project Broadsword's Fleet Thread

[Broadsword]

The manual XJR still runs dead rich and is misfiring at idle. We now know neither oxygen sensor works so presumably this is the problem. I elected to take the entire manifold(s) downpipe assembly off in one piece as this is quite easy. Then you can very easily remove both oxygen sensors. Both were destroyed, like someone cut the tops off them. Very strange. This I thought was good news as it must have been just a case of throwing two replacements in and off we go. Unfortunately not. With replacement O2 sensors in there was zero difference, neither work. You can unplug the sensors and it makes no difference. Now I think there is a problem in the wiring loom also. The plot thickens!

 

[dome]

Has someone been a bit overenthusiastic when gutting the precats perhaps and fucked the sensors?

Doesn't explain why the new ones don't work though🤔

[Broadsword]

21 hours ago, dome said:

Has someone been a bit overenthusiastic when gutting the precats perhaps and fucked the sensors?

Doesn't explain why the new ones don't work though🤔

All I know for sure is that the exhaust manifolds and downpipe have been off a good few times to prototype a custom set of headers, which apparently will go into production soon. I'm pretty sure the running problems have been caused by this process or when the gearbox came out a second time to do the rear main seal. Every time you disturb the the drivetrain in such a major way it causes unforeseen problems. The same happened to another converted XJR. My next line of investigation will be all the wiring loom to the O2 sensors that I can find. Assuming the replacement sensors (or at least one of them) function at all, then the problem must be related to the wiring.

[Broadsword]

The manual XJR still isn’t running any different, mainly because I haven’t had any time to work on it. Tomorrow I plan to be prodding around the throttle body area in a search of air leaks.

The car that has been on the fleet longest (since December 2018) might soon be for sale. Basically I’m very happy with it and it continues to be reliable and extremely useful. However some time ago I thought about what would be the perfect P38. I always had a hunch the 4.0 V8 manual would be a really punchy combo, preferably still on a well maintained EAS system, maybe in dark blue and an LPG system would be a must due to the fuel consumption. Of course getting all that in a well maintained example would be most unlikely right? That’s what I thought until this arrived on the driveway the other day…

This is a strange P38. It’s first registered in  2001 but Land Rover confirms from the VIN that it’s a 1998 car. I did a car history check before buying and there is no dodgyness in it’s history. I even have the original books and it shows that it was definitely sold brand new in 2001. How this happened is a mystery. What matters that it’s in fabulous shape and is the perfect spec. I had never been in a car with a Rover V8 and all I can say is that it’s old school muscle and marvellous. It won’t be pressed into service till the diesel is prepped for sale mind so I will have to be patient. I think I have bought well.

 

 

[Crackers]

5 hours ago, Broadsword said:

I think I have bought well.

Never, EVER, say this within earshot of a P38. 

[Broadsword]

Sound check on the V8 Rangie (half of the exhaust is stainless steel). I will have to be patient and wait till the diesel is on sale to put it on the road. Very hard  to wait to do the switch knowing how nice it is though…

[Cooper1]

Very nice P38 you have there, the V8 is the business, i'm biased though!! 

 

Manual too, very rare. 

 

EAS is a necessity too, don't bin it!!

[Broadsword]

48 minutes ago, Cooper1 said:

Very nice P38 you have there, the V8 is the business, i'm biased though!! 

 

Manual too, very rare. 

 

EAS is a necessity too, don't bin it!!

I’m not going to get rid, I’ve decided to fully commit to the whole EAS thing. It works perfectly now but I’m sure it will throw a curveball soon. I want to have the right diagnostic unit for the car ready when the time comes. Not 100% sure what I need, I have heard of the Nanocom and EAS kicker. Then I saw the Bearmach Hawkeye Total. If I understood correct that will do anything I ever need to do on the car modules wise, but they don’t make them anymore. Any suggestions regarding the best diagnostics kit for the P38 are welcome.

Also, here is a little walk around the V8..

 

[Cooper1]

Nanocom is the only unit that should grace the P38.. 

 

If you want just EAS software the FREE RSW software is hard to beat, just need a serial adaptor and the cable for the car... 

[Broadsword]

State of the fleet address!

The V8 Range Rover is officially on the road!!! First hiccup was that one brake caliper appeared to be slightly sticky from being laid up. This despite my religiously starting it up and running it around the "farm" as I do with all my cars in storage once a week. I had to shift a load of furniture today, so it was earning it's keep immediately. Later on I took it for a good hard hoon and I think all the brakes are now ok. Initially I had once very shiny brake disc on the driver's side front and three dull. Now they all seem fine. Anyways later I'll inspect the front brakes just to make sure. There is no pulling to one side on the road, so I think things will settle down once I remind the thing that is is in fact a car.

