I have watched a few videos on brake caliper replacement as well as rebuilding the parking brake mechanism, which seems difficult at best to remove with the rear cradle in place . Seems the least frustrating and quicker in the long run way to ensure everything is in top working order is to completely drop the rear suspension cradle.

- Remove and refresh the parking brake assembly with new pads.
- Address any issues with the main calipers.
- At just 20,800 miles I am assuming the disks will be fine. I even saw a video where some of the aftermarket discs are thinner than the OEM ones.
- Make sure there are no seals leaking.
- Replace all the rubber bushings.
- Clean up nice and pretty and reinstall.

 

Were those temperatures you measured Fahrenheit or centigrade?
400 farenheight is nothing compared to 400C.Brakes at 400F is quite normal for severe braking.
Just do the simple thing and change that rear brake hose before launching into dropping the rear end.
I don't believe the exhaust system which has to be dismantled will be an easy job in a rear end removal.

 

Those temps were Fahrenheit. No hard braking, and the fronts were only at 100F when the rears were at 400F. Seems something is dragging/hanging up.

Thankfully being a Southern car with only 20k even the exhaust nuts are not corroded and should come off pretty easy.

 

As covered in a different thread, I addressed the sticking caliper by dropping the rear cradle. Calipers, brake lines, pads and parking brake pads were replaced with new ones. Control arms were given all new bushings, and the 4 shocks were replaced with those from KYB. Everything was reinstalled, brakes bled, and the parking brake cable removed and adjusted.

Rear Cradle Rebuild Questions - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

 

The next project was replacing all the dash gauge lights with LED bulbs, what a difference, the gauges are much brighter and much easier to read. I am curious why the LED bulb in the tachometer didn't make as much difference in brightness as the one in the speedometer did? Upgrading the opticell will be next.

 

MSGGrunt, What LED's did you use? The Speedo/Tach ones are different from the small gauges, so there should be two part numbers. Also, does the dimmer function , or are these non-dimmable LED's. Ian

 

The rheostat does not dim the lights.

The LEDs I used were based on another thread on here.

Yes, the two bulbs for the tach and speedo were different than the four screw in ones used on the smaller gauges. The tach is probably not as bright because of how the light travels within the gauge. Not a big deal as it is still plenty bright compared to the original incandescent bulbs. With my car being a VDP with the recessed gauges it was a bit more work twisting the tach and speedo to remove and reinstall. I found removing the center warning light housing gave a bit more room and a bit more purchase on the gauges.

 

How many XJ6s out there are still sporting their original windshield wipers? And they weren't even all dried out. Almost a shame to replace them, but you can be sure I am hanging on to them.

 

Question, what are these two plugs for in the exhaust manifolds?

 

There is a tool for measuring the CO and Hydrocarbons that you would attach after removing those caps. Had a valve so you could measure which bank had the misfire or leaking injecter. Another thing or two that you are going to hear about sooner then later. #1 cylinder is closest to the windshield. A-bank is closest to the windshield. B=bank is furthest away from windshield. Camshaft timing is adjusted from frontmost cylinder while #1 is at TDC. Purchase tool to adjust upper timing chain.

Larry Louton

 

Very nice car and the LED lights came out nice. I did the same thing and also the opticell initially but ended up taking out the fiber optics and wiring in LEDs. I don’t know why the tach is different. Has the bulb dislodged? Anyway beautiful car, enjoy. 😀

 

You are hired. I will bring you all my switches that can be converted to LEDs and buy you a drink seeing you are local.

 

Re the windscreen wipers.
Just buy new wiper rubber inserts for the old original housings.
It's a very simple thing to do.

 

Do they even make such a thing in this day and age where everything is disposible? I actually scored some 16" Bosch Excel + blades from my local discount store. The books called for 15", but the OEM ones are closer to 16". The best part, I paid $5.00 a piece and bought 4.

 

That's a super compliment to be trusted to work on that beautiful cat you have.

If you're happy just changing the opticell bulb, it's right there under the center console.
Did you already try it? I found it really didn't make much difference in light output through the optics. Also one of my long fiber optic cables was already broken.

I bought a 30 pack of prewired 12 volt green 3mm and 1.5mm LEDs for $7 or $8 on Amazon. I unplugged the opticell connector. I then routed and wired up 7 LEDs from the dash locations to the opticell plug.
Initially too bright but easily fixed.

You can either disconnect the retrostat by joining the wires or buy an LED dimmer $20, again from Amazon. If you do need anymore info, links to parts, tips etc. I'm more than happy to assist. Your MA. neighbor ukborn

 

Do you have a link to the thread you are referring to? I'm about to change out the bulbs in my cluster and would like to read up on it.

 

Working on cleaning up the engine bay. I struggled with if I should remove the air pump and its associated hardware, but in the end I decided to go ahead. Everything was removed with no damage and the entire system could be put back in working order very easily. Much cleaner engine bay. The plugs in the head I got off McMaster Carr.

The exhaust heat shield and cam covers are next. The heat shield will be polished and I have a nicely refinished set ready to be installed. I was going to replace the head stud nuts with fancy chrome ones from Moss Motors, but have instead decided to have then gold zinc plated when I have the lifting hooks and other pieces refinished.

 

If you do replate the head stud nuts, then it is important to run a "bottoming" tap down the nut before refitting.
Most plating systems will leave some sort of buildup on the internal threads.
This can lead to incorrect torquing figures when reassembling.
Ditto for the cam cover dome nuts which also look a little aged.
Cheers

 

Good point and something I did consider, but wasn't sure if during the plating process the plater would plug the hole much like they would if powder coated. I do have a set of bottom taps but, they are metric. Are these standard thread or some special British pitch?

 

No they are not metric.
They are SAE National Fine which should be common as anything in your part of the world.
Jaguar went to the American SAE nut and bolt system in the early MK7after complaints by US/Canada about lack of tooling for British threads such as Whitworth and BSF in the MK5.
The north American market was Jaguars main market.
I have had numerous bits re-plated with zinc, nickel and chrome and I stand by the need to re-tap any internal or run a die over external threads.