Hi
I've been a member of this forum for around 9 years now, I joined when I bought my first Jag in 2009. I've always had a passion for Jaguar since I was a small boy and used to dream about owning one. I've had three X308 XJs up to now, and my current XJ is a beautiful example of the range. But there has always been one model I've always dreamed about owning; the Mk2.

It all started when I was about 10 and I bought a 1:18th model of a MK2 with my pocket money. I used to sit and study this model for hours, peering inside and trying to imagine what the interior would look like in real life, and what it would be like to be in there. Then I began watching Inspector Morse just to see the car and to get a better idea of what was inside. I've always liked the MK2 and more recently the bug has bitten harder.

I have undertaken restoration and renovation work in the past, I rebuilt my Triumph Herald from a rough condition into what she is today. I bought that car off my mechanics teacher, and I love her very much. I learnt an awful lot from both my teacher and working on the car. My skills and discipline have both developed significantly over the last 11 years. I feel that this combined with all the work I've done on X308's and other people's cars over the years has given me enough confidence to tackle a MK2.

At this point I am looking for a restoration or renovation project, I'm well aware of the high prices restored examples of these cars can fetch. But I must stress I'm not in it for the money, I want a MK2 because it really is the car I've always promised myself. I want this car for me.

So I've come here looking for answers to some questions really, and to hopefully gain a better understanding about these cars.

From what I understand some or all are positive earth. I'd want to fit an alternator and I imagine that requires a negative earth conversion, would that be straightforward?

Where do find the best place for both new and used parts are? I'm UK based, but if a part I need is in Philadelphia then I'm not against buying it from there.

How common were automatic gearboxes on the MK2? Is it possible to fit an auto box from another vehicle to them? I only ask because I prefer auto over manual and would consider fitting auto to my car if it was a straight forward thing to do. I'd like to be able to build a car I'd happily drive to Belgium and back, and automatic would be better for cruising.

From what I've read over the years I'm given to understand the heating/ventilation systems isn't the best feature of the car. Have there been any solutions to this brought to the market? The heater on my Triumph could roast chestnuts.

That's all for now, I look forward to your responses. I've added some photos of my Triumph before and after so you can see I've already had some restoration experience.

S.

 

Heater ? Valve Chatter
There's an updated motor and bigger squirrel cage fan, I think the core itself has been upgraded too.

The only alternator upgrade that I'm aware of is from XK's in California, but there may be others.
The problem with theirs was that the coupling from the back of the alternator that drove the power steering pump, wasn't rubber mounted, it was just steel on steel.
The uneven load on the steel coupling soon wore it out and you lost your power steering.
I don't know if they solved that problem.

There's all sorts of good reading on the link "Valve Chatter"

It's not that difficult to change over to negative ground either, there's an article somewhere, but I can't find it.
I'm sure someone will post it.
If you do change it, remember to remove the original radio, or else you will fry it.
On some you could change the polarity.

Can't really advise you much on the trans conversion, but if you want an auto, find one with the auto in it already.
The Borg Warners are OK, but expensive to rebuild, all automatic transmissions are.

If you're doing highway cruising though, there's nothing like the 4 speed with the electric OD.

EDIT:
Here's one article.

http://www.jag-lovers.org/xk-lovers/...y/elecconv.htm

And another.

https://jec.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3945

 

Thanks for the reply, I've just looked through those links and they are very useful. The heater one was interesting to read through. I was lucky with the heater for my Triumph as it's a NOS heater box with a NOS heater matrix inside. It was discovered in the Triumph community that a fan from a Nissan Micra or VW Golf will fit into the heater box without many modifications, I wonder if it could be the same for the MK2?

My intentions for my MK2 is to retain the classic looks of the car as far as possible whilst under the surface using the best of modern tech available to ensure reliability. So that's upgraded wiring loom with modern connections and fuse box, high quality electronic ignition, upgraded heater/ventalation, Halogen Headlights, improved braking if possible and whatever else can be done in a stealthy fashion. I know some purists don't like this approach, but I'm looking to get the best out of the car.

My Triumph has the Vitesse 2.0 Straight 6 engine fitted, mated to a 4 speed gearbox with O/D on 3rd and 4th. I've recently had to replace the solenoid for the O/D which was a task and a half!

