Low Horatio gearbox

So 30 mins if scrubbing and offering up the new screen seals away with the swearing I went... Ideally you'd have 2 people to do this but ofc why make it easy for myself. The seal should go in first and then the screen and voila! I found seating the seal on the screen then wiggling it into place roughly/far as I could and then taking a block of wood and rubber mallet to seat it as deeply as I could in its locating channel. This got it roughly in place and fixed enough to stop the heavy rubber falling down and out. Then it was just seat and worjk one side of the screen in as deep as i could and work across from one side to the other.. and repeat. This only took 2 goes side amazingly and it was seated firmly and pretty deeply. Not quite deeply to just do up the 2 screen jacks but close enough for me to use a spanner to lever both sides deeply enough until u could use the nuts as rover intended. Th3 main challenge here is to get the screen in tight but resist the temptation to really crank down on them and cracknthe screen. them it was just thr middle bracket to put in place and toghten up ya finally. Then the front scuttlw panel and wiper bungs and wiper arms.. et voila! Just the stainless brightwork to put back on now.

Not yet. I should, but as its all in and running I'm loathe to take the pipes off just for the PAS. As its having a decent amount of work its no bigger considering the rad and alternator will be out for a week or two anyway. Anyway I finally caught up with this today - life - family and feeling like luke warm death keep slowing this all down 🤣🎻 I intended to put the screen back in, the seal thst is on it is a bit hard but not knackered. This is actuallya Sunday screen froma donor scarab blue car I got for £300. But I had new screen seals so why not... better clean this overspray and crap off...x Better for sure

More activity. Well a 2nd lick of paint underneath and putting the wing back on. Simple bar the small bolt that holds the rear valance panel to the corner of the wing below the bumper which took 10 minutes instead of 2 because I refused to lie down on the floor for one bolt - it was cold and dirty! I've still got the rear lights to pug back in but I want to clean the connectors up first as well as improve a shonky ground for them, and I didn't fancy any electrical guff today. But I did fix down the demist vent rubber and put the dash top back in and make sure it was straight and flush. Or as good as I could get anyway, given there was a huge gap between the top of the dials and bottom of the dash top. It seems better but I called it quits before I put the binnacle plastic back on tomorrow when I can fettle it all when I'm less knackered. Comparison of good used rubber vs shonky knackered crumbly one. Yeah a bit fucked. Yes I will give it a good wipe down and clean before the screen goes in, which I hope to do tommorrow.. maybe. Next up is the more mechanical stuff. The rad needs recoring Alternator needs a new bearings Replumb the fuel lines. As its jot using its mechanical pump I've lost the use of the fuel reserve. Basically means there is 2 gallons of fuel unobtainable. Thst s amateur if swapping the line the electrical fuel pump under the tanks lugs into. But I want to run a new line from the tank to the carb and remove the file line switch valve in the engine bay. It weeps a bit and if you do pull the reserve tap you shut the fuel supply and as the valve is shonky it does treally like resetting without popping the bonnet and doing it manually. A good de grease and de oil of the underside of the engine bay and gearbox is on the cards As well as a dillmoil change And also resetting send improving thr handbrake wich will realistically only hold the car on level ground Most of those jobs can be done while the rad and alternator are being refurbished, funds pending. I would like to get the PAS lines replaced but they are a mighty expensive item in the region of 250 quid for the hoses and fittings. Mainly as the pas pump sits at the front passenger corner of the engine bay, the hoses then go across the front of the engine and then back to the steering box just in front of the driver, more hoses then go from the steering box across the back of the engine bay to the PAS reservoir which is in from of the passenger. Quite convoluted due to the suspension and steering box layout . When I do get round to the hoses Ican finally use the PAS pump rebuild kit ive had for 4 years. 🤦‍♂️ I will ask my mechanic friend if they knkw anywhere who can make a set up for less and also maybe neater as its a hodge podge of fitting and hoses that looks a bit cobbled together frankly.

