Bangernomic 'snotter' Jaguar XJ6

[Digby]

I may use a boring new Audi for work, but that hasn't stopped be from enjoying almost anything else that falls into the snotter category.I still have several Volvo's at the moment (Rica 310 cab T5 - 850 T5 - couple of V70 T5's & a Rica S70 2.5T) but I have fallen in love with this old girl so I may become a Jag man instead!

I managed to bag this with a short MOT for £500, but it drives lovely and everything works.Even the digital clock and air con are fine and it's only covered around 109k miles.All the fluids are clean but obviously at this price it's not a mint example.It has its share of knocks and scrapes and a bit of rust on one door (new door coming soon) and it also needed a drivers mirror and a rear light.I grabbed those off ebay for £40 delivered and they were easy to fit.Happy days

It's only the 3.2 straight six engine, but it glides along making me feel all 'regal' and it certainly feels like a "proper" car.I have a sportier set of wheels coming for it as these ones are a bit tired now and may also either spray or change the front grill to lose some chrome.

All in all, so long as it lasts more than 6 months, I think this could be my best snotter to date!

Pics after a very quick clean..

[5potTurbo]

£500?

APPROVED!

[Digby]

Also just found out the fuel filler cap is magnetic so it just sticks to the lid when you fill up.Nice touch!

[TheAllSeeingPie]

That's so lovely! I keep looking at these wafty Jags and just about managing to resist so far.

[Digby]

I was looking around the £1200 to £1500 mark and almost took a chance on a £1400 supercharged version! The only thing putting me off was that it had a steering rack "weep". It seems a weep can turn in to a severe leak rather quickly and you are looking at £500+ to sort it according to a few forums.I just couldn't be bothered with all that so decided any reasonable Jag would do.

I took a chance with this one for the money, but the buyer was a decent chap and liked to dabble in older cars and get his hands dirty, so he assured me it was well kept from a mechanical point of view.This one was his Dads motor which, as he was getting on a bit, he sold after purchasing a Honda Jazz.

I hope it behaves itself as it's so nice to creep around in.The tax is cheap, parts are cheap and the insurance for me as a 45 year old was around £230 f/c.

[carinaman]

Very nice looking car for the money.

[tobinen]

Very good indeed. Looks like a bargain

[Digby]

Also has the typical saggy Jag headlining, but it still feels nice sitting in there.

Edited by Digby on Thursday 24th September 21:58

[JQ]

Looks very nice indeed and something similar is on my shortlist for next car. Out of interest, what forums were the most useful I need to start doing some research?

[Hooli]

Lovely lovely, I miss my XJ.

[Digby]

Although the pics do flatter it, she's now looking a little less tired on a reasonably decent second hand set of sportier wheels..





Have noticed a slight clonk on bumps from the left hand side front suspension, so will have to look in to that but I'm hoping it's nothing major.

[Digby]

JQ said:

Looks very nice indeed and something similar is on my shortlist for next car. Out of interest, what forums were the most useful I need to start doing some research?

I simply entered 'Jaguar forums' in to Google and browsed the top two or three results my friend.I have yet to sign up to any, but will do.The Jag section on here is quite good, too!

[dbdb]

That's an excellent buy for £500. With little rust it should last you a long time - it is rust which kills the X300/XJ40 series of Jaguars, mechanically, they're very strong indeed.

The clonk on the front suspension sounds like a shock absorber top bush which needs to be replaced. This is a small job.

This is for the XJ40 - but I imagine the X300 is very similar (the X300 is just a facelifted XJ40) https://www.xj40.com/viewtopic.php?t=5740

https://www.xj40.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=868&...

The shock absorber top bush is part 8 in this picture (same part also used on the XJ40)

http://www.jaguarclassicparts.com/uk/jaguar-xj-x30...

http://www.jaguarclassicparts.com/uk/part/MMD2144A...



The best forum varies by model. There is no specific Jaguar X300 forum that I know of, but since the car shares so much of its underlying structure with the XJ40, www.xj40.com is probably worth visiting. Quite a forum members there also have/have had an X300.

www.xj40.com

Jag-Lovers has an X300 section. The forum is archaic and difficult to use, but has good knowledge.

http://forums.jag-lovers.org/

http://forums.jag-lovers.org/index.php3?zx=SdAHzRP...

USA focused, but better informed - at least for my XJ40

http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/

http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-xj6-xjr6-x300...

This is the UK equivalent - but seems more focused on newer cars.

http://www.jaguarforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36

[Digby]

Excellent post.Much appreciated

The only rust I can see is a blob on the bottom of a rear door and as it happens, that door also has a bit of a scrape on it.I have sourced another door in the same colour which cost me £60 delivered, so will soon lose the scrape and rust.

All the jacking points etc are spot on and talking of jacking points, I even like the jack! It securely locks in to place and comes with a nifty ratchet handle to raise the old girl up; another nice touch.

I confess to giving it a good spank this morning and I didn't notice any smoke come out of the pipes when it kicked down.The performance can be described as rather swift with the speedometer climbing at a very healthy rate, but it does so in such a non-brutal and comfortable way that your passengers are unlikely to spill their Bollinger

Edited by Digby on Saturday 22 August 13:32

[dbdb]

There are a couple of spots to look for rust on the X300 which are not immediately obvious - they can rust behind the front shock absorber, along the pinch weld which runs down the bottom of the sill on the floor pan side, on the inside face of the sill ends, on the seam which runs along the centre of the bulkhead behind the engine. If it doesn't have rust in any of these, then you paid far less for the car than it is worth!!

[Digby]

dbdb said:

There are a couple of spots to look for rust on the X300 which are not immediately obvious - they can rust behind the front shock absorber, along the pinch weld which runs down the bottom of the sill on the floor pan side, on the inside face of the sill ends, on the seam which runs along the centre of the bulkhead behind the engine. If it doesn't have rust in any of these, then you paid far less for the car than it is worth!!

MOT Monday - will let you know

As suggested, I sprayed the grill insert black.



I also did the shock bushes on the side that clonked.The top one looked ok but the bottom was the width of a Polo mint rather than a wagon wheel! I changed both anyway and it's now perfect.I also ended up buying a new disc, pads and caliper for that same side.All relatively cheap and no real drama when fitting.All of these jobs were made a lot easier due to it having separate springs and shocks on the front

Edited by Digby on Thursday 24th September 22:07

[dbdb]

Good luck with the MOT!

[Digby]

Passed with two advisories

Looked quite clean underneath to be honest.Advisories were slight exhaust leak and slight play in universal joint.

[Hooli]

Enjoy the next 12 months of snotterism

[dbdb]

Marvellous news on the MOT pass.