattentive pillock might see me and in the latter case more comfort that they will illuminate my pitch-black driveway area in the dark winter months here. The LEDs were easy direct fit replacements and are guaranteed for 5 years.
The original tail lights look passable in my shed with the lights off, but as mentioned previously my wife told me they were as much use as an ashtray on the back of a motorbike in wet weather with road spray.
Replacement was idiot proof:
Both sides completed, here's how the tail lights look now:
With the help of a block of wood, here are the brake lights:
The reverse lights replace the festoon bulbs with LED panels directing all their light out rearwards, but have a springy dummy festoon connector thing which uses the original contacts. In the grand scheme of things, still pretty idiot proof. Here the left hand reverse light has been changed for comparison with the original festoon bulb in the right.
Naturally though the set contains both sides - I'm not a savage.
Lastly, the post man brought this yesterday, which I hope doesn't come in handy too often (but I am trying to manage my own expectations)...
The original tail lights look passable in my shed with the lights off, but as mentioned previously my wife told me they were as much use as an ashtray on the back of a motorbike in wet weather with road spray.
Replacement was idiot proof:
Both sides completed, here's how the tail lights look now:
With the help of a block of wood, here are the brake lights:
The reverse lights replace the festoon bulbs with LED panels directing all their light out rearwards, but have a springy dummy festoon connector thing which uses the original contacts. In the grand scheme of things, still pretty idiot proof. Here the left hand reverse light has been changed for comparison with the original festoon bulb in the right.
Naturally though the set contains both sides - I'm not a savage.
Lastly, the post man brought this yesterday, which I hope doesn't come in handy too often (but I am trying to manage my own expectations)...
When I drove the car up from Southampton the water temperature gauge sat at between a quarter and one third up from cold. These cars and their electric gauges are all slightly different but that position seems fairly acceptable compared with other peoples' cars I've asked.
The last couple of times I've driven it the needle has risen to the N position in the middle and when I took it back from the garage yesterday it went up to the top of the "N".
I've got an infrared thermometer but the battery just died on it. The engine wasn't quite up to temperature but I was seeing 10 degrees difference between the position of the thermostat housings where the temperature senders are on the two banks and the coolant looks a bit scummy.
It's supposed to be changed every 2 years according to the book but some say with modern coolants with better corrosion inhibitors you can stretch that to 4-5 years. The stuff in my car is probably 20 years old so I've just ordered 2 new thermostats and housing gaskets and 10 litres of anti-freeze. I need to get 10 litres of distilled water and a new 9v battery for the thermometer, but anyway I think the car will benefit from flushing out the radiator, heater core and engine block and new thermostats that open at the same rate.
The last couple of times I've driven it the needle has risen to the N position in the middle and when I took it back from the garage yesterday it went up to the top of the "N".
I've got an infrared thermometer but the battery just died on it. The engine wasn't quite up to temperature but I was seeing 10 degrees difference between the position of the thermostat housings where the temperature senders are on the two banks and the coolant looks a bit scummy.
It's supposed to be changed every 2 years according to the book but some say with modern coolants with better corrosion inhibitors you can stretch that to 4-5 years. The stuff in my car is probably 20 years old so I've just ordered 2 new thermostats and housing gaskets and 10 litres of anti-freeze. I need to get 10 litres of distilled water and a new 9v battery for the thermometer, but anyway I think the car will benefit from flushing out the radiator, heater core and engine block and new thermostats that open at the same rate.
Definitely I would do the coolant flush properly ...when I had my Lotus Elan I took a while to really back flush the radiator/block and used Radflush (?) until it ran clear. I would be tempted to put a new radiator in as well ; the modern ones are more efficient and that V12 will generate a lot of heat I would guess !!
Just a suggestion though.....would you ever consider changing the steering wheel for a wooden Nardi/Mota-Lita ?
Looking forward to your journey with your new car !
Just a suggestion though.....would you ever consider changing the steering wheel for a wooden Nardi/Mota-Lita ?
Looking forward to your journey with your new car !
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