The issue with the problematic key and "engine disabled" fault I think is down to the fact that the previous owner tried to re-shell the original key. I suspect everything was fine till he touched the innards of the keyfob. The shell of the key itself is very fragile and comes apart very easily. The moment the battery loses touch with the circuit board I think the car no longer recognizes the key and the engine is disabled upon inserting the key in the ignition. If you are very careful with the key and don't let anything flex on the inside, the engine starts every time, even after locking the doors. I might try building a new remote key as a more permanent solution. It can get a bit fraught when the "engine disabled" message comes up on the dash! The diesel never, ever would do this.

So, what is the V8 manual P38 like? Totally different car from the diesel. Remember it has EAS and the engine/transmission could not be further removed from the outgoing diesel. I must reiterate that the sound of the engine is AWESOME. Handling is better admittedly on EAS, but I have to live with the thought that the system is definitely going to give me trouble. I have a very slightly inkling that the Terrafirma shock absorbers are not in their first flush of youth just going by feel and the reports from @Cooper1 that fitting all new shock absorbers to a old P38 is a real game changer (more the latter I think). Not withstanding that the V8 drives really nice and it's surprisingly quick for what is is. It's not fast as such, but piles on the speed remarkably quickly for it's size. Progress is utterly effortless, and the V8 is smooth even if very old-school. I've had to adapt my driving style on account of the manual transmission. Some skill is required to avoid lurching as you progress through the gears, but that is to be expected piloting such a heavy things. I'm delighted. It's very tidy and presentable, nice to have one car that is.

One other major project I'm currently working on is getting proper dealer level diagnostics for Jaguars. The unit I need is called a "VCM" by Rotunda. This would satisfy all Jag diagnostics/programming from 1995 onward (utterly invaluable for my purposes). A recently purchased clone doesn't work on my old Jags, but I think will work fine with newer Jags post 2005 and Fords. It came with a Toughbook and I will likely sell it on and try and get a genuine VCM (I'm really determined after a fellow Jag enthusiast with a working VCM showed me one in action!) More to come on that front.

So the core fleet now is the venerable and increasingly leggy Lupo, the V8 P38 and the XJR manual. The Lupo recently got new front tyres. The fitment of tyres on the Lupo was a complete disaster. I treated it to a full fresh set, but a garage refused to replace the rears claiming they should be a different size!!! That whole debacle was utterly baffling and lost me time/effort. It runs and drives fine, but need a  good check on the underside and some rustproofing. It feels really soft and wooly, but I think I drive so many cars now it's just the effect of going between so many different cars. The XJR manual is still as is with a misfire at idle and the interior not sorted just through lack of time. I really need the VCM to diagnose the XJR properly. Even with the oxygen sensors replace it's running really rich. It's still blisteringly fast. My main gripe with it is that that I can make it presentable without much trouble when I get a moment, but I really don't like the colour.  X300s look best in british racing green, blues and turquoise in my opinion. Carnival red seemed to be a really popular and moderately dull colour in my opinion.

On the periphery of the fleet is the Porsche 924, which now really benefits from living in a garage. I've been putting off the welding too long now and really need to sort it out. I will need lots of welding I'm afraid, and not looking forward to that bit. I will be sorted and emerge a totally transformed vehicle, much like the Herald.

One more thing... I've just picked up another LPG car that will take the load off the Lupo somewhat. Based on the drive home from west Yorkshire, no it has front brakes. The seller said slight* brake judder. It was an understatement.  More to come on that soon. It was exceedingly cheap. You may well guess what brand it is. Clue: it has six cylinders.

[Cooper1]

Regarding shock absorbers TF are junk IMO and if you have the Blue shelled +2 they're not suitable for EAS due to their length and the simple fact the shocker prevents airbag overextension. 

I fitted Britpart standard shocks to mine not too long ago and it transformed the car, far smoother than the TF shocks which were bone shakers. 

Some have also had luck with Monroes and Bilsteins. 

The Keyfob can be a pain in the arse, I recommend second-remote-repairs aka Jon Dean 

 He's an expert in such matters and can repair even the worst P38 remote!  

And finally the upside of a NANOCOM is the ability to turn off the immobilser to prevent the engine disabled issue.   

 

Oh and EAS won't give you any issues so long as any potential problems are caught early, it is a system from the early 1990s so fairly old hat nowadays in the grand scheme of things. 

So long as it doesn't drop height when parked or take an age to lift when either adjusting or moving though the various heights, then you have nothing to worry about, 

Airbag condition is a consideration, they have a life of around 8-10yrs use depending. 

