We have a 1974 XJ12 that has the left hand rear door jammed, we know there is a bit of material in the mechanism which has jammed it, any ideas for getting the door open, and also any tricks for removing the card?

 

there is a company making aftermarket tanks for the XJ and last time I checked they were $275.00 ea. I can't recall the company name, but they are in Canada and shipping was included in the price. you'll have to search them in google.

restoring the original two-tank system will not be cheap but not so expensive either. It will be more labor than money, an archaeological expedition to see how the previous owner defeated things such as the tank-changeover switch wiring, ad infinitum...

I was going to suggest that if you are going to spend the time and money, to try and get another XJ-L that has not been so butchered by a modification such as removing the fuel tanks, and then keep the one you have now as a parts car. These cars are money pits to restore, so you need to start out with the best possible example you can find. Regardless, you will need a Shop Manual.

Replacing the rear quarter-lite requires removing the upholstery panel first, armrest is held by a combination of screws (posidrive screws), and a locking clip, you need to raise the arm rest after all the screws are removed, to release it from the clip. Then the upholstery panel is carefully pried with a panel pulling tool. Getting to the rear hardware and window channel entails sticking your hand and arm through the door's sheetmetal to start loosening nuts. A bright lite and a mirror are must-tools, and patience, but do not use an incandescent bulb.

the Quarter lite is part of the rear window channel, (the steel channel keeps the window aligned as it goes up and down and the felt inside the channel keeps things quiet and smooth), it is not that difficult to remove the broken one. Spraying lubricating oil on bolts and nuts the day before helps the removal.

 

here's one way:
take a pillow, lay on the rear seat with the pillow between your feet and the jammed door;

make sure the inside door lock is in the unlocked position;

gently start to kick the door catch area, at the same time that someone tries to open/pull the door from the outside, i.e., pulling the door handle as if to open the door; Keep the person outside away from the door itself, so it doesn't hit him/her and cause any damage to the door skin when/if it opens after you kick it.

eventually, the catch or latch should "give" and the door will open. Do not get too violent with the kicking, it is not neccesary, in fact, the gentler you kick it, the more effective. But as a last resort if it doesn't give, try a little harder kick, but never get angry!

if you get it opened, remove the door card (upholstery panel), (see how to in the above reply), and lubricate the inside mechanism with spray oil before closing it again.

to remove the card after you've removed the armrest as explained in the previous reply, you need a "Y" tool to pry the panel at every point where there is a push-pull clip. Use a putty knife to slightly raise the card away from the door sheetmetal and then insert the Y tool. To find out where the clips are, start to move the putty knife from left to right starting at the top left corner and moving down and along the door; Everytime you hit a "stop", that's a clip that needs to be pryed out. Cover the bottom of the Y tool with masking tape so it doesn't scratch the paint on the door. "Prying" means that when you have the Y tool exactly under each clip, (between the clip and the door, you push down on the handle of the tool so that the side under the clip pulls the clip outwards, you will not "pull" with the tool itself.

Good luck!

 

Well, we were able to get the brake light switch working! We managed to create our own custom spring out of spring wire that pushes the switch forward constantly. Apparently, there is a sping inside of that switch, and since ours wasn't wokring, we fabricated that external spring. When we were running it this time, we noticed a tapping noise. Through a little bit of research, we've figured out that we ARE going to adjust the tappets. Any suggestions and fixes for things related to the tappets? Anything is greatly appreciated for this!

 

Thanks so much for your suggestion regarding my stuck door, the pillow on the door trick worked first go! Your a gem!

 

glad it worked. I recently had to do the same thing to my 1997 Ford Aerostar minivan, the rear sliding door got stuck the same way. It tooik a few kicks to find the right spot but it finally gave.

 

You probably know already these engines have bucket tappets. Underneath these are little pucks called shims between tappet and valve head, about 1/2" in diameter, with defined thickness in thousandths of an inch. Each new shim has a letter etched on it to reference its thickness by reference to a table. Trouble is these letters disappear with the valve action. ALso over a long time, a little indent can appear in the shim due to wear, thus making a clearance. Trick is to turn shims round so the indent is on the tappet side, not the valve head.

Anyway, the essential tools are: -

- a micrometer to measure the shims you take out
- feeler gauge to measure the tappet gaps.
- paper and pencil to record gaps before dismantling.

So you record the gaps, then the shim thickness for each valve, then you know by arithmetic what shim thickness is required. Reassemble and check again.

 

Thank you! I appreicate adivce and support! I'll tell you how it goes!

 

So we got ourselves a timing light, and noticed the engine was running at about 28 degrees advanced. It seems a little high, but I figured I'd come here first and ask what it should be. What should it be? And if I need to change it, how do I do that?

