Howdy folks! This is the first of many posts as I bring this car up to snuff on a paltry graduate student salary.

Perhaps a little of the rationale behind the purchase and ensuing project is in order before delving into the greasy bits. First and foremost, I'm gearhead. Be it motorcycles, cars, or trucks I've always done my own work and never brought a vehicle to a shop for repair in my life (often to my detriment while learning to wrench).

I'm currently living in Albuquerque while finishing a graduate degree in geology with my family based out of Chicago. A few months back, the transmission on my father's Buick started acting up and I convinced him to begin looking for a different car. Normally, I'd pull the trans to replace the servos that failed and be done with it but he never loved that car, it was just a way to get around. After spending most of his life with sports and muscle cars, a blue Buick is a boring choice when it could very well be your last car before taking the big dirt nap.

With him wanting a comfortable car that has a fair bit of luxury, I started pitching him the typical German cars but he wasn't excited about any of them. Then I showed him an 95-97 X300. He loved it, but his 1962 Austin Healy 3000 that burned to the ground on the side of the road left a bad taste in his mouth about British cars. Mind you this was nearly fifty years ago. The guy can sure hold a grudge. After researching those for a spell and pleading Jaguar's case for reliability, he finally admitted he wanted one.

Down in the desert where cars don't rot I started looking but found most of them to be thoroughly thrashed or way out of my budget. After more research, I skipped the XJ40 and started looking at S3 cars. Golly are they pretty until I drove one. It felt uninspired and Borg-Warner seemed more suited to a 1965 Chevy pickup.

About the same time I started looking for an S3, a 1971 popped up on craigslist for a paltry $1500. After talking with the owner, I find out that it has been in his family since 1982 and in the late 80s the drivetrain was swapped for a carb'd 305 and 4 speed auto from a Pontiac Firebird. Not my choice but interesting nonetheless. It had been last used regularly in 2005 and has been started intermittently since. I was the first person to see it and I walked away thinking "what a mess, that's a huge project!". On the upside, the swap used a John's Cars kit, had been recently reupholstered in icky green cloth, and was generally a solid well looked after car before sitting. To my amusement, it included not only a Haynes and Chilton manual, but the factory service manual too with hand scribbled notes about the swap. Never have I needed three manuals for a car, this must be an ominous sign!

Fast forward a few weeks and after quintuple bypass surgery on my Dad, he could use something to cheer him up and I still hadn't found a S3 I felt was right. Then a parts car with a MINT interior was posted for peanuts. After a motorcycle ride to Santa Fe, I was rowing through my mental gears and hatching a plan to install the S3 interior in the 71 to get rid of the cloth. After researching XJ's I knew how much new leather could set me back and this ratty car in Santa Fe was a very reasonable alternative.

By the time I got back to Albuquerque, a plan was set inside my helmeted little head. A quick call to the owner of the 1971 showed it was still available and I'd been the only person to see the car. Good sign for negotiation, a giant red flag for the car itself. Are Jags this undesirable? Screw it, I low balled him a offer, and after pleading my case as a poor student who is buying another car to make his work, we came to terms.

 

Since that was alot of text and you guys are probably more interested in my car than my life's story, lets take a gander at what I dragged home. I'm far more interested in 1971 so it gets photos first! Next post I'll show the donor car.













The paint is completely shot from desert sun but look at those floorboards! It looks like a case where undercoating worked. Beautiful. Less rust than my 96 Jeep!

 

On to the parts car! This is/was a 86 S3 that had been sitting for 4 years (I usually double what the PO says). The body was dented and scratched in really strange places which was due to the POs Great Danes climbing all over it. In all the ratty cars I've bought or looked at, it first time hearing that! Thank goodness the beasts didn't get inside.

Underneath it was pretty nasty with rust through the rockers in places. The rust was so bad that one of the tow hooks snapped as the flatbed tow truck was pulling it up. Made me jump a mile! Nearly all of the external trim was badly pitted. As much I don't like parting cars, the only purpose this had left was as a parts car.

A few before shots:









After 3 days of savage pulling of anything in good order:

 

Alright now that the pictures are out of the way, here is a quick list of what the 71 needs and future plans. I'm sure this will keep growing! Amazingly, I got the car running the first day it came home. It felt and sounded like a muscle car. It certainly didn't feel like a Jag engine but I'm guessing my dad will get a kick out of that.


Mechanical:
Fuel tanks rusty, one rusted though (pull and see if I can fabricate new bottom, look into S3 tanks, or a fuel cell in the trunk)
Clean/rebuild the QJet carb
Replace rubber fuel lines
All rubber under hood gets refreshed
Brake booster inop, hoping for a vacuum leak somewhere
Install AC compressor and cross fingers for cold air
Rear shocks in dire need of replacement (IRS out job?)
Replace as many suspension rubber bits as I can afford
Toe in wear on front tires, Control arm bushings?
Tires


Cosmetic
Paint---Bright red planned
Clean up chrome as best as possible
Swap seats from S3 car
Dye Carpets black (Red over tan leather sitting on grass green carpet sounds a little awkward)
Smaller wood rim steering wheel for leg clearance (same hub as E-type?)
7 inch headlight conversion (looks sooo much better)

 

Great project...Wow that S3 interior was nice. Series 3 features with Series 1 looks is the way to go! I'd suggest you take the brake booster, front spindels with vented rotors and the calipers, brake booster master cylinder, the complete HVAC center and duct work if you want AC. Maybe the tanks in the S3 are good too. If the Qjet needs work anyway and if you're electrically enclined, you could install TPI and wake up that 350.

 

Booster and master was pulled as the S1 has a failed diaphragm. That will get swapped ASAP so I can get drive it farther than the end of my street.

Unfortunately I have a space limitation here and my 1947 Mk IV is taking up my "dead car" spot as the fiance calls it. I had to strip the SIII and send it on its way before bringing the SI home. I pulled pretty liberally from the car but I'm sure I will end up needing something that I didn't get to yanking. The tanks were really rusty on it so I left them in place. I had to keep it a roller since it was on the street and wasn't able to get the suspension bits.

The car had AC before and after the swap. All the lines are there but the compressor died and was pulled a few years ago. I'd love to install FI but won't likely have time. I'm hoping to have the mechanicals worked on in a month or so to give me time to work on the cosmetics. Then drive to Chicago and surprise the old man!

 

Hi Johnny, you have really taken on a big project there, congratulations on giving your father this great gift. Regarding fuel tank repairs, you could try tank sealer, they generally have instructions with the materials. Don't have to remove rear suspension to replace shocks, just jack it up, remove bolts, and they come out.
quote
Toe in wear on front tires, Control arm bushings?
If the tyres are wearing on the inside edges, then most likely lower wishbone bushes, but you would see movement in them when testing with a pry bar.
That is a monster fan on the V8; not wishing to add to your labour, but you may be able to remove it and replace with dual electric fan set-up from a later model ford or GM; should make the car a lot quieter.
Good luck

 

Drove the car last night down to the end of my block and back on the tank that doesn't have a 4 inch hole in it. Made me smile to have it move. My neighbors probably liked seeing it move on its own too! A few notes on my sub 15 mph drive:

Scary to drive without power brakes!!
Rattle in front left on bumps
Idle is high
Trans going into first hard (probably due to high idle)
Effortless steering with the yacht sized steering wheel
Gauge lights not working
Tach and Speedo needles bouncing around
Center gauges are all not working (worked at some point says PO)
Signals not working but hazards fine


I called "Dr. Jag The Master of Masters" in Albuquerque and talked with him for a while about the car. A great name for a shop and he sounds enthusiastic as they come for these cars. He wasn't so hot on me installing S3 seats though. He may change his tune when he sees the Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Brougham style green velour that the car is currently sporting.


Once I get the power brakes sorted out, I'll head over there and have him do an inspection and make a priority list of things that need to be done. I don't have the budget to replace unneeded parts so a having him pop in on lift will pay off in the long term.

 

Johnny,

Sounds like a great project! I would suggest a more subtle, period color for the car, though. Pale Primrose Yellow, Mineral Blue (perhaps not subtle), and MG Snowberry white (you are in a HOT area, after all) all jump to mind. Red has SO been done before!

For all things electrical on this car, I make the following suggestion:

Get the following:

1. Round metal wire-brush - about the size of a .22 barrel. This is for cleaning out the insides of bullet sleeves, the outside of bullet connectors, and the flat spades of Lucar connectors.
2. New Bullet connectors (male) - specifically those for a British car, not the similarly shaped ones at NAPA. Solder is preferred over Crimp, but they're a lot more work.
3. New bullet sleeves, especially the 4-way ones, which generally will have broken by now, and will only be held together by the rubber outer insulation.
4. A small tube of dielectric grease.
5. A large dose of patience.

Then, start at the fusebox, and go all over the car, disconnecting, cleaning, and applying grease to every electrical connection there is before reconnecting it. REPLACE EVERY FOUR-WAY BULLET SLEEVE YOU FIND!!!!

The fuseboxes take well to a soak in a vinegar solution if needed, or just apply the brush and grease. Lastly, carefully remove and disassemble the rocker switches and clean/grease/re-assemble those. If you read my story, you know that nearly every switch in my dash was inoperative or unreliable, and some time and effort yielded a fully-functional panel. Patience and time invested in the electrics will pay off in reliable electrics. Don't forget the grounds for the lights, especially the headlights!

For the central gauges, that is likely due to the swap not being fully completed, or perhaps could be due to a bad ground? I accidentally burned out the ground trace in my gauge cluster and had to add one for the LH side, but now all is working.

HTH,

Tom

 

Agreed on cleaning any electrical connections you can get your hands on. I had 3 intermittently working window switches on s3, RF would usually take about a dozen or more tries before it decided to go up. Took apart, cleaned and lubricated the switches, all work flawlessly now. You could see the black carbon spots on the contact points inside the switches. In my case I scratched them clean with a pocket screwdriver then added contact enhancer.

 

Wow! nice find/s

Over here those chrome wheels are worth more than what you paid for the car!!
Did you keep the kent alloys on the S3 as well, as they can be sought after as well.
Finding a non rusty car is the biggest plus and the S3 interior looks amazing.

 

I'll start digging into the zappy bits, more precisely non-zappy, once I get the car driving on the road. At this stage a few electrical gremlins are not the scariest monster in the closet. I've done a fair bit of electrical cleaning on old bikes, but the .22 sized brush is a great idea! I'll look around locally for something like that.

When replacing the bullet connectors is there any reason you only replace the male end? I have a government surplus store here in Albuquerque that buys all the scientific equipment from the many laboratories in New Mexico. I can buy connectors very inexpensively by the ounce.

I actually got the car for less than half his asking price. Sorry! The wheels are great and in excellent shape. I may freshen the black paint on the spokes if I get the time. It would be nice, but not exactly a priority.

The kent alloys went away to the junkyard. I thought about pulling them but there seems to be a limited market for them in stateside. Also, Albuquerque is a pretty small market for Jag parts.

Cleaning up the S3 brake booster and master right now before installing. With any luck, I'll drive the car and be able to stop this evening!

 

Johnny,

The small cylindrical brush is a real lifesaver. Let me know if you find a good source, as my supply is running out (a fellow on the MG Experience used to make them, but he stopped).

As for the bullet connectors, you want both the Male and Female ends (which I called "sleeves" in my post). You should need very few of the male connectors, as they are generally pretty well attached, but it's a good thing to have a few at hand in case you need them.

The female "sleeves", however, are a different thing entirely. The simple tube sleeves that connect one wire to another are generally pretty robust and a good cleaning is all they usually need. However, the large ones that connect four wires together are notoriously brittle and prone to breakage, so you should have a good stock of them on hand. I generally recommend replacing them regardless of perceived condition.

The inner headlights are grounded on two similar connectors that screw to the chassis by the bonnet hinges, and those are also quite prone to breakage and should be replaced. Ensuring that the grounds for the lights at the four corners are clean is definitely worth your time.

Do be careful when selecting connectors to use, as many parts stores carry bullet-shaped connectors that are not the correct size/shape to use in a British car. Find a local British shop and they should have some of the proper connectors.

Lastly, Make sure that you have the proper Lucas "slow-blow" (a misnomer, but lots of people call them that) style fuses in your fuse panel. The 35A fuses were rated to carry 17A continuously, and blow in one-second at 35A. At the very least, make sure that any modern "US-Style" AGC fuses that are in there are properly undersized (ie: 15-20A AGC to replace a 35A Lucas, and so on). If not, you risk melting your harness if anything shorts out.

Tom

 

haha wish they were worth something over here.. have the same wheels on my Series 2 but I've been wanting to get some chrome wire wheels for it.

very nice cars and a very fun project! always loved those Series 1's front ends! good luck with your project I've heard of tons of father-son projects but this is the first i've heard of a son-father project haha a very nice thing you are doing! If only I could find a '68 Camaro and do the same thing for my dad haha he has expensive taste!

 

Bit of an update:

The booster is dead and master cylinder is leaky. Looks like there are differences between the pedal box between S1 and S3 cars. Both the booster and box appear identical but spacing between four holes holding the booster to the box differs. Damn.

Playing around with options to make this all work. I think pulling the brake box from the S1 and seeing how things line up with the newer booster is the best option. Relocating holes shouldn't be the end of the world but now I'm worried about alignment of the booster rod. I didn't remove the pedal box from the S3 car so I'll have to pull that from junkyard and pay them if I need to swap over to that box. Double damn.

Has anyone installed a S3 master cylinder on a S1? It is about an inch or so longer than the original but I should have clearance forward but I'm concerned about the hood.

 

Johnny,

Have you priced a rebuild from Power Brake Exchange? It might be less than you expect, and I imagine that keeping the matching booster and pedal boxes together is a good idea.

That or fit a Series III pedal box, like you suggest. I'd be willing to bet that someone has a reasonably priced one!

Tom

 

Ugh. It doesn't look like the S1 box is going to play nicely with the S3 booster. There's a lot of metal that I'd have to remove for things to work. Even if I did that, the bolts would not be located in the reinforced area, just on the cast body.

I think its worth my Pop's safety to go to the junkyard and pull an S3 box...I just hate buying parts that I had here a week ago!

I'd buy one off here but I really want to get this thing driving soon so I can start sorting out the springy bits.

 

I'd still price the rebuild so you know what your worst-case is, and if/when you should just cut bait and take that route.

After all, you might find that your used S3 unit needs a rebuild, too...

 

To hell with writing my thesis! I went to the junkyard instead and came home with a nice haul. Found a pair of clean S3 tanks and started to remove the lower quarter to get at it when I noticed a hole. Not any hole mind you, it was distinctly a bullet hole. Then another and another and another through both tanks. In all my junkyard adventures, first time for that. This wasn't a car sitting out on Jimbo's ranch, it was in fairly decent order and was obviously on the road recently. Then I saw the gang signs scrawled on the back bumper. I chuckled at the image of a Latin King shooting his Jaguar in disgust ala Elvis with his De Tomoso. Still, I wish he didn't do that. At least shoot the doors, the leather was trashed anyways.

I did manage to pick up one very clean S3 fuel tank from a high mileage (174K) car that had been in an accident. The other side (the one really need) had a large dent in it.

Got the pedal box out of same car which differs in casting from the S1 but the horizontal bolts are in the same position. After bringing it home, it looks like everything should be happy with it after pulling the blank for the clutch lever. I should have time to install everything tomorrow. I'll update then. Its probably NOT worth the effort but I was already pretty far in to go back and I wanted to see if it would work. It's a viable swap if you have a S3 parts car around. Something to keep in mind 20 years down the line when S1 parts are totally unavailable. Any thoughts on brake fluid?

I grabbed a set of 7 inch headlight buckets from an MGB to eventually swap to the proper outboard lights and H4 bulbs. Any input on where to get the trim rings would be appreciated.

I pulled some really nice 99 XJR interior wood since I couldn't stand to see it get crushed (and I think I can make a buck or two). On first glance, it looked like motor trouble killed it. Anyone needs it or anything else from the car let me know. The trim will head to eBay on Sunday if I don't hear back.

Of course, I grabbed every leaper, growler, and Jaguar badge I could find. There are thousands of uses for those things. You can never have too many!

 

Been working on a the car a fair bit so another update is about due!

The S3 master/servo and pedal box are installed and after bending new lines to make things things work, the brakes stop the car. Apparently the brake system went to metric sometime between S1 and S3 and the fittings for the existing lines would not work with the S3 master. I spent some time cleaning up that part of the engine bay while everything was out. I'll post a pic when I can. The swap was not worth the effort unless the parts are free.

With working brakes I can now drive the car which is very exciting. After a quick oil/filter change to get the old oil out I spent some time driving around. Naturally a few things came up. First, what a cool car. I found myself walking up to it in parking lots with a big old grin. Every glass front shop I drove by I had to look. Love it. Really love it.

Engine and drivetrain wise (which should alienate some of you), I'm burning oil on one bank of the engine. The quadrajet is idling a bit high but I'm more concerned with the oil since it has a higher chance at being fatal. I'll pull plugs tomorrow and see if its a single cylinder issue or the whole side. Pull the valve cover next to see if I have a blocked oil drain causing excess oil to pool in the valves and seep past the valve seals. Its been over ten years since I've worked on a small block Chevy. Rockers? Pushrods? I'm wishing for overhead cams! Lumped guys, input here would be very helpful!


The front end is noisy and clatters over bumps so I took a gander at it on jackstands. Here's what I saw before I ran out of daylight:

Upper ball joints have been replaced and are in good order but lowers are cracked and due for replacement
Steering rack bellows are shot and a complete rack (and ends) is likely the best course of action
Control arm bushings don't look too bad but if they're cheap to replace, I'll probably do them
Sway bar links and bushes need refreshing (no biggie)

Both wheels have a fair bit of play (1/4"?) when pulling on them at 6 and 12 o'clock. The rotors moved too but suspension bits stayed put. Is this a wheel bearing issue? Spindle? Wheels spun smoothly. I didn't pull the wheels since it was late and I didn't want to get the impact out.

Any input would be great!