About 5 years ago I bought a restored Mark 2 3.4 but it turned out it was not actually "restored"! After many problems I decided to get somebody to have a look at the engine and the wiring and found out that a guy only 2 miles from me restores e types for a living so I took the car there. Initially he was going to rebuild the engine and while it was out I had the body fully restored and painted in a metallic BRG actually a Range Rover colour.

To cut a long story short I decided on having the car completely rebuilt with as many modern extras/changes as I could I am not bothered about keeping the car as original I wanted it to drive like a more modern car. Everything has been renewed or restored from the gearbox which is all synchro and has an uprated 4.2 overdrive unit, the rear axle with a 3.54 lock diff has all bearings replaced and new UJ's to prop shaft, the steering rack, the hubs wheel bearings all rubber bushes etc etc. It has a very expensive suspension system consisting of rear Boge shocks heavy duty lowered Coomb springs front Gaz shocks and a Harvey bailey front roll bar all professionally set up for the car it does not roll, the handling really is superb!

The engine was totally rebuilt it is a 3.8 with a new 4.2 injection head (bigger valves), new 8 to 1 pistons triple SU's mounted on a MK 10 inlet manifold, fully balanced bottom end many new parts running on unleaded fuel. Fully rewired new leather, carpets, refurbished wood etc etc. Modern extras like all 4 electric windows, remote central locking, alarm, interior light delay, cruise control, rear view camera, sat nav.......as I say lots of extras that I have listed below with pics. The car goes and stops like a dream it really does shift and sounds great! But the best bit is the handling for such an old heavy car it is a revelation.

I have recently had it up for sale at £49,995 then dropped it to £45,995 which might sound a lot but compared to cars at JD Classics and some older Vicarage that are for sale it is cheap! I have had quite a few people wanting to swap various cars but after considering what it stands me at and what I can replace it at I have decided I am going to keep it. It's one of those cars that make you smile every time you drive it and it is adored by people wherever it goes.

Here is the list of extras;

Power steering fitted and a new 65 amp alternator
Aluminium competition radiator
Coopercraft front calipers with vented discs and EBC pads rear E-Type calipers
Oil cooler
Competition stainless steel free flow exhaust with cast iron heat wrapped manifold
Battery moved to the boot
Upgraded Smiths heater with stainless steel water pipes and electric engine cooling fan
Water ingress Perspex carb shield
8 new Cream Smiths dials made for the car
Leather centre armrest
Oil temp gauge
Electronic speedo with digital odometer
High torque starter motor
Fully alarmed
XJ40 front electric seats with rear illuminated walnut picnic trays
Electric front and rear windows with rear window immobiliser switch
Heated FRONT and rear screens, front on a time delay
Cruise control actuated from the gear knob
Remote central locking with auto window closure plus auto door locking when ignition turned on for occupant safety
New wiper motor with variable speed wipers
Sat Nav
CD player and memory card
Bluetooth phone and IPod connection inc lead
Rear view camera
Interior courtesy light delay
Upgraded speakers and amp
Hazard warning lights











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With my other 2 cars the XJS was another full restoration that I will post soon on the XJS forum.

 

WOW.....Now that is something else.

What a beauty and some amount of time, effort, work and money went into that car.....An awesome restoration whilst updating it to your tastes.

Thanks so much for sharing....

 

Wow! Really impressive! Good job.

 

Barefoot,
Beautiful car! Nicely done. Would you be willing to share details regarding the power window fitment and the fabrication of the modified center console/arm rest. We can do it through personal email or private messages if you prefer. I admire your finished product, but also recognize that many hours went into creating this beautiful MK2.

Lin

 

Thanks everyone much appreciated

Lin

The armrest/cubby with the window switches I bought ready made from a UK Jaguar mark 2 restorer called called Vicarage Vicarage on WWW It is their design I just had it covered in leather, the owner is a friend of Michael's who did most of the work on the car. He adapted the electric window kit and the central door locking which was the harder of the 2 to fit he said. Ask away and I will put any questions you have to him.

Here are some pics of the doors that might help you.






Here is a link to a video of the car and it accelerating, the dash has changed a bit since this was taken

 

A beautiful job and an impressive list of upgrades.

