Jaguar XJ-S V12 from the opposite end of Britain and a MG
Discussion
I really do like my XJ-S but one of the sad realities of buying older cars and you have a budget is that sometimes the car that's otherwise what you want has a bad point.
In this case, I really like the car overall but it has had some highly visible vandalism performed by a previous owner who drilled the bonnet to attach the Pub LandLord Beacon behind the proper badge. I realise some people like having the Leaper on a Jaguar, but they're all wrong and should have to pay the next owner the full cost of correcting the damage and once I'm King then they chrome tat brigade will be begging for mercy.
I couldn't stand it any more and had to see how much damage had been done.
It looks absolutely ridiculous and marks the driver out as an odious fool with absolutely no taste whatsoever. Fine on a 1960s vintage Jaguar saloon. Not fine on an XJ-S or indeed any Jaguar built since the original S-Type and 420s. I understand some Series 1 XJs in certain markets only had them. None of the Jaguar sporty models ever had them, and no Jaguar saloons since the aforementioned had them either. Some Jaguar dealers had a pillock armed with a power drill willing to damage new cars at the request of whichever complete berk was buying it.
It's mounted with two holes drilled through the largest panel on the car and secured with nuts on the inside.
Removing the nuts and carefully pulling the big lump of chromed metal off reveals this heartbreaking mess. I knew there would be holes. I didn't realise the front one would be so large.
Carefully cleaning away all the dirt reveals damaged clearcoat where the rectangular edges of that gauche ornament bit in.
Really the only way to undo this damage properly is to destroy all the rest of the paint by welding up the holes and buffing back. Unfortunately, it can't end there as the car is a metallic and regrettably I'm not colour blind so it will require the scuttles and front wings painted too, but the car has pinstripes and the black has faded a bit. They'd need to come off the entire length of the car and there's a good chance that would turn into a full respray.
I can't afford a full respray just now but equally I don't want to drive around with a sodding leaper bolted to the bonnet either. Next time you're looking at buying an old Jag that has a leaper ornament it's not supposed to have, don't forget to tell the seller you're offering a few grand under the asking price as a maximum to pay for the extensive repair cost of such misguided use of a power drill. Don't worry about offending them - they deserve it.
It looks so much better already.
In this case, I really like the car overall but it has had some highly visible vandalism performed by a previous owner who drilled the bonnet to attach the Pub LandLord Beacon behind the proper badge. I realise some people like having the Leaper on a Jaguar, but they're all wrong and should have to pay the next owner the full cost of correcting the damage and once I'm King then they chrome tat brigade will be begging for mercy.
I couldn't stand it any more and had to see how much damage had been done.
It looks absolutely ridiculous and marks the driver out as an odious fool with absolutely no taste whatsoever. Fine on a 1960s vintage Jaguar saloon. Not fine on an XJ-S or indeed any Jaguar built since the original S-Type and 420s. I understand some Series 1 XJs in certain markets only had them. None of the Jaguar sporty models ever had them, and no Jaguar saloons since the aforementioned had them either. Some Jaguar dealers had a pillock armed with a power drill willing to damage new cars at the request of whichever complete berk was buying it.
It's mounted with two holes drilled through the largest panel on the car and secured with nuts on the inside.
Removing the nuts and carefully pulling the big lump of chromed metal off reveals this heartbreaking mess. I knew there would be holes. I didn't realise the front one would be so large.
Carefully cleaning away all the dirt reveals damaged clearcoat where the rectangular edges of that gauche ornament bit in.
Really the only way to undo this damage properly is to destroy all the rest of the paint by welding up the holes and buffing back. Unfortunately, it can't end there as the car is a metallic and regrettably I'm not colour blind so it will require the scuttles and front wings painted too, but the car has pinstripes and the black has faded a bit. They'd need to come off the entire length of the car and there's a good chance that would turn into a full respray.
