Jaguars....

[Spectre]

Edit: When I started this thread, it was just to show off my two Jaguars I had at the time. Now one of them is gone, so this thread has gone on to document the progress on the remaining one, my XJ6 Series III. If you want to see the car that replaced my departed 2000 XKR, the 1995 XJR has its own thread here: http://forums.finalgear.com/post-you...n-black-21689/

The latter part of this thread is now devoted to the upgrades the XJ6 Series III is getting. Enjoy the read; regular progress updates will be posted.

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My 2000 XKR:





My 1987 Series III XJ6 Vanden Plas (modified, has some TWR bits, looking for more - and a supercharger is going on it later this year):

[countvlad]

The 2000 XKR will have the massive 4.2 litre engine won't it.

[Ianspeed]

Ooooh! The XJ6 has been a fasination of mine for a long time. Very unique and huge potential. How much did TWR do on that model? Is there any clubs online on tweaking them?

Man, this is a bad thread. I could so see myself with one of those to work on.... sweet cars. More pics?

Oh no, look what you started: I'm googling for TWR XJ6s!!

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by countvlad

The 2000 XKR will have the massive 4.2 litre engine won't it.

No, the 2000 has the earlier and slightly smaller predecessor, the 4.0. It does, however, have the supercharger and associated bits. Mine also has a pulley, a chip, and some other toys on it.

And it cost me less than $27K.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

*drool* I want a Jag something fierce.

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by Ianspeed

Ooooh! The XJ6 has been a fasination of mine for a long time. Very unique and huge potential. How much did TWR do on that model? Is there any clubs online on tweaking them?

Man, this is a bad thread. I could so see myself with one of those to work on.... sweet cars. More pics?

Oh no, look what you started: I'm googling for TWR XJ6s!!

There's no real aftermarket (other than the idiots swapping Chevy engines into them, ugh) as of yet. There's one starting up now, but its in its infancy and it may not survive.

What TWR did to the Series III is a fairly short list, all of which were optional and none of which reached the States (I'm having to buy all my bits from England and Europe):

Springs, shocks, steering bushings, rear suspension bushings and realignment, manual gearbox, steering wheel, *functional* spoiler, full bodykit (which dropped the cD to .375!), wheels and tires (which I've bypassed in favor of more modern equivalents), brakes, and a few other small bits. You could also get them to fit a Getrag or other manual transmission.

TWR didn't do many XJ6 S3 upgrades. I've been ten years getting what I've got so far (without breaking the bank) - and my spoiler was apparently the last new and unused one in what was the TWR inventory (since they're now out of business).

Mine's getting MegaSquirt + EDIS and an ATI Procharger blower this summer, and next winter it's getting a Toyota W58 5 speed manual. Yes, it's keeping the Jaguar engine.

The wheels are 17x8" mounting Kumho Ecsta MXs in 255/40ZR17. Sticky as all heck, eliminate some of the slight vagueness in handling, and the ride comfort is almost exactly the same as the original Pirellis in 205/70VR15. Its just got lightyears more grip, that's all.

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by BerserkerCatSplat

*drool* I want a Jag something fierce.

The price of entry is cheap; if you get a good used one and treat it well it will last a very very long time and NOT eat you out of house and home.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by Spectre

The price of entry is cheap; if you get a good used one and treat it well it will last a very very long time and NOT eat you out of house and home.

Oh, I know that very well! Used Jags are an absolute bargain, especially if you can find and old granny with an XJR. Now that I've got a house, I can start saving for an XJR when I finish university.

[Spectre]

FYI, we're looking at adding another one to the 'family stable' for my stepmother in California, a 95-97 XJR with low miles (320hp I6 with the blower, stronger transmission and simpler electrics than the later cars, and very amenable to more boost). We're seeing lots of candidates for $10K USD or less with less than 70,000 miles on the clock.

My father has an 03 XJR. Yes, we're an American Jaguar family!

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by Ianspeed

Man, this is a bad thread. I could so see myself with one of those to work on.... sweet cars. More pics?

Just a couple more so I don't swamp my server:



Need to replace those foglights - Hella 550s - encountered a #()@$&@)#&$ gravel truck.... And yes, I live in Texas while the car has California plates. Don't ask, it's a long story.



XJS Sport steering wheel, modified late XJS gearshift knob. Annoying cellphone clip on dashboard came from previous owner and there's no way to remove it without damaging the lacquer on the wood.



And the obligatory leaper shot.

[SL65]

Nice cars and mean looking XJ you have there Don't suppose there are many of those in Dallas right?

