I like that rim. I think it will look quite nice.

 

I liked them enough to import a set from Jolly Olde.

 

About ten days ago, I took my first trip of any significant length in the XJ12. Three and a half hours total, up and down Sauvie Island, then to Clatskanie and down OR-47. My vee mounts are like Jell-O, the gas gauge is still scandalously nonlinear, but the Bluetooth module worked the whole time.

Then I took the car to get a pro exterior detail.


I had always done the Miata myself, but the Jag's paint is nicer and there's a lot more of it.

I have a new driver door seal and front subframe arm bushings waiting to go in. New floormats, a LH defroster grille, and a few ancillaries are coming from SNG.

 

Looking good brother! Do the worn vee mounts cause the steering to feel vague? That could make for a tiring road trip. I like to take the roads less traveled; see more interesting things and drive more interesting roads.

Yesterday my car sailed through emissions testing again for the seventh time during my ownership. The technician must drive my car on the rollers following a trace, with actual tailpipe emissions measured. This despite the EMS being the same as the 96; the 96 models only need the OBD hookup. 109k clocked now.

 

I mean, pressing on the right vee mount, at least, it feels very gummy. No overt complaints about how the car steers, but I presume the handling could be sharper with refreshed rubber bits. And the suspension clunks over larger bumps and when releasing the brakes after hard application. I'm led to believe that those are telltale symptoms of bad vee mounts.

 

I recently split up my keychain between my walking-around keyring and an auxiliary driving-around keyring with fobs and the fancy car key. I leave the driving ring in my apartment when I'm doing usual stuff that I can walk to, but it's inconvenient to retrieve it from upstairs just to pop open the trunk or what have you, so I've chopped down my spare key so I can put it on my walking keyring without excess bulk.

Single-edge razor, hacksaw, drills, and lots of sandpaper.

 

New floormats and new old stock X308 steering wheel are in.

Turns out the lambswool mats that came with my car are for LWB application. Anybody with a LWB of interior color code AGD want them? The driver mat is worn but the rest are ok....

 

Plates and registration have finally arrived after four months' wait. I am irrationally enthused about having the last exterior accoutrement the car needed.

 

Congratulations I guess? Four months... a delay due to Covid? I see you got one for the front too. Will you be known as Mr. Q now? Lol

 

I would normally be ambivalent about a front plate, but the bumper has holes drilled into it.
My Miata, which I bought in one-plate New Mexico, never wore a number plate up front.
My 944 had vanity plates; I paid for both so it wore them both.

OR DMV's covid-blamed delays were well covered in local media, but I figured that they applied mostly to in-person office visits which is why I mailed in my paperwork.

I now have a new fuel sender and gasket on order. Also made an appointment to bring the car in for thermostats and subframe bushes.

 

I got the new fuel sender in after quite a struggle. The gauge had been at about half, but I figured the existing sender was not to be trusted, and it's been a while since I last refueled, and that was way out in Rainier. I lifted up the rear axle as far as my little race jack would go and dived in. Fuel feebly dribbled out as I loosened the ring, but I pressed on with the confidence that this is one of the quickest X300 R+R jobs. The old sender needed some persuading to get out. The new one seemed to bind against something no matter which way I wiggled it, so I got my flashlight right up to the aperture. There's a coffee can size cylinder just to the left and a vertical hard line straight back. Are these features exclusive to the two-pump tank? Anyway, I finally get the float to go around the can and under the hard line, or whatever it had to do, all the while creating ripples that were barely overtopping the hole.

I probably only lost a couple tablespoons of gas, but I also managed to incur a cut on my left pinky at the cuticle. It made my stinky petrol towel blood-spotted too.
This is the old sender (had to get my pinky bandaid in shot); could it be original?

The new sender goes smoothly from 80 to 900 ohms. The old one, as expected by the P1198 and pegged-low gauge with a full tank, goes open circuit at the top of the travel.

 

Driver door seal had a hole, but more annoyingly it rubbed against the B-pillar where it was quite squashed.

I bought a factory new one on the 'Bay. I guess it's an X308 part, but the catalog supersedes to it (HNC5301AC). Several of the fasteners don't line up with the holes in the door. It was more tedious than challenging to relocate the clips in the rubber.

Gave the new part a swipe of Gummi Pflege. The driver door now requires an enthusiastic borderline slam, but the shut sound is very satisfying.

 

That is interesting. I had exactly the same problem with a seal bought from jaguarclassics.
When fitted I found I had around a 6mm gap at the top of the door (above the window switch’s).
I bought a second new one (same part number) this time directly from the dealer. This one had the fittings in the correct place and no gap.
I think there must have been a bad batch but because I had fitted the part (moving the fixings) I didn’t bother trying to get a refund!

 

Hey Mr. Q, may we now see MX Ice Blue with Solars? Any results from presently refreshed sub-rubbers?

 

The XJ12 has been on the healing bench at The Jag Shop for six months now. I was hoping to enjoy the car this summer, but whether I can drive it at all before the end of the season seems iffy. New control arm bushes and vee mounts (that had to come from out of state) became new hydraulic engine mounts (that had to come from out of country). I haven't run out of enthusiasm or budget, I just have plenty of time to throw at it.

 

Where did you procur the engine mounts from?

 

Harper Jaguar in TN. They had to import them from the Old Dart. They arrived to me via UPS for ~USA$731 per, shipped.

EDIT: Pretty underwhelming when in hand, given the price, I must say.

 

$731.00 per... Well it seems Jaguar is pretty proud of their engine mounts!

 

Now we know what Hen's teeth cost. I think that's a tear forming.

I haven't heard of anyone that has actually replaced the engine mounts, you get to be the first. Were the old ones shot in so many ways?

I know that is all a very big job requiring heavy equipment, but six months, really? I guess that is mostly parts wait time? Hope she is kept indoors, with weekly visits bearing gifts.



I think MNA7500AA (NLA) is for the 1997 models, which can be found anywhere except the USA.

 

To be fair, I did say from the start that I wanted all the while-you're-in-theres done and to take their time.

Last time I was there, the car was outside in their gated lot. No big deal though. The car spent most of its previous lives in OK, TX, and AZ so anything that was going to get sunbaked has already gone crispy.