Hi,

I'm a new member from the Isle of Man. I've had several Jaguars over time and currently have a '97 XK8 undergoing a restoration project. I'm a former member of the JEC and many years ago I was also a regional editor.

As part of my restoration project, I'm concentrating on a replacement engine. I believe I've found one suitable engine after many weeks of searching and many disappointments. I strongly suspect the existing engine has had problems with the Nikasil coating on the cylinders. Something which I also found in my previous XJ8 Sport.

I've found a suitable replacement engine which was an exchange engine and therefore has the steel liners.

I don't know if I'm allowed to post links yet although I have created a page to record the restoration project and I intend to detail the time, costs, parts and progress of the project. The URL is Project Trinity - Corlett.im

 

Welcome to the forum Deltablue,

Good to have you with us.
No problems with your link.
You'll find all the tech info for your car here XK8 / XKR - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
You may want to check the regional section alsohttps://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/uk-68/
Enjoy the forum.

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

 

Welcome to the forum Antony,

Follow Norri's link to the XK8/XKR section for help and advice. Remember to add vehicle details to your Signature to help others to give relevant advice. Go to the User ID button on the left of the top menu bar, then Settings & Options under Your Control Panel. Select Edit Signature and enter the details.

It'll be interesting to follow your progress with the restoration.

Good Luck.

Graham

 

Welcome to the forum! Are you from the same place where they have the Isle of Man motorcycle race? Those dudes are above crazy !

 

The Isle of Man is indeed the home of the TT (Tourist Trophy) motorcycle races, and a place I used to visit regularly to see the races. This is the one place in the British Isles with no overall speedlimit, just limits in towns and villages, however, the roads are not really much good for high speeds unless closed off for official racing.

To Deltablue, hope your engine transplant goes well.

 

welcome aboard DB, good to have you here with us here at JF

Looking forward to your posts &Nice intro thanks for sharing.....................I'll be looking out foe your restoration posts

Any useful information you may need such as how to post pictures, edit signatures, add videos, use the search facility etc, can be found here
Helpful_information

Why not drop in and visit the regional section for your area?
There are lots of members local to you with the same interests.
Regional - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

There's a really great mix of information, camraderrie and fun here....

I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the whole site and all its features

Please Jump on in and enjoy the site.................

 

Thank you for the warm welcome and thank you Jim for the upgrade. I'm still waiting on news for the delivery of the replacement engine, it's an awkward situation being on an island where costs for transport are prohibitive when it comes to getting the car on the boat etc. I've paid for the engine and shipping and been told that it should be picked up today and could possibly be here on Monday.

The engine is supposed to go straight to a Jag specialist here on the island and I'll then arrange for the car to be transported to them for the engines to be swapped over. Of course, it would be cheaper if I were to drop the engine in myself although we are talking about a 200kg engine and I just don't simply have the space or equipment for that kind of task. (The other more important part is that I want it done properly, quickly and as hassle free as possible)

Look forward to catching up with you all and reading the rest of the forum.

Thanks.

 

Welcome, and best of luck with your restoration. Please keep us posted!

 

I haven't updated the website yet although I'll get around to doing that in the next few days. The engine arrived on Tuesday and I've been waiting anxiously for it to be unwrapped and checked.

It's all great news, engine looks fine and exactly what was ordered. It's a genuine Jaguar exchange engine with the steel liners. They're going to do a few bits to it whilst it's easily accessible and out of the car. Tensioners will be checked and replaced if necessary and a new water pump is going to be fitted. Something else is going to be replaced with a more modern and better version but for the life of me I can't remember what it was now. They're also going to check the rest of it and update anything that needs to be done.

The car is being transported from the South of the Island to Douglas (approx 15 Miles) tomorrow. I'll update the website with details of what has been done and how much it's costing. I can see the car going back to the gargae a few more times but at least this way it will be driveable and won't incur the transporter costs each time.

