OB,

Effective as the wire strippers are that you've bought, I feel that your life is about to change again!

I feel that my journey through life is defined as much by the tools that I've "discovered" almost as much as the hugely emotional events surrounding my family and my daughter.

It's difficult to explain those eureka moments when you discover how much a good piece of engineering design or novelty transforms your leisure or work time. I'm thinking in particular(and almost getting goosebumps on my neck at the memory!) of my first socket set, an impact driver, a pressure washer, a garden strimmer, an air compressor and air tools, a multi-meter, a quick-lift trolley jack, a bench drill, an electrical screwdriver, my friends 4-post lift, a bluetooth OBDII plugin.... the list goes on and on.

And I'll add to that an automatic wire stripper similar to the one Paul shows above. It WILL transform all your electrical wiring needs in the car and the house. You will wonder how you ever did without it! Just use it with confidence, not slowly. Once you get the hang of it, they are great! Expensive many years ago, when they first came out, they are now available for not much more than a fiver. Buy one tomorrow! You won't regret it!

Paul

 

Yeah ya right mate. Both were about $20 AUD each. Actually I think the first one was $30. But they aren't the highest quality tools. Still did the job though.

Infact, as an electrician we always learnt to use combination plyers to do our wire stripping although you have to have a delicate hand. Takes a bit of practice:


I am sure what you got is fine for the radio though mate.

 

I'm really not a fan of sound bars. My mate has a Sonos system with these all over the house and it's not to my taste, other people love them.

In my opinion a couple of good speakers in the doors would be the best option and maybe a woofer or 2 in the rear.

Power is not a good indication of a systems ability to sound good or have a reasonable amount of volume. It's all about sensitivity of the speakers. In a car environment 85db is very loud so speakers with a 93db sensitivity will require less than 1watt to break the 85db sound pressure level (SPL).

I removed the rear fullrange speakers and installed 2x 6.5" mid/woofers with a crossover so they only operate below 100hz.

In the front I have Alpine coaxial ATM, (I had these in a box from years ago) These will be replaced with 6.5" fullrange once I finish the mechanicals.

I made timber and fiberglass mountings for the woofers that fit in the OEM position. You could install them in the storage box.

 

Hi Warrjon

There's a lot more to Sound Systems than as first meets the eye, so I'll have a look around and then report back when I think I've found the best I can afford.

 

Hi Paul (PTJS)

Many thanks for responding

But I am already hating myself for buying those 'Cheap Strippers', as there is simply nothing that can ever compare to going out and buying the wrong piece of kit to do the job.

And what has made this even worse is that they came with crimper's, which was also something that I could have done with!

As a result I found myself in a deep and downward spiral of depression, from which I thought that I could never recover and even considered Counseling in order that I could ever stop blaming myself.

As for fitting the Stereo:

When I found that Jaguar had used 'Bullet Connectors' I was simply 'Over the Moon' until I suddenly realized that I didn't have any and so with only an hour to go before the Shops Closed that night, I made my way to my local Car Accessory Shop in order to get some.

Where they were wanting to Charge me £4 for just 30 Bullet Connectors! and to put things in perspective, 5 packets of these would have been more that I paid for my Stereo

But in a state of self induced Panic, I got out some of my hard earned and I bought them.

As a bit of a 'Bargain Hunter' I was already feeling sick at the way that I felt I was ripping myself off but when I got home I had another look around and found some! which if anything only served to make me feel worse.

But as I hadn't opened the Packet of the one's that I'd just bought, I can clearly remember cracking a smile as I made a determination, that I was going to take them back for a refund!

Yeah Baby! That seemed like a plan, so after a very quick Cup of Tea and with the Adrenaline already pulsing through my veins, I jumped in my daily driver and sped off down the road.

But being in such the hurry I was, I'd gone and left the receipt on the Kitchen Table, where this time it was their turn to Smile, no receipt, no refund. OMG!

The only thing that I could do was to exchange those connectors for something a bit more useful and so I did so for those Wire Strippers which were the same price.

So now I'll have to bite the bullet (pun intended!) and go and buy the Tool you recommended, I never knew you could pick those up so cheap.

And I haven't got a Socket Set but don't tell anyone!

 

If you don't mind spending 25quid then these are what I have have if I use strippers. Good quality and replaceable blades.

| RS Pro Wire Stripper, 165mm overall length for use with PVC Wire, Maximum Size 8AWG |

I normally use these but I've been stripping wire for nearly 40 years

 

OB,

Don't feel too bad or beat yourself up over this. I always feel that the level of wisdom that one has is directly proportional to the number of mistakes, wasted effort and incorrect, pointless or duplicate purchases that one has made! Therefore, there are some bad days where I feel I have developed great wisdom....

I have about 7 different wire strippers and multiple pliers that I have bought over the years. And yet I find that now I invariably only ever use the type of automatic one that I pictured, or else a kitchen knife when I'm really lazy and can't even be bothered to go out to the garage and get the correct tool!

Paul

 

Hi Paul (PTJS)

Cheers!

Maybe life isn't quite so bad after all, so thanks for putting everything in perspective when obviously my biggest mistake that was more expensive than the Wire Strippers, was falling head over heels in love with the first XJS that I bought.

Which looked lovely from the Outside but was a Total 'Basket Case' in every other respect, where being blessed with something less than Zero Mechanical knowledge, I just went and blundered into it, which as a result it cost me a small fortune (or rather a large one!)

XJS number Two wasn't that much better but after binning Thousands of pounds, I think I finally got the hang of it, at least a bit!

But that being said I'm still hurting over those 'Strippers' which was self inflicted on my part.

 

Hi Warrjon

Cheers!

Those 'Strippers' look the Business, so I will put some on my Christmas 'Wish List'

 

When the Blades of my Mechanical Fan started to get 'Stress Cracks' it had to be changed for a New One as if the Fan disintegrates, it could not only take out the Radiator but also put a great big dent in your Bonnet/Hood.

As I had just fitted a New (Re-Cored) Radiator, there was no way that I could take a chance that this might happen, so I was going to fit a Brand New Fan and would have done just that, except that is for just one 'Little Problem!'

The Original White Plastic Fans are no longer available in the UK, so the only choice you seem to have is to fit one of the Black Fans or else change to Electric.

Having ordered a Black Fan which was supposed to be OEM the first thing that I noticed was that it didn't have the 'deep dish' to go over the Fan Clutch and was only half the thickness of the Original one.

So I decided to return it and fit Electric Fans 'efans' (Work in progress)

There really isn't a Book on this, you sort of have to make it up as you go along and though I haven't got around to Wiring Them up yet.

This is the Way I did it in my Car 'Cherry Blossom'

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-video-166888/

 

Great work OB. So you did this earlier in the year?

And as I understand it you just have to wire them up now correct? What about the shroud mentioned in the other post. Did you manage to get one made up?

I know here in Oz Grant uses a twin fan setup from a Ford Falcon. Works a treat.

Will be watching this space...

 

Hi Bro

There is no extra Shroud or anything so I'll have to see what happens when I wire it up, as one of the big concerns I have is how much juice it will draw from the Battery.

As it wouldn't be good to go somewhere, only to find the Car won't Start when you want to get home.

 

You can fit a bigger battery. A wider base won't fit but a higher one will. I bought a quite large battery at the time for my XJ-S... I always thought the original one was far too small...

 

Hi Daim

I've already got an Exide 065 so I'll carry a Spare until I've had a chance to see how it goes.

 

OB
Does your model have the 115 amp alternator or the 75 amp one? If the 75, a really worthwhile upgrade is a 115 amp one, as used on the later V12s. Once I did this change, all sorts of iffy electrical symptoms evaporated, quite regardless of the efan current draw. I had been meaning to do it, but it was the Great XJS Prophet who Resides under the Southern Cross whose advice pushed me into doing it!
Greg

 

He should have a 115 amp one, as my 89 has one... So his should have it, as he has the serpentine belt rather than fan belt...

 

Hi Greg

I have no idea what alternator is on there but as She's a 1990 it's hopefully the 115 amp.

 

Hi Daim

Lets hope that you are right.

 

Yeah I did the 110 Amp Bosch Alternator Upgrade this year. Sounds like you might be alright but you might be able to find a part number if you look at it from underneath the car on the RH side. Can't remember if it is stamped on there or not.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...p-dash-153343/

 

Normal fanbelt = 75 amp. Ribbed belt aka serpentine = 115 amp

I have all the receipts to my car from new (not kidding) and that includes stuff like wiper blades, washer fluid and a fuse... And not anywhere is the altenator on it. Going by it's colour, it is the first one

You can actually tell by looking at the fan disc infornt. If it is "exposed" (you see the blades from the front), then it is a 75. If the blades are covered, then it is a 115 amp. I just checked my spare altenator from my 1990 scrap car and that is a 115 amp.

I'm kind of like you, just wrong way around: my "to build" is a 1989 and my scrap is a 1990