project Broadsword's Fleet Thread

[Broadsword]

It seems that me mentioning that phantom engine cooling fan coming on at random yesterday was apparently foreshadowing more exciting events experienced this morning. This morning I chose the P38 as steed of the day, why not? I reconnected the battery, hopped in, started the engine and then, PERIL!, smoke was billowing in my face. This is a rather unsettling thing to encounter first thing in the morning. What had happened is that the DIY manual override switch for the auxiliary engine fan had attempted to catch fire. It melted and fell off in the end, covering one of the wire ends with plastic.  After that everything was fine and normal operation resumed. I'm thinking this very cheap looking switch decided to malfunction catastrophically and having seen it melt off, there is presumably no relay or fuse hooked up to this bypass. I don't think the event had anything to do with the main electronics of the car. No fuses were blown, no melting of the fusebox or burnt relays. Obviously both of these death switches were then removed (I never touched them anyway apart from the one that failed out of curiosity) and the remaining wires blanked off. Exciting stuff!

[Fumbler]

At least it wasn't followed by the slow cranking, stopping, christmas tree gauge cluster and then the car seesawing because the body ECU had crashed. This actually happened when brother went to Morrisons. He's parked underground there ever since. It was also the same day the fuel filler switch decided to fall through the facia and nestle itself on the steering column.

 

Glad all is still going well though. It's been a while since I've fliched through this page.

[Ohdearme]

Reminds me of the time I put a switched cut out in my Fiesta (pre thatcham obvs.) it got hot quickly and combustified much like the above.

i knew nothing of relays at the time. 

[Broadsword]

The Range Rover (which has been fine after that very slight malfunction mentioned earlier) finally got its interior refresh today in the guise of a replacement headlining. I'm amazed how the headlining turned up after some heavy-handed cleaning. To remove the old one you need to remove the A-pillar trim bits, then the sun-visors, all the interior lights and grab handles. In short anything that goes through the headlining need to come out. The C pillar trim bits also need to come out, but other pillar posts you can just pull out slightly at the top and that will do. This saves faffing around with the seat belts.

All in it takes 10 mins to prep the headlining for removal. I didn't look up how to do this job before starting, so once it was loose I opened the rear hatch and started pulling fairly hard. The headlining soon came out with a bit of maneuvering. About 20 mins in it was time to slip the "new" headlining in, which went easy enough. After that just replace all the bits and bobs that were removed and job done. This has made an enormous difference to the interior as you can see from the before and after pics. Very pleasing. I scored some clean replacement A-pillar trim pieces which went on. My other pillar trims are very grubby but then I discovered that you can just rub off the faux carpet material on the plastic and you are left with a clean smooth plastic underneath. That is fine by me.

[bangernomics]

A growler badge is probably the easy way out. Something like this maybe...

That’s what I thought I meant

[The Moog]

What a difference the headlining makes to the car!

[Fumbler]

A massive one that's for sure!

[Broadsword]

I can’t believe I let that headlining sit in the scrap yard for two weeks before buying it. Admittedly it was grubby when I got it so it might not have worked out, but for a tenner it’s worth the risk.

[Shirley Knott]

That headliner looks great, massive improvement!

[Broadsword]

Not much car fettling recently after lots of work/travel/rain/feeling under the weather. On a positive note, after struggling to sell some of the fleet off recently I've managed to sell three cars in the space of the week. The S-type is now gone as is the Xantia (which is staying in the fold). The XJS finally sold yesterday after a few false starts. This means the fleet has been halved and there is only one Jag at Broadsword HQ. The XJR6 can be pushed into regular service tomorrow, which is very exciting.

Time to start looking for a new project I think.

[HMC]

3 cars in a week gone is impressive! 

What do you fancy as a new project?

[Broadsword]

Well I’m sure another Jag will turn up at some point, but as a cheap bit of fun I’m thinking time try an MX-5. There is a somewhat rusty looking one close to me at Tasdcaster priced at £895. The ad is presented and written such that it will probably put a lot of people off (subheading “rusty bucket of fun”). I think it’s worth £500. I’m tempted to have a look especially as I’m fairly certain I’ve sold the Azev wheels too now (fingers crossed they get collected)!

