Hello again all you good peeps ...

This is a general thought and not restricted to our X100's or indeed any of our modern Jags so sorry if I have posted in the wrong forum but it does relate.

I am in the UK and the trend for classics over 30 years old seems to be all about originality these days. You see so many TV shows about fast Ford's from the 80's now, classic Capri's, Escort RS2000, Sierra Cosworth.... and it is all like .. oh nut and bolt originality is what matters.
It seems to be becoming an obsession here.

Whereas in the US there seems to be a different ethos. When Matt Le Blanc was first guesting on Top Gear, Clarkson asked him why he modified his 997 Turbo and his answer was very honest...
He said "Well I am a car guy, when I buy car then I think it should be maybe a little bit better than someone who just goes out and buys the same car but knows nothing and cares nothing about the engineering". I don't think he was being arrogant, just honest.

I think in the US that people are generally more willing to mod their cars, perhaps it comes from the whole history and the tradition of the NASCAR thing. Take a standard car and hot rod it.

I am maybe generalising and stereotyping here, so I apologise. There are both camps on both sides of the pond. Wayne Carrini annoys me sometimes when he gets a 60 year old barn find and says it will sell better with the original dirt so don't wash it !!? 😅😅🤣

In conclusion.....I am not a fan of over modification but not a fan of putting something in a glass case with delivery miles and looking at it either. It seems to be a getting a bit over obssessive and unhealthy IMVHO.

Surely there has to be a middle way?


I send this because I am trying to achieve the unachievable of making my S1 XKR perfect.... its impossible, perhaps I need to get a life and get out more 🤣

Sorry for babbling, just my pennies worth.

Any thoughts and opinions would be great to hear.

Cheers guys

Thanks.. Smitty 😀👍

 

Well, I'm a card-carrying NCRS member with one five-year, body-off, Top Flight. I can easily obsess over the difference between zinc phosphate on the upper and manganese phosphate finish on the lower hood latches. On the other hand, I also have a Toyota Supra that's modified almost unrecognizable under the hood, lowered and on custom wheels. Its worth probably 33% less than if I'd left it as I bought it. Probably my mistake tho was that I did all that modification to it back in the 90s when I was just out of school and really couldn't afford yet to be playing with cars and so I sold most of the original parts that I took off to fund the next modification. And when I was I competing in SCCA, it put me in "modified" classes where there was no possible way that I could ever outspend my competition. Probably should have bought a Miata and left it bone stock; put my limited funds in more "seat time" instead of parts. But oh well, I may have never won any trophies racing, but I had fun and learned from a lot of mistakes.

I always tell people now that its OK to modify, but to keep the original parts stored safely somewhere, labeled as to what they are and what car they go on, and DON'T cut, drill, weld, paint or glue anything. If you must cut, drill, weld, paint or glue something, keep the original part and get a spare from a salvage yard to mess with, maybe one that was already a little messed up to begin with. That way if when it comes time to sell the car and its worth more as original, then you still have that option to put it back. Or if not, then maybe you can post your parts on Ebay and watch a couple of originality geeks bid $300 for a little 5/16-18 bolt that goes on an L88 just because its got the correct head-marking.

But sometimes modified cars can be worth more than the original. Just depends on if its not terribly rare, the desirability of the modifications (don't paint your car Pepto-Bismol pink), and the quality of the workmanship. Yes we love to hot-rod things here in the states, but there are a lot more Messed-O-Rods than Resto-Mods. And the high-water mark is Pro-Touring where antique cars are built up with modern suspension, modern engines and drivelines and modern conveniences like air conditioning and Apple car-play so that middle-aged to senior citizen men have half a chance of convincing their wives to actually go somewhere in their classic car with them...;.......................... at least once.

And as much as we might like to brag about how much our car is worth or how much its gone up in value, the truth is no matter what, after you factor in all the other costs of ownership, the maintenance, repairs, insurance, taxes depending on where you live, the poor gas mileage, and the big one - storage (whether you bought a building to house your fleet, rented a shed for one or even if your new daily driver is outside in the weather because your classic is cozy in the attached garage, that's cost), they are all really poor investments.

There's room in this hobby for everyone but is just that, a hobby. I look at this way: I could have spent the same money on country club membership and played golf, or bought a boat and gone fishing every weekend or gone on a couple cruise ships every year, but then all I'd have would be the memories. There are far better investments than classic cars, but there aren't any better hobbies, original or modified.

