Skizzer's XJ-S

[BorniteIdentity]

Looks amazing man. Well f**king done.

[Bren]

Would love a series 1 but mucho expensive now.

[Broadsword]

That XJS sounds like pure excellence and well worth the wait getting it fixed up properly. The XJS is one I haven’t tried yet, closest car I’ve driven around in a bit that might compare is the XK8 which I loved and miss.

[Skizzer]

I should add, it still needs stuff doing. One of the tail lights is very dim, probably a corroded contact, the bumper chrome is crispy and the paint is a bit 10-footer in places.

 

And the fuel gauge still doesn’t work. Or some of the interior lights.

 

Oh, and there’s no stereo.

 

And the cold start valve doesn’t do cold starts, so no video yet cos I’m too busy stopping it from stalling to operate a camera.

 

It’s still plenty shite.

[Royale80]

Lovely!!

 

Here's my brothers that he bought in 97-this is the add for it in the Autotrader.

 

Fantastic cars-the engines are sublime!!!

 

Well done Skizzer.

 

[wuvvum]

I should add, it still needs stuff doing.

And it always will.  They're just one of those cars.

 

I do miss mine, for all its faults.  Sadly the chances of me being able to afford a properly sorted one, with prices the way they're going now, are slim to none.  Still, 'tis better to have loved and lost, &c.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Man, you have all the best cars.

 

My parents very briefly had a manual 6 cylinder one, bought second hand from the local Jag dealers.

 

I would have been only 9 or 10 at the time but I distinctly remember how serene it was. I used to love missing the school bus and getting dropped off in this, it was quite the contrast to the battered every-panel-a-different-colour Volvo 244 they smoked around in previously.

[Dippy]

Im sure the pain of the last 2 years dissapeared as soon as the wafting began.

 

Lovely to see these great cars on the road, it will probably be the car I always wanted but never owned.

[Skizzer]

I don’t think I’ve posted an underbonnet shot of this before, possibly because it’s completely terrifying. It’s like wandering into a Ridley Scott movie.

Somewhere in there is a cold start injector that needs replacing. God only knows where though. You’d think following the fuel rail around would show it up, wouldn’t you? Think again.

[Fabergé Greggs]

I don’t think I’ve posted an underbonnet shot of this before, possibly because it’s completely terrifying. It’s like wandering into a Ridley Scott movie.

 

A9C6DB41-8904-4C14-8B3C-AA3F02512C7E.jpeg

 

Somewhere in there is a cold start injector that needs replacing. God only knows where though. You’d think following the fuel rail around would show it up, wouldn’t you? Think again.

 

That fuel rail is bigger than my towel rail. 

[Skizzer]

That fuel rail is bigger than my towel rail.

 

Probably hotter, too, after a bit of a run.

[chaseracer]

Nicely done, Skiz.

 

I'm about to drop the Dyane with a specialist for proper (ie. not by me) recommissioning.  Hopefully it'll be a bit cheaper and quicker than the Jag!

[Skizzer]

As noted in another thread, the Jag had a little accident in its pants outside the house earlier this week:

I figured it was coolant given that seemed to be coming from the neighbourhood of the radiator top hose, so this afternoon I went to chuck in a top-up of Prestone. But it was already full. Huh?

So I started it up from its resting place outside next door and put it on the drive, then noticed an even bigger puddle/trail.

Demonstrating a knowledge of organic chemistry that must have my petroleum engineer father doing 6,000rpm in his grave, I divined at this point that it was not in fact coolant but petrol, and lots and lots of it.  A high pressure hose has worked loose and is spraying flammability all over various spark plugs, leads, injectors, the aircon compressor et cetera.

You can see where the hose has come adrift from the crimp thing - it was even looser than that but I pushed it together a bit.  The fuel has now evaporated while I had a calming cup of tea from a safe distance.

Should be an easy fix, at least.  And no fiery death, which is a bonus.

AS logo replica shot:

[Broadsword]

That was a close shave. Can't have taken much for that to go up in flames?

[Skizzer]

4 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

That was a close shave. Can't have taken much for that to go up in flames?

