The back window, with it's compound curves, is more difficult to shrink the tint than on the side windows. I tried 3 times before I decided I was in over my head and put on some static cling window shades for the short term.


That's not going to work for the long term so I watched some videos tonight on shrinking the tint for the rear windows. It's definitely an art and I'll have another go at it this weekend.

 

I've had to switch my focus to my MGB but I've been enjoying the Jaguar immensely. I was able to shrink a piece of tint to fit the rear window using this method and it worked really well.
I now have the front and rear windows fully tinted with 70% ceramic tint and you can feel the difference. With the windows tinted and the sun out, your arm doesn't get warm sitting on the top of the door. Before the tint, you could tell you were baking if you were in the sun. I also put a 6" band of tint across the top of the windshield which the law in Illinois allows.

Today was a perfect day to test the tint, AC, and cooling system. It is 94°F/34.4°C today with full sun - it was hot. We took the Jaguar out for a late lunch, ran some errands, then drove around for the fun of it. No matter if we were stuck in traffic or driving on the highway the AC kept the inside of the car cool. The window tint helped keep a lot of the sun's heat of the car too. The radiator and fans did their job as the gauge never showed more than 195°F. The oil cooler I installed last month has helped dropped the engine oil temps from 230-250°F to 180-190°F.

That being said, I'm still having a power steering hose leak. Everything is OK unless you turn the steering wheel to full lock and then the hose end starts to leak. I dropped the pump pressure to about 850psi and my hose is rated for 1,000psi, but I guess when you hit the steering lock it spikes the pump pressure to something in excess of what the hose can handle. I did some research and found that Aeroquip teflon hoses and fittings are rated to 2,500 psi and recommended for power steering use. I have that on the way so hopefully I can leave Cruise Nights without a trail of PS fluid under my car

 

AHA!
Thank you SO much for this video!!
When you first mentioned this stuff I was intrigued to say the least!
A Major deterrent to driving Nix this time of year is, as you discovered, heat from the blazing sun blasting in through all that glass. It's not good for leather not to mention downright uncomfortable to get into a HOT car (that just happens to be BLACK!) that's been sitting in the California sun for a couple hours.

I'm gonna seriously look into this!
(';')

 

LNR I will say that if you have a tint shop near you that can do it, you should talk to them about it. I don't know how much a tint shop would charge but I would have spent $500-$600 for someone else to do it. And I don't like giving my money to other people!

 

Today I got the teflon hoses and fittings to make a new power steering pressure hose. From left to right is the fitting, the brass olive that supports the PTFE core, and the outer nut that holds the hose to the fitting.


Standard non-PTFE fittings are assembled like this; the PTFE fittings require you to fully seat the olive onto the PTFE inner core before tightening the nut to the fitting.
Note in this picture the olive is not fully seated and the tape where the hose was cut is still in place. The tape was removed and the olive fully seated before I assembled the hose.


With both fittings in place I was able to reinstall the hose. I bled the power steering system and did two tests to check for leaks. First, I turned the steering wheel all the way to the left, held it against the stop for 5 seconds, then turned it all the way to the right and held it against the stop for 5 seconds. This made sure the hose didn't leak while the pump was at max pressure. The second test was taking the car for a run down my local curvy street. I'm going to wait a few days before I declare victory but as of right now there are no power steering leaks under the car.

Tonight I also dug into the strange rattle/knock that was coming from the left front. It started a couple of weeks back and I didn't think much of it, but it was persistent and it bugged me. I thought the new ball joints I put on this winter were bad so I took off the wheel to check everything out. And there it was, staring me in the face.


A couple months back I dropped my 8mm hex socket and thought it rolled under the work bench. I couldn't find it so I wrote it off as a sacrifice. It must have landed on the cross member then fallen onto the spring pan.


I had a good laugh and confirmed on the test drive that the rattle/knock was gone.

 

Torsen
Love it! I am always dropping 7mm clip sockets down my engine. About a month ago, the local farmer who has cattle in fields accessed from our lane dropped by the house. He handed me a shiny 7mm socket that he had seen glinting on the (unmadeup) muddy lane. It had dropped out of whereever it was lodged and miraculously he saw it.

