Alternator ordered and this weekend set aside to fit , minor relay fault sorted and hopefully the oil pressure gauge is now working correctly .. other car will also be returning home this weekend with it's paint issues taken care of and some new paint .. can't wait to see the end result .. pauljag

 

The rubber surround of the speakers i bought would rest on the door panel mounting hole, so I made some spacers that were cut so they rested around the metal mounting frame of the speaker. They were 6.5 inch speakers and the mounting holes lined up perfectly. Also I cut the old connectors off the speaker wires and soldered on the new terminals. Those were the only modifications.

 

Nothing to any of my three. I found a 96 VDP at the FTW Pick-n-Pull though. Got a cam-cover, 6 Lucas coils "Made in Japan" a Crank position sensor, radiator overflow tank, air box, mass airflow sensor, intake duct and bellows, a thermostat housing elbow, radio head unit...lemme see...I think that's it. Wait! Nope - heater pump and water valve, too!

All I really needed was the cam-cover...the other stuff was target-of-opportunity - judged a good buy considering the prices and that I have 3 X300's to keep running!

Not much left on it. The wood had already been taken...but curiously, the tray-tables remain. No shroud/fans, has radiator and condenser though. Lower bushes are long-since departed from the condenser so it may be suspect...could have a hole rubbed already. Someone had pulled the exhaust cover and laid it aside...I guess looking for manifolds. They are both still attached and both well-cracked. Oh yeah, I got the left front wing inner-liner, too - actually needed that.

 

New alternator now fitted and working perfectly , got to order a oil pressure sender as mine has failed .. Oh well , more money to spend , pauljag ..

 

Just Changed the rocker cover and Gasket (Rocker cover was covered n bubbling finish and corrosion). While I was there I fitted a new set of NGK plugs. All went well, I noticed that my coils were not fitted with the paper gasket at all and added some during reassembly, also, there seemed to be a lot of arching judging from the condition of the old cover.
5 of the six coils appeared to be original but the sixth was an odd man out and was a bad fit on the top of the plug. Just didn't seem to sit well. All the plugs also had a fair amount of corona stain.
I had a bit of trouble meeting up the half moon part of the gasket and keeping the circle gaskets around the spark plug holes lined up but managed to get it in place in the end.
I'm holding my breath a little waiting to see what kind of job I've done and any possible oil leaks but as far all appears fine.
I'm amazed at the difference in performance after fitting a new set of plugs.

 

Just took the cover off & polished it.

 

I dropped 2(cam-covers) off at the powder coaters' on Thursday:
One broken, one whole. I had contacted a Fort Worth powder coater by phone and they expressed some concerns, saying they'd never done magnesium and were worried about outgassing in their 400F oven. So after I pulled it off the $200 Jag, then dropped it, chipping a corner, I began a vigorous search for a substitute, thinking I now have a trial-run piece. Found one at FTW PicknPull for $17.99 (14.99 w/core, but worth >$3 to me) I started at A to Z Soda Blasting and reported what the powder coaters said. He suggested calling his powder-coater-of-choice for consultation. After 10 minutes of discussion via speakerphone, we all agreed that whatever powder-coat shop I chose should be the first stop and the Soda-Blaster would participate when and as-needed.


At no point did the Soda-Blaster push me toward his guy, just really consulting for advice (for a second I thought I may have to beg for contact info!) But I must say, from the two phone conversations, his guy was far more knowledgeable and confident than the folks I'd previously consulted. Plus, it was about 6:15 pm and he was still open/accepting business and closer than FTW: "I'm on my way to Subway to get a sandwich but will be back by the time you can get here from there." So I headed on over. I explained the purpose of the broken one and said I was happy to cover any costs of necessary experimentation on it but reiterated the goal was a good job on the whole one and the broken one was expendable. He said he didn't need it, but would take it and dip it first, so we'd both feel better and insure there are no surprises, no charge - "it'll look some better than it does now, but won't be coated. Gimme about a week..."
So when I get them back, I'll try to do a picture-thread and link to all of the other cam-cover threads on here to collect all the wisdom in one place.

 

Fantastic, very interested to see your report on the best approach and any lessons learned with powder coating the magnesium cover. You definitely should just start a new thread like : "How To, powder coating magnesium X300 valve cover"

.

 

When I was checking out with all the goodies cited in post #123 above, the PicknPull clerk offered a 1 year warranty on the MAF sensor for something around $10. I declined, suggesting I hoped to not even need to install it within one year. "Well, you've got a 30-day warranty, standard."
So this morning, while still within the 30-day window, I fit it to my 95 daily-driver. Started up, idled fine. I shut down, had some lunch, then took it to town to run some errands. Ran fine at all speeds. Brought it home and swapped back to the original. Looks like a keeper!

 

Second car back from paint shop , looking really good with no evidence of the rust that plagued the rear arches and rear scuttle .. plan on spending quite a few hours this weekend cleaning both cars , pauljag ..

 

1) Oil Change for 80K miles. Based on my driving, I'm thinking 5k intervals will work. Discovered the Wix oil filter is notably wider than the OE Motorcraft and will have to be put in from underneath. Time for some better ramps.
2) Rotated tires. Will likely start rotating with oil changes.
3) I cleaned the inside of the wheels so I can get an idea of the brake condition. Will need to allocate more time next time I take them off (probably a brake job in the next few months)
4) Brake inspection. Not the worst condition, but I think the rotors are original and I judging by the inadequate emergency brake grip, the rotor lip and the amount amount of brake dust I think pads and rotors are in order. Along with a brake fluid flush.

Hopefully the taxman will be nice to me this month.

 

Sparky, I suspect you just need to adjust the cable on that park-brake. Remember, it is acting on a set of drum brakes inside your rear rotors. Could be you need new shoes for it, but unless you've been doing lots of handbrake turns...or forgetting to disengage it before setting off, it really shouldn't see much wear.

 

Thanks for that comment. I'm concerned the PO may have driving with the brake on a few times. She was 90 when I got it last year and I suspect may have forgotten a time or two. May give that a go next weekend.

 

Productive Weekend (or Friday mainly).

Friday. Contacted Module Master for the Clock fix. Removed the 1/3rd functional radio while I was at it. Had all (4) Ball Joints, Both Outer Tie Rod Ends and Left Upper Control Arm Bushings replaced and got an alignment.

Saturday ordered the Fascia and Wiring Harness to swap out the Head Unit.

Still need to decide on a replacement.

Now I'm going for a drive.

 

Wow productive weekend indeed! Our weekend was cold and rainy, so not a lot got done here.

.

 

SpruceBruce: Fit 6 new Champion RC12YC spark-plugs, gapped to 0.035" (out of the box that way, which was nice!) and torqued 22-28 Nm.
Renewed the oil-filter bypass O-rings with (4) cac5118 O-rings: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...8/#post1430263
and fit a new Valvoline VO-86 oil filter.

 

Fitted new timing chain and guides.

 

EBC Red Stuff pads for ATE installed yesterday.

 

You win





.

 

My first ever job (after putting in fuel) was to replace a missing tyre valve cap!

A bit more adventurous today, I fixed the intermittent oil warning light. I topped the engine oil up to the right level with 20/40.

Now for the occasionally stiff power steering. I checked that oil and it's also below the right level. None of the petrol stations sell it though.

After that, Redex. Then a full Eaton Supercharger conversion (joking).