[Broadsword]

The signal red XJR6 is now on the road officially. Amazingly the insurance was just £130 with Peter S. Taylor, so even cheaper than in the past with an XJR. Amazing for a fully comp policy with a 3000 mile limit. After a break you really forget just how fast this thing is. The torque is like a force of nature. It's just a really, really nice car. Storing the car has exposed a slight problem. The trac fail and abs lights are coming on at a certain speed. I'm suspecting this is a low voltage thing or a dirty sensor as it was fine previously. I'll just keep driving it and see what happens in the first instance.

[Broadsword]

The Range Rover got its engine service today. It takes around 9 litres of oil, which is the most I've ever needed in an engine. Everything went swimmingly except the air filter was too big. Hopefully Island 4x4 will send a replacement, but I ordered the bits ages ago. Also, it's kind of neat you can drop the oil without jacking the car up. The other half of the service will be replacing all the oils in the diffs and transmission and replacing transmission filter.

Driving the XJR around has been very enjoyable. I did a little video to show how well it pulls. It feels great on twisty back roads for such a big old lump of a car. The next thing I do to it will be fit the Andy bracket.

Looking at the photos below all three cars were looking rather dirty so the whole fleet got a wash just now, which rounded off the day.

I had the option of trying to buy a new project. XK8s (the very very cheap ones as I live in hope), MX-5 and MR2 have been browsed, but honestly I'm going to have such a busy next few weeks that I haven't decided to rush it. Better to let a gem come my way without pushing.

[Shirley Knott]

Christ, 9 litres of oil is really something. I bet draining that's fun..?  Also, it's cool to catch an occasional glimpses of the plucky Lupo in your pics! Mrs Eunos seems happier with the C1  and that's what matters I suppose but I was quite sad to see that one leave the fleet. 

RE Mx5's, they're all great but Mk1's are by far the best bet for rust IMO, and the earlier the better.  If you're tempted to look at Mk2's then approach them with real caution as they go badly at the chassis rails (They have a weird double skinned design to allow them to crumple in a crash that wasn't present on earlier cars, water gets trapped between them and rots them out internally) Most MOT testers seem to miss it as you can't really see the area without getting the undertray off, once they're swelling slightly they're done for really and very expensive to fix properly. I honestly recon there can only be handful left in the country that haven't succumbed the that fate, often the owners are also blissfully unaware too.

All of that being said, other than the chassis rails Mk2's are the same as Mk1's underneath only with a stiffer body and better handling, not a popular opinion but I actually preferred the Mk2's to drive.

Have a snap of my first MX5, it was a UK Mk2  1.6 and probably my favourite of all the ones I've owned...

 

 

[Broadsword]

Time for some fleet updates after a period of relative inactivity. This weekend has been busy.

I've been trying to find the time to do the transmission fluid and filter for the P38. That hasn't happened yet, but I do at least have the parts now ready waiting to go.

Northern Monkey very kindly sold me a window switch pack for the P38, which I hoped would cure the non-operative driver's side window. I was certain the driver's side window switch was worn out, and it is a common issue. I even tested a known working spare window motor on the plug when the doorcard was off and saw some volts on the plug itself, but fitting the new switch pack didn't change anything. The only clue I have is that when I press up on the driver's side window switch it beeps and says "window not set". Further thinking required on that front.

A new car materialized yesterday. It's an 02 X-type 3.0 V6 manual in black, with black leather and black carbon effect trim. Probably the best combo on an old X-type I can think of. Ironically I bought it off what turned out to be an MX-5 specialist in the middle of nowhere. I was impressed that the specialist makes an effort to cut the sills out of his MX-5s and sell them as decently solid. When I finally do take the plunge with one, I'm minded to go back to him.

The X-type then. Well it certainly divides opinions, but this one at least seems quite nice. Fresh MOT, the sills have been cut out and replaced, new discs and pads all round. New shock absorbers up front I'm told and the front springs look pretty new to boot. The air con works perfectly and the mileage is 100k. The only catch is that is has an odd ally where one of those nice 18 inch wheels cracked apparently. That and the button on the handbrake was mauled, but I have already replaced that.

To drive it's better than expected, very rapid, very grippy, and nicely planted. At least in this guise, 3.0 V6 manual, it's a decent package in my opinion. Very understated and will blow quite a few cars out of the water on the open road. It likes to rev.

