I have made lots of changes to my car since the last time I have posted in this section of the forums.

Here are some pictures of the car when I bought it in Jan 2016.








Since then I have moved out to southern california and have been working to get my cat roadworthy.
When I first trailered the car across the mountain ranges I realized that I definitely needed to go through the suspension and brakes before it ever left the garage again. I have completely replaced every wear component that I have found in the front of the car and am planning to do the rear as soon as I can find a shop to break trailing arm bushings free of the body for me.

Here are some pictures of the work I did to the front suspension.








After handling the suspension, I found that I had let the car sit too long and I gummed up the fuel system and had to rebuild the carb for the 6th time in the last two years. I just went ahead and pulled the trigger on the fuel injection conversion that I had been planning since I bought the car. While I am waiting for the fuel injection kit to come in, I figured it would be a good time to pull the engine and transmission to replace all of the seals and repaint some of the engine as it was starting to look kinda ugly again.










I installed the new EFI kit, converted the entire fuel system over to a return type. I fitted new gas tanks and made a crossover tube between the two tanks to even the fuel distribution between them at all times. I also created two fuel feeds that join into a T which feed to an inline pump at the lowest point in the trunk where the spare tire goes. Every fuel line in the car has been converted over to a braided AN-6 style hose. I also installed fuel shut off valves on each fuel tank, and lever operated drain petcocks so that I can flush the fuel tanks easily and without a huge mess. Key note for anyone looking to do a fuel injection conversion: make sure to get an inertia switch that you can run inline to the fuel pump relay so that it will shut off in case of a collision. The EFI system that I bought fails to include one in their kit, I called their tech service to complain that they would exclude such a key safety feature and they merely pointed out that I bought a full EFI conversion kit for $900 and that I get what I pay for. Fair enough, $20 ford inertia switch off ebay works like a charm ( i didn't end up using the EFI default wiring harness anyways as it was complete crap ).






And here is the wiring harness that I made up for the entire engine bay to run the engine, electric fuel pump, electric fans, headlights, automatic headlights ( ambient light sensor ), alternator, horns, security system siren, AC, starter..... etc... probably forgetting things.







I have done some major upgrades to the wiring, interior, floorpans, sound system, etc. etc.

The only thing keeping it off the road right now is getting enough leverage to pop the trailing arms off the rear so i can get the IRS off and rebuilt.

Here is hoping I can get it further out of the garage soon so I can go take it for a bath.







Heres my lump!

 

Very, very nice. I am impressed by the way you solved the air filter issue for the carb. Not to limit it, the rest is impressive, no question...

Those XJS sourced wheels were not my favorite. But, I gotta say, they look good on your car.

As to the "trailing arm" issue on the IRS: Caveat, I've not done that process. But< I do have suggestions:

1. Search the archives here and on J-L. Others have solved it and posted.

2. Remove the nut and use a big bar to pry them loose.

Circa the late 50's we lived and worked in California' s Imperial Valley. We made regular sojurns to San Diego. Cooler and a change. I lusted for being assigned to my employer's branch there.
An old time veteran was securely entrenched. Ouch, too late another guy got it. Workmate from the days in El Paso. Could not begrudge Pat a really nice guy. My successor in El Centro !!

Carl .,

 

Awesome. I am jealous! I tore down my BMW 2002 and rebuilt but my Jag is in decent enough shape to just get running and drive for awhile. I miss tearing down the suspensions and rebuilding motors

Maybe down the road. It’s great therapy!!!

 

Hey Carl, glad to hear from you again.


You actually managed to touch on a few things on the car that I am not happy with.
The wheels are not my favorite either. I am on the fence as to what I am actually going to get. I would love wire wheels, but don't know that they are in the budget.
The air cleaner came on the car and I think it is hideous. I am looking to get a circular drop base air cleaner to replace it.

Yeah, I have looked at all of the guides on how to break those trailing arms loose. Unfortunately I don't have seemingly safe enough jacking points to get the car high enough off the ground to get a big enough breaker bar to remove them. I am going to try and persuade a shop to do it while it is on a drive on lift.

 

Different ways to look at things.

1. I've seen or perhaps merely read of the low base round more conventional air filters. restrictive as I see them. the "hideous" ones on your car gotta flow more air..

2. My car is on XJS sourced wheels as well. But, the lattice ones. I like them a lot. Wider than the Kents they replaced.

3. Wires sure look good. But, heavier than the alloys and a bear to keep clean!!!

4. I share the reluctance to tear things apart while under that heavy car. Do you plan to remove the IRS? Or "merely" renew the rubber on the trailing arms.

5. If you get it on a lift, away from home base, and the arms are busted loose, How do you get home???

Carl

 

Mad Hatter I have three Dayton wires for an XJS in good shape. They are listed in the marketplace. I was holding on looking for wheel number four. I decided to go another way. If you are interested I'll sell them to you at a really good deal.

 

1. If I do end up with air restriction issues, which is certainly a concern, I will end up engineering some way around it that I don't hate the look of.
3. I probably owe this car years of being cleaned and polished since i have neglected cleaning it for many years now :P
4. The IRS has to come out for sure. I am going to even pull out the diff and reseal, possibly change out the rear end gearing. Absolutely every wear component in the rear will get replaced all at once.
5. It will get towed to and from the lift. It already has a bad cv joint in the rear axle and i don't want to drive it in the current shape.



Rivguy, That is tempting. What kind of offer could you make. Do you ever make it south of SF? It looks like it would be a 18 hour drive if i were to come and get them.

 

Mad Hatter why don't you P.M. with e-mail or contact info. Funny I was just in Palm Springs a few weeks ago!

 

PM sent, Ah that is unlucky on timing.


Carl I am thinking that a drop base circular air cleaner won't be any different than the current setup, since it is also a drop base.

 

Congratulations on what looks like a very professional job. The old guys at Jaguar would never contemplate developing a V8 and persisted with the V12 for too long. I suppose they were always enthralled by the RR Merlin aeroengine. a 27 litre V12 !

 

Maybe in the long run I will end up taking one of those v12's and hot rodding it into something fun

They clean up really well after someone puts a ton of attention to detail into the wiring and fuel situations.

 

Nicework I am envious :-)

I am suprised you elected to do away with the lovely headlight fuse panel and associated wiring and put in all those modern connector thingies. The factory rats nest wasnt to your liking then?

Thanks for taking the trouble to post the adventure

 

Yeah I got rid of the wiring in the front there for the headlights. At this cars age, i just figured it would be easier to replace the wire with a thicker gauge to support more amperage, make a new wiring harness, and then install some sort of upgraded lighting ( these original lights are impossible to see anything with ).

The factory headlight relay is still in use, in the relay box on the passenger side, I wasn't able to find a proper latching relay to replace the original part with. I will end up creating a little can bus connected computer to replace the latching relay with.

My next major wiring project is to tidy the wiring up in the engine bay and above the radiator. Currently it just looks as you described it, a rats nest. I substituted the factory rats nest for my own, and that is not up to my quality.

I do like the aftermarket weatherpak connectors over the factory push pin connectors. These are weatherproofed better, and i made a personal choice to change the ground a little bit on my headlights so i didn't need to undo the bolt to remove the ground to get the hood off when I need to.


The big white box in the middle of my grill is an ambient light sensor. I utilized the fog portion of my headlight switch to run all of my headlights through this ambient light sensor. Once it gets dark enough outside it automatically pops the headlights on. Once it is brighter, or the car is shut off, then the headlights go back off.

It is rather large and I will be replacing it with a much more discreet sensor soon.

 

"I wasn't able to find a proper latching relay to replace the original part with".

When my headlamp relay failed I replaced it with this.


Replacement Headlamp relay

 

I don't know if you can make it out in the below picture, but I removed the stock fuse blocks from the front radiator mount and instead installed four regular blade fuses in waterproof holders. It seems to be working really well.

 

I was going this route originally when i first touched the wiring up front.

Then I got the idea that i was going to install automatic headlights and electric radiator fans, this terribly complicated the wiring up on the front and I ended up with full fuse and relay boxes up there instead.