First, the back story: I bought a 1985 XJ6 for my wife to replace her DOA '96 Cutlass. We needed an everyday family car quickly; once she saw the '85 on a used car lot her eyes glazed over and she didn't want to look at anything else. I had no problem with this (and she was NOT going to get a minivan). I knew XK engines pretty well but was on the steep end of the learning curve with the type 66 gearboxes. The end result was a continuous chain of issues with the gearbox on the '85. I found a deal on an '02 VDP and that became her primary driver.
Relieved of the pressure to have the car serviceable every day I had time to think about what was going on and ended up rebuilding the BW box myself. Problem eliminated. I ended up driving the car to work over a winter and became spoiled - I had been driving my Spitfire most days.
Enter the driving-age older child. She took over operation of the Six, as I'd dubbed it. Two speeding tickets she tried to hide persuaded my wife and me to sign the car over to her so she could pay her own insurance. I let her have the car with the caveat that, if she should ever tire of the car, I wanted to buy it back for one dollar.
Fast forward three and a half years. The Six will not be coming back. However, a fellow member of my local car club has offered me an '85 XJ6 at a price I cannot refuse and I plan to bring it home within a week. The car is solid other than damage to the front left quarter panel due to a contractor's truck backing into it and appears to be in its original sage green paint. There are 145K miles on the clock but the owner stated the engine has been overhauled.
I'll post some pictures when I get the car home.

 

Good for you ! Series IIIs are great cars, as you know. Built like a tank, drive like velvet. And Sage green is a great color....and one not seen all that often.

Cheers
DD

 

The insurance issue intrigues me. Titles vs 'residents of the household".


I delight in my 83, lumped, warps and all.


Carl

 

Warts, not warps. Although, it's top speed is not warp, I'll ever find out in mph's.... Lottsa of them, I think.,


Carl

 

Hi.
Welcome to our playroom from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome! If you have any future doubts about the BW trans, the DOHC XK engine really breaks loose when coupled to a 4sp T700 trans. Would highly recommend the mod.

 

It just so happens I have a 5-speed l gearbox and most of the other pieces to convert the car to a European spec manual. I just need a flywheel. I once drove an '86 VDP with the 5-speed and it didn't make the car a whole lot quicker but it seemed to feel more flexible and, oddly enough, more solid.

I did think about converting the old Six to a 700R4 gearbox when I had it but I heard a lot of discussion concerning getting the shift points correct - and there didn't seem to be a consensus on the best way to get them correct.

 

Plenty of T700 conversions been done very successfully. Wasn't a DIY job for me, but the pro's know how to get it right.

 

I dragged Blue Six (as I so dubbed it) home last weekend. After getting the car out of the former owners junk-filled shed I discovered a 3 inch square hole in the left rear quarter under the fuel fill. I know that's a common area for rust and a friend of mine has already stated he has a repair patch for that. The left tank is toast anyway but the PO gave me an extra tank to replace it. The rest of the car is solid. The engine is not running at present but everything is there and it does turn over. Most of the electricals appear to work as well and the exhaust doesn't need any attention.
Due to the bad light at the time and my horrible eye for color the car turned out to be Cobalt Blue rather than the Sage Green, something I confirmed when I checked the paint code. Other than the aforementioned damage the paint is in overall decent shape.
Here are a couple of pictures.

 

Yup, cleaned up, the car looks more than decent.


Other than finding an original flywheel for a stick shift Jag, I wonder if there is not another way. Adding a friction surface to the flex plate?
After market, alloy with steel insert?


Carl

 

Yup, that hole looks familiar....

Mine had exactly the same hole in the same spot when I brought her home.
Decided to replace the entire wing to be sure...

Look for rust around the windows. When we had the wing off, the path the water followed was clearly visible from the lower left windows edge all the way down to the hole...

 

Yep, the car has surface rust at the lower corners of the rear screen so I know I'll have to fix that down the road.

 

Having burnt a valve in the past due to a leaking injector seal on the silver Six and an engine fire on the Beast (XJ12-C) my first thoughts on reviving the blue Six centered on going through the entire fuel system. The PO is a fellow member of my local LBC club and he has some 'splainin' to do. The fuel hoses are thirty-three years old (can still see the manufacture date on them); the fuel change-over switch on the dash was jammed in one position with a dime; the AFM buffers had all perished and the AFM was stabilized with an oily rag. The left tank was rusted out and crudely patched with what appears to be fiberglass resin with out the fiberglass mat. Inside, the tank looked like Luray Caverns with rust stalactites. Fortunately the PO had given me a spare tank which I cleaned and lined with POR-15. The right tank was another beast of a different color. I removed the change-over valve and discovered the right tank still contained fuel. I had to remove the large drain plug and poke a screwdriver through a leathery deposit of black gum to drain it. My efforts resulted in a large mess on the floor and about four gallons of foul-smelling dead gasoline. The filler neck yielded its grip on the tank only after soaking the seam with penetrating oil overnight and much persuading with a three pound slide hammer. In addition to the tank being totally trashed on the inside there was a split about 1/2" long halfway up and one could tell the tank had been imploded. I can conceivably fix the tank but do I want to go through the pain and misery? I'm waiting for David Boger to let me know if he has a decent one.
An annoyance? Yes, but I've been down this road before and I will prevail. To me the car is worth it. I'm still debating on having Mr. Faircloth take a look at the injectors for good measure.
I apologize for the length of the post.

 

The right hand tank is fixed - two gallons of Berryman carburetor cleaner removed the varnish. Further investigation revealed the entire fuel system was trashed - Mr. Faircloth told me to bin my injectors as they were toast but he set me up with a good set of used ones. Procured the sheet metal to fix that annoying hole in the car's flank and intend on doing that before I reinstall the left tank.

I'm still planning to get the car running again in a week or two. After fighting a silly cat code on my daughter's '06 Beetle and replace the water pump and timing belt on my sister-in-law's '05 Kia I think I'd much rather work on the Jag. And they wonder why mechanics curse so much...

 

The old girl lives again!

Got the fuel system buttoned up, changed the engine oil, checked the other fluids, and put some petrol in the right tank. Put the shift lever in D and let the system prime for about ten seconds. She fired up within about five seconds cranking - after a twelve-year hibernation.
As I was checking the running engine for leaks I noticed fuel spraying all over the rear of the engine
As it turns out the fuel cooler is leaking: petrol filled the return hose to the A/C fitting at the firewall and sprayed out at the fitting. Bypassed the cooler and all is now well - sort of.
Now to renew the brakes and fix the steering rack's leaks.
Not worried about the A/C compressor - it's been locked up for some time; the PO had removed the drive belt.