I can't afford a full respray just now but equally I don't want to drive around with a sodding leaper bolted to the bonnet either. Next time you're looking at buying an old Jag that has a leaper ornament it's not supposed to have, don't forget to tell the seller you're offering a few grand under the asking price as a maximum to pay for the extensive repair cost of such misguided use of a power drill. Don't worry about offending them - they deserve it.
It looks so much better already.
jamieduff1981 said:
I realise some people like having the Leaper on a Jaguar, but they're all wrong and should have to pay the next owner the full cost of correcting the damage and once I'm King then they chrome tat brigade will be begging for mercy.
This really made me chuckle and I'm 100% with you - it was the first thing to go when I had my manual 3.6 - luckily mine was just glued on so I avoided it flying off into pigeon at speed.Are you sleeping better now?
alabbasi said:
How about wire wheels?
You're virtually American now by this point so I guess you get to play by their rules 
Spinakerr said:
This really made me chuckle and I'm 100% with you - it was the first thing to go when I had my manual 3.6 - luckily mine was just glued on so I avoided it flying off into pigeon at speed.
Are you sleeping better now?
A little - thanks Are you sleeping better now?
jamieduff1981 said:
In this case, I really like the car overall but it has had some highly visible vandalism performed by a previous owner who drilled the bonnet to attach the Pub LandLord Beacon behind the proper badge. I realise some people like having the Leaper on a Jaguar, but they're all wrong and should have to pay the next owner the full cost of correcting the damage and once I'm King then they chrome tat brigade will be begging for mercy.
I believe a leaper was a dealer option in the US, when i bought my X350 the first job was to remove the loathsome leaper, same as you i couldn't afford a full bonnet respray so i covered the holes with an XJS bonnet badge, i think it looks fine, been enjoying this thread keep up the good work :-)Loathsome leaper.
XJS badge replacement.
jamieduff1981 said:
You're virtually American now by this point so I guess you get to play by their rules
I blame them for my waistline. I had 15" wire wheels on my MGB. The cars originally came with them so I figured it was okay. I've seen them on Jags and R107 Mercedes and they look a bit silly.
alabbasi said:
I blame them for my waistline. I had 15" wire wheels on my MGB. The cars originally came with them so I figured it was okay. I've seen them on Jags and R107 Mercedes and they look a bit silly.
I actually think wire wheels are quite attractive but like most things it's conditional and the context is everything. I'd like them on a Series I E-Type. I wouldn't want them on a 2014 XKR.I actually quite like the lattice wheels I have, although they need a refurbishment before I'm completely happy with them.
In other news, I have just bought a full set of Bilstein B6 dampers for the XJ-S from Simply Performance this afternoon, and last night won a set of as-new/never fitted/still got the barcode stickers on rear springs for a very agreeable price on eBay. I need front springs too but they'll have to wait til later in the year. I'll need to make tools to change the front springs from some hefty threaded rod and some plate. Tools can be bought, but they're rather expensive. The rears should be straight forward though and it's the rear dampers which wobble like a 1980s American sedan.
lukeharding said:
Excellent news! The B6s are great, and SP easy to deal with. Are the springs the eibach ones?
Hi Luke,I didn't ignore you on that and I decided I'd buy the Eibachs if I didn't win the OE set I'd seen on eBay. I got them for £51 which basically means the difference has covered the new driver side sill for the Mazda which is also on the way.
I haven't bought the front springs yet so can keep options open. They're all so rusty on mine that they've got soft and sagged so I figured that for the right price a new set of original springs is still going to feel a lot better than it does now - comfortable though it is. Quite vague and floaty, but comfortable.
jamieduff1981 said:
Hi Luke,
I didn't ignore you on that and I decided I'd buy the Eibachs if I didn't win the OE set I'd seen on eBay. I got them for £51 which basically means the difference has covered the new driver side sill for the Mazda which is also on the way.
I haven't bought the front springs yet so can keep options open. They're all so rusty on mine that they've got soft and sagged so I figured that for the right price a new set of original springs is still going to feel a lot better than it does now - comfortable though it is. Quite vague and floaty, but comfortable.
