Thousand Dollar Supercar's 1988 Jaguar XJ-S 3.6

[h4nd]

So good to hear you're still doing the thing. I think folks down here have been watching you, there's more and more of these in good state of paint, slabbing around the streets. You trend-setter you. Dont buy too much pertol, or you'll put the price up and I won't be able to run the Dai!

[yoeddynz]

Plus 1 for accident pics not working? 

[yoeddynz]

Also - when you're at nats can I flick you $3 so you can take me for a 5 min drive? I want to experience living like a king just for a fleeting moment. 

 

[RUNAMUCK]

Thinking about your thread update today,

You say it doesnt drive real nice at 100kph?

Weren't these a sports car of sorts?  Is there a reason why it doesn't have the nimble cat like road holding? 

 

[fletch]

45 minutes ago, RUNAMUCK said:

Thinking about your thread update today,

You say it doesnt drive real nice at 100kph?

Weren't these a sports car of sorts?  Is there a reason why it doesn't have the nimble cat like road holding? 

 

Mum had a supercharged jaaaag, it drove like shit at anything under 115kmh. Had to concentrate to keep it on the road.

Once it was sitting on 120+ it was a dream

[yoeddynz]

10 minutes ago, fletch said:

Once it was sitting on 120+ it was a dream

This ^ is actually a thing. Perhaps @Thousand Dollar Supercar needs to go faster...

 

[Corbie]

6 hours ago, yoeddynz said:

Also - when you're at nats can I flick you $5 so you can take me for a 3 min drive? I want to experience living like a king just for a fleeting moment. 

 

FTFY

[Thousand Dollar Supercar]

On 07/06/2022 at 19:22, fletch said:

Mum had a supercharged jaaaag, it drove like shit at anything under 115kmh. Had to concentrate to keep it on the road.

Once it was sitting on 120+ it was a dream

I dunno if I'm brave enough to try that. Maybe that might stop the tramlining from the aftermarket wheels, but the roll-induced oversteer presumably gets stronger the faster you go. People who modify Jaaags for the track dial out this rear wheel steering effect by (I think) eliminating the radius arms which twist the IRS assembly and locating it in a more rigid manner.

On 07/06/2022 at 18:35, RUNAMUCK said:

You say it doesnt drive real nice at 100kph?

Weren't these a sports car of sorts?  Is there a reason why it doesn't have the nimble cat like road holding? 

They were a grand tourer, with suspension designed in the late '50s for the tyre technology of the time. Maybe mine has some more worn bushes though. I have bought replacements for these ones, but I haven't fitted them yet:

(when the time comes, I will have to contend with that ridiculous-looking fastener...)

@yoeddynz I'll look into what's up with the accident pics. For the trip to Nats I'm wondering about getting new tyres for the original wheels, to give me taller gearing, a quieter ride and no tramlining. This would make you feel like a king if you just ignore all the interior rattles and the noise from the auto and the engine and the diff...

[tomble]

Well I think those tyres look cool.

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

On 07/06/2022 at 19:22, fletch said:

Mum had a supercharged jaaaag, it drove like shit at anything under 115kmh. Had to concentrate to keep it on the road.

Once it was sitting on 120+ it was a dream

I drove a bloke at work's V12 XJS yonks ago, I was thinking, shit it's smooth at 120kph.
He pointed out the speedo was in miles...

[Indiana_Jones]

Just caught up on this, sorry to hear about the accident and glad you've got her mended etc. Such a great car.

[yoeddynz]

LD28T + manual swap sounds like a grand idea, so leaving some money aside for nats.  

Get to it now they say! 

 

[Thousand Dollar Supercar]

40 minutes ago, yoeddynz said:

LD28T

I knew you'd say that when I got your comment notification. Not sure why anyone would willingly convert their weekend classic TO diesel so that it can sound like a truck, smoke like a train and not go any faster. 

[yoeddynz]

just to upset the barries at the jag meets - like @Sanfiddy did

Plus reliable engine for the rest of your life and with the levels of jag insulation you'd not even hear the mighty LD.

But mainly because this is oldschool and its just the done thing.