I look forward to hearing more from MK2 guys. S.

 

The positive to negative conversion is very easy, from what I remember you have to swap the battery around and repolarise the dynamo which involves making a temporary connection to it to change its polarity. More detailed instructions can be found on the internet,

I think you also need to disconnect the clock as its not suitable for negative earth (although most don't work anymore anyway) and you may need to change the radio (some can be swapped over but many can't).

In terms of parts, new I use SNG Barratt, David Manners and Martin Robey. All suppliers are great, especially SNG who couldn't be more helpful on the odd occasion that I have had problems (which in my book is the mark of a good supplier - how they deal with problems).

For used parts, ebay is your friend and the Jaguar Spares days at Stoneleigh (near Coventry) in March and October each year are worth attending.

In terms of auto gearboxes, I think there were two types, the early Borg Warner DG box used until around 1965-66 I think and the later Borg Warner 35.

Both are ok but spares for the earlier one can be a bit more difficult to obtain although spares can be imported from the USA as they used the gearbox as well, in this country G Whitehouse Autos in the Black Country (West Midlands) supplied all the bits for mine that I needed and are a fabulous company to deal with.

There are loads of threads on here that will help with what to look for when buying but as ever rust is your enemy, the mechanicals are fairly robust but the bodies can corrode really badly and panels are expensive. Especially (IMHO) avoid any cars which need front wings, front wing arches and repairs to the nose are fairly normal but if the car needs a whole new wing they are over 2K each.

In terms of what to buy, the 2.4 and Daimler V8 tend to be cheaper than the 3.4 and 3.8 cars but you need to bear in mind that restoration costs will be almost the same, as an example if you buy a 2.4 project for 2.5K and when restored its worth 10K a 3.8 project for 5K would be worth 15-20K.

If your going to radically alter the car (take DougDoreens stunning XJR powered beast on this forum as an example) then this is less important as the value is in the work done.

Just bear in mind that with a MK2 there is a lot of it, the body, the interior, the weight of the mechanical components all take a lot longer than a smaller car. Its taken me over 4 years to do mine and I'm not quite finished yet (should be on the road next year). Having said that its a beautiful car to look at and work on and if you keep plodding away then eventually you will have a lovely car to be proud of.

I'm sure from your lovely Vitesse your more than equal to the challenge.

 

Caveat on the transmission, I think I am correct in saying that the trans tunnel in a auto is bigger than the manual, I know it is on the ‘S’ so something to check before attempting to remove a manual (shouldn’t have any trouble selling it )

 

Good point Robman25, the auto tunnel is bigger so converting manual to auto is likely to involve some surgery to the tunnel.

Its not normally a problem as most people go the other way (auto to manual).

TBH I have only every had autos and the are nice and smooth to drive but they rev very highly at motorway speeds, I assume the MOD doesn't have this problem?

I think G Whitehouse Autos do a conversion to a more modern autobox with more gears but its not cheap.

 

Stu, I am in the process of restoring a Mk2 340 at the moment with very similar agenda, save for the Auto box.

The trans tunnel is bigger on the Auto, and the gear shift linkage would be difficult to source fully as not all the parts are available, you could go with a T5 conversion which would be easier than trying to convert for manual to an original MK2 auto box.

The alternator conversion is straight forward, when you get to that point I can happily give you the details, if the Mk2 you buy has power steering then the conversion is more costly.

I have added rack and pinion steering to mine and will be using an electric power steering pump, I have sourced the parts for less than £300.00 as opposed to the kit which is £1400.00.

Pos Earth to Neg earth is easy, I have done a full rewire, and followed the info from valvechatter, I have converted Lin's schematics to RHD and made a couple of small changes, and would be happy to share this info, the work Lin had done already saved me countless hours.

I have uprated the brakes on front to 4 pot calipers, and larger stainless pots on the rear, again, happy to share all the details.

Most of my parts have been sourced in the UK, almost anything is available, you just need to shop about for the best prices.

If you are near me at any time I would be more than happy to give you a tour, I have another Mk2 waiting for restoration after I finish this one, gluten for punishment.

PM me if you would like any details.

