Jaguar xjc 4.2
Discussion
Hi Rob and everyone following what must be the most comprehensive write up of a car restoration there has ever been!!!!!
I am the "previous" owner of the car, Rob got in touch via an Essex car club that we are both entangled in, wow wow wow what a resto, I am hoping that I will be one of the first on the list for a ride in the finished beauty.
I had been longing for a coupe for a few years and spent many a weekend with my nose placed firmly against the window of a certain 2nd hand car showroom in the Southend on sea area (I think the showroom was called Crownlands or something very similar) that always had at least one coupe in stock for sale, although their quality was very questionable even back then in the early 80's.
Anyway, One fateful Saturday afternoon I was peering through the window as usual and as I happened to turn round, there it was, my dream coupe, dark blue and biscuit hide cruising past. Quickly I shot back to my Post Office Telecommunications HA van, fired it up and set off in chase....... after following the car like a looney I ended up on the outskirts of Billericay in a bemused owners drive. After spurting out many words between dribbling all over their car, it transpired that he was about to trade it in and replace it after buying it in his business name and then transferring it to his personal name and owning it for 9 years.
What could I do but say I would have it then and there and agreed a price and shook hands.
Now the down side.............
I was getting married in one month and we still had not got a 3 piece suite to sit on and a lack of other furniture as well. With the wedding fund depleted I decided in my infinite wisdom to just "hide the car" in my parents garage!!! Maybe not one of my better ideas as I will conclude this part of the story by saying we got divorced after one year in 1986
The picture in Paris was taken in 1987 when we were on a car treasure hunt (before the days of Gumball!!) I had the low brick wall built around the drive of my house in 1998 so the picture with the Serena in the background was 98-99. As Rob has already told you all, I assisted in the first restoration of the car in 1991-1993 and kept it to 2003 attending many shows, upsetting many purists along the way with a nice chromy engine bay and mega hifi in the back.
I am so pleased that Rob told me of his blog on here which has taken me best part of a fortnight to read and inwardly digest in between rowing with the new MK11 wife as to why I am in front of that laptop screen again!
When you have finished it Rob, I do think you should collect every one of these posts and make it into a book of your achievement in restoring the car. I will buy the first copy (as long as you autograph it)
KC
kcsun said:
Hi Rob and everyone following what must be the most comprehensive write up of a car restoration there has ever been!!!!!
I am the "previous" owner of the car, Rob got in touch via an Essex car club that we are both entangled in, wow wow wow what a resto, I am hoping that I will be one of the first on the list for a ride in the finished beauty.
I had been longing for a coupe for a few years and spent many a weekend with my nose placed firmly against the window of a certain 2nd hand car showroom in the Southend on sea area (I think the showroom was called Crownlands or something very similar) that always had at least one coupe in stock for sale, although their quality was very questionable even back then in the early 80's.
Anyway, One fateful Saturday afternoon I was peering through the window as usual and as I happened to turn round, there it was, my dream coupe, dark blue and biscuit hide cruising past. Quickly I shot back to my Post Office Telecommunications HA van, fired it up and set off in chase....... after following the car like a looney I ended up on the outskirts of Billericay in a bemused owners drive. After spurting out many words between dribbling all over their car, it transpired that he was about to trade it in and replace it after buying it in his business name and then transferring it to his personal name and owning it for 9 years.
What could I do but say I would have it then and there and agreed a price and shook hands.
Now the down side.............
I was getting married in one month and we still had not got a 3 piece suite to sit on and a lack of other furniture as well. With the wedding fund depleted I decided in my infinite wisdom to just "hide the car" in my parents garage!!! Maybe not one of my better ideas as I will conclude this part of the story by saying we got divorced after one year in 1986
The picture in Paris was taken in 1987 when we were on a car treasure hunt (before the days of Gumball!!) I had the low brick wall built around the drive of my house in 1998 so the picture with the Serena in the background was 98-99. As Rob has already told you all, I assisted in the first restoration of the car in 1991-1993 and kept it to 2003 attending many shows, upsetting many purists along the way with a nice chromy engine bay and mega hifi in the back.
I am so pleased that Rob told me of his blog on here which has taken me best part of a fortnight to read and inwardly digest in between rowing with the new MK11 wife as to why I am in front of that laptop screen again!
When you have finished it Rob, I do think you should collect every one of these posts and make it into a book of your achievement in restoring the car. I will buy the first copy (as long as you autograph it)
KC
Thank you for the background story and the kind words. All put together makes a good read.I am the "previous" owner of the car, Rob got in touch via an Essex car club that we are both entangled in, wow wow wow what a resto, I am hoping that I will be one of the first on the list for a ride in the finished beauty.
I had been longing for a coupe for a few years and spent many a weekend with my nose placed firmly against the window of a certain 2nd hand car showroom in the Southend on sea area (I think the showroom was called Crownlands or something very similar) that always had at least one coupe in stock for sale, although their quality was very questionable even back then in the early 80's.
Anyway, One fateful Saturday afternoon I was peering through the window as usual and as I happened to turn round, there it was, my dream coupe, dark blue and biscuit hide cruising past. Quickly I shot back to my Post Office Telecommunications HA van, fired it up and set off in chase....... after following the car like a looney I ended up on the outskirts of Billericay in a bemused owners drive. After spurting out many words between dribbling all over their car, it transpired that he was about to trade it in and replace it after buying it in his business name and then transferring it to his personal name and owning it for 9 years.
