Here is an update. eBayer said a few days ago that he finally got a scale from a friend to help me find out the weight and measurements of the gearbox and conversion kit, but I have yet to hear from him. Apparently, he did specify "collect only" and found it troublesome to handle the extra steps. I also asked him for an exact list of what is in the lot so I would not need to contact him when I find anything missing when the lot reaches me thousand of miles away. He is based in Leicestershire so even my friend in Somerset found it too far to offer assistance. So I imagine having to send an international forwarder to handle packing and shipping. This may be more expensive than the gearbox lot, so I am figuring if I can optimize on my shipping cost by also sourcing other parts to go with the lot. Would folks with have good experience in agents that collect and ship internationally PM me the details? As regards the car, I finally had a chance visiting the warehouse where it is temporarily stored. Found the following symptoms and wonder what problems and fix I need to sort out: (1) car started on first crank but there was metal rattling sound for about 2 seconds after engine fired up. I believe the spring mechanism of the starter motor was sluggish in retracting so coming into contact with the flywheel after starting. Found a new starter on the net but would reconditioning of the existing one good enough? Or is indeed the starter or just the starter that I should be worried about? (2) engine speed rose and dropped slowly. Engine idling a bit high occasionally, staying at 1,200 rpm. Throttle needs cleaning up, or is it Air Flow Meter or O2 sensor faulty? (3) strange metal rattling sound when engine rev reached 1,800 rpm and then subsided beyond 2,000 rpm. Is this the speed the supercharger kicks in and there is something loose inside, or should I be looking at replacing any tensioners or chain, chain guide, etc.? (4) found oil leak from the valve cover, and during the very short running of the engine, saw white smoke emerging from lower part of the engine - apparently oil rolled down and heated up by the manifold. Would replacing the valve cover gasket be a good fix? Other than these, the transporter who drove the car to the warehouse said he had a very pleasant drive in the 25 km journey - car was very fast and willing; temperature was fine; and there was nothing unusual. Bodywise, car is rust free, with parking dents only. The door sill factory protective plastic adhesive is still intact, after 18 years. Seat leather still looks and feels like new! Anyway, I am putting together a list of parts to come with the shipment and believe such things should include engine mounts, ball joints, front and rear suspension bushes. Would need to find a parts CD and/or ideally a site with pictures and parts numbers to make sure I got them right.

 

It does sound like to starter motor bendix mechanism is jammed. It may well be possible to refurbish this rather than replace the starter motor. These are difficult to access, so probably best to do when you take the engine out to repalce the auto gearbox with the manual one.

You probably have an air leak down stream of the throttle and this will cause the rolling idle speed. If it happens as soon as the engine is startd cold, then it can't be the O2 sensors. The other metallic noise could be the top chain tensioner. These can jam up. They are fiddliy to dismantle (watch out for bits flying out due to the internal spring). Once fully cleaned a nd lubricated it will probablt work fine again.

I suggest you buy a copy of the Jaguar Heritage CD on the XJR6. It contains all the sevice nauals and ap arts catalogue. If you go to www.jaguarclassicparts.com then you can get prioces for any parts that you need. These prices exclude VAT, but if they are being exported to Hong Kong, then this is presumably the price that you would pay.

Good luck with your project.

 

Thanks. Will look up the parts catalogue and start compiling a list.

 

Here is the list of parts I shall collect from the eBayer

radiator
clutch pressure plate
clutch plate
fly wheel
gearbox
gearbox mounting bracket
propshaft and middle section joint and bracket
peddle box

I asked him about the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder, in the eBay listing he claimed they are very new. I also asked him about the shift stick and boot, and the metal sheet between the engine and the transmission that helps with the clutch travel. - maybe these are already included above - but I don't know. I asked him to give me a full list of parts so I know what to collect and have no need to look further; 4 days past and there is still no reply. Earlier on, he said he does not have the manual ECU, claiming that I can reuse mine. Anyway, I shall have to find one separately - will seek help from Andy.

I would also need to find a good used rear centre bumper chrome piece; a new one costs GBP275.