 

For the advance degrees there is an adjuster on the distributor that permits small adjustments, but if you're way out, the distributor needs to be moved round a bit. The vacuum advance can seize up and also the advance/retard weights in the distributor. Yes, it's real "steam" technology in these cars. Actually it works pretty good amost all the time.

I've no doubt Doug will have the exact advance spec, normally measured at a specific revs.

 

Thanks! And while we're on the subject of distributors, and the contacts look a little burnt, and I wanted to replace the points with a Pertronix electronic module.

 

Okay, so we got the distributor straightened out. While I was tuning the engine, I noticed that the fitting for the EGR system that goes into the exhaust manifold was broken. So, I had to drill out the rest of the piece that was in the exhaust manifold and then I noticed a coiled piece of wire (like a spring) and I pulled it and it came out of the manifold. I could really use some help if anyone knew what I needed to do to repair this, and to get a new pipe fitting into my exhaust manifold.

 

what came out is called a heli-coil thread insert. They are used to reinforce threads in cast iron and other metals. I think you can re-thread it in again? What fitting broke? do you have a picture?

if you want to learn about heli-coils, go here: Heli-Coil | HeliCoil Inserts | Helicoils Screw Thread Inserts | Helicoils | Emhart Teknologies

 

Here you go Jose, pictures of what broke. You can see it best in pictures 1 and 2. It was the fitting on the end of that pipe, and we had to work to drill it out carefully and not damage the threads. I think that fitting is a 1/4 in. BSP. And what I've pulled out is said heli-coil, and what size heli-coil would be OEM? When I pulled it out, I figured it wasn't OEM and just thought it was a burr or one long metal shaving until you said that. So what dimensions would you suggest?

 

And I'm also wondering if the EGR still works, and the pipe doesn't tighten down on the fittings, and can you take the EGR out and put in, oh I don't know, pipe plugs instead? Would that work?

 

you have two jobs: one is to replace the heli coil thread insert. click on the following link to see how trained mechanics do a heli-coil repair:


NOTE: I would remove the manifold because there's going to be shavings from retapping the hole and you don't want any stuff falling into the exhaust system and possibly clogging it.

the second job is to find out what the fitting does, if it is just an adapter from the EGR hose fitting to the manifold, you can find many types of adapters/fittings at HomeDepot or any place that manufactures hoses locally. It doesn't have to be a Jaguar part.

 

I recently purchased an xj6L for the drivetrain and part of the electrical harness. Once I remove the engine trans and driveshaft with all of the associated hardware. the rest of the car is not needed. The interior of the car; seats,door panels, dashboard, inst panel etc is in perfect condition. there are some minor rust spots on the front doors. apart from what I am removing for my personal needs, everything on the car is available to anyone. Post a list of your needs. I am starting the teardown on August 15th and have no place to store the rest of the vehicle. If no one contacts me I will have until the end of the month before I send it to the junk yard to be crushed. You may make direct contact with me at 347-680-6514. I am located in Melbourne, Florida.

 

This is a restoration thread... Not a classified section of this forum. I know I'm not a moderator, but come on. I'm talking about rebuilding and retooling this car, and I have people asking how to open a jammed door and selling stuff. If you answer questions, fine. But other than that, start a new thread. No one likes thread-jackers.

I'm not trying to start anything, I'm just saying, this isn't a classified section. This is where I'm asking for help and any tips, tricks, etc. that will aide me in rebuilding this car.

 

Hi - that connection is definitely for your EGR. It should be a fixed orifice EGR system in your 74 just like the one in my 73. You can just take it out and plug the hole in the exhaust manifold. The 'Y' connection that goes to the top of both carbs downstream of the throttle plate is just pressed in and I guarantee that they are completely clogged with carbon because no-one ever cleans them like they are supposed to

When I removed mine, I just pulled out the connection on top of the carbs. It'll be a bit hard because like I said, they're pressed in, but just work them out. Then all I did was drop in a screw that would fit in the very large hole and fill with JB Weld. The screw is only to keep the JB Weld from draining out of the hole before it sets. You could also tap it and plug it with the proper size screw or plug it by some other means - Really anything that works and is impervious to fuel and heat is fine.

The only reason on earth to keep the system functional is if your state requires that your car have it's original emission system intact. I know there is a guy on ebay who'se been trying to sell the adaptor you removed from the manifold for ages and I also saw someone selling the tube from the adaptor to the 'y' connector but like I said, you don't need to keep the system.

One thing I did when I removed it was to get pre-EGR needles for the strombergs. The haynes manual will tell you what they are (I can't remember off-hand). Easy to do but it's not imperative - you can leave the needles alone until you get everything else sorted.

 

By the way - That heli-coil is original equipment for some reason. I wondered that myself and by all accounts the heli-coil insert is always there, even on Series 3's that only use a plug in that position. I'm guessing that they did it so that you could still break the connection after thousands of heat-cool cycles, rust, etc... but that's pure speculation.