What I did to my XJ-S today.....

[SimonR]

Thanks for the replies David and Paul.

Paul - don't worry, the chap doing the work knows Jags of this era well and when I mentioned the importance of not allowing the fluid to flow back up the system, he visibly winced before saying he certainly wouldn't do that! I printed out the info you'd already given me and he also has my copy of the Jag workshop manual so I'm confident that all will be well. The job is actually pretty straight forward - rather than pushing back the old calipers, the job is basically to remove the old calipers, complete with pads etc, and then replace with new ones, pads, pins and clips. the flexible pipe is also to be replaced.

I would do the job myself as I have for the front end, but I just don't fancy getting the back end of the car apart with it on axle stands and me working on my back underneath it!

Paul - in all seriousness, it could be really useful (if you really were thinking of writing a publication about the Teves system) if you came up with an A4 cribsheet for XJ-S owners to hand to anyone working on their car, outlining the foibles of the system and a list of Dos and Don'ts. It strikes me that although it's an idiosyncratic piece of technology, if you abide by a few simple rules, it won't bite you.

Cheers for now!

[PaulGover]

Perhaps everyone should flush their brake fluid every couple of years, to keep water out of the fluid and hence crud out of the system. But that raises the question, what's the best procedure for flush a Teves brake system? I guess it's like bleeding, but worse

(As an aside, I vaguely remember a recommendation to change brake fluid every 2 years and flexible hoses every 4, or maybe it was 4 and 8, somewhere in one of the many files on a JDHT CD-ROM of XJS-related stuff.)

[ptjs1]

Paul,

As we all well know, I'm no expert, but I gave Simon some thoughts on flushing the brake fluid in his other thread and he seemed to do a great job, despite my distractions!

Paul

[SimonR]

I'd been looking forward to today for a while - the first chance to take both my new car and my daughter to a show. The event was a locally-organised Jubilee celebration in a nearby village, and as luck would have it, my friend who owns a 4.0 Insignia was able to join me so we arrived together.

I'd previously contacted the original owner of my car to say that I'd be taking the S, giving him the date and venue, so there was a good chance he might be there. I was hoping I'd be able to meet him and that he'd be happy to see what I'd done with is pride and joy, which he'd owned from new, for 33 years. I wasn't disappointed as although the weather was pretty awful (I'm not sure it stopped drizzling all day) we did meet up and he was most complementary about what I'd done to the car and was interested in the my plans for its future. He also brought his neighbour who was apparently missing seeing the car and extremely kindly, brought me a Jaguar Lapel pin which had belonged to his brother. How generous! On parting, the previous owner also promised me the Jaguar crystal ashtray which also came with the car when new, totally unexpected and extremely kind of him.

Here are some pictures:

[ptjs1]

Simon

Great to see the car out and respendent in its new outfit!

Well done!

Paul

[SimonR]

Is there much XJ-S maintenance going on among club members this winter?

My on-going project is chronicled elsewhere, but today, as part of it, I took 170 items to Cambridge Electro Plating to get them re-zinc plated.

I'd made a list of everything and squirrelled it away, but when I got there the owner of the company asked for a copy, which of course I didn't have! Luckily he settled for a photograph of everything set out on his table:



They should be ready for collection, with a fresh layer of hexavalent gold zinc plating on them within about a week.

I also stopped by at my local hardware store (Mackays in Cambridge) to see what Nylock nuts and split-pins they had. I was in luck and picked up about half of what I needed - the rest I'll have to pick up from one of the Jag specialists.

I'm sitting here now, making a list of items that I need to buy for the reassembly of my car's suspension. I was quietly despairing about the cost of the V-Mounts for the rear suspension cage (£210 for 4 original Jaguar ones), however, I just found some uprated (stiffer) ones available for £80 all-in at SNG Barratt.

Onwards and upwards!

[ptjs1]

Simon,

Hope you don't mind me asking, but how much is that plating costing? I need a load of engine bay items done on my pre-HE and wonder what it will cost me.

Cheers

Paul

[SimonR]

No problem Paul - as with everything at the moment, it was a bit more than I hoped it would be!!

That collection of items was £100+VAT.

Mind you, I started adding up the cost of buying new parts and it worked out a lot cheaper to re-plate what I had than to buy all new fixings.

[SimonR]

Today, I ended my game of 'fan roulette' - and replaced the car's original 34 year old yellow cooling fan.



Doing so necessitated the removal of the fan shroud so I took the opportunity to clean it and add some rust protection to the lower half where it is more exposed to the elements.

I've re-cable-tied the cables since that photo was taken, to keep everything tidy.

[SimonR]

Today I completed a job that I'd meant to do during the winter suspension rebuild, but ran out of car-related funds, due to damaging my OH's BMW and having to repair it! Whoops...

My car came to me with its original 15" Lattice Alloys and some very old P600 tyres with loads of tread on them. The DOT codes dated the fronts to mid-2002 and the rears to mid-2007. The spare had never been used and had its original 1989 tyre on it, so because I had another alloy knocking around I sold it some time ago for quite a healthy amount to someone in the Netherlands who wanted the ultimate in originality on their show car.

For new tyres, I took KWE's advice and invested in 5 new Falken EcoRun 310s. I've used Falkens on pretty much all my cars for a long time and really rate them for being cost-effective, yet very good across the board. I contacted a few wheel refurbishers locally and settled on a company in Bury St. Edmunds as they got very good reviews and didn't cost the earth.

I removed the wheels from the Jag and dropped them off on Wednesday this week, along with the new tyres and received a call the next day to say that they were complete and ready for collection. An impressive service. Today I had the time to re-fit them to the car and am very happy with how they look - as soon as the weather perks up a bit, I'll see if it's made a difference to the driving experience.

Some Pictures:

Temporary wheels from the XK8.



New Wheels and Tyres back from the refurbishers.




The last one goes on:


Complete:

[Jaguar5993]

Hi Simon,
All looking fantastic.
I am looking for a certain silver colour for my XJS wheels. The nearest I like is the Audi 1H7 code. Your wheels look very close.
If you have it, please could you let me know the exact colour name and the colour code the wheel company applied to your ones?
Manty thanks,
Nick

[SimonR]

Cheers Nick - no problem. It's Daihatsu Silver. Apparently it's the favourite colour of the refinishers that I used and their go-to silver - I had a look before they did my wheels and thought it was a good choice.

[Jaguar5993]

Thanks for that Simon.
That colour really works.
I am trying to recreate the shine and lustre level of my late XJS 20 spoke turbine wheels that are factory and would of been first painted silver, then diamond cut and clear lacquered. So trying to find a silver paint for a complete one coat finish, that is a near to a 'look a like' of the original wheels.
I will check the Daihatsu Silver out.
No rush...when you get a chance, would you be able to ask for the colour code, as I have just noticed that there are few Daihatsu silvers about...
Don't you just love this forum for stuff like this!
Good luck.

[poprivet]

I was at the Sussex event at Parham House, lovely location and being a dry day there was a well attended and varied selection of cars.

Quite a lot of XJS models which was good to see as there seem to be less and less of them lately. However especially in the company of F Types and later XK8/R cars the XJSs are looking dated now and not in a really good way, in my humble opinion.

Where E Types and original XK cars have mellowed into their age our XJSs just look a bit dated. Of course us owners all rate them highly, and rightly so as they are still very capable cars but they seem to be at that midway point, neither a true classic nor a newish car.