I apologise for sounding a little excited although I put a lot of faith in the supplier and the carrier for shipping the engine to the Isle of Man. They've done a great job and I have to congratulate them for their professionalism. Well there's also the fact that I was let down so many times and worried about paying money to someone that I've never met that promises me an engine. I also intend to fully credit the people involved in the project and I'm just pleased that so far, it's only positive feedback that I need to provide.

I'll try and get pictures and let you know how it's going.

 

Good to hear it's arrived and is as expected.

The 'more modern and better version' part could be a Thermostat Tower in aluminium to replace the plastic OE one? If not, it would be sensible to fit one whilst you are having all this work done.

Graham

 

That's the one Graham, thank you. Thermostat housing, water pump and a check on the tensioners and any other parts that could do with a replacement or upgrade before putting it in the car.

I've already arranged for the car to be picked up today and taken to the garage. I'm not in any rush to get the job done and they're going to work on it in between jobs which will keep the cost down.

 

Just thought I would give a bit of an update.

Engine has been replaced, looks and sounds great. Eventually got a steel lined engine after many disappointments and offers of Nikasil lined engines. Put a new battery on because the old one wasn't keeping a charge for long although it and the car had been standing for over a year.

The dashboard lit up like a christmas tree with all kinds of fault codes and looked a bit more like a bridge panel on star ship Enterprise. These all appeared to be sensor issues and rotated through Traction Control Fault, ABS Fault, Gearbox Fault, Passenger Door Open etc. They all seem to have gone now apart from the passenger door fault which I've tried to resolve with WD40 and opening and closing the door a few times to no avail. Maybe the sensor really has died?

So, it's up and running at last. I've replaced the windscreen wipers because they just moved over the top of any water on the windscreen. Hardly surprising when it's been standing so long in our not so dry Manx weather. A couple of bulbs and a healthy tank of super.

There's a couple of holes near the jacking points on the front. Unfortunately, it's going to need some welding and the carpets are going to have to come out. More work getting the carpets out than involved in the actual welding but otherwise the chassis is sound and the sills are clean. A couple of rust spots around the rear wheel arches and some spreading from around the fuel filler cap. The garage gave it a good looking over and think that they might be able to source some cut outs for the rear wheel arches and get them shipped over to the island. They could then be welded in place of the rusty parts.

So far, the total expenditure on this project is:

Genuine Jaguar Exchange Engine (steel lined) £1,250.00
Transport costs from Kent to the Isle of Man £ 200.00
Engine Oil Cooler & transport costs £ 65.00
Remove old engine and install replacement £1,261.25
Replacement windscreen wipers / bulbs £ 20.28
4 Year Guarantee Bosch Battery £ 88.95
XK8 Petrol Cap £ 4.37

Cost to buy the car £ 500.00

Total spend so far: £3,389.85

I'm yet to find out the cost of the welding and under body waxoyled although it's certainly getting there and so far I think I have quite a lot of car (reconditioned gearbox, replaced wheel bearing, replacement steel lined engine approx 50k mileage) for under £3,500.00. I'll not count the new brake discs and pads all round because they will need replacing again after having stood for so long tbh.

 

Antony,

It's been a long journey for you to get to this stage. A lot of work to say nothing of the total expenditure to date.

The passenger door issue could be a sticking, dirty or failed microswitch. Door panel is going to have to come off to investigate and rectify.

The holes near the front jacking points could be due to the underfloor plate used in manufacturing. The sealant fails on this and water gets trapped between it and the floor. The thinner floor rusts out before the plate. If this has happened, you'll find information on the fix in XK8/XKR tech section.

Graham

 

Thanks Graham,

The door panel will have to come off at some point anyway to find out what the hell is going on with the windows. They like to go down but they're not to keen on going back up again by themselves. I'll do that as one of the jobs whilst waiting for the welding quotes etc.

I'll have a look at the XK8/XKR tech section as well, cheers.