As for tackling the engine rattling sound, I plan to acquire the following new parts:
Upper and Lower Timing Chain, damper, tensioners and tensioner piston
Oil Pump Chain Tensioner

On the latter, a Jaguar mechanic in Hong Kong believes that the noise that emerges after starting is often due to a loose oil pump chain, he also thinks that the engine rattle sound at 1800 rpm is caused by the same - and he said many people live with the problem....?

My present challenge is to collect the manual gearbox and stuff from the unhelpful eBayer. He has given a farm address in Leicestershire, UK. Do folks have good experience with any international forwarder in UK, who can collect, store, pack and ship, at a good price? Would really need help with this. Thanks.

 

Here is an update.

Found a forwarder who is contacting the eBayer to collect the gearbox.
Ordered many parts for partial engine, suspension and wishbone rebuild from two major suppliers. One shipment already arrived - air couriers are really efficient these days.

One question: I found also a rebuilt kit for the Getrag 290 manual gearbox.
Getrag 290 5 Speed Manual Trans Rebuild Kit Fits '91 Chevy GMC Pro Quality | eBay
I presume the 290 gearbox inner parts except the bell housing are the same for all vehicle makes, and is worth the trouble rebuilding as part of the conversion project? Has anyone rebuilt a manual gearbox before, and are there any heads up on this?

Thanks

 

would love to go manual! watch this thread I will....

 

Updates?

 

Long story; will find time to share. Project is not yet finished but is in progress; Ray and Andy have been very helpful.

 

Here is a long story made short.

Had a lot of difficulty with the eBayer; long delay in making contact with my shipping agent; refused to show more pictures before shipping and did not honor promise to offer any help with pick-up; parts arrived after almost two months through sea freight, temporarily stored for another two months before finding a mechanic for a good inspection, with horrible finds - see some of the pictures - eBayer claimed "brand new clutch, clutch pressure plate and thrust bearing, new clutch master and slave cylinder...in the listing, even offered me the bonus of a radiator claiming that it was "in good condition". Met with lots of frustration trying to take issue with eBayer and file complaint with eBay; had a lot of fun trying but have now given up.

 

Have moved on despite the set back. Had ordered loads of parts from UK, and found some more locally. Found a workshop taking care of the underside, suspension, and all bushings and linkages. See pictures. It is a massive project....

 

Bought new clutch kit; got adaptor plate from Ray; and ordered remapped manual ECU from Andy. The next phase is tackling the engine mini overhaul (valve cover gasket leak), and the actual transmission transplant. More work to follow: overhauling the aircon; fine-tunning and body work. Pictures pending.

 

More... After all these early phase work done, I successfully re-licensed the XJR with the original auto transmission. Should have been a straight-forward step but alas, the VIN number next to the car battery in the boot became illegible due to many years of corrosion so the authority took caution to verify that this was not a lego car with head and tail welded together. Searched this site and the handbook to find if there are secondary identification numbers on the car but to no avail. Handbook said there should be two VIN number in the boot, one below and one above the car battery - not true. In the end the car went to the Government Transport Department for a thorough check and they acknowledged that the car is original and one piece. To prevent similar hiccups when the car goes for future annual inspection, the Government assigned a unique number to the car and registered it in my vehicle licence document. It was dumb of Jaguar to stamp a VIN number near the car battery, knowing what acidic moisture around the battery could do to the metal nearby. Wish all pre-project saga were over. Am anxiously looking forward to successful transformation of the XJR. By the way, my XJR is in original rose bronze metallic, a unique colour only available in the 1995 lot, I heard.

 

I'm sorry to find that you had so much trouble with that ******* of a seller. Massive shame there was no one from the forum nearby that would've been able to help you out But I'm glad the project is on track, soon enough you'll be able to enjoy the manual XJR.

