Hello from Tennessee,
Advice requested for a, soon to be, XK8 owner.
With a serious history involving classic english cars, it was probably unavoidable that I would find myself seduced by a Jaguar. Most of the previous cars were Lotus, TR and a XKE many years ago. Recently completed a 3 years resto of a "72 Lotus Elan +2. a great show and driveing car.
Tomorrow a British car buddy and I will be prospecting for a XK8 as a daily driver for myself. The first one is a 2003 XK8 standard, one lady owner, 64k miles clear history, full dealer maintinace records ( I am told). This one is BRG, as required by my wife. Later a trip to Carmax and a handful of 2006-2008 XK8's
This 2003 may be a bit old for my preference but;
1. were the troublesome timing chain tensiors sorted out by 2003?
2. what about the Nicasil cylinder linings
3. other major issues as these get older?
thx for the guidance
Phil pwtrusty@yahoo.com

 

Welcome Phil,

I've copied your post into the XKR forum as you will get a better response there and time is pressing if you are shopping tomorrow.

 

Hello PhilT. I believe I can be of some help with a few of your questions.

According to British author and Jaguar enthusiast Nigel Thorley in his book "You and your Jaguar XK8" the Nikasil cylindar linings were upgraded to cast iron linings from the 2000 model year onward. The affected VIN nos. are 001036 to 042775 inclusive.

As for the timing chain tensioners, pre-05 XKs had different types of plastic tensioners, which could eventually be problematic. In 05, Jaguar introduced an aluminum bodied version of the upper tensioner. Jag specialists recommend replacing the plastic ones with the aluminum ones at some point to prevent future problems.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Manco

 

Welcome to the forum Phil, good luck with your search. Please post up some pics of your restorations.

Nice assist there Manco.

 

Hello Phil and welcome to jaguarforums.com. I know that you are anxious to get started and we are anxious to meet you and talk about your car. We have a baseline / criteria that must be met before full access can be granted. Please enjoy the forum and be patient once the baseline has been satisfied full access will be granted. Please continue to post and accept my welcome to the forum.

Oh one other thing you need to put your car details in your signature. I am speaking of the Year, Make & Model. Without it you may not get the input you are looking for.

Please take a moment and read the information provided to you explaining the rules. Be patient and enjoy the site.

 

Thanks Gus,
Will look forward to being fully vetted and having access.
Phil
72 Lotus Elan
05 Mazdaspeed Miata
70 Lotus Europa
07 Kia Amanti ( have to commute in something)
07 Kia Sportage
looking for a XJ8

 

PhilT - welcome to the site.......
Good to have you here onboard one of the friendliest forums around.
Jump in and enjoy everything thats going on....there's usually plenty in all sections.

I hope we may be able to help and offer some suggestions /help as needed


In the meantime I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can access all the sites features