1998 Jaguar XJ8 4.0 - 10 years on a drive
Discussion
Thought I'd start a reader's car thread as this might be interesting to some, but probably not many.
I've been given a 1998 XJ8 4.0, in Sea Frost with about 76k miles on the clock. But there's a catch, or two. One, it's been sat on the 'sellers' drive for what I was told was 5 years, and secondly the 'seller' wants the personal plate off it. The deal then is that I will sort out an MOT so he can tax it and get the numberplate on retension, then it's mine.
So I went over yesterday and had a look, it's defnitely been sat for a while. He said he'd had it serviced, sorted and MOT'd 5 years ago then the following day his doctor had prescribed him medication which meant he was no longer able to drive. The car has not moved from his drive since, indeed it's not been started since. I checked the MOT history last night when I got back, it's actually 2012 it was last MOT'd , 10 full years sat untouched!
I headed over yesterday afternoon, with a battery, a set of jump leads, a tyre pump and a small tool.
First hurdle, will it start? Tried jump leads between my battery and the one in the car, power on dash but only a click of the starter solonoid. Put my battery in, turned the key, started in 2 seconds, ran lumpy for about 10, then smooth, purring smooth. Perfect , started and good!
Second hurdle, tyres, all flat to the ground. Pumped them all up to 25psi, all held.
Third, could it actually move? Rocked the car back on forth between Drive and Reverse, took about 10 goes but eventually the handbrake released it's hold and we had movement, albeit slow as the dash was showing a gearbox fault warning. Turned off, left it a minute or so, restarted, no gearbox fault and I could feel the power of the 4.0 V8 being fed through nicely.
Time to see how far it could go so we unlocked the drive gates and drove it gingerly out on to the road and reversed it back into a garage block so I could do a few up and downs off the road.
Now, I'd like to say that the miraculous pheonix like rise of the old girl continued, but it was at this point that the first tyre blew out with a pop and a hiss, closely followed by the other front tyre about 1 minute later.
OK, no miracles were happening this day and I carefully drove the car back onto the drive.
Which is where I'm at now. I need to source and fit 4 tyres before I can think about moving it again, and I ordered up a new set of brake discs, pads and shoes all round today ready for when I do get it back home in the not too distant future, hopefully.
As to overall condition. It's been sat outside for 10 years. It's covered in moss and algae and the paint looks a bit dull. But we'll see what a power jet and polish does for that. There is a little rust behind each rear wheel bubbling through, but it's only just broken the paint so not too bad yet. Underneath looked solid enough albeit the suspension bits were all quite surface corroded. The interior looks almost new. But it runs, it moves and there's not apparent big holes in it.
My first target is to get it down to my MOT man and see what it fails on. Then I can work out the economics of sorting it.
I've been given a 1998 XJ8 4.0, in Sea Frost with about 76k miles on the clock. But there's a catch, or two. One, it's been sat on the 'sellers' drive for what I was told was 5 years, and secondly the 'seller' wants the personal plate off it. The deal then is that I will sort out an MOT so he can tax it and get the numberplate on retension, then it's mine.
So I went over yesterday and had a look, it's defnitely been sat for a while. He said he'd had it serviced, sorted and MOT'd 5 years ago then the following day his doctor had prescribed him medication which meant he was no longer able to drive. The car has not moved from his drive since, indeed it's not been started since. I checked the MOT history last night when I got back, it's actually 2012 it was last MOT'd , 10 full years sat untouched!
I headed over yesterday afternoon, with a battery, a set of jump leads, a tyre pump and a small tool.
First hurdle, will it start? Tried jump leads between my battery and the one in the car, power on dash but only a click of the starter solonoid. Put my battery in, turned the key, started in 2 seconds, ran lumpy for about 10, then smooth, purring smooth. Perfect , started and good!
Second hurdle, tyres, all flat to the ground. Pumped them all up to 25psi, all held.
Third, could it actually move? Rocked the car back on forth between Drive and Reverse, took about 10 goes but eventually the handbrake released it's hold and we had movement, albeit slow as the dash was showing a gearbox fault warning. Turned off, left it a minute or so, restarted, no gearbox fault and I could feel the power of the 4.0 V8 being fed through nicely.
Time to see how far it could go so we unlocked the drive gates and drove it gingerly out on to the road and reversed it back into a garage block so I could do a few up and downs off the road.