Like the big-ass cupholders and that little ledge you put your sunglass on. Why don't cars these days have features like that?!

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by SL65

Nice cars and mean looking XJ you have there Don't suppose there are many of those in Dallas right?

Like the big-ass cupholders and that little ledge you put your sunglass on. Why don't cars these days have features like that?!

Thank you. There are few Series IIIs in Dallas, and none of them look even remotely like mine (in terms of lights/wheels/spoiler, etc). Most of them are dead stock. The rest, at most, either have a "gold kit", homemade bodykits (ugh), or horrible wheel choices that weren't performance oriented.

The ledge is stock, the cupholders are aftermarket - something I designed myself and had a company build. Had a small business selling them for a while, then gave it up as too much work.

As for why cars don't have these features? No idea. Wish they did, though.

[jetsetter]

(other than the idiots swapping Chevy engines into them, ugh)

When I was looking for a Jag I was purposefully looking for vehicles with GM engines in them. Put a nice 350 or a 502 in it and you will have quite the cruiser.

[Dsemaj]

Very nice. Always loved Jags, but tell me, how reliable is the Series III? We had a '85 4.2 Sovereign in the family a while ago, and there was loads of problems.. god bless BL!

If I get my hands on the XJ6 3.2 S that we have now in the future, it's getting a supercharger. As soon as a sign those papers!

EDIT: Interior looks a bit grubby!

[BerserkerCatSplat]

I'd drop a Ford 302 into a non-HE XJS in a second. That'd make for one fun weekend car.

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by Dsemaj

Very nice. Always loved Jags, but tell me, how reliable is the Series III? We had a '85 4.2 Sovereign in the family a while ago, and there was loads of problems.. god bless BL!

If I get my hands on the XJ6 3.2 S that we have now in the future, it's getting a supercharger. As soon as a sign those papers!

EDIT: Interior looks a bit grubby!

Yes, because I need to clean it up. The XJ6 is the daily driver - has just shy of 230,000 miles on it. That should tell you something about it right there...

My Series III has been pretty reliable - mostly because it's spent most of its life in dry climates (California, Texas). Another thing that seems to help the electrical system a lot is the 320 amp alternator I fitted to it some time back (no, I do not have a giant stereo in it), which seems to blow any corrosion right off the electrical terminals. (No EMI backfeed to pit contacts that way.)

Also, a lot of the electrical weirdness on the car comes from the underhood wiring harness. The original was made with Bosch-type connectors (not the greatest ones Bosch made, but acceptable) and Lucas wire (not necessarily bad). The problem with the harness is that the wire was only rated to 80 degrees C. Too bad the car *idles* at *88* degrees C. Eventually the car cooks the wiring harness, the insulation cracks, and you start getting weirdness. However, if you pay attention to the cracks in the insulation and seal them when they appear, or better yet replace the wiring harness with one made from SXL wire (rated to 125C) in a thermal-resistant (to 200C) loom (unlike the tarred cotton stuff they originally used), 99% of electrical problems just vanish or never appear. That wire is just fine in the rest of the car - it just doesn't need to be underhood.

It should also be noted that it is oddly cheaper to maintain a Series III on this side of the pond than in England due to the large number of GM parts in them.

I should probably also mention a few other things the car has which make life with it much easier: twin electric cooling fans with automatic thermostatic controller (car ignores even the hottest days in Texas now, cools off the engine bay after shutdown so no more cooked components), "modern" gear reduction starter (much lower power consumption per start), 0 gauge alternator charging cable and battery cables (originals just plain sucked, barely handled stock power and sometimes couldn't do that), and white-LED-based interior illumination in many places to reduce power draw and eliminate cooked lenses as well.

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by jetsetter

When I was looking for a Jag I was purposefully looking for vehicles with GM engines in them. Put a nice 350 or a 502 in it and you will have quite the cruiser.

Yes, but then what you have is not a Jaguar but a mechanical abortion that is more prone to setting itself on fire than the original base car.


Oddly, most people that put Chevy V8s into these cars seem to want to use smogger 305 crate motors with carburetors. I don't see the point, since that combo will make *maybe* 150hp - less than the original XK-series engine in the car!

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by BerserkerCatSplat

I'd drop a Ford 302 into a non-HE XJS in a second. That'd make for one fun weekend car.

Do it the other way around - if you must, swap the engine into an HE car (they're *much* harder to get more than stock power out of than the non-HE cars).

[mautzel]

"Car: Multiple Jaguars"

Now that's something , nice cars both of them!

[Aston Martin]

That Xj is gangsta.