That car is superb Thorsen. And the MPG is astonishing, certainly down to the gearbox mod. Really impressive. If I was 30 years younger I would do the same mod!

 

I had to travel from Chicago to north-east Mississippi today and decided to take the XJS. Here's the "Start" picture of the odometer at about 5:15 this morning


I-57 cuts through the middle of Illinois and is as boring of a drive across a prairie as you can imagine


I did run into some pretty intense rain storms about 1/2 way through Illinois. I treated the windshield with Aquapel this week and it does a good job of shedding water off the windshield.

I caught up with my parents in Cairo, IL and we stopped for lunch at a roadside BBQ stand in Kentucky.


When I say road-side, I mean it literally. The Hiway is about 15' from the patio tables.


After lunch Dad really wanted to drive the Jaguar so I obliged.
He drove for a good 2 hours and was really impressed with how well it drove.


She's extremely dirty from the trip but she performed flawlessly for almost 600 miles today. These make great luxury GT cars - I was extremely comfortable the entire day and even with a strong headwind all day and heavy rains, she still returned 25mpg.


Here's a picture of the odometer this evening - 598 miles later.


I get to reverse the trip this weekend but I am super excited about getting to drive it some more

 

Just what they were made for. Brilliant, and once again, you did a superb job, Thorsen.

 

Well done Thorsen! I'm so pleased all your hard work has been rewarded! Great stuff!

Also, love the fact that your photo with your Dad shows you converted it to Right Hand Drive! I missed that bit! 🤣🤣

Paul

 

^^^
I'm thinking that photo is reversed.
(';')

 

The camera mirror-flips the image in selfie-mode. I'm not good enough to pull off a RHD conversion

I made it back without major issues today and I closed it at 1,225 miles for the round trip. I think I am running slightly rich but that's easy enough to trouble-shoot.

 

I'm starting to run out of things to work on

A set of NOS chrome tail pipe extensions popped up on eBay and I was able to replace the ones I had painted. The black tips didn't look quite right but these fit the bill.
I'll sand blast the paint off the original ones and take them to Dad to polish up. That's the kind of activity a retired guy has time for


I did make it to Coffee and Classics this morning. My wife drove the XJS while I was in the MGB. I always enjoy hearing people's comments and the funniest one today was "wow that's a lot of motor!". Yes, it is.


I have an appointment next weekend to have the windshield replaced. I got caught in a rainstorm during last weekend's road trip and I had some water ingress around the windshield. They won't replace just the seal and since the price of a windshield is relatively inexpensive, we'll get a new piece of glass and a seal and call it a day.

 

Ya know, that car would look pretty good if only it was RED!!

 

Thorsen,
That car looks great. I thought you might prefer the chrome tailpipes, far better!
On the windscreen, may I suggest that you ensure they put some gunk into the seal grooves, both the screen groove and the body aperture groove, before fitting? Also while all the chromes are off, take a look at the A pillar condition for rust.

 

And be extraordinarily careful when removing those chromes! It is SO easy to distort them and then you’ll never straighten them. Don't let your screen fitter go anywhere near them.

Good luck

Paul

 

Well guys, I can honestly say the XJS has been an incredible journey over the last 14 months. The car threw me a lot of surprises along the way but I have had a lot of fun fixing what was broken and making improvements along the way. I honestly felt that I put together the best XJS out there.

The simple truth of the matter is that I like to turn wrenches and I get bored when I run out of things to do. I put the XJS on eBay last week and found her a good home in Canada. She'll be leaving sometime next week.

I have a few leads on my next project. I am not sure what direction I want to go, but I assure you it will be British and it will be luxurious. I'll be sure to come back and drop a picture.

This forum is a great community. There is always plenty of help and opinions, and I yet to have see anyone be snarky, rude, or demeaning. We're all here for our love of cars and keeping them on the road and I sincerely say "thank you" to all those who helped or offered their advice or opinions along the way.

Until our paths cross again,
Thomas

 

Thomas,
I don't have an XJS, probably never will have one, but watching you build this car had been both Highly entertaining and vastly educational.

I said once before I would miss this thread when you finished the car and I stand by that.
Well wishes for whatever direction your wrenches take you.
(';')

 

Thomas
Sad to see it end, your thread has been fascinating and inspiring. I trust you got top dollar for the car? If you have a moment, the Forum would benefit from a clear,detailed, illustrated write up, to be placed into the stickies, about how you modernised the aircon system. I believe that this is going to be needed by almost all owners, eventually.
Good luck and I wish you and yours well in the future.

 

After spending the last month or so looking at 26 different cars, today I pulled the trigger on my next car. I stayed in the British fold, and I even stayed in the same years as my recently-sold XJS, but I traded the V-12 for a 6-3/4 liter turbocharged V8. Behold my 1989 Bentley Turbo R:



It's another level of complexity over the XJS but I am pretty excited to get started on the journey! My goal is to drive it for a few months and shake out any issues; then if all is well pilot it from Chicago to South Alabama this fall for the British car show.

 

Be very careful with the brakes. They don't use normal brake fluid. You may already know this, so forgive me if you do, they use mineral oil. Its a system Citroen developed that Rolls used. Does the self leveling rear suspension as well. But if the fluid gets mixed up the only real solution is to replace basically everything.

If you want another road trip, there's a nice British car show in Vermont in mid-September.

 

Yes, you have to use LHM+ or you get to spend $20k on repairs. Thanks for the warning though - I appreciate it.

 

This is a wonderful thread. I will admit that I will have to take the time to re-read each and every post. I have to ask if you ever replaced the "sensors" for the Marelli ignition. I've been through a Marelli non running car and spent many hours trying to figure out why the shop that had it couldn't make it run right. It really boiled down to the rear sensor being weak. The Marelli ignition is wonderful until it gets poor signalling. The rear sensor is the speed sensor and the front is the timing. They both are small magneto's. If either is out of spec, the VE tables built into the ECU cannot work properly. Do yourself a huge favor and replace them. From what I understand, the magnets have a life expectancy. Time and heat are the enemy. They are a service item that is hardly ever serviced and then the car is blamed.

 

Hey @superchargedtr6 it's a small world. I've had two supercharged MGB's
I did not replace the sensors but to catch you up - the CPS sensors were fine but there were a whole host of other issues causing problems. I fixed all them, made some fun upgrades along the way, took it for a +1k miles road trip, then sold it. It's a great car and the new owner is going to love it.

 

Well - the Bentley fell through. That's another story for another day and probably shouldn't be told in polite company anyway.
I did some soul searching and decided to stay with the marque that I know and love - and brought home a 1967 Jaguar 420 last night. I drove it for an hour down the tollway last night and it ran perfectly. 4.2L straight six, 4-speed overdrive transmission. It's been recently gone through but there are a few things I need to work on. It's been shown a lot love recently with an engine/transmission rebuild, new interior, and a ton of other work. I need to spend some time polishing the paint and I will probably put in AC this winter, but for now I'm having a blast driving her.