[Nominal]

24 minutes ago, Thousand Dollar Supercar said:

I knew you'd say that when I got your comment notification. Not sure why anyone would willingly convert their weekend classic TO diesel so that it can sound like a truck, smoke like a train and not go any faster. 

Obviously the correct answer is turbo barra. That would make a jag than runs.

[Thousand Dollar Supercar]

11 hours ago, Nominal said:

Obviously the correct answer is turbo barra. That would make a jag than runs.

Even a non-turbo Barra makes more power than my 3.6 AJ6, and it looks like you can get the engines for under $2k.

Barra engine in Jaguar XJC: https://www.streetmachine.com.au/features/hamish-davidson-barra-jaguar-xjc

But look, a $5000 parts car: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/jaguar/xjs/listing/4471498047

If only it was manual, and blue rather than grey, and for sale before Covid when I'd crashed mine, and someone hadn't bent the headlining, etc. I wonder if it idles smoothly and if the auto is good.

[dmulally]

5k for an XJS with low kms and it didnt sell! 

Blimey. I might have to keep mine. It goes off to the Jaguar Workshop in a couple of weeks to get the 4.0 head gasket done and possibly tickled. 

[Thousand Dollar Supercar]

2 hours ago, dmulally said:

5k for an XJS with low kms and it didnt sell! 

Blimey. I might have to keep mine. It goes off to the Jaguar Workshop in a couple of weeks to get the 4.0 head gasket done and possibly tickled. 

Too expensive for a parts car, too expensive to restore for what it would fetch... All the XJSs on TradeMe are always listed for twice what they'd actually sell for, and that's why Jaguar Workshop just relisted the $5k car for $6k after it didn't sell. 

Does Jaguar Workshop still have a 3-month waiting list? It would already be too late for me to get any work done there before Nats, which is a nuisance cos he's the only game in town. 

What tickling might your car possibly get? I've heard you can get free power out of the AJ6 by moving the crank timing pickup to advance the ignition timing, and that you can get less-free power with better cam profiles. Something about Jaguar designing the engine based on conservatism and guesswork.

Before Christmas, the automatic transmission place where I went for an evaluation made an adjustment to the cable that runs from my throttle linkage to my transmission. Apparently the adjustment reduced the fluid pressure in the auto. Shifts are nicer now. I'm still nervous about letting the car rev out under hard acceleration though. I will do it again before the booking on the 3rd to make sure the problem's still there.

[dmulally]

2 hours ago, Thousand Dollar Supercar said:

Too expensive for a parts car, too expensive to restore for what it would fetch... All the XJSs on TradeMe are always listed for twice what they'd actually sell for, and that's why Jaguar Workshop just relisted the $5k car for $6k after it didn't sell. 

Does Jaguar Workshop still have a 3-month waiting list? It would already be too late for me to get any work done there before Nats, which is a nuisance cos he's the only game in town. 

What tickling might your car possibly get? I've heard you can get free power out of the AJ6 by moving the crank timing pickup to advance the ignition timing, and that you can get less-free power with better cam profiles. Something about Jaguar designing the engine based on conservatism and guesswork.

Before Christmas, the automatic transmission place where I went for an evaluation made an adjustment to the cable that runs from my throttle linkage to my transmission. Apparently the adjustment reduced the fluid pressure in the auto. Shifts are nicer now. I'm still nervous about letting the car rev out under hard acceleration though. I will do it again before the booking on the 3rd to make sure the problem's still there.

Yeah there is a wait. I booked it in ages ago. 

I was lucky that old mate who runs it was driving past my place on holidays and saw my s type outside and popped in to say hi. 

Not sure what tickling but will see how much effort is involved for the head gasket and if budget left over can see what else can be done. 

It was either that or put it to the back of the project queue for an engine and manual gearbox swap. 

Such a lovely car to drive. I miss it. Especially after driving a rattlely chev ute everywhere. 

[MikeR]

Just wanted to congratulate you on a great project and useful stuff you are sharing. Love the laconic style too

(bought a 1992 XJS 4.0 recently, so consuming all I can !

r's mike (Sydney)