No, I don't. MY T/H400 has a trans pak shift kit and b/m adjustable modulator. Plus my kick down is "set up" to kick in at 3/4 throttle. I'd put a "manual shift" street/strip valve body kit in it before I thought of using the stick in a stock th400 as a way to hard accelerate and up shift, it runs full line pressure all the time that way and is not healthy at all on the trans.

 

Greg,

That switch on the Goose is a manual ON for the RH thermo fan.

Trevor wanted it, and it HAD TO BE a Jaguar switch. So I had a spare Cruise Control switch in the junk box, and did the deed.

It switches the earth of that fan relay, so there is NO live wires coming thru metal panels.

The Cruise switch on the Goose, is in fact the A/C by-pass switch. The cruise had long died on that car, and Trevor does not savvy technology very well, so the "update" was done.

 

The Jaguar marketing people junked the HE badge in favour of the V12 badge about half way through the 1985 year of manufacture. My car, like Grant's departed, is an early 1985 build date, but later 1985s and onwards (build date) all had the V12 badge. new OEM HE badges are pretty rare to find nowadays, but there are lots of V12s around, also lots of owners swapped their HE badge for the V12.

Greg[/QUOTE]

I thought as much Greg.

I found 2 of the boot lid V12 badges in Jaguar "Dead Stock", and put them on the fenders, just aft of the front wheels. Rather cool for an old dude.

Easliy seen is this snap.

 

Great idea. I put a leaper each side, same idea to glam it up a bit. Interesting point (above) about the extra fan switch and converted cruise switch.

Like the car you fettled, O mighty One, I got rid of the cruise (mainly to de-clutter the V) and in my case I converted the console cruise resume/off switch to be the electric main fan manual over-ride! A tasteful small chrome LED warning light being where your client's fan switch is!

Greg

 

The large stretch of dead straight road outside my front driveway is starting to look rather inviting! And its Targa Tasmania week which goes past my front door, might pull a Rosa Ruiz!

 

Mine are '95 and '96 models with the 6.0L V12 and later AJ16 version of the 4.0L (silver instead of black valve cover like on the AJ6) so have the four speeds and my indicators say D-3-2 instead of D-2-1. I also have the Sport-Normal-/1 switch which affects how my transmission shifts.

If I'm taking off from a crawl and want to gun it I put it in Sport mode (usually leave it there anyway) and usually just leave it in D but sometimes will click it down into 3 if I expect that i will need the transmission to hold out the upshift a bit longer.


Both of mine have also had better exhaust systems put on them (they sound like Aston Martins is the usual comment I get, the 4.0 sounds like a classic model and the V12 sounds like a Vanquish) and better air intakes.


I have had a couple of the 5.3L Coupes before in the past and liked them but the wiring is more of a headache and my best MPG on road trips was like 15-17 so I also love the 19-23 MPG the 6.0 gets with the 4 speed as almost 27-30 on the 4.0 ~ Well, I get that kinda MPG's as long as I'm driving them "nicely" anyways


Ironically I had a '94 model 2+2 Convertible with the AJ6 4.0 awhile back and it could get as high as 33 MPG's and rarely got less than 30, never been able to get that over 30.8 with the AJ16 but the AJ16 is also noticeably more powerful so that's a trade-off.

 

Paul. I said it before and I'll say it again. The XJS is a car. Run it through the gears, punch it and have some fun.
Have you never downshifted a car before?
The. XJS is no different.

 

doug,
I don't know what is functioning as the rev limiter but I can assure you it is there. Part of the thrill of really feeling an XJS take off, nothing like the way it normally behaves in D, also involved it automatically shifting and barking the tires. Keeps you on your toes

Everyone seems to be claiming its the TH400. Even if you would just consider that a limiter of sorts, it certainly means there is no need to worry when using the low gears.

Hmmm...will the xjs over-rev in park? I don't think I've had it that high in park before, can't remember.

 

Ahhhh. OK. I wonder if you're thinking of the governor. That's inside the transmission. It regulates shift points at full throttle. It doesn't really know what the actual engine RPM is....it doesn't take a reading like a tachometer for example.... but it is designed to shift gears before the engine over-revs so, yes, I guess you could call it a rev limiter of sorts.

Normally a rev limiter is something cuts fuel or ignition at a certain engine RPM

Cheers
DD

 

Shift Pattern in my AJ16 4.0 car, the 6.0 is identical.

 

My XJS will be coming out of Winter storage today. Maybe its time for an Italian tuneup? LOL.

 

Wow. Lots of responses since last night. Cheers guys. Enjoying this topic

Look forward to it Grant. You have any pics of the Mark 7 you used to own? Would love to see that. I have been growing fond of that era more and more. Very elegant.

After hearing what you had to do to get that cool gear stick in yours I'll think Ill give mine a miss to save my leather seats! I don't trust myself at this stage for that. Very cool though. Envious

Cheers for answering Greg. Greg, incase you didnt know, Grant used to look after my car for another gentlemen (Trevor) before I bought it off him. That is why he knows all its secrets!

Wow I had a similar idea. Are they the leapers from the XJ6? I glamed mine up by using the Jaguar run in sticker in the window. Not sure if all would like it but ive grown quite fond

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/o...-125456/page2/

I didnt know that about the HE and V12 swap over. My build date is AUG 85 so would explain why I have V12 (currently getting chromed). This will be useful in my other thread on badges. Cheers.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-139832/page3/

 

Well. Where to start. Can't wipe the smile from my face and wife keeps asking that we should the topic of conversation!