Given the X-type was very far from home, there was a backup option car to view. Turned out there was a P-reg X300 4.0 Sport 10 miles from the X-type. With the X-type secured the decision was made to look at the 4.0 Sport anyway as it is a car that has eluded me. The paint on the bonnet has fallen off, but I knew that and the interior needs work, but it turned out it drives quite nicely, the aircon I think works, and the mileage is just 77k. The 79 year old owner was fed up with being messed around trying to sell the car, which is understandable, but needs rid as it's quite hard to get in and out of. I wasn't 100% keen so thought it over on the 3 hour drive home. He said it would probably go to scrap if no offers were forthcoming. In the end I decided it's a bit of work, but basically solid so decided it should be saved. The deal was that some money came off the price and I could collect next month when I have a bit of time. It has quite a few things going for it so I'm hoping it will turn out good.

Even more madness ensued today as there was a very low mileage W-reg Punto near me. Limited info and no pictures, but apparently always garaged and 1 owner. I thought maybe it's a pearler and wanted to have a look. I was wrong. Although it was a 1 owner car and had long ticket, it was neglected and totally rotten. It seems that it had been allowed to get wet and muddy and then stored in the garage to let the rot set in. No service history, crap paint, a total no hoper. Worth a look though.

Other fleet news, the XJR6 is still going strong. Gave it a run today and really put a smile on my face, what a machine. One day we will wonder how they used to be so cheap. The Lupo has done serious miles once again. It went to collect the X-type yesterday and that was a 300 mile round trip. Last week it was in Cardiff. It just keeps chugging along without a car in the world, it's a firm favourite like the Rangie and the XJR (i.e the core fleet).

So the next real project is going to be X300 4.0 Sport, which you will see more of next month. Here's hoping that goes well. Also, anyone with an Aruba alloy wheel for an X-type with a tyre on it, do let me know!

[The Moog]

That X type looks lush!

[Shirley Knott]

Looks like you've been busy then!

Xtype looks like a decent buy, especially in moody black. Very nice.

[pauldoubleyou]

Nice!

[Fumbler]

Lush. You got room for another P38?

[Broadsword]

Well, the X-type has proven a hoot to drive and trouble free. Someone has really looked after it, and it is completely solid. There are several newer X-types in U-Pullit right now that have been claimed by rust ironically. Fortunately I scored a spare Aruba alloy wheel to replace the odd spare on it. Even better I sold the old wheel so I broke even on the whole thing. As such there is nothing wrong with the car and it's for sale what with an actual project on the way next week. I've already ordered up a bonnet for the incoming XJ 4.0 Sport from my usual supplier. I also need front seats and a headlining amongst service items and other odds and ends.

I had another look through the wiring to the driver's side window on the P38. There is some corrosion on a couple of plugs that I have cleaned up and also an apparent repair where three yellow and black wires go into one, but annoyingly nothing broken. It's going to be a faff sorting it out. The car itself is still great and a gearbox fluid change has made a big difference (couldn't do the filter yet as I don't have suitable ramps). It appears there was too much fluid in it previously.

I then turned my attention the the XRJ6 and the Andy Bracket (finally!). I wanted to try and get a number to compare to before and after the timing mod so I opted to do a 0-60 MPH run before and after. Did the before run and filmed it. Came out at approx. 6.6 s on the second pull in sport mode. That is mighty impressive for a 25 year old car and bob on the factory claimed time. Someone in the car did question whether is was a good idea to rag it, I said it was fine.

Except it wasn't. Drove back home, waited for things to cool down then opened the bonnet to start looking how to actually get the cranck sensor bracket off. Then I noticed the shredded air conditioner drive belt. Ah. Judging by the pool of condensation under the car from parking up, the air con was still working so the belt probably let go on the 0-60 dash. Well, better to stress test these things and replace at home rather than on a long trip (which we were thinking about for next week!). There was some collateral damage annoyingly. The wire to the driver's side ABS sensor was cut by the shredding belt. This yielded some interesting info. The driver's side wheel speed sensor has nothing to do with the ABS. In fact it is wired into the power steering rack and tells the Servotronic system what the speed is to adjust power steering assist as required. I wonder if this is why the steering is heavy on the forum Red Bike XJ6?