Quite.  Lucky the ignition system is all new and not throwing sparks out everywhere.

 

I just looked on SNG Barratt - a replacement connector with the correct fittings comes with an injector attached and costs £136.  Think I’ll make my own out of a cut length of fuel hose and standard clips, thanks all the same.

[Skizzer]

Fixed this. It runs noticeably better now that cylinder number 1B has rejoined the party, and no longer sprays fuel everywhere.

I put some baby oil (not made from actual babies any more) on to the barbed fitting to help persuade the hose on properly and added a fuel hose clip for extra fiery death avoidance in future.

People will sell you special pliers for these hose clips but I found mole grips were excellent for the job.

The trouble with the Jaguar V12 is that it’s still pretty lively and quite smooth when it’s only firing on eleven cylinders, so it’s not always obvious when one has gone postal.  Talk about first world problems, though.

[320touring]

Nice to see it up and running, always looks splendiferous when I see it in the flesh. Just oozes "old money"

[Broadsword]

That looks like a good quality repair, good job. In the background of the picture I can see another very similar hose, are you going to change that too?

[Skizzer]

6 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

That looks like a good quality repair, good job. In the background of the picture I can see another very similar hose, are you going to change that too?

There’s another 11 of the feckers

I thought about doing the others; there’s nothing really wrong with the hose, I suspect it just wasn’t quite put back fully tight after the engine came apart and gradually worked looser. The others all appear fine.

I’m erring on the side of leaving well alone for now, but will check them regularly. 

Feel free to say ‘I told you so’ if I’m proved wrong. (Family flowers only, donations to AS and the Fire Service Benevolent Fund.)

[Skizzer]

Filled this up with yummy VPower and extra Redex lead replacement topping this evening.

The fuel gauge still doesn’t work, but the odometer said 61 miles since the last top up.  It’s fibbing because 1) the speedometer connection only works about two thirds of  the time and 2) it pissed half the last tank out on the pavement (see above).  Even so, £89 was a bit of a surprise...good job I topped it up really.

 

Anyway, then I took it for an Italian tune-up, which it seemed to enjoy, and so did I.  It idles (even) more smoothly and the over-eager gearbox kickdown has had a word with itself.

All set for Chumley then. 

[dollywobbler]

Does it really need LRP given they were flogging them in the USA? Or did the tight-arses only fit proper cylinder heads to yank ones?

Oh, and it's a bit too glam for Autoshambles. Given the tow bar, maybe you could acquire a slightly disreputable old trailer made with a car axle?

[big_al_granvia]

that is just gorgeous, needs a classic caravan on the back like a carlight

[Skizzer]

Good question - I just assumed LRP, maybe not.

It doesn’t look nearly as glam close up.  The rear bumper is so rusty you need a tetanus jab to open the boot.

Homebrew trailer is a very fine idea...

[LightBulbFun]

5 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

maybe you could acquire a slightly disreputable old trailer made with a car axle?

is this shite enough? 

made out of an AC Model 64 electric invalid Tricycle!

[Skizzer]

Yes, yes it is. Excellent.

I’ll even let you off bringing Invacars (almost) into my thread

[wuvvum]

You and Billy need to have a race.

[richardthestag]

v12 is fa winners

spend moneys on unleaded premium and not lead replacement imho

[LightBulbFun]

23 minutes ago, Skizzer said:

Yes, yes it is. Excellent.

I’ll even let you off bringing Invacars (almost) into my thread

I found it here if you are at all interested! 

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/210525/retro-trailers

imagine the irony of a trailer made out of an electric car being towed by a V12 Jag?

[Skizzer]

12 minutes ago, richardthestag said:

v12 is fa winners

spend moneys on unleaded premium and not lead replacement imho

I do run it on Shell VPower, which is 99 octane.

A bit of investigation confirms the V12 will happily run on unleaded, so I shan’t bother with the lead additive in it again. Same with the Lotus 907.

[wuvvum]

35 minutes ago, richardthestag said:

spend moneys on unleaded premium and not lead replacement imho

Indeed.  Even I ran my XJ-S on 99 octane, and I'm tighter than a camel's ringpiece in a sandstorm.