So this today was reassembly day.. or was it. I had a pile of parts waiting about - new screen rubbers and seals and a new to me used but good continental front vent rubber. The old one was cracking and brittle. However I didn't fancy cleaning up and putting it all back together yet and while it was alla bit messy and dusty I should ma6be prod the rear passenger corner of the boot. It was frilly long before I got it so maybe I should address it finally. While the rust are was all inside the boot it was jo bother to slacken 2 bold on the leading edge if the wing -hidden by the rear door, and remove 3 bolts at the rear - I spent more time looking for the spanners than removing it. with acces improved I proved and what looked to be a n inch by 3 inches of frilly rust was... more. Admittedly not much more but all along the seam where the floor behind rhe wheel well meed the wing. Pants. In an ideal world I'd replace the floor panel now it's available at not a horrendous cost (£35 ish). The issue being this corner has had some solid but less pretty repairs before - its all solid just not pretty, but to do the corner floor panel I'd need to unpick 3 other panels with repair sections. The floor to weeh well/tub join spalsh panel and wheel well extension as they all meet. And if your doing that muymay as well put them right. All the panels I need are available boot floor corner, inner wheel arch, wheel arch extension and splash panel and while not mega expensive I not inthe fincial position to do that right now . A d really I'd rather spend the money recoring the radiator, getting the alternator rebearing and sourcing a set of PAS hoses as mine are looking a but crap. So some basic repairs and advanced swearing it was. Mainly as the FILs welder dedided that today it didn't want to play games and between birds nests, pidgeon poo welds nd blowing holes i spent more time fettlin it than the Rover. I'm loath to blame the tools but the settings hadnt l been touched since yesterday and it continued to throw wobbles and drift as I was using it. Tho I will take blame for creating more work by slicing a few unintended slots in the floor while I was cutting away the grot 🤦‍♂️ Meh.. in the end its a area behind the spare wheel where I store the toolkit, jack warning triangle etc so it's rarely if ever seen - I should finish getting th3 boot carpet set (and uhh put carpet in the csr itself!) the wonders of a dustig of balck paint and tommorrow i can clean it up all the dust and start puti it all back together.

So I set to with soem sheet steel and fashioned a few sections and no time a reasonable job was done. Th bonus of the Rover shining thru.. this area is covers by a bolt on scuttle panel so my repair only had to be strong and structural to work as it's covered from view when the csr is all back together. Welding commenced and as I wasn't upside down in 12 inces of cramped space progress was made and the welds were.. passable. A coupl3 of hours with the tin snips and then a grinder to smooth it all down - a big fat rubber screen seal sits in the channel and I wanted to make sure it woukd actually fit. And tah dah.. some zinc primer and when that's dry I'll give it a dose of satin black - again all covered by body panels, the window rubber or stainless trim so no need to colour match or be totally precocious as none of the structure is visible when assembled. But that later or more likely tommorrow.

Today is Rover day. It was supposed to be Tuesday but lack of mojo and such 🤷‍♂️ Naturally it rained as I shuffled cars about, so I sulked as I'd only washed the Jag 2 weeks ago. Car swapped and Rover in the garage for soem long overdue work. And here let me wax lyrical about the P6 and it's ease of disassembly and assembly everything is logical and not an utter basterd to get apart. The only thing I struggled with was getting the dash top off, mainly as it was just a tight fit. Anyway sans bonnet and screen The reason for this was that id noticed some nasty flakes of rust at the bottom of the A pillar on both sides. Quite big chunks. At some point the Rover had been gone dicked around with and I would guess the screen and lower screen seal /demist vent rubber had been badly fitted. Going by the speed holes yes- a crud trap, lashing of sealant and water holding foam all met in a joyous celebration of rust. The passengers side was worse and while it wasnt brilliant it could have ben far worse and there was enough of the structure left for me to put in small patches and rebuild it. a judicuous clean up and smaki g

That looks rather good, and I say that as somone indifferent to Scimitars usually.

So.... the rubber glue I'd hoped would work.. kinda did and mostly didn't. I suspect it was a bit to warm for it to cure properly. However I did find the new rubber gaskets for the badges while I was rummaging this morning so if I could get them to stick it would look better anyway. With nice flat ones not raggedy 52 year old ones. Super fun in the oven like garage again - it's not welding tho ! Before, denuded of badging,.How ill people know its a Jhaaaaag. and after Exterior wise its just getting the bootlid to fit better. Fitting thesmalll chrome trim around the rear number plate - a matter of finding the plastic 'T' shaped clips And purchasing the now missing but purely cosmetic rear window chrome trim - likely to be last as they are pricey. As it is it's going to get shuffled out of the garage next week and the Rover can get some good love.

Ta! Activities continued this evening.. and fuck me was it hot in the garage. I have dug out the wing leaper badges and given them a go at gluing them back on - results tommorrow! And them had a go at the new interior lights (only had them 2 years ) Fitting was pretty easy and it's better than previous but it highlights the awful furflex job and a fucking dumb join too. However they are in and work. Kinda.. they won't shut off. So the bulbs are out for now. But it looks way smarter.

