Broadsword

Great win. That is a very pretty car indeed.

This is remarkable. I really would like a manual X300 in my life for a bit, but this one is a bit too conspicuous for me. Secretly I like the way it looks. Rip the stickers off, plastidip in the same BRG green and it could be a fun thing. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-XJ6-SPORT-P-REG-RARE-MANUAL-IN-GREEN-PROMO-CAR-12MTHS-MOT/383218882787?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908131621%26meid%3D1ab071cffa9b465cb1d96a7f0d7c9344%26pid%3D100678%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D264499578877%26itm%3D383218882787%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100678.m3607&_trkparms=pageci%3Ae2628634-f294-11e9-acb0-74dbd180f4df|parentrq%3Ae509cd0d16d0a48ac78407f8fff1da9d|iid%3A1

I learned to drive in a second gen Hyundai Accent 1.3. Instructor was very good but the car pretty crap. I remember third gear being particularly tired and the car was particularly boaty. Doesn't really matter though. I passed first time. I don't quite know why the instructor kept saying he needed to get the clutch cable adjusted to fix the dodgy gearshift. I think he was trying to convince himself above all. I still see him around sometime. He has upgraded to much newer Hyundais.

Great work and a great buy. I really must try and get a drive of an AX some day. They really do look and sound ace!

Yep, that was exactly what the deal was. It's the third Jag bonnet I've collected from this place in Manchester. X300 bonnets I've been getting freshly painted for £120. I also got a freshly painted XJS bonnet for £150 a while back. It's an absolute boon. I doubt they will do any more though, it's too cheap. I might pay them a bit more next time and treat this XJR to a freshly painted bonnet. It would be worth it to get rid of the holes and the other imperfections. Interesting to note that the act of changing bonnets often throws up an electrical gremlin. On the turquoise XJR6 replacing the bonnet initially triggered a TRAC FAIL light and like I said on the red car the gearbox light. There is a very dinky earth lead going to the bonnet. I don't quite get how it causes these issues tough.

I'm still away so no tinkering, but I've had time to consider how to go about fixing the fleet up when I'm back. Starting with the Lupo. Two options I can see. Option 1: buy two new stock springs and fit them. This will cost about £30. A tyre will be about £40. The ARB link I have and the front brakes might as go on at that point too as new discs and pads came with the car. Option 2: buy this exceedingly cheap coilover set that has been pointed out to me and do all four corners. Below is a link to the coilovers. Still doing on my homework on the brand "MaxSpeedingrods". How bad an idea is this? There are many YouTube videos on the brand. They are referred to as eBay coilovers. Thing is the Lupo is a low performance car and maybe these would actually be durable on such a low demand application. Any ideas? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Coilover-for-VW-Lupo-6X1-6E1-1998-2005-Spring-Coil-Strut-Shock-Absorber/293208713473 The Range Rover I think has an in tank fuel pump problem. The injector pump has clearly been replaced, there is what looks like a non-return valve on the fuel line in the engine bay. The injector leak off pipes were replaced by myself and the fuel filter area looks fine (recent new fuel filter too). With all the air going through the fuel line, logically all that is left is the in tank pump. I'll disconnect the fuel line and see how much it can pump out as a test. After that I'll probably have a peek in the fuel tank. There is an excellent guide to doing this from inside the car, which is just as well as I'm not interested in dropping the fuel tank. The XJR is ok, just needs an autumn tidy up. Also a slight accident when removing the bonnet for something else has chipped the paint a little bit. We will see how it will touch up, but I really wanted another bonnet without holes for the leaper anyway so I'm not overly bothered. It continues to go like a rocket. I haven't fixed the accidentally broken wire for the speed sensitive power steering because the heavier steering feel suits it brilliantly. The LPG XJ6 is excellent, although I'm not using it myself right now. The fuel economy is just brilliant and it isn't anywhere near as tired as one might expect. It's soooooo comfortable. I'm keen to do rear discs and pads, and also solve the ABS error. I think the ABS thing might be a bad connection somewhere as rain makes things worse. We lost the speedo during a very wet run to Manchester this week, which came back when the weather improved. Also the wet boot might be a clue to something. Anyway there is a technical bulletin from Jag on bad earth points and dirty pins on the ABS module. Something to consider anyway. So we are at a point where everything needs a bit of work. Nothing awful, but all needs sorting out. Shame it isn't summer anymore as working conditions would have been nicer.

Glorious car! Makes me want to have a BX.