 

Thanks for the replies chaps, it's all helping me out. I think it's important to do as much research as possible when contemplating taking on something like this. I certainly didn't do any when I bought my Triumph, which is why it took me so long in the end. I overpaid for the car then found problem after problem. She's cherry now though.

The blogs I've been linked to are useful, I'm enjoying reading through them. I feel as though it's preparing me for the journey ahead. Although I'll have to actually get hold of a MK2 first, and it's not looking like an easy task. But I can wait until the right car comes at the right price, I'm in no major hurry.

 

I originally was on the hunt for a MK2 that was rust free and I did not care if it ran as I was going to go full modern restomod path but I ended up buying a 3.8s instead. I am glad I did as the 3.8s had more of what I wanted which was performance. The 3.8s had full independent suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, limited slip rear end, etc. To me the 3.8s has better overall lines with the longer trunk. I think most people gravitate to the MK2 as it was more common and had racing heritage. You might consider a 3.8s as an option?


One thing I have realized from this build and others here is that Jaguars are not cheap to build as there are many things like the lost art of book matching wood which can cost up to $5K US to restore, rebuilding the engine at a quality level can be $10-15K US, repainting the car can be $8-15K US, interior can be $5-15K US, and many expensive parts to bring the car back to new or modern specs. Remember the car is 40-50+ years old. That being said you should think hard about what you want as an end car and look for one actually close to that. The cost of building one is likely to be more expensive than buying one for cash when someone is in a bind to sell if fast. These sedans are slowly increasing in value but they are not big dollar cars in the scheme of things so while you may not count your labor in terms of dollars the other things will add up to a lot.


To me some things to think about once you narrow the model down is to find a car with good wood that has been restored, avoid a rusty car, make sure all the chrome, and trim is there and ideally not needing to be rechromed, and if you are staying with the stock engine find one rebuilt. I have seen MK2's in the US that were decently restored for around $25-35K US and when you look at others rebuilding one your not likely to save that much if at all? Most cars sold are more like break even at best for these sedans unless it is concourse or a unique custom that is desirable.

 

Might be worth following up, on JEC classifieds at £5900

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-MK...8AAOSwmudaOZRi

 

The prices of things for any Jaguar can be expensive, especially as many sellers seem to think because it is for a Jaguar it needs to be priced 50% higher than the same part for an MG or Triumph. I've restored cars before and I'm helping one or two others with their cars every now and then.

But for me the cost is unimportant, the end value of the car matters very little to me. I don't do these things with any anticipation of financial gain, I do it because it's my thing. If I were lucky to get and restore a MK2 then the only way that car would leave my possession would be if I were dead. Even then I'd haunt it!

With this being the Christmas period in the UK though, things are starting to grind to a halt. From around now until approximately 8th of January you'd be lucky to get any sense out of any small business or banks for that matter, so I'll probably not be looking to buy a car until mid January. Then I anticipate at least 5 years to undertake the restoration, which is what my partner wants to keep me quiet and out the way whilst she watches her awful TV shows

TilleyJon, I sent you an email and I hope you got it ok. That one you sent me a link to looks interesting, if it's still around in the new year I may chase it up. But at this exact moment in time I'm not quite ready to buy.

 

I got the email, and have responded, keep in touch.

Jon

 

I understand your thoughts as money was something I was mindful of, it was not necessarily a limiting factor. What I mean is that since you can get a MKII often upgraded for less than you would put into it, then if you start with a better car you can then use your money to take it to a level you might not afford if you started with a real basket case.


I do know what you mean of not likely ever parting with your Jag. For me while I have had multiple offers for my car where I would profit from the sale; that is not enough as it took me two years to build so that profit is not worth the time I would need to recreate my Jag again.

 

Primaz, I think's Stu's point re the money is that if one only has £5K spare cash but time is free, buying at the bottom end may cost more in terms of time long term, it maybe the only way to get started with ownership of one of these classics.

Well restored examples fetch good money, and cars here in the UK that are £10K to £15K will most likely have hidden rust issues that could well end up costing the same to fix as a car at £5K where the rust is likely there for all to see and not hidden under a 10 year old restoration.

Rust free examples are pretty well non existent here in the UK, our climate is pretty conducive to aiding the red bug !!!!