Due to glorious late summer weather the weekends job of the gearbox mount spring rubber replacements was sacked off again (its only been 4 years) . It's s not a complicated job but a faff - your working against 2 reasonably hefty springs, but I just couldn't be arsed with pti g it on jack stands and dicking with 2 Jack's and wooden blocks for 2 hours. The mount is far from terrible- it makes a springy judder noise but only if you really pin hard turning sharp out of a junction... wich as a refined and gentlemanly Jag driver i would never do. And with the sun shining and such it seemed better use to give it a half decent wash on Sunday and go for a spin . I did do a fluid check and everything was good bar the oil was a little low and dirty and a bit petrol smelling, wich given the vaccum leak and choke cable issue isn't surprising. I had no filter for it tho, but as it had an oil change 1600 miles ago and I'll get a fresh filter and do it again in 1500 miles. The oil was a bit thin but no sparkles thank fuck, and a mere 8 litres of Valvoline Vr 1 20w50 later its ready for a few trip runs to clear out a lod of accumulated crap in the garage. Beauty shots care of my son.

And an update... I upgraded my phone and tablet and promptly forgot my log in details as well as life getting massively in the way and also being meh about cars. I have not however been too lazy.. kinda. The Rover continues to be a functional car requiring minimal checking and fluids topping up. It's only blot being t some inner drivers side tyre wear thst crept up on me. The main jiggle was needing two 15/16ths or 24mm to adjust. Itw due to go in the garage for some well earned and overdue love next week. Certainly it saved the day when the qgF forgot her mot was uo and she took my modern to work. As for the jag. After the tanke leak and exhaust jangle I was ready for the poor starting and rough running issue. Except.. I wasn't. Contunuesd window down good weather motoring in June still left me hearing odd jingly type noises still. Back under and copious shoving of 4he exhaust and anything made no real difference left me stumped.. till I looked at the radius arm mount.. ahhh The jacking point was also crysty.. and had been repaired before th the rust wasn't horrendous. I can only guess that it was jacked up on the radius arm kount at soem point in the last 3-4 years and this crunched it and aided the demise of it. It had been repaired and plated before ad I could have bodged it ut I cut it all out and put on3 repair panel in insert of stitching together previous repairs. NaNaturally had given the FIL his welder back a week before discoveri gthis so i had to wheedli 5i back and get on with it. It was not horrendous a job but whe I lined it up - carful to make sure the original slot welds lined upp.. they didn't so thr mount had to come off again and be rewelded for about 4mm of my error. Hence no pics of the job in progress as I was fucked off a tad. I still need to order 3 imperial screw/bolts to put the outer jacking playe/locator back on but it's done and no jingly noises of slowly flexing and tearing metal and rust hitting the ground. Granted it took me nearly 8nweeks if fitting it in with life, school 4uns and getting the enthusiasm up for it. That left the shit running. Annoying as it's never had a starting or idle issue till now and I could hear a definite vaccum leak and feared the simple but horrendously expensive manual choke was to blame. Again. I mean it all looked ok and when warmed up was fine tho below 1k revs it was pants. Meh.. inspection light out and a screwdriver.. its prodding time. Everything seems OK.. some of the csrb overflow lines need replacing but they were not leaky (yay something else to replace) however there is a "T" shaped vacuum line that links the carbs to the choke.. it looked OK but wasn't the best of fits.. pulling apart and .. yeah.. found it... rock hard and the culprit for sure. That section replaced and what I could see and get to tightened.. yep. Started on the button from cold with no choke and ran fine. I

The petrol station cash point eating my card and the Volvo having 20 miles of range for 10 miles of journy tho it decided to go to from 10 miles to zero miles about 4 miles from home. It was mostly downhill luckily and even made it half a mile later once I'd begged some money off the GF.

Life and shit.. getting in the way. Rear bumper is installed and squared up so the car is drivable again and no leaks, so a win. Next along was adjusting the front wheels alignment as there id noticed some feathering appearing on the outer shoulders of the tyres. Adjusted it out half a turn on one tracked hould do. Finally getting around to the dastardly drivers side back box drooping. Not a major issue but acces is shit and I was too lazy to Jack the car up and do it "properly" however its nkw a lot nearer and less likely to catch on speedbumps. Much better. A gripe as this was unnecessary. It was messy to look at before.. but you had to get under to see it- it was otherwise tucked up tidy. This got fixed* and admittedly looked tidy.. till it decided to droop down after 100 miles. Annoying as like a few other jobs done as a favour I didnt asked for it to be done at all. Next up is sorting the carbs. The choke debacle has given a few weak idle and running issues. Starting was a faff but I'd adjusted the carbs so it's not a total flood all the time and it starts near as easy as it always did but it's not quite right. A service kit and some time overhauling them wont hurt. On the plus side I've found the wing leper badges and seals and the new interior lights to fit as well so it will be nice to tick off soem smal but important details to start tidying up and finish what was started a long time ago.

