Jaguar XJR

[LewG]

Hello all. I'm back, and I've been stupid again.
Some of you may remember my misguided purchase of an XJS V12 recently that was well documented on here. I bought myself a TVR Chimaera back in March and couldn't really afford to keep 4 cars on the road simultaneously so with a heavy heart, I moved the big Jag on. I was really gutted to see it go as I loved that car but it's gone to a good home.
The Chim has been brilliant fun and right up my street, fast, makes a great noise and fairly easy to take to pieces!
In September my stint at engineering college come to an end. It was a 250 mile round trip perhaps 3 times a month which I was doing in my daily, a Skoda Fabia. Not the most petrolhead of all cars so now I'm not doing the mileage I've been idly looking for a replacement. I then saw this turn up in my eBay suggestions from the same chap who sold me the TVR...
Went for a viewing and a drive and against my better judgement I bought it this morning! It felt great to get back behind the wheel of a Jag again, sometimes I think I was born retired despite being 22. Picking her up at the weekend so updates to follow.

[LewG]

Cheers guys! Properly looking forward to it, I'm intending to pick it up Saturday morning. As ever there's a few issues that need sorting but I'm sure I'll be happy as a pig in you know what getting stuck into those. To be honest the photo does do it justice, it is a bit rough in places! The test drive was what really got me wanting it, I stretched its legs along a straight country road and the way these things gather speed is sublime. A distant rumble and faint supercharger whine, a 'whoosh' feeling and away you go. In all honesty it didn't feel that fast until I looked down at the speedo and got a surprise!

[LewG]

Ecurie Ecosse said:

Fantastic! Looks great, I really miss mine.

Here is the thread on my car which may be handy for some info. May I suggest getting a lower supercharger pulley from Powerhouse

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=114...

Thankyou sir, they still seem awfully cheap for what they are. That was a great read and yours did look pretty sharp. Has a more sinister character with the black interior! I thoroughly like the idea of getting the supercharger pulley done, that would be fantastic. I'm going to budget to buy myself the upgraded tensioners and change them if they haven't been done that's for sure. There is a couple of advisories from its most recent MOT like lower ball joints etc, I've already priced up the parts and they're pleasantly cheap so that's an easy fix!

[LewG]

Well after a day of tanking about in the beast I can safely say what an awesome car, and don't turn the traction control off otherwise brown trouser moments will occur! It drives lovely and looking through the extensive history it had the timing chains and tensioners done not long ago. Result! The one thing that does need fixing is the lights really are poor, they're those white/blue tinted ones cheap off eBay evidently from one of the invoices. They illuminate everything with a dim white glow except for the road ahead which is helpful. I'll try to get some more photos up tomorrow.

[LewG]

[LewG]

[LewG]

A few snaps from today, apologies for the poor quality pictures, it was blowing a gale outside! Taken on a dark and dim industrial estate to seem a bit more gentleman gangster-esque.

[LewG]

LanceRS said:

Absolutely beautiful. How do you find it compared to the XJ-S?

Hello Lance, not to put the XJ-S down because it did what it did very well, but it was very much a classic car in every respect compared to this. I think it must have taken the Ford facelift to really bring it forward into the 90s. The big V12 was a lovely engine to drive but always felt fairly lazy unless revved, you really had to work the gearbox to get the best out of it. On this the sport mode is fantastic, it has a real Jekyll and Hyde character in that it does the classic Jaguar thing of wafting in ultimate refinement, then the full on speed and Mad Max style supercharged surge the next. I like the way it looks but I won't say I think it's as pretty as the XJ-S, that was a classic design from the start. Obviously the suspension is more modern so it's more composed in the bends, but you definitely still know it's a heavy barge! In short it does everything a little bit better but it does lack the character of the XJ-S to some degree.

[LewG]

BenWRXSEi said:

What a lovely thing. I've always had a soft spot for these - given tne number of Jags various family members of mine have owned it's only a matter of time before I succumb to temptation!

I would say buy now whilst prices are low! There's no doubt about it they're a lovely way to travel, just be prepared for it to enjoy a drink!

[LewG]

RS Grant said:

That looks bloody lovely, I've always fancied one of these... do they suffer from any common issues, seem to remember a friends father being told his n/a V8 might have issues with liners IIRC. Do these have an LSD as standard??


Cheers,
Grant

Thanks Grant, I don't think they are LSD as standard, my XJS had an old fashioned Salisbury 'Power Lok' diff in which was like something you'd see out of a lorry. Not sure what they use in these! At the moment I confess the remote central locking isn't working on mine which is a bit of a pain. That's right about the engine the early Jaguar AJ-V8s like this one I believe had the bores machined direct into the block and then coated with an extremely hard 'Nikasil' coating. BMW were doing it at the same time too. At the time petrol still had a high sulphur content and this ate away at the coating causing compression loss etc.
High sulphur fuel isn't used now so if you're still running an original Nikasil engine, chances are it's okay. I know a lot of them were replaced with steel linered engines by Jaguar and this is indicated by a tag on the back of the engine block.
The other known issue worth mentioning is the timing chain tensioners. The originals were plastic and not really up to the job, so metal replacements are now available but obviously it's a big job to fit them.