 

It's hard to believe this thread is two days shy of being a year old. This car has come a long way since I first bought it.

When I got the car, it came with a wooden center console section. I don't know if it was someone's shop project or if it came from another year XJ, but I was not a huge fan.


David at EverydayXJ was able to hook me with with the correct one for my car and I feel it's a better match.


Shout out to @LnrB for her documentation of the window switch wiring and door lock switch wiring. A google search took me to the second link and when I saw the red fingernails I knew who it was. It made moving the wiring from the switches much easier.

 

I've been busy racking up the miles on the Jaguar. I'm exactly 100 days out from my next big trip which is the South Alabama British Car Festival in Fairhope, Alabama. This will be my third year attending and my first bringing two cars - my wife will drive the MGB down. This will be a 2,000 mile (3,200km) round trip and since I don't want to break down in Eastabuchie, Mississippi I've been going over the car to make sure everything is 100%. The only thing I found which I didn't like are the rubber couplings on the air intake. The couplings that came with the kit look like they were sourced from the plumbing aisle at the hardware store and the engine bay heat made me question their useful lifespan.


To fix this, I picked up some silicone hose rated for intake plumbing. These are normally used on turbo applications so I expect they will have an unstressed life under the hood.


Everything else is running perfectly and I've really been enjoying the car this summer.

 

Thorsen
Perhaps a shade ungentlemanly putting Madame in the B while you waft down there in cool luxury??!!
I am MOST envious of your lovely road trip, I can tell you.

 

Greg,
Point taken but she is a big fan of the MGB and especially the manual transmission. She said she wanted to drive it!
I suspect it will be an hour or two into the trip before she realizes how cramped the cockpit is and wants to trade

 

What Fun!!
I hope you both have a Grand time!!
(';')

 

Question for those who have gone down the LT1 path, what are you using for an air filter? You can see in post 388 above that I have a really great hot air intake going on. I was watching Intake Air Temps last night and I was about 165°. When I hooked up the cooling system I omitted the throttle body loop but that still seems like a lot of hot air going into the engine.

I've seen others with an air filter that sits on the top of the radiator panel - does that pull cooler air from in front of the radiator? Does anyone have a part number for that?

 

Thorsen
From an earlier pic you posted; there seems to be room for a fabricated intake in two postions as marked up here


I do not know what that tube is above the panel, but if it can go, it would be very easy to cut an intake hole in the centre of the upright part of the panel and lead it directly into a filter. Or, the same idea in the RHS (as we look at the photo) closing panel at the side of the radiator.

Maybe using this type of thing?

Or you might be able to move your existing filter in front of the radiator using one or other of these routes for the pipe?

 

Thomas, here are some pics of the intake I built. I took the idea from another member who is no longer with us. It works very well, the top of the intake plenum is cool to the touch after a long drive. I'll add part numbers if I still have them.





- K&N $143 K&N RF-1050 - K&N Universal Performance Air Filter
- K&N $43 K&N REP. HOSE 08746 (transition intake hose)
- Intake Hoses $32 Silicone Elbow 4" ID X 22* 22B-400X4
- Intake Hoses $10 Reducing Insert 4"OD to 3.25" ID 40R323
- Summit $151 AC Delco- MAF 19112573

I hope this helps.

Dave

 

Lovely setup!

 

Just about the same as mine…

 

Thank you both!

Is the K&N 08746 hose the one from the filter to the MAF sensor? That one seems to be NLA but if it's that hose I can come up with an alternative.

EDIT - I answered my own question. It is.

 

Thanks for the feedback and help. It hurt, but I closed my eyes and said "buy once, cry once" when I clicked the Submit Order button for this kit.

 

I can see why you closed your eyes, but buy the best you can is my motto. That kit wasn't available when I was building mine, does it come with a MAF also?

Dave

 

It doesn't have a MAF but the one I have is in good condition.

Is your Opti Spark vented?