[Broadsword]

I've been quietly working on a project to facilitate repairs on the many Jags that come and go to Broadsword HQ. What I wanted was dealer-level diagnostics and the ability to program various things, mainly the throttle position sensor and do oxygen sensor calibration. Particularly on X300 Jags having this ability elevates you above the masses somewhat. The correct tool for the job is called a Rotunda VCM 1. This is a old diagnostic unit produced for Ford, but works on Jaguars and a few other makes too. A few months ago I decided, particularly for the sake of the manual XJR, that I really need this unit to stop doing fault diagnosis in the blind. Along the way I got to see one in action with a fellow Jag enthusiast, who turned out to have tucked away the most amazing Daimler Six X300 4.0 in Kingfisher blue/green, which he had single-handedly reshelled using a unused X308 shell. Truly amazing. He had a Chinese clone VCM, which contrary to the usual trend actually worked and had worked for over a decade. Naturally he opted not to sell it when I asked. I had already bought one VCM 1, which was a clone. It showed signs of promise, but would not connect to an old Jag (I still think it will talk to more modern stuff though).

Once I had seen the VCM talking to an X300 via software called IDS I became more determined. I decided to budget more and buy a genuine VCM. One came up on eBay, a bit job lot with lots of extras. The seller was very clear that it all worked. Paid quite a lot to win the auction, collected it in person even if a bit far away aaaaaan..... it doesn't work. In fact there were two in the pack and both are broken. I'm currently embroiled in a bitter dispute with PayPal to get a return initiated and a refund. The seller is playing silly buggers. I know it was a con-job. I just want to get even. He can have his junk back. Despite paying on a card via PayPal, the buyer protection they proclaim is not shining through at the moment. This was a low moment. Still.... another genuine VCM turned up and for whatever reason the auction ended at a very reasonable price. The seller sent this on Special Delivery to me and it worked immediately when I plugged it into a Jag! Finally I have what effectively is god mode on these cars, and it was really worth the effort. Repairs and diagnosis will be greatly accelerated going forward on the old Jags. Happy to help fellow Shitters out on their X300s/X308s/S-type/X-type/XK8 etc.

After that exhausting exercise the new P38 decided to revert to type.. I got properly locked out the car when the key fob battery failed and I changed the battery. The car was locked. The battery in the fob changed, EKA lockout, alarm going off lots. Stress sets in at this point. I was told to resync the key you turn the key in the driver's lock whiles holding buttons, this didn't work. After a while I decided to unplug the alarm siren so that I could tinker in peace. It later transpired the key would sync with the car when in the ignition and holding the lock button. Now everything is back to normal, but I really want to find someone with Nanocom to disable as much of the immobiser system as possible. It only succeeds at stranding the owner. If you have a problem with the key (and I do because the keyfob is a cheap remake), you could easily get stranded on the roads. Other faults on the P38 is that the LPG system is tripping off all the time under loads and there is some issue with the passenger electric window. It sticks somewhere and that triggers the "window blocked message". I can get it back up by pulling while raising the window. It's still magnificent to drive, just I think it wants the shock absorbers changing to make it a bit more composed on the road.

[Broadsword]

Fleet status: not great..

Range Rover P38 V8 manual:

It will no longer run on LPG, which I don't think will be a massive headache to solve, but I can't find a professional within a reasonable distance to look at it. Still runs and drives great though, just periodically getting engine disabled. I need to find someone with a Nanocom still to put that right, then get a nice new key made.

Jaguar X300 XJ 3.2 Sport LPG:

Did a bit of a marathon changing front brake discs and pads, giving the car a good looking over and a full service, regrease front wheel bearings, and retensioned drive belt to fix squeal. The car tidies up not bad. I put it on the road with a view to doing a long run this week. Before setting off too far, it did some local driving first. The brakes are fine now, which is a relief as they were terrible. Then the exhaust fell off. Oh, well back to the Lupo (which did 70 mpg over 400 miles!).

Jaguar X306 XJR Manual:

A little tired from being used as a mule for fixing other X300s. It has been on the back-burner due to several other projects, but I think what with most other things being wrapped up now it will finally get it's turn due to the new below.

Porshce 924:

It's turn came this week. Now I've concluded it has to be sold spares/repairs. After peeling off the first 12 inches of outer sill on the driver's side, it soon became apparent it's well beyond the facilities/skills of a DIY enthusiast. It's quite a lot worse than I though. MOT patches on top of rust, time and time again I'm afraid.