Graham

 

As so many others have said that's a beautiful quality renovation ending up with a lovely car to drive.

Speaking of driving, the video shows the car in use - you take no prisoners there do you !!!!! I bet she's not been used like that in a few years.

 

mouth watering pictures ..
since I have read about many people using the steering of the 420 Jaguar, may I ask what sort of power steering you have used?
Thanks, Gerhard

 

Your pics bring back very many happy memories for me. However, did you manage to do anything to improve the heater, or maybe I should call it a "warmer" as I never got much heat from mine !

 

Well, I hope that his heater works satisfactorily. I noticed in one of the under bonnet images that he has the upgraded heater from Clayton. I just received their upgrade kit and installed it today. Powder coating the box next week. I am a long way from being able to check out the value of the expenditure, so I hope Kevin will share with us that his heater works like a charm!

Lin

 

I am blown away by the attention to detail and the true dedication to finishing the job. Kudos to you!

 

Yes the heater does the job as you say the original is about as much use as a one legged man in an **** kicking contest! Thanks for the nice comments much appreciated.

 

Hello

I need to decide to buy a rack and pinion
there are apparently different in the market,
the ones where you need to modifying a chassis or not
what did you use?

thanks
Georges

 

I know it's been a long time...and the car is probably gone...but I'll ask anyway:

I've driven MK1 with 3.4L, and LHD, with electric choke (Otter Switch) that we always had a hidden bypass switch for when the Otter failed.
I have a RHD MK2, and these two photos you have, one with manual choke and one without....it seems the only MK1 and MK2 with sliding lever manual choke was the 2.4L with downdraught Solexes...so what did you do here?

 

Hi Barefoot, do you still own that mark 2 Jaguar that featured here with your restoration details?

 

Hi, Very interested to read your Mk 2 restoration.

I have a Dec 1959 Mk 2 which is running on Dunlop radials 185 VR 15 s

The spare wheel space in the boot is not deep enough to house the spare wheel. The Hardura boot mat is about 10 - 15mm proud of the rest of the floor when the spare is in place and looks a mess

Did you have to modify the boot floor to take care of this?

Best

 

The OP, barefoot, has not posted to the forum since Christmas Eve 2016, so there is a good chance that your inquiries may remain unanswered...

 

Hi, this is TommyRae here with my first post... This restoration is incredible. Just beautiful. The upgrades are spot on.

I am a new owner of a 62 3.8 Mark 2 and am starting to renovate. My interior is rather trashed and seats feel as if they 'used to' have springs, but no longer. I am interested in upgrading and curious what modifications or troubles anyone has had with changing out to XJ-40 seats. I know there is that channel under the seats that could be problematic.

My steering is sloppy, to say the least. The steering box also seems to be leaking.
Any good experiences in converting to power steering?

 

Beautiful work. Where did you source the heater and wiper motor upgrades?

 

Tommy restore what you have and they will be as good as new. Fitting XJ40 seats might be more of a snug fit fit but they are too large in my opinion and just do not suit they styling of the Mk2. Sir William Lyons designed the seats so they would not show above the top of the door line. XJ40 seats if you leave the head restraint on nearly hit the roof. Then cream seats with red piping is just not a good look. If it is a Sunday driver leave it as original as possible but if you are driving 100k miles a year in it then changing the seats is acceptable.
Have you existing steering box professionally restored and the steering will be tight and leak free. So many people change to a rack and pinion system but the Mk2 was not designed for this and there are so many problems with the geometry to get it right and the system would be more expensive than having your original steering box rebuilt. If you want to go power steering go and buy the PAS from a late S Type or a Jaguar 420. Plug and play with the Adwest Marles system which was superior to the older Burman series 1 and 2 steering boxes.
Up grading the heater and wiper motor is acceptable as both are appalling on the Mk2 although the wiper inefficiency is more down to the wiper blades which seem to come from an Austin Mini than the motor.
Everyone has their own opinions on the topic of upgrades and mine is leave well alone and restore the originals. No one complained in the 1960s when the car was new. If you want XJ40 seats buy an XJ40.