Jaguar XJS TWR 84

Magazine : Jaguar World - Early XJ-S - Eight wonder - Ed abbott

It's another true story:

Jaguar XJR-S

 Wasn't aware of this one untill I bumped into this photo. Looked it up on Wikipedia:

XJR-S[edit]

Jaguar XJR-S 6.0 V12

From 1988 to 1993, a special high performance XJR-S version equipped with the 5.3 litres (5,344 cc) HE V12 engine was produced by the newly formed JaguarSport, a separate company owned in a ratio of 50:50 by Jaguar and TWR Group Limited specialising in developing high performance Jaguar sports cars. The car had a distinctive body kit, special alloy wheels, a unique suspension system utilising modified coil springs and Bilstein shocks, a luxurious interior with Connolly Autolux leather along with walnut wood trim, and handling improvements. The first 100 of these cars were named "Celebration Le Mans" to commemorate Jaguar's 1988 win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and were only sold in the UK. Between 1988 and 1989, a total of 326 XJR-S cars were produced with the 5.3 litres (5,344 cc) engine which has a power output of 237 kW (318 hp). After September 1989, the displacement of the engine was increased to 5,993 cc (6.0 L) and it was now equipped with Zytek fuel injection and engine management system. This was different from the standard 6.0-litre engine used in the late XJS models and was unique to this model. The power output was raised to 245 kW (329 hp) at 5,250 rpm and 495 N⋅m (365 lb⋅ft) of torque at 3,650 rpm due to a higher compression ratio of 11.0:1, a new forged steel crankshaft, increased bore and forged alloy pistons. A modified air intake system and a low loss dual exhaust system was also standard on the model. The engine was mated to the 3-speed GM400 automatic transmission utilising a recalibrated valve body and had faster shift times. The car was equipped with Dunlop D40 M2 tyres for better grip. These modifications resulted in a top speed of 260 km/h (160 mph). During a comparison test conducted by Motorsport magazine in 1997, the XJR-S outperformed the other competitors which included a BMW 850i, Porsche 928 GT and a Ferrari Mondial.^[11][12]

A total of 787 coupés and 50 convertible cars were built for the world market. In the United States, to commemorate the XJ220 launch in 1992, a limited number of 100 XJR-S coupes and convertibles were produced for the American market only. These included 22 Signal Red coupes, 22 Signal Red convertibles,^[13] 22 Jet Black coupes, 27 Jet Black convertibles, 2 Flamenco Red coupes, and the Silver Frost 'Press Cars' of 4 coupes and 1 convertible.^[citati

Magazine : Practical classics - Jaguar XJS

Click to enlarge, or download the pictures and view them large locally. 

I can only agree with the remark: "there has never been a better time to buy Jaguar's majestic GT"
They have been very cheap over the past years. I never really understood why it's a disliked model, always loved it.

TWR Group A Jaguar XJS Racing

 Click to enlarge

Advert

 

Happy XMAS

 A bit early but here goes:

The great travellers : Jaguar and Jaeger getting away in style

 

XJS Buying Guide

 Click to enlarge and then download it locally and view it in large locally. Thanks for sharing Frank!

Buying & Selling Jaguar XJS Coupé

Click to enlarge (or save locally and open).

'82 XJS with the cursed Jaguar V12 comes into the CAR WIZARD's shop. Can he get it running?

One of the few channels I follow. I had already spotted the XJS in the background on some previous episodes. So I was very happy to see this episode which has some very good tips and advise which (luckily) was unaware off but nevertheless good to know. Enjoy:

Jaguar development centre, Whitley - Coventry

 

Uncommon luxury is our standard

 

A question of taste - BMW 635 CSI / Bitter SC / Jaguar XJS

 I missed out to buy the Novermber edition of the Classic & Sports Cars magazine. But a friend made some screenshots. If you want to read it then you need to save the photo's locally and enlarge it.

Time to buy an XJS

 https://jagxjsparts.com/blogs/tip-of-the-week/time-to-buy-an-xjs

Advert - the V-12 Jaguar XJ-SC Cabriolet

 

Custom Jaguar V12 Throttle Bushings

It has been a while! The usual, other priorities forced me to focus on other activities. I was so pleased to work on the XJS yesterday. Even though it was only a 10 min job. But one I liked very much. Again the inspiration was provided by "living with a classic" - the Swedish Jag enthusiast.

Watch this video episode to see what I'm talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y73oHSv4gcY

When I checked mine I was shocked to see they were complete gone on both sides. I can't believe I did not spot this before:

So I reached out to Jonas Loda:via jag.improver@gmail.com to order a set. Turned out I had been in touch with him before as he's the guy who made the new radiator banjo bolt:

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/323272126886?ul_noapp=true

Unfortunately sold out now but maybe there is a new batch upcoming.

Check out this website for many other usefull parts: https://foreverxjs.com/xj-s-parts (it does list some of the other parts created by Jonas).

In any case, I had these parts at my home for some weeks now. And yesterday I fitted them. A bit of a fiddle job but it was an easy and quick job. So happy with this improvement. Unfortunately I was not able to test it as the car did not wanted to start up. After a few cranks the battery died ... sigh.

At least hereby the photo's:

The season is not over: Take her out!

 

Stereo Radio Cassette Model DAC 4066 Owners Guide

Despite I might want to change my radio for an analogue version I did happen to bump into this specific cassette on Ebay. And of course I had to have it.