That is a really horrible set of events you have gone through, very sorry for your losses. Certainly puts things into perspective. I REALLY like the look of the Disco. I have a P38 RR and for all the hassle I forgive it mainly because as a vehicle, when working properly, it really is a superb design. I'd imagine it would be much the same with the Disco.

Faded grandeur Series 3 Daimler spotted in Helsinki. Amazing how small and dainty it seems compared to modern stuff.

Agreed. That finishes off the rear end nicely.

Congratulations on getting the Rover running, fantastic!

Things have been pretty busy as usual. Time for fleet update. The XJ 4.0 Sport was finally buttoned up, sold and collected today. The Lupo hasn't been fixed yet, but it will get done at the next possible opportunity, I haven't forgotten about it, just there is a lot going on. This brings me on to what has been doing daily duties. Roll out the latest Jag, which just kind of happened. Some may remember this one, the high mileage hero (280 k miles!) LPG fueled X350 XJ6 Sport, which Wingz 123 kindly let me purchase with a mind to putting it back somewhat to it's former glory after some minor malfunctions. So the story on the LPG X350 was that I had eyed it up long ago, but other's had bought it before I got round to it. After seeing Wingz's thread I decided to kind of ask for first refusal, but that soon ended up with me buying it on the spot. Anyway it was duly collected a couple of weeks ago. It was an exciting prospect. A big Jag you can run as a daily with ease. There was a slight problem with the suspension as you can see from the previous thread on it, but I was determined to have it. Fast forward a bit and I was on my way to collect from Reading. It was a long very (220 miles) tiring drive back with what was essentially a collapsed suspension, but it turned out better than expected. Pleasure to meet yet another Shitter in person. With the suspension on the bumpstops I decided to buy a brand new air pump as it was pretty clear the attempted repair had not quite gone right. Removal of the pump is easy enough, you will find it in the passenger side wheel arch. Getting some of the bits off the old pump to transplant on to the new one was a bit of a challenge. I had to destroy the old pump with a Dremel to get some bits of pipe off. Once everything was back together the car was fired up and a bit of a wait ensued. Eventually, to my delight, the car was sitting proud on all four corners. It was also driving nicely. Result! Other jobs done include a bit of a clean up, and draining/cleaning the wettest boot I have ever come across. It really was a lake back there. A least two litres of water! Also the power steering fluid was badly contaminated (white). I have flushed it three times now and things have become much quieter, and the steering nicer. The bonnet was also refusing to shut, but it's just sticky bonnet latches, a 5 min fix. The other issues identified were rear discs and pads, which are toast, but that's an easy job. Also the ABS fault needs identifying at some point. DSC/ABS failure comes on at around 20 MPH and the ABS module can be felt clicking the first time you use the brakes after startup. There is a spare ABS sensor with the car. Any ideas from previous owners here are welcome. A quick clean of the exterior and I think it looks presentable enough. I really don't care about the bubbling bits, they aren't structural. On to the good points with running this car. It really drives quite nice for it's miles. It isn't the fastest thing around, but is remarkably refined. We had an X350 3.6 V8 last year and somehow I prefer this. The gearbox doesn't like it when you drive flat out, the shift points are kind of weird. It's fastest at half throttle. No slipping from the box and shift are smooth. In short it's like the XJ8, but as James May said you just need to press the throttle a bit harder. As far as running on LPG goes, it's great. It seems to get about 300 miles from 60 odd litres of LPG. I get the fuel for around 52 pence per litre. Filling up is not so nice. If you accidentally spill any gas it smells awful, and I mean really bad. It really makes you want to throw up. Other news in the fleet. The XJR6 continues to soldier on. It threw a gearbox warning light for a bit, but that may have been related to mucking around with the bonnet (picked up the new blue bonnet for the now sold XJ Sport with the XJR and this may have upset the earth cable going to the bonnet. The Range Rover is being a bit more problematic. It is having a massive problem starting, and there is lots of air in the fuel line. I'm suspecting the issue is in the fuel tank itself as everything else looks ok. When running it's fine, but air is visible in the fuel feed. No tinkering for a month now unfortunately as I am away.

Loving all the improvement in small increments on this. Great work!

I'm not sure, but I suspect the geometry is different mainly because the X308 is a bit more stable at speed. I guess the cheapest/easiest route would be use X300 running gear.

The X308 front end is mildly modified compared to earlier models. The main difference is with the wheel bearings. On XJ40/X300s you have a serviceable bearing which can be adjusted and regressed easily. X308s are all sealed up.