[LewG]

Awesome! That's not too bad, I'm averaging 19.6mpg at the moment on my commute to work, as you say not great but could be worse!
Front ball joints arrived today, I've just ordered a filter kit and engine belts so it'll be getting a thorough service and check over as it's due, the supercharger belt looks shiny and is squeaking from cold so it must be getting on a bit.

[LewG]

A bit more done today, changed the oil and filter, put a new air filter in and changed the plugs. A task considerably easier than it was on my XJ-S!
Looking well used.
I've had a bit of a setback in that it's developed a knocking noise from underneath when letting off after hard acceleration or going over bumps in the road. I suspect it could be rear subframe related or even exhaust. The only catch came when I went to remove the wheels... no locking wheel nut key! I had a look at the front suspension just in case, and a good job I did too as one of the lower shock mounting bolts was visibly loose.

[LewG]

Thanks guys, the strange thing is it would knock 'on demand' yesterday afternoon, I tried to show the noise it makes to a mechanic mate of mine last night and would it do it? Would it hell. The good news is I removed all of the locking nuts today using a fairly home brewed method.
For any would be wheel thieves, a 3/4 12 sided works a treat!
The worst bit was separating the wheel nut from the socket again, to the point that it required sledgehammer persuasion!
Looking on British Parts I can order 4 new standard wheel nuts for around £ 15 so I'll get those ordered ASAP. Unfortunately I didn't get round to changing the belts this weekend, hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a pig!

[LewG]

It's okay Rubin we'll welcome you into the club! The conversion sounds interesting and I've no doubt if done as a professional installation will add value to the car too. After a week of the odd supercharged burst I would say the idea seems very attractive

[LewG]

A fairly boring update from today's spanner session. An advisory on the previous MOT was that the front ball joints were worn, I can only assume this was true as you could feel the front end was a little wayward at times. This morning I started the job of changing them and came home at 9pm with the job still not complete! It really was a royal pain in the arse and everything was either tight or seized.
A few pictures of the stripdown:
Getting the hubs off was relatively easy, although breaking the taper on the lower joints required the backplates to be removed otherwise my fork splitter started to hit them.
The ball joints on these are pressed in, after a lot of swearing and head scratching I decided to remove the wishbones and try it in the vice as I was getting nowhere with a G clamp and socket.
Even on the bench none of them were coming out in a hurry so out with the grinder, chop them off flush and remove the insides allowing me to get a socket and hammer on them along with a bit of heat. The last one wouldn't budge for love nor money so I ended up drilling a hole in the middle and carefully sawing to its outer edge with a junior hacksaw like so, after that a few persuasive taps with a large variable pressure applicator and out it came.
The wishbones were then cleaned up with some Scotchbrite and heated carefully, with a light smear of copper grease ready to tap the new joints in using a big 3/4 socket.

Edited by LewG on Saturday 12th December 23:06

[LewG]

And with a lick of paint:

[LewG]

Cheers Lance, I might not be this enthusiastic if it was any other car but I think it's worth doing while I have a bit of time!
The rest was all buttoned up today, refitting the front springs was an absolute nightmare as conventional spring compressors don't fit in the recess where it sits. It required some innovative use of a big ratchet strap to hold it compressed and then fit it. I was bricking it as obviously I was well aware of the forces involved!
I took the car for a test drive this evening and it seemed to be pulling quite heavily to the right, the wishbone shafts have eccentric washers sitting between tabs to pull the wishbone in/out and set the camber so despite my attempts to get things back where they should be I obviously haven't been very successful!

[LewG]

Thanks! I will definitely be having a look prior to MOT time. The front end of my XJS used to have a distant rattle and again that turned out to be shock bushes, a facet of having a big heavy car I suppose.
I got the car 4 wheel laser aligned today by a garage round the corner from work, my God what a difference! The car tracks dead straight and it seems to be far better planted on the road, the new ball joints have made the steering ever so slightly heavier but overall, good results.

[LewG]

Well a few developments with the car over the last week!
On Monday night with work looming the following day at about 11:30pm I got home, opened the door and could hear a hissing noise. Puncture on the rear RHS! It's all plugged now but changing for the spare at midnight really wasn't what I needed, especially when the scissor jack moved and managed to put a dent in the sill.
Today I went clay shooting so it was the obvious gun bus of choice. A 12 gauge fits across the boot quite nicely!
Also spotted rotting on the farm:

[LewG]

I would say both of those are absolute bargains! Maybe I was too hasty in buying mine as the red XJR is definitely better than mine! The Super V8 is just fantastic, could you get more luxury and opulence for less money?
Just to add Merry Christmas to all.