Lupo:

It keeps coming back to the Lupo, which rarely lets me down, just two snapped front springs. Can't get rid of it at this point as it's just too reliable. I hope it passes another MOT in March the way things are going..

Also as some might have seen in another thread I'm still struggling to get refunded for a duff Rotunda VCM setup from someone on eBay. Hopefully the money will be refunded as promised by PayPal following it's return, but I'm getting worried it's all a scam even from PayPal's side. It was not cheap. Even with the refund, it won't cover the shipping costs (not cheap).

TL;DR: Fleet fortunes in the doldrums.

[Broadsword]

So I didn't hang around putting the Porsche on a 99p no reserve auction. That ended tonight, but the highest bidder has a new account and announced he can't collect for two weeks. If no deposit is received soon it will be back on sale soon. I haven't got my hopes up, it went at a loss anyway.

More positive news from this weekend: the LPG system on the V8 Range Rover is now working perfectly. In the end I discovered that the previous owner, who also messed up the key, fitted a shiny new alternator. In the process of fitting the alternator he crushed a vacuum line to the LPG system. Free off the vacuum hose and everything is now working perfectly.

Still unable to trace down the reason why the oxygen sensors aren't working on the manual XJR, even with the VCM diagnostics.. I had a spare downpipe with the pre-cats to put on, just in case the existing cats were collapsed (remember the destroyed O2 sensors!). Suffice to say swapping the parts over made no difference. Damn.

The LPG XJ6 has been tidied up some more and has a new exhaust back box. It's now on the road and doing rather well. Coming back from a long break of 3.2 Sports (last one was the famous AS Red Bike!), it does feel a little slow (relatively speaking!). You can, however, hustle it a little with the J-gate. Stick it in 3rd and it can be plenty of fun.. Also it's not lethal in the wet, unlike an XJR6, which is a bonus. I'm going to MOT the car in a couple weeks. Let's see how that goes.

Last weekend I made a trip down south to see some nice Jags a fellow enthusiast was working on. He has a nice unit and TWO MANUAL XJR6s!!! My friend Lee with his amazing converted car also came down. Much good use was made of the Rotunda VCM, which immediately fixed the running issues on both the ice blue XJR and the sapphire blue car, which is being restored. The ice blue car I've known for years and has never run right till I recalibrated the throttle body with the VCM. We pre-emptively did the same with the sapphire blue car, and plugged in the green car while we were at it. Literally hundreds of pounds of specialist knowhow and diagnostic labour at a specialist accomplished with my kit in less than an hour. For a serial 90s Jag obsessive such as myself this old diagnostic unit is gold dust. Had a great day fettling with the Jags, and got more impetus to sort out my manual XJR.

[Cooper1]

Still fancy a nice X300.. 

[Broadsword]

A good weekend has just passed, the Porsche was collected. Everyone was happy. I then did as much pre-MOT fettling on the 3.2 Sport as possible and nervously went to the MOT station early this morning. Amazingly it passed! All is well with the fleet once more!

[Broadsword]

Events, events dear boy etc. etc. House purchase shenanigans necessitates some extra liquidation of cars. Would anyone potentially be interested in buying the XJR manual as a project?? 

[Shandylegs]

Who in the right mind wouldn’t be interested in a manual XJR.

The ship has probably sailed for me in terms of prices, but ping me a message with a ballpark figure you have in mind.

[Broadsword]

Things have moved on.. The manual XJR went off to a good home. Now I want another of course, one that might actually run properly, a factory manual. It appears there is one within this marvellous parish as of today! I'd even rather deal with welding than being defeated like on the previous car. The fleet is down to its lowest numbers for ages. The Lupo is still with me. I'm going to take it in for an MOT in about a week since it runs out early March. If it passes, I would be very pleased indeed. The Lupo is such a trooper despite the front springs snapping quite frequently. I've swapped a total of three front springs now since the last one went pop after Christmas.

The P38 V8 continues to be very good. Last week I decided to shell out for a brand new key since there is only one and it had been problematic. A fresh key cost £130 with a service where I was sent a black box to clone the transponder. I simply pressed the remote key a couple times with the box turned on, turned it back off, sent a key blade to copy and later that week I got a nice new fully functional key. I still need to press the unlock key often with the new key when it disables the engine for some reason, but it works fine. Just press unlock on the key fob again if the dash bleeps and off you go. The Rangie also got a full service before winter set in. It's a real pleasure to drive and an excellent workhorse. This afternoon I fixed the dead segments on the LCD panel of the HVAC controls. You can buy a zebra connector to replace the ribbon cable that comes adrift from the display and PCB within, which will fix the issue. It took a bit of fiddling, but the HVAC panel works perfectly now. Well worth the £14.50 for the zebra connector. The supplier also do a very detailed video on how to fix the offending item.

