Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Hell Razor5543]

She is a lovely looking beast. I sincerely hope that she is a gentle kitten until you ask her to roar, and then she will frighten every other car in the area (and bring a huge grin to your face!).

[xantia_v6]

I have owned a few V12 jags, and have done most jobs, including engine rebuilds.

I can probably give some tips on getting it running properly (most don't).

[Zelandeth]

I have owned a few V12 jags, and have done most jobs, including engine rebuilds.

I can probably give some tips on getting it running properly (most don't).

Will probably be useful! I've done quite a few jobs with my friend on XJ6/8s, though I've never actually worked on a V12 in person beyond routine servicing. Though they're not too scary to my eyes... it's an engine which has all the same stuff attached as any other engine...just there's two of most things (coolant header tanks included!) and access is poor. So most simple jobs begin with step one being "dismantle the entire car first." Once you've got to the component in question, repair/replacement usually proceeds as for any other car.

Keeping a cool head and working through stuff logically is essential with these cars or you'll wind up wanting to set fire to it in short order!

Jag did make some spectacularly stupid decisions with regards to component placement on some of their cars. The water pump for the cabin heater on the XJ8 (because using the main engine coolant pump just wasn't good enough apparently) being buried under the nearside exhaust manifold for one...the other which springs to mind is the handbrake adjustment mechanism on the E-Type...which requires the back axle to be dropped to adjust it "by the book.". We cheated and made a shim to take the slack out of the cable instead!

It sounds like this car has lead a pretty pampered life for the most part. She's no minter, but has been well looked after, is presentable from a few pages and has had most of the truly terrifying jobs done already. Has just had a £300 radiator recore done to cure a minor leak there and has a virtually brand new good quality stainless steel exhaust fitted. That's good as I know exhausts on these can cost a small fortune and often even then fit poorly and knock horribly as there's nigh on zero clearance at the back. The inevitably droopy headlining has been replaced, and it sounds like the usual electrical suspects have been kicked into behaving - exceptions being the electric mirrors and a voltage regulation issue causing the instruments to underread by about 20%.

The bits around the rear suspension mounts which usually rust have already been repaired (apparently to a good standard), though there are a few bubbles here and there around one of the wheel arches and on the rear valance. It's a C plate Jag though, so it would be downright miraculous if there wasn't something like that.

I was looking far more for something like an MGB to be honest, but this is what turned up...I guess they're the same basic idea though aren't they...just a rather different approach to the task of making a sporty 2+2 tourer...should be fun anyhow!

...Or this will cost me my sanity and my mortgage!

[daviemck2006]

I like Jags. Real ones not the mondeo based x type with the psa based engine that my brother in law had. Before that he had a 1998 XJ4.0 V8. It was lovely. I would never have a v12 xjs. I'd love a go in one but that would be all. I wouldnt have the ability to fix it now, and couldnt afford the garage Bill's. Good luck with it!

[xantia_v6]

If you have not already, read Kirby Palm's XJ-S bible. Just Google "Kirby XJ-S". 95% of the advice is excellent, although he goes overboard with adding coolant filters and some other modifications.

The first thing to do is adjust the throttle linkages and balance the vacuum on the two banks. It makes a surprising difference to drivability, and invariably needs doing. The fuel injection only has one vacuum sensor which reads the average value, so one bank usually runs rich and the other lean.

[Gibbo2286]

In all honesty it's not something which had been even remotely on my radar...but when the opportunity turned up it seemed foolish to turn down.

Photos and video will follow if/when it happens.

Way back I had a similar opportunity, I had a mini that I'd taken px, valued it at about £100, it stood about for a couple of months then a young guy from the next village came and asked if I'd swap it with a Daimler Double six that he had and that his wife couldn't / wouldn't drive.

Couldn't see what the catch was so I said ok, he brought the Daimler in, I checked all the legals and we did the swap'

Close inspection of the Daimler found it was fine, it had mot and only 53k miles on the clock, drove like a dream.

