Greetings all. Something just happened, I'm not sure what, and I paid $1200 for a nice sedan project. One second I was looking for a little buzz around town car under $1500 and the next thing I knew, I catapulted myself into British car land, a place I have never been. My wrenching has been domestic cars, import cycles, and a little bit of old school air cooled VeeDub. NEVER messed with Euro cars otherwise. Love the 60's look, just classic. I see someone with a LOT of money buying one of these new and taking really good care of it (warranty repairs but more importantly shelling out for expensive repairs). And it's in impeccable condition mechanically because it's been so well maintained. Whatever it was that I told myself, my brain at some point flashed "Good idea, do it, buy it now" and I shelled out $1200.

Anyway - here's the skinny.

140k miles, in retrospect I may have shopped a bit for lower mileage but be honest, is that a decent deal for someone not afraid to turn some wrenches? I will post pics shortly.

Quick note to the Moderator/Administrator: Going to post my intro here but can this be bumped to a "Project" thread afterward? I plan on contributing significantly on this project. Thanks much!

Day 1 - the basics:

1. Buy car - check
2. Add car to AllData account - check
3. Take a look under her bonnet to figure out what we're dealing with here - check
3. Join bomb diggity forum where I can learn from the best - with this post, check

I'm a redneck from Colorado, currently living in New Mexico. GREAT pickings for used cars, rust is literally zilch in a native car. Does take it's toll on interior and paint though.

First glance at the car: A few scratches on the boot from what looks like a wanna be wolverine or perhaps an ACTUAL JAGUAR, kinda weird, very deep, will have to be touched meticulously.

Some clear coat peeling on the roof and a little minor warpage to a few interior panels. Otherwise the paint looks very good. No rust to speak of, interior is excellent (new headliner at some point), leather has wear cracks but still soft/plush. The dash is surprisingly PERFECT, amazing quality. All gauges seem to work, windows work, seats work, lights work, nothing glaring aestetically. I could be tripping but it actually smells new still. After learning a bit about these ba-tards I will not be surprised if I have to replace a relay someday for the "New Smell Actuator Unit". And to get to it I need to pull the head... and without it I can't shift from park...

No - In all reality, I'm assuming the PERFECT dash top and good interior (besides the cup holder/cig light socket) has something to do with the fancy cleaning kit I found in the glove compartment??? Jag went over the top on some of this stuff...

First test drive car ran pretty well. I'm going to bet I will be doing wheel bearings soon, at least those are cheap (we'll see how easy later...). Engine has power, no misses, tranny shifts well, no gear box noise/whine, no smoke.

I've cranked through a few projects, here are the under bonnet realities:

Water pump. Previous owner had bought one - saw steam, parked the car and bought a pump. 3 months later I buy her. I was able to drive the car about 12 miles with minimal steam (I mean minimal) and no problems on the temp gauge. BUT - I went ahead and tore into it as visibly there was a leak coming from the pump "area". After maybe 3 hours I had the thing out. Old pump and new pump both look, act, feel the same. I don't think this is the problem, but at least now I can check out the rest of the cooling system. I would say about 56 hose clamps later I found the culprit tucked up under there, pinhole (later learned it was more of a slice) spraying directly on a nice hot head, that would cause steam. Return hose. Bingo. $14 in parts (just found one that had a similar straight section at Auto Zone, same inner diameter, and cut to fit).

Total pain getting a rigid piece of rubber under the intake manifold onto the nipple, then back around the nipple on the water pump housing that appeared to be cast to the engine. NEVER doing that again. Made sure my 56 hose clamps were perfect coming back out, replace thermostat for good measure, topped up properly and bam, back in business.

Had a slight power steering leak - knock on wood I think Lucas Oil helped me fix that one. I still pulled everything out and made sure, but appears to be working famously.

PO said he had purchased an EGR valve and put it on, wish he had his money back because it didn't fix the problem he was having. When asked what problem he was having, he made engine noises with his mouth that I'm guessing was an attempt to describe a rev and settle back to idle, at idle.


Trouble code 1: 44 - Fuel/Fail. AllData spit out a novel and a half about the code. I read the page #'s there then just found the cross ref and sounds like an O2 sensor is the bottom line here. After researching, that seems pretty accurate?


Need to figure out how to clear that code and check for any others.

I have a thousand more questions - have researched several on this site and answered many, but I'll ask maybe one or two here I haven't got around to:

Rear suspension - are Vanden Plas/Sovereigns the only ones with the crazy rear end? (I have only jacked up the front, not the rear. This car is too low for me to be able to tell!).

Seems like everything on this car is left handed under the engine compartment, am I losing my mind? I'm a right handed person and it seemed like EVERY single bolt I had to turn was inconvenient for my right hand... Either I'm out of practice or Jag engineers were all lefty's...

I'll stop there, call it a night. I've got about 16 hours into this car and this was my first data dump. WHEW, exhausted.

Oh yeah, Hi. Looking foward to hanging out with you guys here, have already benefited from the knowledge here, love these sites. Here to learn and contribute where I can.

 

Note the scratches, EESH! Straight otherwise.

 

Welcome to the forum Skrawl. Sounds like you have gotten a good deal(?)

Congrats on the recent purchase.

I took the liberty of correcting your flickr attachments. Sometimes you have to have "grab the BBC code" to have the pictures appear as above. Your flickr page did not have the BBC (for some strange reason) so I copied and pasted the pics. Just FYI when you post more "restoration" pictures to share with us as the project evolves!

I did not vote in the poll, but I have a feeling you might just fall for the vehicle and keep her after getting to know her so intimately.

Good luck with the project(s).

Enjoy all the site has to offer!

 

Welcome to the forum

Sounds like you got a good deal. Couple months ago I got my first Jag in which I felt was a good deal. With help from the site I've fixed most of the minor issues and let me tell you if your anything like me not only are you going to keep the car, your going to be trying to buy another one. LOL

Good luck with the work and enjoy the Jag.

 

Welcome to the forum,

I'm exhausted too after reading all that!
Sounds like a deal for $1200, some people would spend that on a night out.
A few more days and she will have won you over and there will be no chance to flip her.

 

Lemme try again on the pictures, might have grabbed HTML instead of BB code.

After market wheels, "Alba" brand. Not my favorite but they'll do for now

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63702501@N07/6293886559/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63702501@N07/6294395664/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63702501@N07/6294395612/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63702501@N07/6294395554/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63702501@N07/6293870391/

 

Welcome to the forum skrawl, great intro.

$1200, decent price, especially as you say it has been over maintained.

If you are going to share the project, start a dedicated thread over in the XJ40 section. More people will see it.

Rust is a big killer of these cars, so if you don't have any you should be on to a winner.