One Jag remains. The LPG 3.2 Sport in Antigua blue that I did up in the autumn. I managed to score a much nicer condition set of the same dimple wheels with a matching set of practically unused tyres. That made quite a difference. It just needs a few tiny bits tidying up and power steering fluid + transmission fluid flushing. That is a weekend's work. At that point it will go up for sale (I intend for this to be soon, hopefully within a couple of weeks). I want to make a fresh start with Jags and this seems to keep boiling down to wanting a factory manual XJR6.

[Broadsword]

A good start to the new week with an MOT pass for the Lupo. My local garage crew are keen for me to buy a Jag X308 that has been sitting with them for a while… I might entertain it later if the price comes down to sub a bag, it needs some welding, but the engine sounds good. Also there is a hole in the cat so it’s a little loud right now.

 

[inconsistant]

Just catching up with your fleet thread now and really sorry to hear the 924 didn't end well. Hope you got to enjoy it at least a bit during your short ownership stint. Interested to see what becomes  of it, whether it gets fixed or stripped. 

[AnnoyingPentium]

Glad to hear the Lupo has a clean bill of 'elf for another year!

[Broadsword]

1 hour ago, inconsistant said:

Just catching up with your fleet thread now and really sorry to hear the 924 didn't end well. Hope you got to enjoy it at least a bit during your short ownership stint. Interested to see what becomes  of it, whether it gets fixed or stripped. 

It was really fun to drive while it lasted, but when I took it  to my trusted garage for a pre-MOT on the ramp it really unfolded. The passenger front floor literally crumbled to dust, the old MOT patches peeled off etc etc. Then the last straw was when I set about doing the sills and saw what was underneath. One of those things, no hard feelings, I simply got it wrong with the car and lucky for me only sold it for a small loss. I've had some really great purchases on this forum that more than make up the balance for the odd one that doesn't quite work out. The Lupo is a prime example, and it has saved me so much money over the time I've had it, an absolute gift! The new owner of the 924 was made well aware of the rust and they were ok with it. Now that you remind me of the 924, I took a moment to look it up on the DVLA website and..... IT GOT A NEW MOT IN JANUARY! I'm quite impressed really, it must have been quite a weldathon.

[stuboy]

jags, jags and jaaaaaaaaaags

[Broadsword]

5 minutes ago, stuboy said:

jags, jags and jaaaaaaaaaags

Don’t forget obsessing about big Jaaaaag XJs with manual transmissions!

[Schaefft]

I really need to get an XJ at some point, there never were X308 XJRs with a manual, were there?

[Broadsword]

40 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

I really need to get an XJ at some point, there never were X308 XJRs with a manual, were there?

Unfortunately no manual gearbox option in a Jaguar XJ at all after the X300. Not really a surprise since the vast majority of buyers specced an auto anyway. For the average big Jag driver a manual in such a car would make no sense. I have heard there is a way to convert an X308 to manual, but it must be really difficult. It's hearsay, but someone told me the later 6-speed manual out of a S-type V6 could somehow be adapted with some specialist knowhow and an adapter plate for the bellhousing.

[straightSix]

7 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

Unfortunately no manual gearbox option in a Jaguar XJ at all after the X300. Not really a surprise since the vast majority of buyers specced an auto anyway. For the average big Jag driver a manual in such a car would make no sense. I have heard there is a way to convert an X308 to manual, but it must be really difficult. It's hearsay, but someone told me the later 6-speed manual out of a S-type V6 could somehow be adapted with some specialist knowhow and an adapter plate for the bellhousing.

I'd heard something similar. I forget the car but someone had swapped an AJ8 into it and was using a manual S-Type as a donor for the gearbox

[Shirley Knott]

23 hours ago, Broadsword said:

The Lupo is a prime example, and it has saved me so much money over the time I've had it, an absolute gift! 

I must admit I keep an eye on the Lupos MOT results each year (A bit like stalking a former partner on social media- Only more creepy?)

I pretty much do this with all of my old cars, and out of a list of a dozen there's somehow only two of them that aren't still on the road 

Either way I was delighted to see the clean pass on Monday! It's a great little car and it honestly used to attract favourable comments wherever we went in it.... Surely it's earned a new timing belt/pump by now?

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

13 minutes ago, Shirley Knott said:

I pretty much do this with all of my old cars

I do this too with my Mum's old cars. Most are probably tins of beans by now. Even the 2010 Auris.

Tried to do the same with my Granda's old cars before realising that a car is usually in a very fucked state by the time he's getting rid of it. Lol.