Hi all

I am Al, 44, live in Napier, Hawkes Bay, NZ which is the same latitude south as Bordeaux is north, so we have excellent red wines..

Bought my first Jaguar 2 days ago - a 1995 Daimler 6 X300 with the mighty 3.2 engine. I am already tinkering - had the stereo out to try to sort a loose faulty CD connector plug.
My dream Jag saloon is an aluminium XJR - next time...
I also have ideas of making a 'Q-car' XJC with 350-400bhp - I love the coupes.

I was born the same year as the XJ saloon and it is still my favourite saloon car in the world. I think the series 1 is the best looking, and one day I may get a series 1 "Beacham-ed" by local Jaguar restorer Beachams Beacham Jaguar - Independant Dealer & Classic Restoration & Custom Car Experts
Notrhing beats a series 1 E-type - still the most beautiful production car in my book

My first car was an Austin 1100 when I was 18. It died of rust
My 2nd car was an Austin 1100
My 3rd car was an Austin 1100... I was in a poverty trap as a student and I kept cobbling the best bits together. I rebuilt an 1100 engine with big bore exhaust, 1 1/2" SU, 3/4 race cam (too lumpy), and stiff valve springs. It would rev to 8000rpm and could hit 90mph (std for an 1100 is 75mph) and I can tell you that 6000 rpm @ 90mph gets quite bouncy on the ol' hydrolastic..

4th car was a 1966 Valiant AP6 with the roof removed and back doors welded up - that was real wind-in-the-hair at the ton. It died quite quickly.
For a few years I really loved my mk2 Ford Escort with a 2 litre pinto engine - that car really flew.

Current cars are

1.
2002 BA Ford Falcon wagon - added a proper oil cooler for the auto box, and made my own front brake ducts plus put on track-day rotors and pads - vast improvement in braking. It has been to 4 track days at Taupo but not recently - not a great track car, oddly enough, and I get in the way of all the R35s, Audis, Porsches etc.

2.
2007 Subaru Tribeca, bought at 2 years of age in the UK and served admirably in the snowy winter of 2009/10 in rural Surrey (Abinger Common) before returning home to NZ with us on a ship. A good SUV although must be worked hard to shift 2 tonnes of car...

3.
the new old Daimler.
So far so good after 48 hours, apart from the tinny-sounding sound system and faulty CD cable connection. i think it will need a stereo upgrade - what brand of CD/radio/MP3 player looks good in an X300 console? - All suggestions appreciated.

other favourite drives -
- my dad's 1927 Alvis 12/50 - he's had it 53 years, and it still rips along at 55-60 mph.
- SLS AMG gullwing at Brooklands Mercedes Benz World - incredible animal with 560bhp - totally wild next to the boulevardy SL63 I also drove.

next exciting drive - type 49 Bugatti in Napier's Art Deco parade next weekend - very lucky boy

favourite website - Eagle E-Types & Jaguar E-Types for Sale | E-Type Jaguar, Jaguar E Type, jag e-types, etype

cheers, Al

 

Welcome to the forums, Al.

That's quite a list of cars, past, present, and future.

Nice choice of Jaguar by the way, but the I'm partial to the x300s lol.

Enjoy your stay!

 

Welcome to the forum Al,

Great Intro. I thought the location sounded familiar as soon as I read Hawkes Bay!

Follow this link XJ X300 / XJR - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the X300 section for help, advice and information. If you're totally new to Jaguars, the 'HOW TO' thread at the top there is a good place to start for info on regular issues.

You may also like to visit the Australia / New Zealand Region section by following this link Australia / New Zealand - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to find other members in your part of the World.

Enjoy the X300 and the forum.

Graham

 

You sound like quite the car buff! Your input on the forum will be greatly appreciated. Welcome!

 

Welcome Kiwi, you will find a lot of Yankees on this forum, but we are all a bunch of proud Jaguar owners in the end

 

Welcome aboard.

My stacker and head refused to communicate, out it all came.

Pioneer CD unit with front USB in the hole, simple upgrade, and with the seperate remote, is quite handy.

 

Welcome to the forum Al,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't already done so you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.

 

thanks for all the welcomes, Jaguaristis

Grant from Oz, I see in another thread about car audio that Alpine is recommended as having the best iPod-to-Stereo sound quality : do you find the Pioneer good? And did you stick with the standard 4 door speakers? cheers

 

Welcome, good to have a diverisfied group from 'round the world. Interesting history of cars. I am sure your experience will be an assest to the forum.

 

Hi & welcome aboard Jaguarforums ....... good to have you here with us Al

Nice intro thanks for sharing.............






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Yankees, and other non-Yankee Americans.

It's like when I was touring a place in Colorado and the tour guide asked everyone where we were from. My wife and I said "Texas." (Because we were at the time.) The tour guide nodded. The couple beside us said "Wales."

The tour guide piped up and said,"Oh! All the way from England!"

The couple said, "No, Wales."

The tour guide said, "Same thing."

 

I've had my car for about 3 weeks now and loving it. I was lucky in that the previous owner, aged 93, was a stickler for maintenance and always had everything fixed so it all works.
the chromed alloy wheels cleaned up beautifully with some (fairly toxic) alkaline cleaner, disturbingly quite pimped-looking now, but they are wheels wich need to look clean
It's power surprises me - it is no rocket, but for a 3.2 litre to move a nearly-2-ton car is pretty impressive once it gets off the mark to, say, 50km/h
It's 0-60mph time on my iPhone 'Dynolicious' app is 10 secs on 2 separate runs. Not exactly stratospheric, but acceleration is better than these numbers suggest, as the initial 0-40 or so is slow before it gets the revs up, then it bogies - this reflects the lesser torque of the smaller engine.
I am getting one of Andy's 5' advance timing brackets for the crank sensor soon - I will be interested to see what improvements this brings.

The stereo sounded tinny so that has been upgraded to a Parrot Asteroid Classic which works well. The speakers were rotten - the cones were not attached to the metal chassis anymore (see pics) so have been replaced with JVC 5 1/4 inch speakers, Initially the installers put JVC 6" ones in, but these buzzed and even when spacered, the cones were hitting the door cards. The 5 1/4s sound way better, and perversely have more bass.. I am considering a small underseat powered subwoofer so I can avoid stressing the small door speakers.

I have a slight steering wander at speed especially in a cross wind. The pre-purchase mechanic's inspection showed a small amount of play in one front balljoint and suspension bush, so this probably explains that.
It also has a noticeable intrusive drone which is drivetrain-related and comes on suddenly at 60km/h. It feels as if it is coming from the left rear suspension as much as I can tell. It is not related to power load, purely road speed, and cuts off suddenly when slowing below 60 km/h. There is also a slight lurch from the rear when the auto box changes up from 2-3 and 3-4 under full power, which makes me wonder if there is some play in diff or swing-arm bushes... My dad's old Triumph 2500 did this 20 years ago in a very alarming way, the Daimler is much more subtle but I want to sort it...
Any suggestions?

 

Al,

I think your latest post #12 would be best in X300 section as a new thread to get suggestions on the steering wander and transmission/suspension issue from members with the same model.

Let me know if you want it moved there.

Graham

 

Sorry for the delayed answer, missed the new question.

My base model has the 4 door speakers, and the 4 tweeters, all factory wired, no amp.

I just left it as is, and replaced the head unit, isolating the 4 speaker circuits as required. The splice TO the tweeters I left as factory. I originally doubted they even worked, but they do.

I find it quite satisfactory, but lacking in some acoustic areas when compared to the wifes S Type, that thing is awesome. I will not mess with subs etc, just not that interested, too old.