Now, I'd like to say that the miraculous pheonix like rise of the old girl continued, but it was at this point that the first tyre blew out with a pop and a hiss, closely followed by the other front tyre about 1 minute later.
OK, no miracles were happening this day and I carefully drove the car back onto the drive.Which is where I'm at now. I need to source and fit 4 tyres before I can think about moving it again, and I ordered up a new set of brake discs, pads and shoes all round today ready for when I do get it back home in the not too distant future, hopefully.
As to overall condition. It's been sat outside for 10 years. It's covered in moss and algae and the paint looks a bit dull. But we'll see what a power jet and polish does for that. There is a little rust behind each rear wheel bubbling through, but it's only just broken the paint so not too bad yet. Underneath looked solid enough albeit the suspension bits were all quite surface corroded. The interior looks almost new. But it runs, it moves and there's not apparent big holes in it.
My first target is to get it down to my MOT man and see what it fails on. Then I can work out the economics of sorting it.
NNH said:
Were Jaguar still fitting metric tyres by 1998, or had they reverted to normal ones?
No, long forgotten by this age. I actually had an XJ40 Sov back in the mid nineties, a 1990 model. When It came time to replace the 2 rear tyres it worked out cheaper to have a complete set of 4 wheels with imperial tyres (swapped off a new car where the owner had upgraded to fancy alloys) shipped to me than it was to buy two new metric tyres. I think they stopped fitting them around 1992 IIRC.molineux1980 said:
I love stuff like this :-)
Don't forget the algae covered pics before cleaning!
Only got the one so far, the number plate so I could check history when I got home.Don't forget the algae covered pics before cleaning!
Embrace the algae!
Gives an idea to the state of the rest of the bodywork.
I'll be sure to take before and afters when I give it a clean.
Hi,
I really like these cars and definitely enjoy a good resurrection story. Be very wary of corrosion of the inner sills though on these, as a car which has sat outside for 10 years will probably have had clogged drain holes for at least 9 of them and without use the car will never get dry air circulated through the various cavities to dry it out.
Despite what German car fans will say, Ford era Jaguars are pretty robust electrically and mechanically and therefore getting it going will be the least of your challenges. You'll have seized brake calipers and leaks developing everywhere now you've asked it to do some work and you'd have that with a car abandoned dry indoors for that time. Outside means a lot of rust as well.
Eyes wide open is all
I really like these cars and definitely enjoy a good resurrection story. Be very wary of corrosion of the inner sills though on these, as a car which has sat outside for 10 years will probably have had clogged drain holes for at least 9 of them and without use the car will never get dry air circulated through the various cavities to dry it out.
Despite what German car fans will say, Ford era Jaguars are pretty robust electrically and mechanically and therefore getting it going will be the least of your challenges. You'll have seized brake calipers and leaks developing everywhere now you've asked it to do some work and you'd have that with a car abandoned dry indoors for that time. Outside means a lot of rust as well.
Eyes wide open is all
jamieduff1981 said:
Hi,
I really like these cars and definitely enjoy a good resurrection story. Be very wary of corrosion of the inner sills though on these, as a car which has sat outside for 10 years will probably have had clogged drain holes for at least 9 of them and without use the car will never get dry air circulated through the various cavities to dry it out.
Despite what German car fans will say, Ford era Jaguars are pretty robust electrically and mechanically and therefore getting it going will be the least of your challenges. You'll have seized brake calipers and leaks developing everywhere now you've asked it to do some work and you'd have that with a car abandoned dry indoors for that time. Outside means a lot of rust as well.
Eyes wide open is all
I really like these cars and definitely enjoy a good resurrection story. Be very wary of corrosion of the inner sills though on these, as a car which has sat outside for 10 years will probably have had clogged drain holes for at least 9 of them and without use the car will never get dry air circulated through the various cavities to dry it out.
Despite what German car fans will say, Ford era Jaguars are pretty robust electrically and mechanically and therefore getting it going will be the least of your challenges. You'll have seized brake calipers and leaks developing everywhere now you've asked it to do some work and you'd have that with a car abandoned dry indoors for that time. Outside means a lot of rust as well.