What could I do but say I would have it then and there and agreed a price and shook hands.
Now the down side.............
I was getting married in one month and we still had not got a 3 piece suite to sit on and a lack of other furniture as well. With the wedding fund depleted I decided in my infinite wisdom to just "hide the car" in my parents garage!!! Maybe not one of my better ideas as I will conclude this part of the story by saying we got divorced after one year in 1986
The picture in Paris was taken in 1987 when we were on a car treasure hunt (before the days of Gumball!!) I had the low brick wall built around the drive of my house in 1998 so the picture with the Serena in the background was 98-99. As Rob has already told you all, I assisted in the first restoration of the car in 1991-1993 and kept it to 2003 attending many shows, upsetting many purists along the way with a nice chromy engine bay and mega hifi in the back.
I am so pleased that Rob told me of his blog on here which has taken me best part of a fortnight to read and inwardly digest in between rowing with the new MK11 wife as to why I am in front of that laptop screen again!
When you have finished it Rob, I do think you should collect every one of these posts and make it into a book of your achievement in restoring the car. I will buy the first copy (as long as you autograph it)
KC
Also feel free to add any more pictures you have. Not often previous and current owner get to chat about the same car
A quick update on the coupe is that a slot is available to correct uneven door gaps and then make the front wing gaps match. The bottom of the fronts have previous repairs but have rusted again. This will be cut off again and new pieces added to suit. No pictures as yet but it’s getting close to having its new paint and colour applied
Some bits of trim I recently renewed from worn tatty sample.
New base board, new foam, top part of trim made from existing interior leather from a low down bit of trim. Leather also refurbished to make supple again. The speaker grill was made from a new offcut of leather that has been coloured to match. The grain doesn’t match but it’s what the customer wanted and is happy with.
Not the xjc but just showing something I’ve been working on
New base board, new foam, top part of trim made from existing interior leather from a low down bit of trim. Leather also refurbished to make supple again. The speaker grill was made from a new offcut of leather that has been coloured to match. The grain doesn’t match but it’s what the customer wanted and is happy with.
Not the xjc but just showing something I’ve been working on
well the interior upholstery I was stuck, for my own car. Places were either 100% original style via factory templates or camper van converters saying they would give it a go.
Well factory templates only fit properly with brand new original seat foams. 40 year old sat on ones will be a different shape. So for the money to buy a set of covers that wouldn’t fit properly I did a bit of re training of the skills so I could do the templates myself and of course stitch the parts together.
Now I can modify the template and seat cover design within an original seat and make it a little different. Comes in handy when wanting to match a newer front seat with an existing rear seat.
Now I can modify the leather as well as the metal lol
Well factory templates only fit properly with brand new original seat foams. 40 year old sat on ones will be a different shape. So for the money to buy a set of covers that wouldn’t fit properly I did a bit of re training of the skills so I could do the templates myself and of course stitch the parts together.
Now I can modify the template and seat cover design within an original seat and make it a little different. Comes in handy when wanting to match a newer front seat with an existing rear seat.
Now I can modify the leather as well as the metal lol
carinaman said:
Good work on that gearlever trim, it looks good. I saw a repeat of Wheeler Dealers with the XJC a couple of weeks ago and mentioned your reupholstery skills to the person I was watching the programme with.
Thank you. Each job is a little different, lately recoloured leather, soon is a pair of vinyl covered triumph seats. A marmite looks Bristol is looming also. The Mk2 Jag I started a while back will be worked on again as it was kinda the fill in work. So I’ll have another crack on that over the weekend 
One of the front door cards for a Mk2 Jag. The 2 lines across originally were pressed/embossed on the original after the cover was fitted. I’ve had to carefully measure and stitch the lines into the cover then fit the cover in the exact position as per the original to get those style lines to match original dimensions. So totally backwards but the results were dimensionally correct. Time consuming as I only managed a pair in a day. I’ve still got the armrest and map pocket to reproduce yet.
My own Jag I’ll get some pictures up soon. Currently the engine is on a stand to drop the crank and pistons so I can hone the bores. A few marks I’m not happy with that I hope to remove.
A few pictures of the engine block fairly stripped down. As can be seen on the piston it’s already been bored to +0.5mm. I’ll measure the bores once the pistons are out to check if still circular top to bottom then hone each bore if within tolerance. Rear crankshaft seals on these engines seem to be primitive as I was researching replacements earlier today. That saying mine hasn’t leaked. Uprated conversion on the rear seal is £275 plus the crank will need grinding to suit. Seems a lot of bother for a bit of rubber?! Well I’ll check what I have once the crank is removed. I have the facility to grind the crank myself but will hang on for a bit to see if it warrants that extra work. Oh and that sump, it holds 10 litres, it’s 5 litres from the minimum mark to maximum mark on the dipstick
The head studs. These actually go through the water jacket hence the corrosion. So important to make sure these engines have the correct coolant additive. One stud has a little too much corrosion to use again. These are expensive and I’ve been trying to find out the correct grade of steel to make my own.
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