Hi there!

I thought it would be clever to introduce myself and my newest family member... Some of you know me from other areas... I'm Damien, 28 and a Jag-nut. My first Jag was (and still is) a 1989 XJ-S (see my signature). For a daily driver I bought an X300 untill I crashed it about a week later (black ice). My parents then bought me another car (I wasn't expecting anything like it). So here it is: my 1997 XJ Executive with a 3.2l V8:







The little 3.2l V8:



All covers:



Inside:




He, aka Rusty Jag, is not a perfect car. Actually, hence the name, he's a tad rusty. But nothing irrepairable. The sill on the right hand side has a little hole. I'd say due to some blocked drain. The engine leaks a bit of water, as the thermostat housing is still the plastic one. It doesn't always leak, only in slow or standing traffic - oddly (probably a pressure thing). Inside is rather okay except the previous owner instally blue LEDs to the switches (yuck!). The headliner is coming down a bit (nothing extreme - I'm used to it) and it had a little prang at the front (bumper is hanging, the mounts have cracked, the lower headlight covers are damaged and the grill is holding the bumper as high as possible as it is screwed to it). Rusty isn't a beauty and will never be it, but he'll be looking as good as he can...

I plan on doing some alterations to it... Getting rid of the chrome, replacing the front grill and covers below the headlights with those from an X300 (I think it looks a bit better), lower the bugger, some nice 17" X300 XJR rims, and maybe even a new colour via vinyl...

We'll see!

 

A quick temporary fix to the headliner is use of very short staples; hardly noticeable.

 

Exactly that I planned. I was going to redo it black in summer

 

Ever since I saw the first C30s appearing with fender stripes, I always wanted some But I thought the C30 was not the right car for it (at least not my old one). But since this is "Rusty Jag" taste doesn't really matter So on go two stripes:





Looks not that bad I think I'll redo it sometime again... Tad too far back if you ask me...

 

Glad to see you got a replacement for the ill fated X300 you had such a short time!

 

Right, so, Rusty - the XJ8's name - likes to do Jaguar things: leak water, leak petrol... Water leak isn't that bad. A petrol leak is... So time to sort it. The petrol leak is a split pipe. Replaced quickly by buying a used intake manifold and carrying that part over (intake with 8 injectors, pressure regulator and pipe costed €79, the pipe alone costs €110 - go figure ). So remove that part, take the engine to pieces and find out what is wrong with the water... Split head? Cracked block? Nothing common but can happen... Found it in the end: a split heater supply pipe/hose. Result: hose split... *phew* New parts are ordered...

 

cool signature photo of the XJ-S.

 

Wow, very dusty! Thought I'd bring this thread back to life!

So, Rusty Jag... Now been in the family since the 25th of February and has caused a few "headaches" in the last few months but nothing I couldn't solve...

What has been done?

- Interior has been cleaned up and the wood covered with matte brown vinyl
- Exhaust tailpipes have been replaced with some nice 4"/100 mm round ones with a straight cut end
- Front bumper has been fixed (was held on with 3 or 4 wood screws through the plastic radiator grill)
- Front grill was replaced with an X300 grill
- Headlight surrounds are replaced with X300 ones
- Leaper has been fitted in a worn black metallic paint
- Oil change has been done
- Power steering pump has been replaced (as mine just burst)
- Return hose from radiator to bottle was replaced as it snapped off
- Brake calipers up front were rebuilt and painted red
- Antenna rod was replaced with a new one (looks neat and tidy when opening/closing)
- Headlight washers work again (and that really well!)
- left side wing/fender is now as inline with the bonnet/hood as possible
- derusting of the car has began

So, a new character Rusty will be shown soon... He should look something like this:



My current to do list:
- change front shock absorbers
- change differential
- rebuild rear brake calipers
- redo headline everything above the door cards (new colour)
- lower car
- respray car
- tint indicators and reflectors
- make side reflectors work as side markers
- tint rear lights
- add some additional full beams to the lower grill opening (round)
- replace interior rear view mirror
- add blind spot mirrors instead of flat mirrors outside
- replace front bumper skin (if cheaply obtainable)
- get a 4th 17" X300 sport rim and redo all 4 in a matte anthracite

And THEN Rusty will be good

 

Started derusting Rusty (new name could be Rust-Free ) and have found some nasty rust beneath the rear windscreen:





More rust on the other side. But that isn't the worst section (yet). More infront of the windscreen.

The bonnet has been done and the rust removed and sealed nicely - before it rusts again!



A lot more pictures can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/288642...57657384931301