Righty'o then! The front axle has been disasembled. Everything, except for the vertical connections (the attached part with hub, bearing and co). So I am replacing the bushes, the ball joints and most importantly, the rust on the subframe. The worst part is, that there is a hole (see last picture) in an area it technically can never rust... How that? No idea! But I'll be making sure it won't happen again with some drainage holes

This whole job was rather easy - apart for getting the fulcrum shafts out. One caused me some minor "pain" (I'll confess, I cursed nearly every single word I know from two languages! And that wasn't enough! So I come up with some new ones... Like Custard... I can explain that one later... ) as it slammed into my forehead and I felt it right through my body... But heck, that is life!

Am just waiting for the parts to arrive












Link to the flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/288642...57671215146702

 

Daim, I found brake caliper paint (silver in my case) worked well on the wishbones 3 years and its still looks good.

The subframe and spring pans I painted with POR15, this stuff is hard as granite once dry. Get some cheap brushes and throw them away, once its dry you can hit the brush with a hammer and the POR15 will not budge. Its cheaper than cleaning the brush with the POR15 thinners.

 

for the manifold
44218 by ABSOLUTE COATINGS (POR15) - High Temp Paint Aerosol Gray


nothing like it staying pristine looking...

 

Installed Andy's Bracket in my '94 AJ6. Pretty easy once I got all the gunk off the old one. Drives nicely, hard to tell the difference just yet, but this week I'll take it on a 50-mile cruise that I do frequently to get a better idea.

Padre

 

POR15'ed today. Applied quite well but the finish isn't perfect. Doesn't matter anyway, as the parts are hidden behind the front wheels and to see the imperfections, you'll need to get on your hands and knees and take the wheels off






I'll treat the rear suspension parts with the same stuff as I am quite convinced, that it should work well

 

I would like to buy it a playmate but unfortunately funds won't stretch anywhere near enough.
1989 Jaguar Lister XJS Convertible (V12) | eBay

 

Getting ready...



Padre

 

I'm looking forward to hearing the results!

 

I've had an electric polisher in the garage for the last 3 years, still unopened.
Bought it for a previous XJS that turned out to be mechanically a very long way from washing never mind polishing.
She who must be obeyed is away for 36 hours so I decided to focus on my cars instead of hers for a change.
Broke it out of the box, removed detritus and dead things (one of which I am sure that I saw in an episode of Stargate), RTFM'd it, plugged it in and off we went.
Quite pleased with the result and the lack of aching fingers and sore back.

 

Fitted the water rails again. Nice and clean now. New seals for sump and sandwich are waiting to be installed. Once done, I can reconnect the tranny and get on

 

Busy day... Replaced both sump and sandwich gasket. New oil filter. New gasket for the bypass oil cooler blanking plate... Finally the light at the end of the tunnel can be seen!











More pictures can be found under this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/288642...57672627577866

 

Took the front right hub apart. Now the ABS ring/rotor has cracked... Is a crack common? I know you can still buy these rings but are they normally Presse on or just heated and pushen on until the clamps on when cooling down?

 

i heard that the light at the end of the tunnel has gone out!

carry on anyway!!

 

The light is just the on coming Train............

I couldn't find anything in the manual on how to remove the ABS reluctor ring. As its broken it does not matter too much if you break it more getting it off as long as you don't damage the hub.

I'd try heating the ring and tapping it off.

 

A little trick I use when installing bearing races is that I put the race in the freezer and the hub in the oven. One contracts and the other expands.
Works well most the time

 

Time to put the engine together again. The oil cooler pipes were redone (cleaned up and painted to look a bit better) and the exhaust headers/manifolds were refitted. The tranny is bolted back on and should now work perfectly (again)










Additional pictures, as normal, under this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/288642...57671827711590

 

Beautiful Daim, I am following your progress in envy.

 

Good work Damien

 

2 years ago, as I removed the intake manifolds, 12 washers weren't noticed. These fell everywhere. 6 were on the intake, 2 fell into the V, 2 were fished out of the intakes and 2 were missing. I always had a bad feeling that they were in the engine... So I bought a cheap endoscope. Couldn't find anything but my gut feeling was still there. I found 1 washer as I removed the washer. Still leaves 1 missing washer...

Borrowed a pro-endoscope today and found the missing washer... Cylinder 5A had it and I could luckily remove it through the valve clearance... Gut feeling: gone!






At the same time I checked the bore and hone marks. All top. A few tiny little rust spots, but nothing the piston ring win't remove.

Also reassembled the upper wishbones with new balljoints (XJ40 ones) and new bushes. Coated well in loads of grease to make sure nothing squeaks. One of the two lower wishbones also has some new bushes. Heck, thjs is getting nice again!

 

Took Her Highness back to the shop last night.

• Driver's side headlight not working
• Oil pressure gauge reads zero
• Ammeter in the red (low) range at idle and battery discharges in a week
• LF tire has a slow leak - hope it doesn't need to be replaced!