Shortly after I had a man come in to ask about it, he was a Jag enthusiast and had a yard full of them in his country house (he said he never sold any Jag he'd owned)

"Could I buy it?" , "Make me an offer? "Will £1800 be enough?" Sold.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Here's a list with pics from Glenmarch of all the XJS that have sold at the classic auctions in 2019. There are about 100, and the prices are on actual sales. I haven't included those which remained unsold at the auctions.

Gives some idea of the current market for the various models, and which ones fetch the better prices.

https://www.glenmarch.com/cars/results? ... ection=asc

Regards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

Here's the Daimler I mentioned in my previous post. It looks grey on this photo but it's actually a very pale green.

[Zelandeth]

Values are a bit all over the shop aren't they! Seems that £3-4K for a reasonable but realistic rather than a car that's a pure show queen you're afraid to use isn't that massively far off the mark though.

[xantia_v6]

Here's a list with pics from Glenmarch of all the XJS that have sold at the classic auctions in 2019. There are about 100, and the prices are on actual sales. I haven't included those which remained unsold at the auctions.

Gives some idea of the current market for the various models, and which ones fetch the better prices.

https://www.glenmarch.com/cars/results? ... ection=asc

Regards Neil

I see that there are only a handful of pre-HE cars in the list, and none from the first 2 years of production, very few have survived. Mine is a very early pre-launch car, but it needs new paint and the interior is a bit tatty.

[Zelandeth]

If you have not already, read Kirby Palm's XJ-S bible. Just Google "Kirby XJ-S". 95% of the advice is excellent, although he goes overboard with adding coolant filters and some other modifications.

The first thing to do is adjust the throttle linkages and balance the vacuum on the two banks. It makes a surprising difference to drivability, and invariably needs doing. The fuel injection only has one vacuum sensor which reads the average value, so one bank usually runs rich and the other lean.

Thanks for that. If things work out and I get the car that will be some reading material.

Being a 1985 car this should be a "HE" version I believe so will be fuel injected...which I'm sure I'll be greatful for on the first visit to the fuel pumps. Plus is probably easier to keep it behaving than keeping a whole plethora of carbs in balance.

[xantia_v6]

All XJ-S were fuel injected. The first 5 years they used a lucas-badged Bosch D-jetronic, but from 1980 they used a system designed by Lucas, the Digital-P, which was also fitted to the Rover V8s.

With predominantly country driving, a UK spec HE should get about 22 MPG, A pre-HE about 17 MPG, and an XJ12 with carburettors about 13 MPG.

[Zelandeth]

All XJ-S were fuel injected. The first 5 years they used a lucas-badged Bosch D-jetronic, but from 1980 they used a system designed by Lucas, the Digital-P, which was also fitted to the Rover V8s.

With predominantly country driving, a UK spec HE should get about 22 MPG, A pre-HE about 17 MPG, and an XJ12 with carburettors about 13 MPG.

You learn something every day. I believed the pre HE cars to be on carbs.

Milton Keynes is murder on fuel in anything save for an EV with good regenerative braking as it's all roundabout - 70mph dual carriageway for 0.9 miles - roundabout - 70mph dual carriageway for 0.9 miles - roundabout...if I see 15mpg running around here I'll count it as good going. The Activa hovers around the 20mpg mark around here.

[van ordinaire]

Well good luck with any maintenance issues - even routine stuff - on & around the engine, although the rest of it's a doddle (hidden trim fastenings aside), certainly compared with anything Citroen.

[Zelandeth]

Well good luck with any maintenance issues - even routine stuff - on & around the engine, although the rest of it's a doddle (hidden trim fastenings aside), certainly compared with anything Citroen.

The rest is a doddle...

Well aside from the inboard rear brakes anyway. On the plus side I seem to remember that the calipers were designed with *slightly* more common sense than those used on the Rover P6, which are possibly the most annoying mechanical device ever dreamt up by mankind.

The general mantra when working on any Jag seems to be "take the entire car apart first" in my experience, and I'm expecting that to be doubly so with a V12 shoe horned into the engine bay.