And there was light

As per http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/10/dashboard-instrument-panel-lighting.html

I still had an outstanding item to cover. Unfortunately I wasn't able to source this part newly (bulb holder - part nr 13H5270J).

So I figured to drop a note on the XJS FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/4185237245
hoping someone would have it spare for me.

This did trigger off some reactions, see link of my posting:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4185237245/permalink/10154581391437246/

The first reaction was actually quite good as someone mentioned they were available at:

http://www.jagbits.com/product/13H5270J.html

For which I remarked it was fairly expensive. Which triggered another response that I shouldn't have bought a Jaguar if I consider parts expensive.

In any case, a friendly owner in the USA responded since he had this available as he was stripping down a 1982 XJS. So I made contact with him and also asked if he had a trunk interior light as well. As one side was missing, only a small broken piece left:

I was unable to find this part on the online catalogues available at the known Jaguar sites. As such I couldn't find the part number either to search further. But luckily he had this part available as well. The lightholder is made by Hella:

I agreed a fair price with him but the shipping costs were just as much, sigh! Then I asked about some other items of my interest, which he had as well. So with this extra item it justified the expensive shippings cost easily in my opinion. More on this other item in another upcoming blog.

Typical enough I shortly afterwards found the bulb lightholder available at this company, which is really a good source (and now added to the sidebar). And only for € 1,75 !

https://en.partacus.de/spareparts/detail/e0bc23a1edcae83c52550790ee375b90/

By now the parts have arrived and the install of the trunk light was a  1 minute job. And both sides have now got new bulb lights as well. These small jobs are so rewarding:

And then fitting the missing bulbholder with a new bulb light in the instrumentpanel was another easy job. So happy it's all complete and working now.

When last time I did remove the instrumentpanel one piece of black clothing fell off as the Original glue was dried out. So that hat to be fixed as well. The same goes for both cover panels which also had their clothing no longer firmly attached to it. All nicely glued again and presto. It's all in the detail.

Magazine Practical Classics: The top 100 cars voted by You!

And on NR 35 ; the Jaguar XJ-S on the rise!

Magazine Jaguar World : Jaguar XJ-S vs Ferrari 400i

I purchased this magazine last week and it arrived today. Typical enough I had written the following for a blog update but not released it yet:

There appears to be quite some commonalities between these cars.

The XJS of course had the difficult task to follow up on the well beloved E-Type. An iconic sports car with looks that were highly appreciated. In fact Enzo Ferrari considered it one of the most beautiful car ever.

The 400 had also the difficult task to outbeat it's curvy predecessors. Although the 2+2 series were never truly beloved or admired. Simply because they are not true sport cars and as such considered less interesting.

When both cars were launched at the time they stunned the majority of the audience, or should I say dissapointed them. It was a brave decission to launch these completely new designs and brake with tradition. It simply opened a new era. If you look back now it makes perfect sense. Both cars are a true seventies product.

Apart from the design aspects the XJS could not live up to the expected sport aspirations as was the case on the E-type. It was more considered a grand tourer. The same story goes for the 400, especially when the automatic version was introduced. But it's exactly what these cars are, Gran Turismo's.

Despite all the critics they both had a very long production run and were sold in fairly high numbers.

Interestingly both made use of the same automatic gearbox, a THM400 by GM.

Furthermore they are both also 2+2 but in essence only kids will fit in the back.

They both have the typical classic long bonnet and fitted with a respectable boot for Luggage.

Apart from the different designs the other big difference is the drive itself, the XJS is more refined and very quiet, it's like a flying carpet. The 400 feels firm and powerfull and is very loud, it's like a locomotion.

Now have a read and see what they have to say about the XJS and 400. Click the picture to enlarge.
Oh, another very unique feature is that both cars used for this article happen to have a manual gearbox. And in this case the Ferrari is not red either.

Magazine Fast Lane March 1987 : Tainted love

I came ahold of this time period article with an interesting review about a used XJS. One section is particular interesting as it describes a problem that I have ran into: a stuck gearbox:

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/08/automatic-transmission-stuck-in-parking.html

The article does have some other gremlins mentioned. Click the picture to enlarge the article:

After last weeks failed attempt as per blog:

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/10/fuel-filters-and-fuel-pump-replacement.html

I had to make a new attempt. To my surprise I was unable to locate my new purchased fuelpump. I couldn't believe it, completely lost. So I had to order a new one. This time around I figured to test it correctly first to ensure the + and - pole were correct. So I hooked it up with leads to a battery and it turns out it's correct. So last time around my assumption was incorrect and it was blowing instead of sucking because I reversed it without checking first. Sigh, I'm such an idiot.

In any case, I mounted the new one and it was working instantly. I have to say this one seems to make more noise then the Original one. It's a known complaint on some sources I have been reading recently.

After a small test drive it was however playing up again. On further inspection it turned out the sump tank wasn't filling up. So again I had to drain the main tank (I'm getting good at this). Although I had cleaned/rinsed the sump tank last time around it was of course silly to think the main tank would be properly clean, see blog:

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/10/gas-tank-sump-tank-contamination.html

Oh, also this time around the fuel gauge no longer appeared to be working fine (while last time around it magically started working by itself). When removing the sender unit and shining some light into the main tank it became very apparently the bottom was heavily contaminated just like the sump tank:

So very likely the hose from the main tank to the sump tank is heavily contaminated or partly blocked with dirt resulting into gas flowing very slowly into the sumptank and consequently drying up and the engine stalling. When disconnecting the fuel hose between the fuel pump and sump tank I blown air into the sump tank and I think this did the trick as an air of dirt left the tank via the sender unit hole. to avoid any future clogging up I guess I have no other choice then to de-install the main tank and have it properly cleaned and give it a new coating. To be continued.

Battery trickle conditioner charger

As I know the previous owner had installed a new battery I was interested to keep it in a good state. On my other cars and bikes I had already wasted money on new batteries as I wasn't bothered to keep them charged. When browsing around I had seen Jaguar branded battery trickles which I thought was cool:

The price was however not cool and twice as much (about 130 US Dollar) as a regular charger. It appears these Jaguar chargers happens to be CTEK chargers only with a different cover and a Jaguar logo. I then found out the Jaguar part nr: C2P25122. When searching with this number I found various sources but the prices were almost the same everywhere. Then I tried SNGBarrat and noticed they could offer it locally for only € 60,-  Excellent! That's even cheaper then a real CTEK charger.

It's handy to have it with a cigaret charger so I don't have to fiddle around with extra wires on the battery. And I received the package yesterday. Nice. It did have an American power socket, so I only need to buy a converter plug.