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Thousand Dollar Supercar's 1988 Jaguar XJ-S 3.6


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1 hour ago, morkster said:

What's your experience been with non-rubber bushings, like the one's you've fitted to your lower wishbones etc.? My experience with that type of bushing is they don't last. I had some nolathanes dry rot and fall to bits in my xr8. I'm pretty sure all the oem rubber bushings are still available.

I've heard that about poly bushings too, and seen an example. The internet seems to think it's just variable quality - some bushings (poly or rubber) are fine and some are crappy. Nothing bad happened to the poly ones I installed in my Alfa.

You're right I could still have bought OEM Metalastic bushings for my XJ-S. They're cheap and some owners like them because Jags are supposed to be about ride quality. I think the one in my car which was coming apart must have been damaged by oil, and the ones which were worn out were just in a spot that's known for wear in the XJ-S. Assuming they're the originals from 1988 I can't complain. I went with SuperPro without doing my homework because I just assumed any British OEM part would be crappy / old stock, and I liked the convenience of being able to pick up the SuperPros off the shelf on the weekend. Time will tell if they fall apart and I have to do this all again.

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1 hour ago, scooters said:

Using the A/C and the loud pedal I averaged 12l/100km

thats not bad.... my 2.6 datto is about the same economy.

 

Ah, but do you have a four speed auto (with '4 SPEED' proudly written by the selector) and a lockup torque converter that comes in clumsily at about 80kph? :king:

Around town the Jag's economy is not so flash - when coasting at 60kph (foot off the throttle) it uses 3~4 l/100km just to idle the engine.

Economy-related Barry fact - due to being an automotive grandfather clock, the XJ-S was aerodynamically average for 1988 with a drag coefficient of  0.40. That's worse than most new designs of the era and only better than boxy Volvos, the Countach and a 2.6 datto. :P

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficient#Typical_drag_coefficients 

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19 minutes ago, Thousand Dollar Supercar said:

Ah, but do you have a four speed auto (with '4 SPEED' proudly written by the selector) and a lockup torque converter that comes in clumsily at about 80kph? :king:

Around town the Jag's economy is not so flash - when coasting at 60kph (foot off the throttle) it uses 3~4 l/100km just to idle the engine.

Economy-related Barry fact - due to being an automotive grandfather clock, the XJ-S was aerodynamically average for 1988 with a drag coefficient of  0.40. That's worse than most new designs of the era and only better than boxy Volvos, the Countach and a 2.6 datto. :P

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficient#Typical_drag_coefficients 

actually you nailed it. no 4th speed no lock up here. I poor old jatco 3 speed has the toque converter power of a hairy goat. 

I guess the only thing left is to know the weight of your fine vehicle? 

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5 minutes ago, scooters said:

I guess the only thing left is to know the weight of your fine vehicle? 

A kerb weight of close to 1700 of your finest kilograms I believe. The internet says 1660kg for the manual transmission. You could probably find small cars from the '80s that weighed half as much!

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On 06/05/2019 at 21:11, Thousand Dollar Supercar said:

Economy-related Barry fact - due to being an automotive grandfather clock, the XJ-S was aerodynamically average for 1988 with a drag coefficient of  0.40. That's worse than most new designs of the era and only better than boxy Volvos, the Countach and a 2.6 datto. :P

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficient#Typical_drag_coefficients 

That's the same as an SD1... The Vitesse dropped to 0.36 by adding the front and rear spoilers. Racekar. 

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1 hour ago, morkster said:

I thought 6 and 12 o'clock movement was wheel bearings.

Maybe I'm overthinking it, but if the wheel bearings were worn, why wouldn't I be able to move the wheels equally in any direction? Or maybe hear some grumblings when spinning the wheels?

WOF people would often pull me up on my Alfa 33's rear wheel bearings, which were tricky to tighten the right amount due to the staked nuts they used. This is my only reference and I haven't done my homework on Jaguar's setup yet.

1 hour ago, Nominal said:

Looking good, not ready for the graveyard yet I hope!

Never. That was the idea behind getting a not-too-rusty car that's hopefully always going to be worth something - I was supposed to find it easier to swallow each time this one put its hand out for more money. The original thousand dollar supercar was great, but it used to take a thousand dollars in rust repair every few years only to still be worth a thousand dollars.

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