 

Well, no; I did receive tremendous help from this open forum, including advice and suggestions through PM and emails, from Andy and Ray in particular, on shipping, ECU, conversion precautions, etc. The discussions on the whereabouts of VIN numbers at least help me decide not to look further, and it is the wealth of info in this forum about the X300 model that motivated me into embarking on this project. I have successfully converted a Mercedes W124 300CE from auto to manual before, and am enjoying every moment of the ride. It was a relatively easier project, but the XJR presents greater challenge: shortage of parts and local engineering knowledge. It is definitely not a DIY project, so cost is another. I remember seeing such warning somewhere ".....would be inadvisable, from at least the cost angle, trying to bring a Jaguar back to it previous glory". So I can't say I wasn't forewarned

 

Here is an update. The engine is already out of the car. I have the engine rebuild kit ready but it appears that the engine is still in good shape except some oil leak from the valve gasket, and there is also oil inside the spark plug wells, but the engine temperature and water coolant are in good order - I would be less suspicious as although the car has done 170,000km, in the first 17 years the car was maintained at the dealer. The mechanic advises to replace the valve cover which, apart from paint peeling off, is badly corroded. He also found a crack inside the one of the manifolds. These I learned from this forum are common problems of the X300. I am looking for a used valve cover and a pair of manifolds (front and rear), and looking up the parts CD is very confusing, as the part number of valve covers for different years and models are different. Here is what the parts CD says:
(a) Valve cover 2564CA for Engine No. up to 134020; NBC2564CB for Engine No. after 134020 and AJI6 Engines;
(b) Manifold front, air injection, NBC29012AD; non air-injection, NBC2902BB
(c) Manifold rear, air injection, with EGR, NBC2903AC; without EGR, NBC2903CB
(d) Manifold rear, non air-injection without EGR, NBC2903BB

So I would have to be sure that the parts are a good match whether buying second hand or new.

There are not many X300 not to mention 4.0 Supercharged models in Hong Kong, so I am looking at donor parts from XJ6 with the AJI6 engines.

As for the manifold, I have seen various earlier posts. As new parts are expensive and are known to crack in a year or two, I guess the safest bet is to custom-make a pair in stainless steel but costs and shipment would not be cheap, and I also learned from a local exhaust specialist that this may take up to 4 weeks.

Can folks advise on whether any valve cover from XJ6 of 1995-1997 would be a direct fit, and which exactly is the right manifold for my 1995 XJR6 4.0 Supercharged? I may possibly weld the existing set for now but have to find a used spare to let the exhaust shop custom-make a copy....

 

Thanks Ray for the heads up. The parts numbers are on the exhaust manifold so mine read NBC2902AA/CA and NBC2903AA/CA. The air injection and non air injection are for different markets, depending on emission control; so is the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation). Hong Kong has pollution control, largely in step with what is prevailing in Europe.

Am looking for a good valve cover, and I have welded the exhaust manifolds as a temporary fix.



Would find a metal shop to custom-make a stainless steel set later.

 

Please keep us posted on the exhaust manifolds. There are a lot of us in the cracked welded situation. Maybe a group buy would be possible to get the price down?

 

I saw an eBay offer of a pair of new manifolds for GBP190 each, but would be hesitant to buy for fear that they may crack as what doc testified in earlier threads in this forum. I believe stainless steel would be the way to go, and the cost would justify the investment given how notorious the factory originals are. Someone said it before, why no one found an affordable and permanent solution before. Maybe used ones are still abundantly available at the time, but not any more. So this is the real testing time.

 

Having welded the exhaust manifolds you may wish to consider having the sealing face machined flat. They may have become distorted though 170,00km of thermal cycling or through the welding operation. If they are not currently flat then they won't seal well, and bolting them out the flat side of the cylinder head will introduce stresses that may cause further cracking.




I could design and have made sets of fabricated stainless steel replacement exhaust manifolds, but I would have to make several sets in one batch in order to be competitive with the price of the std cast parts. If someone wants to start a separate thread to create a consortium of interested owners who want to buy fabricated exhaust manifolds, we could see if there is sufficient demand for a one-time batch of new fabricated parts. I already offer 8mm thick 308 grade stainless steel flanges to people who want to make their own manifolds. I also offer just the computer files that are used to programme the water jet or laser profiling machines that cut these flanges out of plate.

 

Discussion on batch order for stainless steel headers continues in a separate thread, here.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...s-x300-114521/