I was out of town for most of the weekend but I made up for lost time tonight. My gear reduction starter is now bolted in and wired up with the factory solenoid still in place. It went in easier than the old one came out - you can see from the picture below that the gear reduction starter is a fair amount smaller than the stock starter. The top bolt was especially easy - I taped the bolt to the socket and worked it into place, the held the starter up and caught the threads. Then I put the wires on, slid in the bottom bolt, and tightened it all up. I ran a 2 gauge ground strap from the bottom starter bolt up to the alternator; then I'll run a ground strap from the alternator to the body of the car. That will make sure the starter and the alternator are both well grounded.

 

Thorsen
Do you mean you removed the large solenoid that came with the new starter and fitted the old starter motor's solenoid to the new one?

 

Greg,
No - nothing from the old starter was used on the new one. The starter has a large stud with a nut which gets the +12 volts from the battery cable on the firewall. There is a small terminal with a guard on it that gets +12 volts from the key when it's turned to the start position. That's all you need to hook up. There is a third terminal with a screw that's not used for our application.

It looks like I need to pull the starter out tonight so I will be able to take better pictures for you. It looks like I have a dead short somewhere between the firewall terminal and the starter itself.

 

Things are moving along. I finished wiring up the new starter and am happy to report it easily turns over the V12. My goal tonight is to hook up the passenger side exhaust.

I got the new AC condenser yesterday. I went with a 12" x 28" as that's pretty close to the factory size. I need to work up some pin mounts so it fits in place, then I need to come up with some weather-stripping to seal the condenser to the radiator. But that's all easy enough to do.


It fits really well in the stock location, right on top of the stock oil cooler.


Gratuitous Wizard Cooling picture



I was disappointed to discover the factory AC pressure line from the drier to the expansion valve has a section of rubber tubing that's crimped on instead of using threaded fittings. My plan was to run an aluminum suction line from the firewall to the compressor to eliminate the awful stock house routing, so it looks like I get to run an aluminum pressure line too. Vintage Air has the U-Bend-Em aluminum AC lines that work very well. I have used them on several projects over the years and they are easy to use.

 

Greg,
I am so sorry - I just re-read this and realized I probably confused the hell out of you. I meant to say I left the original starter relay, not the solenoid, in place. And then I realized that I assumed there was a starter relay just like every other car I've worked on has had. So if for some reason the XJS does not have a starter relay, I hooked up my new starter to the wire along the firewall that gets +12 volts when the key is turned to start.

Sorry about the confusion.

Thomas

 

Thanks for the explanation, Thomas! By the way, the OEM starter relay is under that plastic cover on the RHS just in front of the bonnet closing mechanism on that side.

 

[QUOTE=Thorsen;2404594
I was disappointed to discover the factory AC pressure line from the drier to the expansion valve has a section of rubber tubing that's crimped on instead of using threaded fittings. My plan was to run an aluminum suction line from the firewall to the compressor to eliminate the awful stock house routing, so it looks like I get to run an aluminum pressure line too. Vintage Air has the U-Bend-Em aluminum AC lines that work very well. I have used them on several projects over the years and they are easy to use.[/QUOTE]
Thomas
You do need some flexible in those lines somewhere, to accomodate the engine movement, and the not-rigidly-mounted dariator stack.

 

For sure. My plan is to run aluminum lines along the firewall to the right hand side of the engine compartment, then use rubber hose from that point forward. It should help clean up the appearance of the engine bay considerably.

Thomas

 

When you get to wiring in your fans I’ll be interested to see what you do. It’s a problem I’m going to need to solve as well and automotive wiring is something I’m nervous about.

 

Will do. I emailed AutoCoolGuy early this week and haven't heard back yet, so I might end up going with a simple temp switch to run things. Regardless - I'll let you know how I did it.

 

Tonight I was able to install AC hardlines to the expansion valve and from the evaporator outlet. I used a 36" #10 Vintage Air U-Bend-Em for the suction line and a 48" #6 pressure line to the expansion valve. The #6 line was easy to shape with my bending tool but I struggled with the #10 line. It measures 5/8" OD and benders that size are relatively expensive. So I used my 1/2" bender and just took my time.


The bend isn't as crisp as I'd like but it will work. The goal was to tidy-up the engine room - I was not a big fan of the AC hoses on top of the engine. It's also worth mentioning that I'm omitting the fuel cooler from the low-pressure circuit. I would have liked to keep it but mine was pretty crusty and I didn't feel comfortable re-using it. If someone made a new one I'd be all over it.
You can also see the new expansion valve in this picture.


The last thing I was able to do tonight was to start replacing the transmission cooler hoses. The ones that were on there were hard as a rock and this was the time to replace them. With these done I can finish mounting the AC compressor.
It was easy enough to cut the fitting off the old hoses and just replace the hose. I'm using some Tight-Seal hose clamps to make sure they don't leak or blow-off.

 

I decided to go a different direction with the AC mount. I bought a universal York-to-Sanden compressor mount like this:


And cut it about where the red line is. I used the bottom piece bolted to the air pump mount and saved the top piece for another project.


You can't really see the mount once it's in place, but here's a picture showing the finished product:


The 43.5" belt (part # 9435 or 17435) was the winner. The belt in the picture below was a "warehouse closeout" I bought from RockAuto and it's in really bad shape. I picked up a 17435 from AutoZone tonight after dinner and will put it on tomorrow.


Next I moved on to the coolant cross-over pipe. 2 days ago I wire-brushed all the loose paint and rust scale from the outside. Yesterday I smothered it with Naval Jelly to eat the rust, then I painted it last night. Today it went on.


I'm using the much-debated silicone hoses and lined clamps. I know some people say silicone hoses split without warning, while a rubber hose will let you know it's going to fail, but in using silicone hoses for the last 15 years I've never had one surprise me.
There's plenty of room around the AC compressor for the A bank radiator hose.


Next I moved to the AC condenser. I epoxied a 5/16" bolt to the bottom rail of the radiator to go in the pin mount. You can see the silicone vacuum tubing I'm using to seal the bottom of the condenser to the top of the oil cooler.


Then I put high-temp weather stripping on the inside of the fan shroud that came with my Wizard Cooling radiator. This serves two purposes - it cushions the radiator fins from the fans, and it helps to make sure the fans suck air through the radiator and don't pull air from the side of the shroud.


Some people got a temperature switch with their Wizard radiator but I didn't. I picked up a M22x1.5 to 3/8" NPT bushing. I'm still working through my options to control the fan but it will have a 3/8" sensor.


If I go with a simple on/off temp switch, this is most likely how I will wire it up. Because the radiator on the Jaguar is electrically isolated, you need to use a two-terminal switch like this. The over-ride switch and wiring in blue is optional.

 

That looks a really, really classy job. May I suggest you use a temp switch with a gap between on and off? eg on at 87 off at 83 sort of thing? This prevents constant cycling of the fans when moving forward in traffic, as alternately hot then cold coolant hits the switch.

 

It was a hot day in the garage today but I got a lot of smaller things checked off my list. First was a slow drip from the power steering pump (had to snug up the pressure line) then I moved on to vacuum lines.
Next up was the radiator and AC condenser. I need to order some fittings for AT cooler in the radiator so I can wrap that up.


Test-fitting the radiator and condenser showed things were lining up well.


This is the top left side of the AC Condenser. I cut-down a 5/16" bolt and epoxied it to the condenser to complete the pin mount. The right side of the condenser is too far away from the pin mounts, so I'll have to come up with a mount for that.


I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I had enough AC fittings and hose to start working on the system. Whenever I buy fittings I always grab a few extra "just in case" but my spare stash is almost a full inventory. This is the fitting I'm using for the suction line from the compressor back to the evaporator line. I'm using a short-drop #10 90° fitting. Here it is before crimping.


And here it is after crimping.


Here is the completed hose. The top part connects to the aluminum hardline from the evaporator. It also has the low-pressure port because it will be easier to access it there rather than down by the compressor. The bottom part of the hose has the 90° elbow and connects to the compressor.


It's hard to get a picture of it in the car but this gives you an idea. The perspective is off but it's not going to foul the A bank radiator hose.

 

Absolutely Greg. I think most radiator fan switches typically open about 10° cooler than they close.

 

Today marks the first time in over 2.5 months that a wheel has been on the ground. When it stopped running at the end of March I jacked up all 4 corners so I could get underneath it as needed. Today I took the back end off the jack stands. The front will be on the ground later this week when I get the new atmospheric overflow bottle.
A small but meaningful milestone.

 

@Thorsen You’ve done an impressive amount of work in a short period of time! I’m both inspired and depressed at the same time.

 

Testing the theory that a dropped cat always lands on its feet, tonight the Jaguar sat on all 4 paws and even moved a short distance, albeit under human power. I pushed her out of the garage and into the driveway so I could flush the heater core and the rest of the cooling system.


Next up was prepping the radiator for final install. I installed the 90° adapter and fitting for the transmission cooler line on the top port of the radiator...


Then installed the 45° adapter and fitting on the bottom port of the radiator. After that I put the radiator in, hooked up the lower hose and the transmission lines.


Next I put a 1/2" strip of EPDM foam on the condenser where it will sit against the radiator. This helps seal the condenser to the radiator so when the electric fans turn on, it pulls air through both heat exchangers.


After that I just worked down the list. I installed the wiring for the electric fans and tested them. They move a lot of air when they are both on - I don't think I have to worry about them keeping things cool. I also decided on and ordered a fan controller today - I ended up going with the Auto Cool Guy 85 amp controller with a 3/8" plug. I decided the soft-start feature was important to have with two fans pulling about 40 amps total, and I like that the PWM will give me variable fan speed.

 

Tonight I finished running AC hose and crimping the ends. I'm getting to the point where the engine bay is filling up so the pictures aren't nearly as exciting.




We're about to have a lot of rain and some cooler weather so I'll wait a few days to uncork the receiver/dryer and vacuum down the system.

Next up is coolant reservoir and fan controller. I'm hoping those get here soon.

As part of all the fun I replaced the coolant side pipes with stainless steel ones. The "top hat" seals were also replaced. I did notice last night when I flushed the cooling system that there was some water dribbling out of the front A bank connection. Does those seals "seat" themselves when they get hot, or do I need to take it apart and seal it with some gasket maker?

 

Lovely job, superb workmanship, really impressive!
The seals do bed in; but I would remove the pipes and add some sealer. i did so when i rebuilt this area, and have had no leaks. I think it would make sense the lightly sandpaper the SS pipes where they go through into the manifolds, before adding the sealer.