I cut the half broken belt off and decided to stop because you need to take the SC to get anywhere near the crank position sensor bracket. Time to replace all three drive belts I think.

Annoyingly we watched a running, MOTd XK8 convertible go though on eBay the other day for £2100. Admittedly it had a "misfire", but that would have been one hell of a bargain regardless. Damn.

 

[Broadsword]

XJ6 4.0 Sport finally achieved after a straightforward collection caper today. This is one of the models from the X300 range that has so far eluded me for a long while, but I'm very glad this has joined chez Broadsword. It is much better than expected.

In short here we have a 1996 XJ Sport 4.0 in Antigua blue. Key points, 78k miles, solid in all the right places, pleny of paperwork, cosmetically challenged at the moment. Amazingly this is the second X300 in a row I've bought with working air con, and it came in handy today. It drives lovely, no wobbliness, no cloncks, no vibrations, pretty good. Things to do off the top of my head:

1. Replace bonnet with one which has paint on it (it's already on its way)

2. Massive clean up (it's quite grubby)

3. Replace front seats (torn a bit)

4. Service

5. Replace headlining

6. Replace top mounts for radiator

7. Replace throttle return spring

8. Shine it up

It was a nice drive back to Yorkshire from the Midlands, really nice in fact. The engine and gearbox are very slick. The fuel economy is also excellent, the best I've had on a Jag so far. It returned 30 MPG on a fast cruise home (no Andy bracket), It's probably all the X300 you would ever need to be fair. I like the colour lots.

[Broadsword]

Today the XJR6 got some more attention. It took all afternoon faffing around with belts and tensioners. I really dislike the belt tensioners on X300, they don't work well at all. In short the tensioners for the air con and supercharger pulleys are on a long threaded rod, going through an ally block. The block slides up and down a groove which provides your adjustment. These will be seized, I guarantee you, and they were. The only way forward is to remove the tensioner completely, remove the pulley and clean the sliding surfaces up. The threaded rod can also seize up in the ally block and annoyingly the only way to loosen/tighten it is to turn the end (which is a 1/4 box section). Even worse on the A/C tensioner the box section points down, and sits about 5 mm above the anti-roll bar, so no tools will reach. Nice. The solution for the A/C tensioner I came up with was to guess the correct position of the pulley on the tensioner, set it off the car, then put it back on the car with the new belt, but only with one bolt in, then pivot the tensioner onto the belt to take up the slack, align, then bolt it up.

The A/C tensioner pulley was badly worn, possibly leading to belt failure. I suspect it was over-tightened in the past due to the difficulty in adjusting the thing. Lucky for me I had a spare A/C tensioner with a good pulley/bearing, so that went on. With the supercharger belt and tensioner off I was FINALLY able to put the Andy bracket on. The S/C belt I got was slightly wrong annoyingly, but the current belt is not bad. The main drive belt is 95% so I didn't try to do that today (adjustment is on the alternator and that is buried). I had never done these belts before so everything took ages, but next time around it should be easy.

With everything back together all was well again, and A/C restored. The car is noticeably faster now, it's properly quck. I love it. I can still be as smooth as you like, but the pickup is sharper and it has more of a bark to it. I'll do a 0-60 MPH dash when it's dry. 6.6 seconds is the baseline to beat. I think a transmission fluid change would help. It can't seem to keep up when you really rag it at the red line.

I see no reason to replace the S/C belt pulley over getting a new bearing. The part is NTN 6203LHX3. Any recommendation on where to buy bearings?

Most of the interior of the XJ Sport is now out of the car. Underneath the crud it's quite good. The headlining came out without breaking the back, so I can just glue new material to the old base.

[Shirley Knott]

This thread's really shaping up. Great updates as usual, well played.

I've always been completely opposed to Jaguars of all varieties, slowly but surely I'm now starting to feel the draw of them. Suffice to say I've reached a point where-as I've  accepted one day in the not too distant future I shall probably have to try one. 

 

[Broadsword]

14 minutes ago, JoeyEunos said:

This thread's really shaping up. Great updates as usual, well played.

I've always been completely opposed to Jaguars of all varieties, slowly but surely I'm now starting to feel the draw of them. Suffice to say I've reached a point where-as I've  accepted one day in the not too distant future I shall probably have to try one. 