 

Keep in mind that some modded repairs on these cars are far BETTER / WISER / MORE COST-EFFECTIVE than OEM. Six examples which quickly come to mind are:

- Top Hydraulics convertible top hoses and ram refurbishments.
- Switching to Mercon SP ATF in the ZF 6HP26 gearbox when the factory fill of Lifeguard 6 wears out.
- Wayne's custom front upper shock mounts.
- Replacing any of the lousy plastic Norma hose connections with brass hose barbs.
- Mina Gallery's all-aluminum air duct from the throttle body to the airbox.
- Replacing the flimsy brake pedal assembly and door latch assembly microswitches with much more robust ones from Mouser or Digi-Key.

No savvy owner would want to go back to factory specs on any of these repairs, and there are many more which could be added to this list....

 

Japanese cars are made to be modded, they can be done on a budget. My friend has a stock X100 like me and keeps it standard. He bought an 04 RX8 with a knackered rotary for 500 quid and put in the 2.5 V6 from a Skyline. Added a bigger turbo and intercooler and full Brembos with new shocks and springs. Chipped and tuned with all suspension recal and pushing about 600BHP now. Total cost £8k. I was thinking of doing something similar on a smaller scale but will keep the X100 standard as a gentleman's cruiser.
Any advice about the Japanese route? I was considering an old mid engine MR2
Cheers mate 🥰👍

 

Good points and agreed. I think it is all about cost v benefit at the end of the day. The X100 is not a sports car it is a GT Cruiser..... so yes you are right there are some things that can be done to make it better.... but I have looked into this.... for the price of an LSD and tuning and chipping my XKR and upgrading the sc pulleys and brembos and performance shocks etc etc and all the rest.. I would just keep my X100 fairly stock and buy a cheap light Jap project car. RX7/8 or MR2 or Supra to mod.
Hope this makes sense my VHO 🥰👍

 

Jon I have owned the car since 2009 when it had 52k. I have heard bad reports about the ZF Auto but I have never had any problems and it has never needed a gearbox oil change. I think I have been lucky. One thing is that I have very rarely used the J Gate option apart from to impress my friends stupidly once or twice. So with that in mind, could the J gate have caused the problem with the early ZF transmission? It just seems a bit pointless and would put strain on the auto gearbox. To me the J gate seemed a bit pointless and un necessary for a good auto box that had a very good kickdown. Just wondering what you think?

 

It's you're car you can do what you like with it. If it's modded tastefully the car will have a higher value then one that isn't with simialr history otherwise. Badcat was on the sale for some £30-40k which is a lot higher then any X100 I know of. Frankly I think it's boring seeing everyone with OEM spec cars and besides OEM isn't always that good, there are a lot of things that can be improved. Aesthetic wise I like seeing what people can do with the interiors and exterior paint jobs.

 

[QUOTE=Smitty99XKR;2564996]Jon I have owned the car since 2009 when it had 52k. I have heard bad reports about the ZF Auto but I have never had any problems......./QUOTE]
Your car does not have a ZF gearbox.

 

Anything that is manufactored is a compromise between cost and use(plastic vs brass?). For this reason, most anything on our cars could be upgraded. All depends on what the owner thinks is best. We simply have to decide what to change, and how much we are willing to spend.

 

As far as the UK is concerned if you modify anything you loose type approval .Not informing your insurance voids your insurance so its all gone into a big no no .

 

I don't know that the engineers and design team imagined their creations as anything other than perfect the way they were, but sure were a lot of them that got modded after the warranty ran out.

That makes it much harder to find one unmodified. But I've already been through the ringer with modified cars. If you don't know or fully understand what's been done to it, then you can't easily diagnose it when something goes wrong. You can't just follow the directions in the shop manual anymore. If its been rewired, you can't just follow the wiring diagram. Many repair shops won't touch a modified car and so you have to find a shop that will, typically one of those race shops and my experience with them is that they tend to treat it more like a hobby with just a little business on the side. So to me, that extra hassle is what makes a modified car worth less than a bone stock one, all else being equal. I'd like to add a Starion ESI-R or Conquest TSI to my collection. I may make a few modifications myself after purchase, like Jon89 above suggests to prevent catastrophe or improve reliability, but at least then I'd know exactly what's been done and that its been done right.

I would suggest that if our OP does decide to make any modifications, besides not throwing anything away, also document what's been done. Save receipts. Take lots of pictures during the process. Make notes on your shop manual and edit a photocopy of your wiring diagrams. Later you can include all that in the sale. Makes it easier on the next owner and may even makes them comfortable enough to pay you more for the car. Besides that, if you still have the car in 20 or 30 years, if you're like me, you won't remember details of what you did to it. You may need your own notes.

 

Yes Piston, the only thing I have that could be classed as a Mod is the stainless system. I don't think it adds any performance if I am honest. Everything else is purely cosmetic. If I upgraded any power or suspension stuff I would inform them. But the stainless cans are just cat back only so hopefully OK 👍