A lack of productivity I am blaming kn the Easter holidays and parenting duties. However, the leak seems to have been cured, the rusty C clamp replaced and the rear lower wing nearly bolted back in. Next up to square away the rear silencers but thats for another day and jacking it up and axle stands as access is suitably crap - if I'm feeling fruity I'll have a go at the rear gearbox mount as I've had the rubbers for that for nearly 4 years 😇

So Thursday afternoon I put the XJ in the garage and actually did some preliminary stuff. Both sun visors no longer flap around, some visible screws are matching and shiney, the rear door capping has been cleaned up and readied for repair and the lock and door mechanism given a once over - it likes to not lock from the outside. Downside was a screw head had its head snapped off for the capping -slotted hidden type you slide the capping onto. A faff but as its hidden j can fix it without having to worry too much. The bigger issue was standing back and noticing a small dark puddle that had formed under the rear of the passneger wheel well,it looked like really runny roof tar... odd. Now it could be a rear window scuttle drain, the fuel tank overflow or.. something else given it's not watery based feel and smell. The rear fuel lines and pumps had been replaced last year - I'd intended to do it myself but it hadnt happend that way. 😒 and it had leaked The tank to pump line had a slow leak and run down the inside of the rear lower wing to the lowest point of the rear wing/wheel well and leaked out. Looks to have been doing it for a good few months but unless you were standing back a good 6 or so feet and looking far into the rear of the wheel well youd not notice. I digress I presumed it would be a loose fitting but it takes a lot of disassembly to get to.. bumper corner off and a dozen or so fastners to remove the panel and yes less than a 1/4 turn loose. I've cleaned it up and wiped it down so I can physically see if its leaking before I spend an hour or two putting all of it back on. While I was down there I noticed a jangling loose exhaust clamp on thr rear passneger side I need to replace-its rusted and cutting it off and replacing it is easier than just fighting rust to tighten it back up. And also the drivers side box is hanging dow a angled 3 or so plus inches so it will need straightening back up - amazed it hasn't caught considering g how low the car is anyway. Progres for sure, annoying to find stuff that needs rectifying as it was done by an professional .

They are indeed a rather wonderfull drive, mine is far from the best but is in good order and it shames a lot of modern cars in ride quality. I've dug out the wing badges to put on, I chickened out before as the rubber glue I had refused to set to my satisfaction and I pulled them off fearing one or both dropping off. They are bloody expensive and I am trying to keep as much original trim as possible. So sans mustang its time has come. Stuff to do.. in no particular order. Wing badges back on - glue/adhesive needs sourcing. Find and buy replacement rear window chrome trim - thr original one hadnt fitted well since the window went back in and the week before Christmas I tweaked it to sit better whichbit did, right till j hit 55mph on the dual carriageway to Cardiff for a festive light show jaut before new years eve. There was the usualmrelentless surge of acceleration and then a light springy sound and it was gone 😒 Source a glovebox handle - one of the many parts lost* by the trimmer. Also find somone to drill and fit it to the glovebox. Get the rear speakers and rear windows working again. As the rear doorcard need a lot of re bodging to fit this is slightly less of a ball ache Go through the parts catalogue and find the 20 or so missing imperial screws for the sun visor, RV mirror, console etc to replace the random incorrect or plain missing ones. Try to restock the now sagged and drooping headlining to the roofcard... again. There is some residual stickiness left but km jot sure my idea of steaming and pressing it with an iron and a folded towel will work. Repair the rear passenger doorcappong the trimmer broke and repaired* Cut holes in the floor insulation and carpets for the carpet fixing plugs, as they are lumpy and slide about. again fixing a non finished item from da bestust trimmer. Give the entire interior a go over and snag /rectify fitment issued and whatnot. Find a longer screw for the manual choke/aed body - a vaccum leak here has been the root cause of its recent unblemished reliability record. Some threads are stripped and abolt/screw about a 16/the of an inch will do. Again parts catalogue and just finding out what size and threads it has will help, to be fair the manual choke conversion is a cludge of fastners, bits of bent steel plate, plastic, a bit of cast alumini and a fair amount of hope. Actually fit the new gearbox spring mount rubbers that I've had for 3 years. There is space in the garage to have at it now and get it acceptable - on the other had I have actually driven it 3k miles in the last 18 months so it has been used as an real functional car!

Finding this gem while searching for pics of my XJ

She does however look smart in the sun

Tho I foresee a fair bit of this in the future..