 

I shall continue to tempt you with many Jaaaag photos until you have been swayed!

Shitter’s price available on the X-type by the way for anyone interested. Enquiries by PM!

[Broadsword]

Results are in for 0-60 MPH times with and without the Andy Bracket. So it was 6.6 seconds in standard trim. Today we got it down to 6.2 seconds without trying much. Now it is more necessary to turn the traction control off because it wants to break traction even in the dry! Video below for those wishing to hear the glorious whine of the blower!

 

[Broadsword]

The XJ Sport has seen some attention. The solution for the front seats so far: the seat-back from the passenger side has been transplanted to the driver's side, which is now a good seat. A crack was noticed on the frame, which needs a small weld, but that's a minor issue. This leaves me needing one manual "sport" passenger seat in oatmeal. The headlining was fixed today. Instead of a new headlining, which is what many say you will need, a kit with adhesive and new fabric was sourced. The material is very good and they supplied two tins of excellent contact adhesive. Of course it's a bit nerve racking gluing and trimming everything, but as the photos show it appears to have worked a treat. The real good news is that there is enough fabric to spare to do an second entire headlining. Excellent! This means the headlining has been done for around £30!

The rest of the interior was really, really filthy, but after a great deal of scrubbing and wet vaccing, it's come up great. There is a piece of leather worn away from the side of the handbrake, but since the passenger seat is essentially scrap, I can simply take a patch of leather from there and glue it on. I'm still waiting on the bonnet, but between that and the interior going back in, it will really start to look much, much better. The exterior hasn't been cleaned at all yet, but some polish will do wonders when everything else is done. The last bit will be a full service. I had a peek at the air filter and it was all scrunched up and black. How it was so smooth and returned 30 mpg is quite amazing.

Today's bonus material is a old lighter found while clearing up the interior of the XJ Sport. Other than the striker being worn to the point of not giving a spark it does work. It's made in England and the brand is Dunhill. It's heavy and feels like a nicely made piece. Do we have a section for lighter shite here? Obviously I intend to sell it for profit!

[HMC]

Love the lighter find.  In my mind, there’s some Ray Winstone character lighting up a cigar en route to some sort of “deal” in 1999

[HMC]

Also- OUCH! looks like some familiar looking skinned knuckles all in the name of fettling shite. 

[Broadsword]

Yes, I really felt it when I skinned that knuckle! It was dry today so more progress happened. The headlining was put back in the car. Ironically getting everything back in and lined up nice was harder than re-gluing the headlining. It came good at the end and I'm very pleased with the end result. Next up was fixing the driver's seat. A small blob of weld on the frame and it's now fine. A few finishing touches, cleaning, and the previously torn driver's seat now looks a whole lot better. Another win, but finding a passenger side seat will not be as easy. Also note the bit of trim worn away on the handbrake. Suddenly it occurred to me to use an off-cut piece of headlining to fix it. It worked perfectly and cured another eyesore. So on the interior front all it really needs now is that missing seat and the transformation will be complete, and it is quite a transformation.

The boot is fine, just needs cleaning. I'm taking the full sized spare for the XJR (it needs a better tyre, but the XJR really shouldn't potentially run a space saver in an emergency). Notice also the gear knob as changed from black to light wood. The light wood gear knob was a lucky £1 find from UPullit and has been awaiting they day it comes in handy, I'm going to say it works in ther. I would much prefer the black piano wood one in the XJR, because it currently has a boy racer special. Thinking this would be a 1 min job to swap over, it seem the boy racer gear knob is very much on there. It spins but won't come free. It should just unscrew off the stick. Huff.. One very small detail that will also get swapped over to the XJR is the bootlid trim piece. The XJ Sport is fairly late in the production run of the X300 so it has a handy leather pull strap to close the boot without touching the outside. I want to keep it on the XJR and no-one would miss it on the Sport anyway.

All in all, all good progress. In fact the interior of the Sport will probably look slightly better than the XJR once done as the leather is a bit worn in the XJR. It needs a good going over with some conditioner and dye to really do it justice. The driver's bolster is gone on it anyway. Once the fresh bonnet is on it will look great. More attention will given to the exterior next week. I've also ordered service bits.