So yes, I have bought it. It even comes with a part no: DAC 4577

I'm surprised to see how quick this got indexed by Google once uploaded on Youtube. So for those curious out there, this is what's on the tape:

See also my blog about the other tape:

https://erwinxjs.blogspot.com/2017/09/jaguar-xjs-total-driving-experience-tape.html

and the actual one with the recording:

https://erwinxjs.blogspot.com/2017/09/jaguar-xj-s-total-driving-experience.html

JML407 - Clarion E951 car radio surround trim / frame

Last week a friend of mine shared this photo of a car radio with me via Instagram:

Oh cool, I replied, that's the exact same radio as in my XJS. I mentioned to him that I was still on the hunt for the matching radio surround trim.

So he did do a search, apparently he must have looked it up on my blog, as he used the part code nr. And thus he found it instantly for sale in a Dutch online shop:

https://smalldetails.nl/wordpress/product/jlm407-radio-surround-trim/

I was baffled. Trust me that I tried everything to hunt one down. Apparently this must be a very recent online shop. It does not look professional either. It's created by someone who purchased a leftover NOS stock of Jaguar parts. I just checked the senders address and it's coming from this company:  http://www.brabocars.com/  This company is still alive though.

Oh well, the price is very reasonable. But the shipping costs weren't. Despite the item can be send via regular post using normal rates it was send by default via UPS for a fix rate of € 10,-   I asked if he could offer a cheaper postage option but this was not possible as he also wanted to be assured items were tracked and delivered to avoid claims. Bummer. So I bought both frames. Meaning I have a spare now.

I have to admit, despite I all worked it out at the time, this radio is the correct one my XJS. But my friend also remarked the analogue version would be a better fit. Now I have gone through all this hassle I have to admit I do concur with him. So maybe I might change it all together. STAY TUNED!

This is how the radio is currently fitted. At the time I could slide it in entirely, I suspect the radio frameholder is not good.

So now I have taken it out completely - it was quite a hassle as the frame was stuck.

And with the radio out I now did put the surround trim on it. Looks good now. Guess I now need to find either a proper radio holder so it slides in nicely. Or, find the proper analogue Jaguar radio.

Another one bites the dust

It's washing time. Although the car is usually under a cover it still ended up collecting quite a bit of dust. As I had to move out some other cars today it was a good time to sweep the floor and wash the car. It started up fairly easy after such a long periode of standing still. I have to admit I tried to start it up last week but the battery required to be recharged (sigh).

I'm still very pleased with the car despite the huge amount of work it did require. I like the looks, the color, interior, the whole lot. Although it does have some "minor" optical items to be worked upon it looks pretty okay after the wash.

Now the floor has been sweeped and the car has run a little I hope it now remains leak free. Something I can check next week.

Something I did notice today is that the power steering is working fine and does not make a  squeeking noise. At the time I had to fill it up to overcome the squeek. But also since it started to leak which is very likely caused by a hardened bad seal.  Curious to see if it still leaks, maybe it had been filled up to much. I know I checked the dipstick properly at the time. So not sure. I will check this next week.

Window of opportunity

Yes, I'm back, so watch it! Finally I have some more time on side. Meaning I now slowly can look into fixing up the Jag again. In fact I wanted to do this already the past 2 weekends. But when I wanted to order the fuel injector service kit it turned out the UK Webshop was closed due to Corona, sigh. So I figured to tackle another issue; distributor servicing. For which I only needed a gasket. The SNG Barratt webshop showed it was on stock but the shipping costs was insane, 3x times more then the item itself. So I called them and requested to send it via normal postage mail, which was possible. The item itself was on on stock but only available in the UK, so it had to be ordered, which took up another 2 weeks. In fact it arrived today. Oh well.

Furthermore I'm very surprised to see this blog is still attracting quite a few visitors on a daily basis. Apparently it must be some kind of usefull source for other folks. Which is good. In return, for inspiration, I'm often viewing Living with a classic on Youtube which often has quality updates on work carried out on his Jaguars. As such I recalled this video about fixing up the electric windows.

It's a fairly easy job and does not take up much time. And it's very rewarding work. A perfect job to get into the mood to get my XJS up to snuff.

Here is the video in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8zupWZHTps




And yes, my windows had this kind of trouble, you had to click several times before it moved down or up again. Very annoying. I remembered this video but was not bothered to view it first. While I'm now writing up this blog I quickly went over it and noticed the switch in this video is slightly different on the inside and the connectors used. But the principle is the same though. Find below my photo's on this exercise. Here goes:

step 1) unscrew the 3 screws of the top plate. Lift it up and unplug both cables:

Step 2) The switches can then be pushed out, on both sides they have 2 clips wich needs to be pushed inside to get the switch out. Note on how they are fitted, else you will have 50% change to reverse them.

Step 3) Open up the switch. Wait, take the switch to the kitchen table with good light. To open up the switch is a bit of a fiddle job, see the video. If you are unlucky, like me, the spring and pin inside might jump out - hence you need to do this at a clean place with good light, just take your time. Sorry for the poor first photo, this is what comes out:

Step 4) As you can see the contacts are very dirty and some are slightly burned. On the photo below you can see the contacts on the inside are even completely black, rather then shiny copper. This is what step 4 is about; cleaning. I used a cloth and a screwdriver to clean it out first. Then using a piece of sandpaper to give it a good scratch and make the contacts shiny again. 

Step 5: Well, put everything back together. A good tip in the video, grease the spring so it will stick in the pin. Again, a bit of a fiddle job to put everything together.

Then I made a quick test and it worked like a charm. Really happy with this improvement.