I didn't ignore you on that and I decided I'd buy the Eibachs if I didn't win the OE set I'd seen on eBay. I got them for £51 which basically means the difference has covered the new driver side sill for the Mazda which is also on the way.
I haven't bought the front springs yet so can keep options open. They're all so rusty on mine that they've got soft and sagged so I figured that for the right price a new set of original springs is still going to feel a lot better than it does now - comfortable though it is. Quite vague and floaty, but comfortable.
I wouldn't mind if you did at all. Ben at SP would be better to ask as my memory is hazy, but I think the B6s are a bit shorter than the standard shocks, hence why better suited to the shorter eibachs. However, a new set of springs for that money is impossible to ignore and will definitely be an improvement for your car! These arrived
I'm definitely excited about fitting these. Often we change parts to prevent something bad from happening later. Often we change parts because they've just broken and the car goes back to how it was. I love fitting new dampers (and springs) to old cars because almost always the whole car immediately feels better afterwards.
I'm definitely excited about fitting these. Often we change parts to prevent something bad from happening later. Often we change parts because they've just broken and the car goes back to how it was. I love fitting new dampers (and springs) to old cars because almost always the whole car immediately feels better afterwards.
lukeharding said:
I'm really excited for you! These are great, and really will be transformative for your car. Can't wait to see what you think of them (plus, they look great if you ever have to jack the car up)
Thanks! I'm going to drive it with the camera rolling before I do anything, then change the fronts over, drive it again then fit the rears and drive it one more time so I can record my thoughts on incremental improvement along the way. When I've changed tired dampers for fresh ones in the past, the biggest difference has often been the new rear dampers making the steering feel more direct. I'm dying to see what effect these have. Just need those springs to arrive, oh, and to do the work thing tomorrow first...trevalvole said:
Do the twin dampers go on the front or the rear?
Hi, they go on the rear with coilover springs. They're part of the famous/infamous Independent Rear Suspension assembly, effectively a double wishbone arrangement but lower wishbone is a tube and the upper is the driveshaft. There's a spring and damper fore and aft of the lower control arm possibly to prevent any torsional loads and wonky geometry as a result of suspension stroke 
Need the rear springs to arrive before I can fit the rear dampers. Sigh!
In other news, I've had a sort of "fluffy" exhaust sound up forward since I got the car which was only really noticeable with your head in the engine bay or under the car. That's changed. It's now pretty loud and intrusive, but has been given away by a sooty black mark. It's one of the exhaust seal rings between manifold and downpipe. Parts are pretty cheap, but there's a good potential for some fun and games getting in to do it. I'll order the bits.
Oh and one of the LED brake lights failed tonight. It still lights up but it triggers the bulb failure lamp on the dash as soon as the pedal is pressed, and with the lens removed the LED cluster is flashing randomly light disco lights. They're just over a year old, but there's no harm in asking for a replacement so I have done complete with amusing short video as proof. Let's see what they say...
The front dampers are in. The lower bolts came out very easily. The lock nut on top came off easily but the lower (main) nut on top of the damper was a bit of a pig on both sides. I admit I expected that to be the other way around. Still, they're in. The old dampers can be compressed easily by hand, and the new ones can be compressed with a lot of effort by hand.
Whilst in here, I've realised the driver's side of the front subframe is pretty scabby so I've given it a good wire brushing and coated it with zinc aluminium primer and stone chip as a temporary measure. I'm not taking the car off the road until one of the other ones is back on, but I'd like to make this better in the longer term. It'll easily last til next year as is and I can remove it for shot blasting and decide then whether to repair if necessary and recoat or just replace it. That'll be a good opportunity to replace the subframe-to-body bushes too. Still, it's a job for later. In an ideal world I'd be awash with cash and could just pay someone else to take care of it all and pick it up a few weeks later but it's not an ideal world. It's warm weather just now the last bowser visit to fill up our heating oil charged us 94p/litre, so I'm very conscious of rapidly rising cost of living...
