These are all reasonable and valid questions. I am closer to an answer today.

Much of why anyone makes the choices they do depends on their perspective and motivation. Necessity certainly is a strong motivator. I knew that this '82 was a grab bag, full of unknowns the moment I saw it. I have to admit that I enjoy sorting out problems and finding solutions that another person can't fathom.

I also am generally repulsed by our global disposable lifestyle. Why care for or repair something when we can buy new and float the cost on credit? Better yet, why not run up unmanageable debt, declare bankruptcy and let other people shoulder the burden?

Money is not the only example of a disposable mentality. I've seen plenty of people get tired of their pets and have them put down or dump them somewhere just because they don't want to bother with them anymore. Their relationships and family generally aren't managed much better. In general, humans dispose of anything that gets in their way, including people and leave any mess for someone else to clean up.

If I have to give up on this '82, I'm going to have a good, undisputable reason, so I know I've given it my best shot and learned something valuable in the process. I guess that's the best explanation of my intentions with this Jaguar. Please don't think that I'm passing judgements on anyone on this web site. I appreciate the help and advice, and enjoy the dialog. ;-]
The best I can do is manage my own life.

Day 11
I removed the cam cover. It was quite a job with several hoses and wire connections breaking simply because they were so brittle from age and heat. I don't like the looks of the varnish on the cam lobes. It shows that previous owners didn't change the oil much and that (as I knew) it hasn't been run for along time.

I closely examined the valves and found that the intake valve on cylinder 2 (the one with zero compression) acted oddly. When the engine was turned over, the valve head and stem shifted sideways, plus it didn't completely close. I couldn't see clearly enough to know whether there was something stuck between the valve and the seat. I speculate that the valve guide is warn from the sideways movement, though. If the valve is bent, what would anyone suspect caused it? I could see that the valve seat was firmly in place with no movement.

I made a composite picture of the cam shaft in three sections. The intake manifold gaskets were all cracked and feel apart when I removed the manifold. I noticed that the manifold gasket on the right side has been replace. It's a one piece gasket instead of individual ones on the left side.

BQ

 

BlackQueen,
I knew that you thoroughly enjoy working on this car. Why else would you do work on the car when it is 5F outside ?
I would love to have the time, energy and knowledge to do what you are doing. I applaud what you are doing and hope it all works out well.
As an old friend of mine (and 1000s), Jerry Garcia, would say--Keep on Truckin.
Happy New Year,
Jomo

 

My first XJS was a very neglected 79. But that was in 1984. The original owner was a playboy rich kid that his dad had bought for him when he graduated college.

I had no knowledge of a Jaguar, much less a V12. I took the entire top end down, camshafts and all, did a valve adjustment, plugs, plug wires, fuel lines, freed up the distributor advance mechanism, and new vacuum advance unit. I can't describe the elation I had when it started right up after all of that. My only problem was no oil pressure (oil change). I failed to read how much oil it took to refill the V12, only having experience on muscle cars lol. Anyway, I was sharp enough to shut it off almost immediately. Cured that, and I was done.

I say all of that to say this: I too enjoy these cars. I think this current car is my 7th XJS. Of all of them, I would say the 95 6.0 was most enjoyable.

If money were the only motivating factor, I would be most wise to dump this current XJS, and move on. I happen to be a convertible guy. My point on this car, is from my experience, you could EASILY spend 12, 14, maybe even up to 20K to make it represent your efforts. I just hope you aren't disappointed. I'll keep my opinions to myself, and help all I can from here, lol. I really do wish you well with this, and am enjoying the thread.

 

Also, how are you viewing the valve seat? I have a V12 on my stand right now, and I can see the valve stem, top of the valve, even the guide. But not the seat. Two of the lobes on the B side of the engine appear as though the tappet block isn't riding the cam. This would indicate to me that the seat has dropped, and is keeping the valve from fully closing.

 

Correction: cam follower isn't riding the cam.

 

As I shine a light down into the intake port, I can see a distinct line and difference in color between the aluminum and the steel valve seat. When the valve opens and closes, there's no spreading of that line, so I'm assuming that the valve seat has not dropped out of the casting. It looks very odd to me that the valve moves sideways. I figured that a bent valve would just go up and down, but not close completely. The view from the camshaft lobe looks normal when it's pushing on the valve.

I'm not sure what to do about this. Perhaps I'll pull the head and see if a valve job can fix it.

BQ

 

First, I completely agree with your points about the throwaway society.
Second I congratulate you on your work so far and like you I get enormous satisfaction and a sense of achievement from making things function properly that others would throw away.

Like SC6 (who seems uncannily able to diagnose valve seat trouble !) I am afraid you do have a misaligned valve seat/bad valve/bad guide. Any sideways movement of the valve or stem must be a head off job.

A head job is doable in car, but hard work because access is such a pain, particularly removing the exhaust manifold and accessing some of the head fixings. If you can, pulling out the engine and gearbox as a combo makes everything much easier and positively enjoyable. Plus all sorts of little jobs can be done so when it goes back in it is all 100%. I pulled my engine in a day for the first time ever. Bonnet off, rad out and with a decent crane it is not that bad, though somewhat nerve wracking as this giant lump emerges! This is a pic:



If you have not yet downloaded the Great Palm's book from Jaglovers, it is a very good plan to do so. He is very good on head work, and all sorts of other stuff that us vital. Valve guides are replaceable, incidentally, and everything on this engine is too. Also, the engine is very tolerant of the odd new bit being put in and just bolted back together, and running thereafter perfectly well. Finally, decent second hand HE heads are always on ebay in the UK, if not the USA, cheap. As to budget for mechanical work (not bodywork) I think 3000 USD would cover everything, if you buy carefully, gaskets for the engine, the odd valve etc, suspension rubbers, shocks etc etc.

Good luck anyway
Greg

 

I totally agree, nothing goes in my bin before I have at least tried to repair it. If I fail the first time I usually put it aside so I can have a think about a different approach to the problem second time around.

As for the unmanageable debt, I just got my first credit card at age 46 as the bank made me have one when I refinanced the house. They really didn't like it when I dropped the credit limit to $500 the day after they gave me a $5000 limit.

My wife calls it tight fisted,maybe she is right. But most things end up working again. I rebuilt a $15 set of bathroom scales recently for $4....it did take half a day though to work out how the thing worked.

Love the thread, keep us updated. We do love a picture or two.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with Greg on pulling the engine! I can't count the number of hours I spent once just changing the exhaust manifold gaskets! What a job!

Also, if this is the path you take, start looking for the tool to pull the heads. The engine I am working on now seems to have the heads welded on. I had a friend make 4 of the small plates shown in the book, and so far, all I've done is bent bolts.

 

Day 12

Hope springs eternal. I got to thinking, "What is there's something jammed in bad valve just out of sight and preventing it from closing." I rotated the cam so the valve was fully open, bent a hanger wire and worked it around between the valve head and seat to see if I could knock anything loose. There was nothing there. ;-[ We can't find answers if we don't ask questions.

Below is the best photo I could manage of the inside of the intake port. Not much can be seen other than the edge of the seat. It must be crooked. There can't be any other explanation. How long it has been that way is unknown.

What happens if the injector is disconnected from this cylinder and the engine is operated on the other eleven cylinders? Would the piston pumping up and down put odd pressure changes in the intake manifold? Even though there's no compression, that doesn't mean that air wouldn't be sucking in and blown out. It's sort of odd to think about it.

BQ

 

A intake valve stuck open, seems to me is just like having a big vacuum leak. Seems to me, for this, the head(s) simply have to come off. And it wasn't just one lobe on that cam that appears to have been running with little to no constant wear. I can send you pics of a cam that seem to be wearing properly.

 

Very sorry to have the worst proven. Nothing for it but to remove the head, or buy a second hand known good engine. Or find another car and keep this one for spare parts, which is in any case a very good plan. FWIW, once the engine is out, or another engine sourced, it is all perfectly doable and you will have a lovely clean engine to install!

Your "run on 11" idea is a non starter, besides which, knowing it was doing so would drive you crazy!

Greg

 

Yes, it's time to find a replacement engine. Of course, this is the worst time of the year to go hunting for and dragging heavy parts back home. Snow hit last night and the next two days are to have lows of -4 F. I may have to just sit and read Kirby's book with a hot cup of coffee to prepare myself for the wrench work. Abe Lincoln said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening my ax." Time well placed.

During the dis-assembly to get to the valves, I have to admit I was surprised how easily the rubber hoses snapped off. I've had other experience with seventies and eighties vehicles rotted rubber and plastic, but this one is the worst.

When I was pulling the parts off, I thought about the fellow who said he recommended changing spark plugs every 10,000 miles. I asked myself if I wanted to do this job once a year? Are the Iridium plus lifetime or would they need changing, too? If they were lifetime, $10 per plug would be worth the cost.

A new question I have is about the rear engine oil seal. Many years ago when I first started reading about the V12 engine, a comment was made about the rear engine oil seal being too small and prone to early failure. Did Jaguar do anything about that issue?

BQ

 

The rear oil seal on HE engines very rarely leaks unless disturbed. earlier engines like mine have a rope seal, later ones a slightly different casting and crank machining and have a more modern lipseal. Both are usually fine unless disturbed by removing the crank.

Love the President Lincoln story.
Greg

 

Day 13

Not much work could be done on the engine due to dropping temperatures. I decided to do repair research and find my engine number. I had to vacuum out more rats nest and more of those odd Californian nuts the critter stored all around the engine compartment to get to the back of the V where the number is stamped. Jaguar certainly didn't make it easy to find and read.

All I could find was 10HE82. That doesn't match the decoding sequences shown in Rob Reilly's article. I'm assuming that the number means that this block was the tenth HE block made in 1982. The "H" was very faint and looked more like an "F", but that makes little sense. Does anyone have any suggestions what this number means?

Thanks!

BQ

 

I don't think too much thought has to go into it, if you are looking to replace the engine, other than if the one you are buying is any good. There are some minor differences, but any 81-93 5.3 V12 should do the trick. The marelli engined cars have mounting bosses for the "sensors" but even those are only a problem when trying to install a non-Marelli engine in a Marelli car. (if that makes sense)

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Since my engine number does not match with the info in the articles, what should I expect when I look at the used engine numbers? If the engine is out of the car, there's no reference to VIN. I was surprise what I found was so different.

What do you think of the following engine?

BQ

 

I honestly don't know what to tell you. I'm suspect of every V12 engine out there, because I've been bit, (twice) lol. I would want to bolt it to a engine stand that would allow for a starter to be connected, and do a compression test first thing. The 6.0 I have, came in a complete car, that I was able to get running, do all I wanted to ensure its worthiness, and yet here I am about to tear it down, and do a refresh. All because one cylinder is lower than the others. The car I have now, once I got it running, ran great. Had great compression. And yet, with no warning at all, dropped a valve seat. Go figure. This 6.0? 127,000 miles, looks great, runs great. But I don't trust it without tearing it down. What you are going through now, is what has kept the V8 conversion guys in business for years....

 

Hi -I don't think you'd gain anything by adding lacquer thinner to stripper, (I've mixed them and nothing goes bang btw) - stripper is plenty powerful and will eventually remove any varnish, however, removing the stripper residue must be done before the stripper "dries" as that stuff can be very hard indeed to remove.
Even though many strippers are so-called "water soluble", you will get best results by cleaning up with vast gobs of Methyl Hydrate. You can use water later to remove what's left of the Methyl Hydrate/stripper slurry but I'd finish up with more Methyl Hydrate or even better Methyl or any kind of alcohol to absorb any remaining water.

hth

Larry

 

Larry,
Thanks a bunch for your input. Are there any commercial product names for the Methyl Hydrate that you'd recommend?

BQ