Well said! You perfectly articulated why I was so entirely drawn to the XJ40 body style, and in particular the combination of round lamps and angular hood/quarter panels. I definitely dig the elegance of the earlier XJ6, but the slight amount of edginess in the lines of the '88 really speaks to me. The reference to the muscle cars of the 60's as well as acknowledging the finer points of the E30 BMW stance without overdoing any of it is just totally spot on, and to incorporate all of that into a true luxury car without compromising the 'Jaguar aesthetic' is really a breathtaking accomplishment if you ask me. I think I'll go step out to the garage and stare at my car for a moment...
My only complaint is with the tail lamps. I have the US base XJ6, so while it has many of the luxury appointments the tail lamps are missing the chrome trim and it drives me nuts, especially since the rest of the car is dripping in chrome. I think I may be forced to source some tail lamps from a sovereign and make the upgrade.
Oh, and welcome!

 

Thanks, I think you're right. Will definitely be sure to mention metallic!

 

Thanks man! Yeah there's definitely more chrome on this sov than I know what to do with! Especially loving the B pillars between passenger and driver windows, not a chromeless inch in sight there 😂 it's a fascinating car, especially because of the short lived run of the angular Jag. I'm rather fond!

 

BeckBeck,

That trim around the windows and on the B pillars is not actually chrome plated. It's stainless steel! An especially nice quality touch, and one of the many things I love about XJ40s.

Cheers,

Don

 

There you go! I'm gonna learn so much here I think!

 

So here's a fun little ordeal which was swiftly solved by this fabulous forum.
After running her through a car wash and noticing a few areas filling up with water, the front passenger footwell leaked! And not just a little leak.. water began gushing into the car from somewhere under the hood, absolutely pouring in. All over my feet. I wasn't sure what to think at all, but did find the perfect thread on footwell leaking- and discovered the culprit- The damn duckbill!
This was a huge relief, I always expect the worst with older cars so to find it was as simple as this little length of piping being blocked with 30 year old debris, was a lovely moment if not a little smelly, gunky and gooey..
I got this thing for so cheap, so I wonder if problems like this motivated the very short term owners before me, to flip it for cheaper than they bought it for not even a month beforehand. Goes to show, if you go for an old luxury car, you're in hell if you're not in a forum.


(Photos of the surprisingly perfectly matched roof repaint to come, will be buffing tomorrow before getting photos for you all! Spoiler: It looks great! Phew..)



Duckbill #1



inside duckbill after most of the bulk pulled out

 

Really love watching your growing relationship with this Jaguar. Can't wait for pics of your respray. And those duckbills . . . I am so sure your comments about failures like this (easily corrected by a hands on owner/enthusiast) are why so many of these brilliant XJ40s are around for relatively low prices.

Just one gentle request . . . practiced with great pain and self sacrifice by true XJ lovers here . . . we must remember not to shout too loud our love of this "luxury motoring at peanuts prices" . . . or Joe Public will catch on and drive prices beyond our budgets. Hahahahaha!!!

Cheers and best wishes,

Ken

 

Yep! Definitely keeping a little quiet about how cheap these go for
It's been excellent so far finding any issues I've encountered have been simple fixes (I'll thank a pevious engine rebuild for the mechanical dreamyness ). I'm falling more in love every day, and thoroughly enjoying bringing her back to top condition Absolutely enjoying this forum too!

 

Welcome to the forum! A word of advice when tackling any rust issues. If you can gain access to the backside of the rusted area you'll usually find it extends beyond the exterior view. Rust is like cancer,the only proper way to keep it from coming back is to make sure the area is completely removed and new sheet metal is welded to good clean metal. Common rust areas are around the lip of the wheel openings,just below the edge of the back windshield,the rear edge of the trunk,and around the taillights. It would be a good idea to remove your taillights and check the pockets that they rest in. As for that dent in the front fender,something like a stud welder and dent puller should take care of the job easily (pictured) .Do the job right and she'll last you many years of enjoyment!

 

Thanks! Fortunately the front looks to be a very recent / shallow layer \of surface, which should be able to be taken care of with a good rust inhibitor and a sand down when I get her to a body shop for that (I was game to paint the roof, but not that confident in my abilities to take care of a dint in a front corner panel!) :P I haven't thought the check behind the lights, so will definitely get there- there is a little spot by the rear windscreen under a leaking seal which we will be tackling soon as well. and 100% agree with the cancer comment. a stitch in time definitely saves 9 in the case of rust!

 

Roof repaint time:
Ok so I decided to don my DIY crown and get into the roof, as the clear coat failure on this car was beyond a joke (welcome to Australia). Bare paint had been worn and weathered down, in some places down nearly to primer, and the remaining peeling framed the entire roof panel like some crappy little decorative middle finger to me..


the paint was awful.. whoever could let it get to this point should be punished for vehicular abuse. Just starting to wet sand down through the damage.

I started with a sand down to remove the weak clear coat and damaged paint. As this is a temp job (I plan to get the roof down to metal and resprayed by a pro in a year or so), I didn't go all the way down to metal. I smoothed it out as much as I could and adjusted the grits while wetsanding to be as paint friendly as possible. A few days of prep, masking and painting later, we have a surprisingly accurate color match (Solent Blue) and a nice finish. It's not perfect, but it's far better than what it was. It'll do just fine until I'm ready for a proper repaint, and will protect that poor roof panel from the torture of weathered paint it was suffering under QLD sun. Bonus interior shot because I haven't put one up yet (right hand drive o'course!)



Not gonna lie. I am feeling a bit proud of how this turned out.





Interior

I'm still waiting for a new air filter to arrive (the one in currently is absolute filth and has me running rich *spew*.

Side question, what octane do you all use for fuel? I've committed to running a tank of 98 through first (to give the engine a nice clear out), though was wondering if it's recommended to regularly run 98 or if 95 does alright.

Cheers guys! Will update again soon.

 

Just changed the air filter. . Actually surprised with how bad this was. It was heavy, and nearly dripping. Had to wipe out the housing too! Running much smoother now.


Photo doesn't do it justice.. this was a surprisingly bad air filter.