The interior after..

Anyway 2020 happened. I'd got it back at the end of March, I started putting it together and suddenly had all the time in the world... So I started fixing the broken front passenger window , putting the lights back in and getting ready for the trimmer to do hit thing. He having had all of the stripped interior since January so he could get a head start on it. In th4 end it got to him the 1st week of June. So no real disaster - he said 8 weeks and by then he had had 6 months yo get his act together. Now he had issues in his personal life and it didnt help I decide to move back to the home country in the meantime either - let's restore a CSR and move 200 miles dusty g s lockdown 🤦🏻‍♂️ But Septemberand no car, the the end of September and no car then the end of Octopber and finally at the end of November I got the call it was done! Yay, sod it its lat but I've sold my house now and I'll take it. It looked great, but the windows didnt work or the stero.. but thr lights and important stuff did.. fuck it. Despite a near year slumber being started only momentsrliky to shunt jt about it roared into life and just about made it to the nearest petrol station for the journy to my sisters garage till I'd sorted my new house out, so I didnt pay as much attention as I should have. The majority of it was good, seats, stitching and materials. Tho the wrong furflex had been used and when i finally got a chance in May last year it had a fair few defects, minor missing trim bits and generally had a feel of nkt being carefully finished but slung together. A faf and not the end of the world but really fucking annoying to need to fix a professional's work or pay someone to and also needing to find odd random parts and fittings -so much for supplying carfully labled jars of screws, nuts and fittings. I have started the snagging list the stereo and windows work in the front now! But I side tracked myself with other projects and it went into a garage for some cam gasket leaks and a light referee and then got sidelined with other stuff and it hasn't got the love and attention it needed, hopefully till now.-

So I decided I'd do some restoration remove rust repaint and try and sort the interior and at the start of Dec I stripped it all down and it went off to the painters. I could have fudged it and thown rust converter on but I wanted to keep it a while so doing it properly was the way apparantly. The rust wasn't bad but would have been an issue sooner rather than later, tho structurally it was good. The interior went of to a work neighbour of a friend who did top quality work. The ide I'd get it back in Feb march thow the bits I could back on and the trimmer would get it in May and I'd have it back in August August September (oh 2020 how little we knew)

It looks good, really good. Till about 15 feet or so. But the paint was utterly crazed, the front valance below the bumper was 30% speed holes, the rear arches were bubbling and crusty and the scuttle below the rear window was just starting to show rust. The interior was utterly shot, all ther but shot, crispy and fragile if the leather didnt snap the stitching did. Mechanically it was great, there were invoices for parts for almost what I'd paid for it and it had been gone over and the engine rebuilt so there was no lack of go or stop. It got used for a glorious summer and 1500 miles, to the beach, outings my sister 60 miles away and it did it all reliably and in style. Bar cutting out coming back from the coast one really hot day, just cruising along and it went quiet and we started slowing.. imperceptibly at first. Shit , stop and utterly no go.. crap, but maybe.. what if I switch tanks.. and yes a fuel pump had packed up or more accursly would pack up after half an hours use, 30 seconds and we were on our way home.

And a segue from one British institution to another. The car that got me back into cars for real fun.. So 2019 I had cash, had been through a thoroughly really shitty extended period of my life and had some cash to burn and a complete lack of physical ability and fitness to pursue my previous interests and hobbies. Csrs were the answer, if it was broke I could st least sit in it and go brrrmmm brrrrmm..... I'd looked at various kinds and types of cars including a dalliance with owning a 8-10 year old quattroporte -because noise. Tho I baulked becaus the 2 different gearboxes each had an interesting and expansive failure point. So I meandered down the older maybe classic route of maybe less modern and more characterful and for an ish modest budget you could get so much interesting and broken or about to break stuff. I fancied a Mk2 but I wanted a better ride so migrated to an S type - there was a black one in Bristol with a red interior that looked ok in pictures but utterly dire at 50 feet and got worse the closer you got. Natch. And then I remembered the XJ6 and this gem turned up about 50 miles from where I lived in that there London at the time. Not too shabby but also something that hadnt been overly cared for either. The owner was a mechanic and CSR restorer who'd bought it 10 years prior, gone to town kn it mechanically and used it as a sparing reliable daily for 10 years and out 20k on it. The paint was bird shit crazed and it had a little (lot ) of patina going on and the seats were utterly crispy bar the drivers but it started right up and pretty much everything worked - bar the German clock and the us AC delco scourced front passenger electric window. I said yes gave a deposit and it was mine min eminem.... I hadn't even test driven it... WCPGW..