Eyes wide open is all
Oh absolutely. It was the first thing I checked, the sills and inner sills and jacking points all looked solid with no signs of corrosion. Can't say the same for the suspension bits and pieces, they looked quite corroded, but how much is terminal and how much is just surface remains to be seen.As a realated anecdote, back in the late 80s I was saw one of my father's old Jags parked up in a back street years after he'd sold it on , a series II, BUR 85T. It sat there for at least 2 years and I eventually left a note on the window and basically bought it for £150 from the old lady that had it. I then went to the local old school jag specialist to get them to pick it up and have a look at what needed. They asked about it and told me to go back and see if I could get my cheque back as the car metal work would be lace if it had been left outside for that long. I went back, checked a few spots they suggested and they were right, the metal underneath particularly around the suspension mount points was so thin and corroded I could push a finger through, the car would have rolled off the axles if they had tried to pull it. I was gutted but the lady was good enough to hand me my cheque back and she arranged to have it scrapped within a week. Shame, loved that car!
ETA: and yes, the brakes are getting an overhaul, I've already ordered up a full set of pads, shoes and discs and I'll see how bad the calipers and pipes are when I get to it.
Edited by Piersman2 on Tuesday 5th April 07:40
Piersman2 said:
Oh absolutely. It was the first thing I checked, the sills and inner sills and jacking points all looked solid with no signs of corrosion. Can't say the same for the suspension bits and pieces, they looked quite corroded, but how much is terminal and how much is just surface remains to be seen.As a realated anecdote, back in the late 80s I was saw one of my father's old Jags parked up in a back street years after he'd sold it on , a series II, BUR 85T. It sat there for at least 2 years and I eventually left a note on the window and basically bought it for £150 from the old lady that had it. I then went to the local old school jag specialist to get them to pick it up and have a look at what needed. They asked about it and told me to go back and see if I could get my cheque back as the car metal work would be lace if it had been left outside for that long. I went back, checked a few spots they suggested and they were right, the metal underneath particularly around the suspension mount points was so thin and corroded I could push a finger through, the car would have rolled off the axles if they had tried to pull it. I was gutted but the lady was good enough to hand me my cheque back and she arranged to have it scrapped within a week. Shame, loved that car!
ETA: and yes, the brakes are getting an overhaul, I've already ordered up a full set of pads, shoes and discs and I'll see how bad the calipers and pipes are when I get to it.
Edited by Piersman2 on Tuesday 5th April 07:40
Went over this afternoon to remove the wheels, took a couple more photos.
Good side:
More 'patinated' side:
Had a look at the suspension bits and bobs... lots of crumbling surface rust but no obvious holes, breaks or dangling bits. Might be worth a quick wire brush and underseal application before letting it near the MOT guy!
Good side:
More 'patinated' side:
Had a look at the suspension bits and bobs... lots of crumbling surface rust but no obvious holes, breaks or dangling bits. Might be worth a quick wire brush and underseal application before letting it near the MOT guy!
One thing for note, if you plan on keeping this car for any period of time, I'd stop running the engine until you've had a chance to check the fuel tank and filter and change the oil and filter (at least).
10 years is a long time to be standing, and funny things happen to petrochemicals after a while. It wouldn't be unusual to find your fuel filter and pickup blocked, or your oil pickup full of varnish-like oil.
10 years is a long time to be standing, and funny things happen to petrochemicals after a while. It wouldn't be unusual to find your fuel filter and pickup blocked, or your oil pickup full of varnish-like oil.
Brilliant situation to find yourself in.
As above do all the fluids & check everything.
Getting the MOT will be the first hurdle but keeping it reliable will be a journey for sure!
See if any of your local valeters are active on Instagram or YouTube;
‘10 years on a drive’ would be a good way to show off their skills & you could get a cheap clean up done if you approach it right.
As above do all the fluids & check everything.
Getting the MOT will be the first hurdle but keeping it reliable will be a journey for sure!
See if any of your local valeters are active on Instagram or YouTube;
‘10 years on a drive’ would be a good way to show off their skills & you could get a cheap clean up done if you approach it right.
Piersman2 said:
. lots of crumbling surface rust but no obvious holes, breaks or dangling bits. Might be worth a quick wire brush and underseal application before letting it near the MOT guy!
Recommend looking at a product called Vactan - a rust converter/primer that was industry only but now available to general public - before applying underseal, which has given excellent results on the chassis of my Covin kit car. It also appears to be used by the boating fraternity.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff