Okay, for those of you who didn't see the original thread, here's a quick recap:

On the 15 hour maiden voyage, I discovered the following things:

• coolant hoses & radiator most likely original
• dashboard lights inoperative
• A/C quit working mid-journey
• headliner needs replacing
• ski slope cracking
• faded clear coat on hood
• drivers window inoperative
• cruise control inoperative

Car is at my trusted mechanic's now having the important stuff taken care of. If you guys recommend anything else, let me know.

- cooling system flushed & remainder of hoses changed. If the radiator is original, that will be replaced as well.

- A/C has already been converted to R134. It's being checked for leaks and serviced.

- Brake system being checked.

- Oil change.

- Transmission flush

- check the health of the distributor.

I got the dashboard lights working - just a missing fuse...

Found this place for a complete interior wood replacement. Price is great... will report on the quality.

My mechanic will take care of the headliner and the window once we're comfortable that the mechanics are reasonably solid. Once those things are sorted, I'll indulge in some luxury upgrades: window tint and a proper stereo. Then maybe Spring time (when it's bike weather again) I'll look to add some free-flowing cats, and delete a set of resonators, add a growler air intake, and a 4 speed automatic conversion.

Lovely car... just gobbles the freeway miles :-)

 

@Flint

Sounds like you are covering most things. Also replace the short fuel hoses going from the rail to the injectors if you are not 100% sure they have been done in the past 1 or 2 years. Read up on Marelli ignition failures and cat fires as a result (sounds like you are aware as you are getting the distributor checked)

I have the godspeed wood kit on mine....

Just some info... it's not any type of wood at all. it's just a textured piece of sticky plastic with wood grain print on it, which sounds absolutely dreadful I know, however, it doesn't look half bad.....



I sanded down my original wood pieces and then stuck the godspeed pieces over the top for the dash and ski slope. For the door pieces I removed the original wood pieces completely and used some thin laminate materials then stuck the pieces to them to make them flush with the door card. If I had stuck the door pieces directly onto the wood they would have stuck out proud of the door card which would have looked wrong.

I also had the slight complication of having a facelift car, and despite what the kit says (ie up to 96) you have to do some, ahem, stitching on the door pieces to make them fit. I used a little piece of chrome to hide the fact that I had used 2 separate pieces per door and its not too bad......



On your 89 you'll be good to go on the door pieces as they will be a perfect fit

 

SARC, thanks for the info! You're right, I will need to have the injector hoses replaced as well; no indication of that in the service history I received.

I had my suspicions on the godspeed kit, but the price sure is right. The vehicle is black on black, will soon have tinted windows, and is seldom parked in the sun. Still, not having to worry about wood cracking is a good thing. The installation on your car looks great. I'm gonna order the kit. Will post pics when it's all said and done.

Did you happen to do a writeup on your stereo installation? The head unit doesn't look too flashy, and judging by the list of components in your sig, it should sound pretty nice!

 

Just got her back... the temp gauge now sits at the bottom of the N in stop and go traffic - 78˚ F in Houston today.

AC compressor is leaking - ordered a rebuilt unit w/ 1 year warranty + dryer unit.

Belts are beginning to crack and will need replacement soon (should've thought of that one)...

That's it - he said this is one to drive for another 20 years!

 

SARC, just took a look at your photos. Your car looks really, really nice. There doesn't seem to be a lot of traffic on the XJS forum, but I have an idea... Since most of our cars will need the same cosmetic upgrades to bring them up to snuff, we should we do a sticky of parts and sources. I'm thinking wood, LEDs, carpet, etc. I think these are the major components that immediately freshen up even the most tired interior.

 

@Flint

Sounds like you have a good one for sure !

Agree there isn't a lot of XJS traffic on this board, although Doug is great and a frequent helper, and there are a few others. The XJS board on jaglovers has more content but I really don't like the board format as its very hard to search or read.

Not sure how to make a sticky..... The most detailed post I did on my interior is here....

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...64&postcount=4

The remote locking is a must do, for 40 bucks its a great "luxury" add-on. Your central locking controller will be in a different place as your car is pre-facelift but the principle will be the same.

Since then I have completely recovered my seats using leather covers bought off this guy on ebay....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Jagua...e#ht_779wt_907

This guy must have the original patterns and drawings because the quality of these set covers is amazing. My seats now look completely brand new. It was, however, probably the hardest job I've ever done on a car. It look me 2 full days per seat to do as the seats are incredibly complex.

Nothing special for the stereo... it's a standard single DIN so anything will go in there. I actually wish I'd got one that had green backlighting as it would go better with the interior, but anyway. Speakers were a direct drop in replacement (and will be different sizes compared to yours anyway I think) It's pretty difficult to get good sound in a convertible no matter what you do, so I didn't go crazy.

Please, please, please get your injector hoses changed...... it would be a tragedy to lose a good XJS in this way !

 

My dad had the tempeture gauge problem wound up having to replace the cluster. Be careful when a replacement ac compresser is installed. the first one was out of spec and damaged the hood.