As a first time XJS owner and being uber protective of her, I have spent the last month and half of ownership babying her around and never giving her full throttle and certainly never shifting down.

After reading the collective wisdom on this thread, and thank to Paul for asking about it in the first place, I decided that one should man up and perform an Italian tune up bearing in mind I know my car is in first rate condition.

OMG! This car lives for RPM and speed. The first effort resulted in a bit of a clunk in the box on downshifting and a bit of crap out the back, but my lord the next attempts resulted in silky smooth downshift, a v12 symphony and smile you could park a 747 in! What a car! I've driven at ludicrous speeds on open roads, dirt roads and in traffic in the most modern vehicles of the time, as part of my profession, but never and I mean never have i driven a vehicle thats seems to crave speed, doing it effortlessly and engine that has a such a song at rpm's that makes you want to listen forever!

It's like stepping through the wardrobe into another world compared to just tooling around in her.

I tried the standing start in 1st and manual upshift at redline too - wow just wow!

Paul get in the blue goose find some deserted road and go for it, just make sure the wife and kids are shopping or something cause you wont and be any good for non jag related conversation after.

Oh and car's been christened Josephine!

 

Bravo Dave1109971

I loved reading your post mate! I'm still out at work at the moment (at sea) which means I am gonna have to wait another 3 1/2 weeks until I get home to clean out the cobwebs in the transmission!

But rest assured...it will happen

Nice! I think that name has deserved as spot in your signature pic!

 

Ah the joys of FIFO!

Signature duly edited!

 

Keep the original gearshift, that classic black and chrome thing will be recognised for the elegant and timeless design it is, in due course! (this is the only thing I depart from the Wizard on!) But as you can see, my pureism does not run to the steering wheel, which I believe to be the only bad OEM bit on the car - a victim of Jaguar's legendary cost saving attitude! But who are we to grumble, as the car was faster and better than all the competition costing three times the price at the time!


The leapers (in the same place as Grant's V12s) are metal stick-ons I bought from Ebay: eg
JAGUAR XF XJ XK XJR XJS E S TYPE NEW Leaping Cat PAIR Metal Badge Emblems 9.5cm | eBay

Greg

 

Well done for stepping up and driving the damn thing as it is designed.

People that "***** foot" these beasts should have them removed from their possesion, HAHAHA.

The grin is PERMANENT trust me.

I reckon I drove the HE hard, fair dinkum, the wife drove her PreHE even harder. That thing was sooooo smooth, and had some serious mumbo.

I reckon more than half the issues with these V12's is incorrect driving.

Greg, I also dont like the Jag period steering wheel, and was always on the lookout for a later version, '88 onward, but the $ wanted when they turned up simply did not add up to me. Then it was gone.

Digressing slightly. Both our X200 V6 Jags get driven just as hard as the V12's did, and they certainly are no slouch. Different sort of mumbo, and no V12 "Song" sadly.

 

Glad to hear about all this fun downshifting the V12's. Fun aside, I was wondering how serious this acceleration actually is, as in 0 to 60 times. I have data that shows 7.1 sec for the 1993 XJR-S (Motor Trend, July 1993) and a much slower 8.3 sec. for the 1992 5.3L V12, 3 speed auto with 2.88 final drive ratio (same magazine article), version that probably represents most of the V12's brought up in this thread. However I think that I may have seen better times than 8.3 for the 5.3 V12's in some other source. In fact, my 4.0L AJ6 is listed at 7.8 sec. 0 to 60 in both, this same article and in Jaguar publications. So, again, downwnshifting makes for a fun drive, absolutely, but it doesn't necesarily imply faster from A to B, does it?

Personally, I prefer the awesome and true acceleration feel of my XJR, which no XJS can even come close to (well, except for my own XJS). To put a smile on my face is either a 0 to 60 stint in the low five's or a quarter mile drag, only that I believe the latter is just too much stress on a daily driver car or a show car that is not prepared to actually race, not prepared for an all out 15 whole seconds with your foot on the floor at as high rpm's that it can possibly sustain for that long. I'm just affraid to break my beautiful kitty(s), what can I say?... However, I'll accept an invitation at the traffic light, but that's always a short "safe" race and my XJR can hold its own and few cars will come even close to it. That significant push on your back is what serious acceleration is about, plus it also gets you from A to B really quick...

Cheers,

 

I dont disagree or agree. I have very little time for "specs", and that is just me.

The feeling when powering a V12 is purely a V12 thing, and although the R Jags are awesome, the V12 just has that "something".

Lots of cars are quicker, but they simply are NOT a V12.

 

I've driven quicker accelerating cars for sure for work. All turbo V6 and V8 and my XJS is never going to hit the ton quicker than them, but and it is a big but, I was simply amazed at how effortlessly the jag V12 went about it without the harshness that those modern engines did. The sound of the V12 was something I've not experienced before, and the road handling of the coupe was sublime, it just felt like it wanted to go faster with no twitchiness or floating that I've experienced in performance spec commodores and falcons. They are nice cars, but seat of the pants stuff when performing emergency duty driving. The XJS was just so sure of herself.

And that woosh of acceleration on shifting from 2nd to 3rd with the foot flat - that's the business. These things must be simply ridiculous fun with a 5 speed manual.

she's no red light bandit - that's beneath her I think I'll leave that to the doof doof boys in their supras