Steering wheel woes

[Mackie]

Hi all,

Sent my classic XJS wheel off for restoration. Packed it as best I could. It’s just arrived and the restorers have told me it has been cracked around the mounting tube in transit (see pics)

Has this rendered the wheel useless? Is there any point in a restoration now? Can it be repaired?

Yours, cheesed-offedly

Mac

[BigCatXJS]

Thats unfortunate....

If you do go down the route of replacing it then the Moto-lita MKIII is a nice wheel (as fitted to my '89 V12)...

Rich.

[davidr]

Mac - that's really annoying!
I've a feeling that the piece that's broken pulls off and you will have the same piece on the car now that you can swap over. This is only a cover and doesn't affect the mounting of the wheel which is secured by a nut under the horn push.
I'm not 100% confident without seeing your new (old?!) wheel in the flesh but it's worth checking if it will swap over.
Best wishes
David

[Mackie]

Thats unfortunate....

If you do go down the route of replacing it then the Moto-lita MKIII is a nice wheel (as fitted to my '89 V12)...
P1000759.JPG

Rich.

It’s a lovely wheel, but I like the idea of sticking with an official Jag wheel for now. You also have a manual I see, is that original or a conversion?

[Mackie]

Mac - that's really annoying!
I've a feeling that the piece that's broken pulls off and you will have the same piece on the car now that you can swap over. This is only a cover and doesn't affect the mounting of the wheel which is secured by a nut under the horn push.
I'm not 100% confident without seeing your new (old?!) wheel in the flesh but it's worth checking if it will swap over.
Best wishes
David

I’ll check when it comes back, David, but it seemed like a complete moulding to me.

[davidr]

[/quote]
You also have a manual I see, is that original or a conversion?
[/quote]
Hi Mac - Rich's car is a conversion (no factory manual V12's after 1979 - only 352 made in total!). It's the same year as yours and nearly identical apart from his blingy gold wheels (but he likes them!) .
I've been in that car up the hillclimb at Prescott and it has a very different feel to the auto. The 5 speed manual allows the V12 to express itself in ways that the auto completely stifles. Had I kept your car its highly likely that I would have converted it to manual. I'd even started to research the bits. For example I know where there's a new and unused Getrag gearbox and I'd had a conversation with Simply Performance about their bell housing conversion plate.
If you ever get the chance to meet up with Rich and experience the car I would thoroughly recommend it. Oh and he's quite a decent bloke too!

[Mackie]

Hi David,

I’ve thought about it, but having zero mechanical skills I’d have to pay somebody to do the job and I have no idea how many man hours that would be!

I’d love to get it done though.

[BigCatXJS]

Hi All,

Most of my mods were written-up in a Magazine article published in the XJS pages in the Sept 2014 edition; https://jec.org.uk/magazine/vol-30-no-09 (page 45 onwards). Since then it has "benefited" from blingy gold wheels , a brace kit, AJ6 eng. TT extractor exhaust with twin tails, AJ6 enj. intake tuning pipes, HB front anti roll bar upgrade, super-blingy blue 3 ply silicone hoses, HT cables and a new distributor cap as well as regular servicing and attention.

The run up Prescott Hill that David is referring to was captured with a couple of cameras; some footage here (edited to start after my poor music edit ); https://youtu.be/cQgdKAGNR5E?t=1m42s

In terms of just the manual conversion, it was a 70 hour project. However, the chap (David @ Alders Classics) http://www.aldersclassics.co.uk/ has performed a number of these conversions now, so likely to be less than 70 hours now.

I hope to be attending JEC events this year with the Cat so if you are around look me up...

Cheers, Rich

[Mackie]

70 hours! For a manual conversion? I was told about £1800 to £2000. Would love to get it done.

Yup. It was not forecast to be 70 hours. Fortunately pricing was pre-agreed as my car was the first trial project. There were some extra requirements / challenges that needed to worked around. For example, the TT-exhaust system meant that a bespoke gearbox mount was required to prevent fouling. After 3 years this was replaced as the gearbox was starting to make contact with one of the exhaust pipes when concerning at speed. Some of the conversion parts arrived in a degraded state so it was easier to make-up new parts based on the conversion parts rather than risk fitting the degraded parts. An AP Racing Clutch was used rather than the clutch from the donor car. There was an issue with the position sensor not picking up a signal (this preventing successful starting) due to one of the conversion parts being too thick.

I guess my point is that any large project involving an older car and donor / non-original parts will inevitably throw-up challenges that were not foreseen before the project commenced. If you are fortunate to be offered fixed pricing for the job at £2K including labour and all the parts plus the gearbox then go for it as that is a very good deal (if its a professional garage offering)!

Cheers, Rich

[BigCatXJS]

Ooops - not sure how the above happened. Wanted to post as a reply with quote...

[Mackie]

Finally put the restored steering wheel in.