Having now directly felt the difference between the old dampers and the new though, I do not feel I've over-indulged. The old ones are stuffed, and I didn't actually think the fronts were all that bad previously! I've driven the car with just the fronts done. It does feel different, but it's a bit ill-balanced. The steering feels more direct but the front and back are doing different things. I expect it'll feel much better once the rears are on too.
Whilst in here, I've realised the driver's side of the front subframe is pretty scabby so I've given it a good wire brushing and coated it with zinc aluminium primer and stone chip as a temporary measure. I'm not taking the car off the road until one of the other ones is back on, but I'd like to make this better in the longer term. It'll easily last til next year as is and I can remove it for shot blasting and decide then whether to repair if necessary and recoat or just replace it. That'll be a good opportunity to replace the subframe-to-body bushes too. Still, it's a job for later. In an ideal world I'd be awash with cash and could just pay someone else to take care of it all and pick it up a few weeks later but it's not an ideal world. It's warm weather just now the last bowser visit to fill up our heating oil charged us 94p/litre, so I'm very conscious of rapidly rising cost of living...
Having now directly felt the difference between the old dampers and the new though, I do not feel I've over-indulged. The old ones are stuffed, and I didn't actually think the fronts were all that bad previously! I've driven the car with just the fronts done. It does feel different, but it's a bit ill-balanced. The steering feels more direct but the front and back are doing different things. I expect it'll feel much better once the rears are on too.
Small update time. The car has been going ok. The driver's side HVAC fan ist kaput again so I need to think about replacement.
It's driving a lot better with the new dampers and I also changed the front anti-roll bar link bushes which were badly crushed. It has been misfiring a bit more recently though so I finally got round to removing the distributor cap for a look and it's well past its best. After a quick cleanup with a modeller's sanding stick you can clearly see where the contacts have all eroded away.
It's a Magneti Marelli car rather than Lucas so a) it still works but b) the parts are much more expensive than Lucas equivalents. New ones have been ordered though, and I expect them to arrive tomorrow, hopefully.
It's driving a lot better with the new dampers and I also changed the front anti-roll bar link bushes which were badly crushed. It has been misfiring a bit more recently though so I finally got round to removing the distributor cap for a look and it's well past its best. After a quick cleanup with a modeller's sanding stick you can clearly see where the contacts have all eroded away.
It's a Magneti Marelli car rather than Lucas so a) it still works but b) the parts are much more expensive than Lucas equivalents. New ones have been ordered though, and I expect them to arrive tomorrow, hopefully.
lukeharding said:
I wouldn't mind if you did at all. Ben at SP would be better to ask as my memory is hazy, but I think the B6s are a bit shorter than the standard shocks, hence why better suited to the shorter eibachs. However, a new set of springs for that money is impossible to ignore and will definitely be an improvement for your car! Jhonno said:
lukeharding said:
I wouldn't mind if you did at all. Ben at SP would be better to ask as my memory is hazy, but I think the B6s are a bit shorter than the standard shocks, hence why better suited to the shorter eibachs. However, a new set of springs for that money is impossible to ignore and will definitely be an improvement for your car! i picked up a 96 celebration that had an under bonnet fire. The interior is like brand spanking new and so is the soft top so I plan on using the parts to swap into my 94 XJS V12. I can't seem to get the seats to go far enough to unbolt the rear seat frame which is fun.
Anyone know how much effort it would take to swap out a soft top, including the frame on an XJS? On my R107 SL, it was just four bolts.
Anyone know how much effort it would take to swap out a soft top, including the frame on an XJS? On my R107 SL, it was just four bolts.
lukeharding said:
Jhonno said:
lukeharding said:
I wouldn't mind if you did at all. Ben at SP would be better to ask as my memory is hazy, but I think the B6s are a bit shorter than the standard shocks, hence why better suited to the shorter eibachs. However, a new set of springs for that money is impossible to ignore and will definitely be an improvement for your car! Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff