I have been doing a complete interior (and engine bay which is a 350 sbc) restoration of my S2 XJ6. The project is slow going but I have a lot to do. I am going to try and list what all i have done and what i plan on doing. If anyone wants more information, pictures, or a writeup on anything let me know. Especially let me know if you need any pictures of a S2 with the interior torn out cause the only interior left in the car right now is the headliner.

The To do list:

1. Automatic Headlights -- started tonight and ran out of sunlight, almost completed
2. Remote locks, remote start, security system ( got a viper for $50 off craigslist ), this project includes a complete rewire of the door lock and window motor circuits so that they can be compatible with more modern electrical devices ( it also made my old slow almost dead window motors and door locks operate like new )
3. Beefed up sound system with two 8"? subwoofers that i believe i am going to locate near the floor on the front of the rear seat floorpans
4. Automatic radio antenna
5. 7" touchscreen Carputer / radio / gps, i am also considering putting in more obd2 sensors in the car so i can have a good readout of potential problems. I will be building this myself based off of a raspberry pi 3.
6. I may also end up creating a replacement carputer for the delanair mk2 system that is in my car. I am not sure whether mine works yet or not.
7. Headlight upgrade (including wiring) to a modern lighting system that puts out more light ( haven't decided what lamps to use yet )
8. Not an interior or engine bay upgrade, but i do want to replace the wheels with a nice set of Daytons
9. Conversion of the original fuse block to two modern ones with fuse blown detection. (This eliminates tons of redundant wiring under the dash that commonly wasn't done well anyways)

The done list:

1. All digital gauge conversion, including VSS since my mechanical speedo cable broke
2. Blower Motor reconditioning
3. Ignition switch rewiring to work off a key ( no longer requires a killswitch and pushbutton to start the car )
4. Air conditioning motor and wiring conversion to A6 compressor

 

I put a automatic antenna in my '72 XJ, was a small aftermarket unit that fit just fine in the rear tail light area... used a toggle switch to control the antenna so it could be stopped where I wanted it -- normal is to go up and then down when the key is turned off. Pretty stupid idea except for lowering it so an "idiot" does not play with it.

Still have a working S3 power antenna and some spare antenna parts but it will not fit in my '71... they are large and bulky and need to be routed through a hole from the inside of the trunk to the tail light area... the whole installation takes a lot of room in the spare tire front area. Very outdated method but does work...

 

Yeah, the previous owner of my vehicle had a manual switch installed in it. Unforunately he wired it irresponsibly and i am going to have to redo it. Since i plan on upgrading a lot of other electronics i figured i would clean that up with an automatic power antenna while i was at it. My idea is that i may as well make it auto retractable before some kid in a parking lot snaps it off.

 

show us your guages!
how does the speedo work, GPS?
where did they come from? i want to update mine, id be curious what youve chosen.

 

The gauges are installed in my dashboard but the dash isn't in the car at the moment.

PLEASE NOTE: The original Jag speedo and tach gauges are ever so slightly larger than the universal gauge size due to the housing that the gauges are sitting in. I had to do a little bit of Macguyvering to get the speedo and tach reliably mounted into the dash. I even at one point tore apart the old gauges and was going to mount the new gauges inside the old gauge housings because they were a near perfect fit.

I went with an Intellitronix gauge set with white LEDs. Intellitronix Complete Digital Gauge Set White LEDs W Senders Black Bezels Dash | eBay
That is actually the same seller that i purchased them from.
From that ebay listing they come with a water temp sender, oil pressure sender, and a vehicle speed sensor.

The VSS is by far the most valuable of those senders and it plugs into the spot on the transmission where the mechanical cable would otherwise. Since i had broken my cable and it looked like it was going to be upwards of $100 to source another one, i had been looking at replacing my gauges with a gps unit. I found this gauge set instead and went with those.

The nice part about the VSS instead of doing a GPS system (not to say that a GPS speedo is a bad thing cause they are quite good), i wanted to make sure i had all the sensors in place i needed to install an aftermarket cruise control system and most of them expect you to have a VSS installed in the car as well.

I just took this picture for you, to show you what the gauges look like in the Jag dash, you can google search what they look like when the power is applied to them.

 

Another thing to consider about replacing the stock jag gauges, They have left and right turn signal indicators located inside of them, in addition to choke and... another light i don't remember right now. You would have to come up with another solution for these lights if you wished to keep them. I haven't gotten to the age where i can't hear the turn signals clicking so i don't mind removing the lights. But if my father drove the car he would leave them on from CA to NY i am sure.

 

Those gauges are perfect!
I have found it difficult to find gauges that can maintain a somewhat OEM look and feel.
saving that for later! thank you

 

If you end up doing it you will have to macgyver the larger gauges in, i did it with o rings and vacuum hose and you can't tell unless you already know :P

Take a look at the outer rim of the larger gauges and it looks like they have two bezels, the inner one is the actual gauge bezel, the outer is an o ring. Behind the gauges i put vacuum hose so that there was something to shim the gauges into place flush with the dash. It wasn't incredibly hard, just .... interesting...

 

I have a couple questions i need answered while working on this S2.

I can't seem to find the part of the wiring harness running to the rear of the car that connects to all of the lights in the rear of the car. I unplugged all of the wiring harnesses that lead to the rear of the car along the trans tunnel and the rear lights still work. I am very confused.

I see people talking about replacing their blower motor fuse that is located in the passenger side fuse box, does this not exist in a s2? It sure as hell doesnt exist in this s2

 

Light wiring to the rear usually runs through one of the door sills. Which one depends on if your car is left or right drive.

One of the more "charming" features of the Xj6 series cars is their abundance of hidden in-line fuses. They're Everywhere! I've found them in the tunnel, behind console cheeks, below the steering wheel and behind the glove box.

Those on the blower housing are clearly labeled if you still have the box cover, but the multitude of in-line fuses? Only our Gurus can tell you where BL hid them. Even the ROM doesn't tell where to find them.

My Series 2 doesn't have a passenger fuse box either. I've not had trouble with most of my fuses, except for when I shorted out the back-up lights and suddenly had NO INSTRUMENTS! Oops. I found that one on the driver side fan housing, #5.
(';')

 

I am not exactly sure what you mean by "through" the door sills. Do you actually mean through, or laying on top of?

This is about 4 months ago into the teardown.

 

Sorry, I should have been more clear.
Remove the sill plate and the liner thingy on the driver side, and find the wires lying next to a body seam:

This applies to front and rear door sills.
(';')

 

Those definitely do not exist in my car, there are no other wires on the interior of the car that lead to the rear except for what is going along the trans tunnel

 

Hmm.......
I guess I can't help you then. Someone with more experience than I have will have to tell you.

Those wires along the tunnel are for Central Locking relays hidden in the cross member.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...repair-177091/
(';')

 

It may be a previous owner kind of situation. I will have to trace where the wires go off of the back of the light switch

 

I recall both. Wires along the transmission tunnel. And, in my S3, I removed the panel just in front of the driver's door post. That would indicate wires along the sill going aft!!
Brake lights in my case, I think.


Carl

 

Here are the photos of the Speedhut GPS speedo installed in a spare Jag tach case. Could use a speedo case but I had more tach cases lying around!

I put the antenna under the speaker grill on top of my dash pad.. works perfectly. Has not only a Odometer, but Altimeter, clock, timer for 60 foot race and another for 1/4 mile.

They give you the choice of dial face coloring and pointer color plus the lighting color when the headlights are used.

This is the easiest way to get a accurate speedo and odometer with a trans change and rear end gear change and retain the original speedo size.

 

@JagCad Thanks. I have 0 wires running along the door sills, and after unplugging every set of wires running to the rear along the trans tunnel, every single thing in the rear of the car still works XD. This has to be something that the previous owner destroyed. The trans tunnel wires are likely what is SUPPOSED to be lighting me up but are unplugged or something.

@Roger Very similar in features to the set i went with. Instead of a gps antenna i just plug in a hall effect sensor into the trans where the mechanical cable used to go. It can be recalibrated if you make any gearing changes. ( push a button and drive a mile, push button again ) The sets come with your choice of led color and bezel color and can tie into dimmer functions. Also has a timer for a quick race ( not that i would ever need that right :P) The kicker for me that made me go with this set instead of a gps solution is that i need a VSS to install an aftermarket cruise control system. And I am very tempted to do that, Actually im surprised i didn't put that on my to do list.

@LNRB I cut the entire central locking wiring harness out of the car, which is part of why i have no wires running around door sills. I am going to rewire it to a much simpler solution than what the factory did. The biggest reason for me doing this is to simplify maintenance, but also the previous owner of my car had started a few fires in this car and one of them damaged the central locking circuits and i can't know for sure the extent of the damage on the wires. I took the opportunity while i am doing a complete rewire to make it compatible with new computer controlled systems ( i am doing window motors as well just cause it wont be too much more work to do it all at once )

 

Mad,
You must be changing the window switch gear too?

 

@slofut Sorry I missed this response up until now. I am afraid I don't know precisely what part you are referring to when you say window switch gear. Could you elaborate, I suspect this is my lack of knowledge or a regional English sort of confusion.


At some point in me working in the wires in the dash I have managed to kill off the functioning of my right turn signals front and back. I also don't hear the bimetal switch clicking. This is done by what is called a delay unit in this car is that correct? I haven't checked yet to see if this failure is caused by a bad bulb, If the delay unit or bimetal switch is requiring a certain amount of resistance and a bulb fails i am assuming it won't function until the resistance is restored. Anyone care to chime in before I go digging into it and find out for myself?

Also, on the todo list soon is fixing my windshield wipers. They worked previously and then started intermittently working only. I am suspecting that the wiper stalk switch may not be good anymore? Hopefully it isn't the motor itself.