Hello all, I recently bought a 1988 Jaguar XJ-S v12 coupe. It is white with red interior and has 84k miles. It is a original car...unrestored and in decent shape but needs TLC. It seems to have been owned by the second owner the longest...a woman who did maintain it it seems by the records I got with car. In about 2007 she spent over $3000 in repairs and car has about a hundred miles since. I'm guessing it was a garage kept car by a carrying owner up until she passed away or something around 2007. Then it went through a couple owners who kept it outside (small rust on rear of front fenders, some rust on hood at spot welds right in the center of hood!, and some on rear quarters behind the bumpers and on lower edge next to aft mufflers. All and all not bad but you can tell these cars were NoT built correctly when new as far as rust prevention. A real strike against Jaguar really. They had to have known better as in 1988 all other car companies had figured it out. Really bad for such a high dollar car when new. Anyway, rust doesn't seem to be a huge issue on car but it's there and will require fixing before it gets really bad. No rust in Boot(trunk) and none on main floor but some surface rust under rear seats. (I plan on wire brushing and removing sound deadening foam then POR 15 the bucket areas under the rear seats. No rust through and seems sound enough to just treat. The interior is carpet and leather is in nice driver shape. It does need a new headliner (it's a sunroof car so it's a bit of a custom job I guess as no where have I seen "biscuits", for cars with a sunroof. For that matter I haven't seen headliner "biscuits" for sale here in USA for even non sunroof cars but they do make them in UK...any leads on USA source? I'd love to buy a set like they sell over in UK that I could install myself...there's are ready to install, new biscuits and fabric ready to simply install...no glueing or fabric work needed. Just remove lights , etc and install new headliner and reinstall lights etc. also my car needs the rear window reinstalled. It was done horribly...tons of rtv and stainless trim was not on it, I have trim as it was in trunk. It came with a new URO seal/gasket but I can't seem to make the stainless trim stay on it and the glass shop I took it to did no better. After 5 hours they gave up. Is te URO seal that bad? Or is there a trick??? I see HOW the trim is suppose to stay in seal but it doesn't. I used some D.C.-4 to help lube the area under the trim even to help slide when using a dull putty knife to push rubber into trim but still didn't work on entire gasket and trim would come off. Also I can easily fit one corner piece, but the second corner is a mystery as it doesn't "clip on" I slid the first corner piece on each end (the top and bottom) and it stayed nicely but you can't slide the second piece. Any suggestions or recommendations for a glass shop in Oklahoma City that CAN install it? Also I desperately need a PICTURE of someone else's 1988 brake light switch as it's installed. I have the switch and it has a helper type arm and a flat piece with a threaded hole. I assume the helper arm is actually a stop but the flat piece I have doesn't line up with anything. I'm starting to wonder if I even have the right parts. It does plug into the stock wire harness and works to turn on brake lights but maybe this switch I have is out of a different year or model of jag and I need to use a different flat piece as the nut or just trim the one I have. Please post pictures of one installed and or the factory type picture in parts book or something to help me identify what I have or don't have. Engine seems to run great. I changed air filters, and oil. I used Valveoline VR-1 20w50 and added a some Zddp oil additive also just for extra wear protection. It has new Bosch plug wires (I assume the guy I got it from replaced the wires and put a battery in it...it also came with 12 new in box Bosch 4457 +4 spark plugs...anyone use them before????) I plan on changing plugs and replacing fuel injector hoses, debating about sending in and having injectors cleaned etc. I have already changed fuel filter in trunk and cleaned the swirl tank under the battery. Swirl tank it self was ok inside but it had lots of rust particles and very rusty looking fuel in it. I cleaned it out and am amazed. I see in service records main tank was changed in 1990 for a fuel leak. I wonder if the main tank is rusty again???? I plan on looking at swirl tank again after I have drove it awhile. Anyway...so far I'm having a blast with the car. Big dreams of doing a 5 speed mod (the driven man kit). Doing suspension kit from the driven man...some new exhaust...maybe driven man? I'd love to delete all smog, AIR stuff, cats etc. I'm sure that's all worth a few hp and in Oklahoma we can as there are no smog tests. I know people claim it isn't much of a boost but it has to be over stock, and weight alone would be nice to shed. I'd think 50-100lbs in smog pump, brackets, air fittings, hoses, 2 cats, 2 "silencers" etc etc. I love the sound of the engine and want to beable to hear it! Looking forward to hearing and learning from all.

Thanks for all help,
Kris
Oklahoma City OK
1988 XJ-S V-12

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Welcome to the forum Kris,

IN FUTURE POSTS, PLEASE USE PARAGRAPHS. Your single block of 1010 words is extremely hard work to read.

Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums.

Follow this link XJS ( X27 ) - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the XJS forum for help, advice and information. The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for information on regular issues.

Please remember to add vehicle details to your Signature to help others to give relevant advice. Go to the User CP button on the left of the top menu bar, then Settings & Options under Your Control Panel. Select Edit Signature and enter the details.

You can also visit the US Southwest Region forum by following this link US Southwest - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to find other members in your region.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

Welcome.

 

Welcome aboard Kris.

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Kris,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!

 

Hello, Kris,
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome Kris, and greetings from down under.
Cheers and best wishes,

Ken