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New to the forum and thought I'd provide some info on my status. Back in the mid seventies when I was around ten years old my father took me to a car showroom in Maidenhead UK where amongst other cars they had a '75 series 2 for sale. In the naivety of a youngster I fell in love with the car, but my father said he couldn't afford it and would keep his 1970 Ford Zephyr. I never forgot that car and it always stuck in my mind. As I grew up, I didn't forget this longing, but felt the car was more suited to the wealthy middle aged. As a result, and the luck of having a good career my passion moved on to Porsche.....924, 944 and several 911's. But I never forgot the Series 2 Jag. Now well in my fifties, I decided to look for my unrequited love ! After scouring many ads I found a '77 series 2 XJ6 in Squadron Blue, and it was only around ten miles away. The owner had passed away and after some time his wife decided it would need to be cared for by a new enthusiast. I viewed the car and could see that although by no means perfect, it was an honest motor with original service books, lots of history, parts invoices, many old tax discs and thirty five out of a possible forty two mot certificates. The car has never had a full restoration but has received ongoing attention as necessary, just as you would a modern car of today. When I test drove the car It wasn't running at all well, however I could see it was a fuel issue and nothing serious. Unsurprisingly it turned out the AED auto choke was playing up and I've since wound in the needle jet to over ride this, albeit some 'nursing' required until warm. The car had a current mot but there were a few minor issues that needed addressing. Initially I thought I would get a mechanic to sort these things out but decided the whole idea of this was to have some quality enjoyment from the car and do as much as I could myself, and I've thoroughly enjoyed every moment over the winter evenings of '22 & '23 :Fit black & silver number plates
Replace o/s 7” headlamp (halogen with internal sidelight)
Jenolite rust convertor and overpaint drivers floor panel
New fuel tank filler cap seals
Paint chrome wheel black recesses
Replace water pump bypass hose
Check and renew various jubilee clips
Disconnect, clean and lubricate and re-connect positive and negative power connections (bulkhead)
Check and top up power steering fluid
Grease rear axles, ball joints, wheel bearings and steering rack
Clean & apply leather treatment to all upholstery (three applications)
Replace OEM Jaguar grille emblem
Replace crankcase breather cap
Replace throttle spindle rubber bush
Fit new front brake discs & pads
MOT pass 20/3/23 (no advisories)
I still have a few things to address such as sagging headliner and L/H fuel tank sender but the car is running well and a joy to drive ! It's great to read owner experiences on this forum and a wealth of information. Many thanks !!
Lovely! This Jag appears to be in generally excellent condition and the work you have done will guarantee proper operation.
Thanks for your comment. Hopefully I can enjoy a summer of enjoyable and mainly reliable motoring but I do have a trunk full of tools and basic parts just in case !
Elinor, Thanks for your welcoming post ! It's hard to find a decent series 2 in the UK. Sadly most of them rusted away or ended life on the banger racing circuit. Your XJ looks in great condition and it's good to see the high level of enthusiasm on this forum. Over here the only way to preserve these cars is keep them dry, apply protection where possible and leave the residue of any oil leakage where it is !
Last edited by roberlar; Mar 23, 2023 at 01:55 PM.
What a great write-up and beautiful car. You are working through the list of items that need attention as most of us are. One item you mentioned, “Jubilee Clips” puzzled me. After t Googled it I learned that they are what we in middle America call hose clamps. I am a bit of a fanatic about those; getting precisely the right size, positioning the tightening screw within easy reach but hiding the ugly “tail” of the clamp in back out of sight.
Elinor, Thanks for your welcoming post ! It's hard to find a decent series 2 in the UK. Sadly most of them rusted away or ended life on the banger racing circuit. Your XJ looks in great condition and it's good to see the high level of enthusiasm on this forum. Over here the only way to preserve these cars is keep them dry, apply protection where possible and leave the residue of any oil leakage where it is !
There was a time these were on the racing circus but there are so few now those events have moved on to more plentiful bangers.
My Jag has spent its whole live since birth in California, the Previous Owner made me promise I would never drive her in the rain. Not a hard promise to keep, as the wipers are Really poor in the first place, and I have other wheels more suited to wet roads.
However, when she first came to live with us I took the time to spray a cavity-coater into all the nooks, crannies and crevices that could possibly harbor water, either in the form of the occasional puddle of mere condensation during winters like this one has been.
Thanks for your comments Jeff. I'd overlooked the terminology on 'jubilee clips'. Strange how these things are such as trunk / boot, hood / bonnet, fender / wing and so on.
I don't know how things work in your part of the world but in the UK we have concessions on most cars over 40 years old. There is no road tax to pay, they are MOT exempt, free to travel in low & ultra low emission zones and I pay just 37.00 GBP for one years comprehensive insurance added to an existing classic policy. The MOT exemption is a crazy idea, first of all from a safety point of view and secondly an MOT test is only 50 GBP for peace of mind rather than paying considerably more for an independent inspection. Other aspects are fine by me.......on my daily driver I pay 650 GBP per year for road tax, 12.50 for entering a low emission zone and expensive insurance. The only downside is fuel, currently 1.65 per litre for 98 octane. Despite the trend towards electric vehicles, I'm certain fuel will remain available for a very long time for classic cars. There are still a number of outlets in the UK who sell 'four star' high octane for old motors albeit around 4.00 per litre !
Elinor, I think you've got absolutely the right idea there with regards dry weather driving and layers of protection from moisture and humidity. Sadly, there's still a fascination in the UK for destroying classic cars in 'banger racing' and jags are no exception due to the power, weight and strength. Let's hope our XJ's become more coveted to dissuade this......I don't recall hearing of an E-Type taking place in these events !
.....I don't recall hearing of an E-Type taking place in these events !
That's because E-types are virtually Worshiped in any condition, and some would give Body Parts to have even a small piece of one, and would go to any lengths to save one from such an ignominious fate.
I've never seen an E-type in a wrecking yard either, probably because they're thoroughly Cannibalized well before they get there.
(';')
A beautiful car, that was a great find. Only comment I might make is that 20W-50 is heavier than I would use. Over on the small saloons forum we have a Triboogist ( an Oil Engineer) who describes 20W-50 as "sludge" and says there is absolutely no reason to use anything that heavy - unless you are trying to hold together a completely worn out engine before you rebuild it.
When new, Jaguar recommended a 30 weight when hot. For mutigrades you should always try and get the first number as small as possible - either 5 or 0. That is the cold viscosity rating, and low viscosity there means the oil is quickly pumpable when cold to get the oil up into the cams and bearings as fast as possible. About 80% of engine wear occurs on startup, so it's important to have the oil flowing quickly during cranking and right after starting. The second number is the hot viscosity and match that to whatever the engine make recommends. An added advantage is having thinner oil for starting is it will crank faster and take less draw from the battery.
While not wanting to argue with a certified triboogist, I’m pretty sure Jaguar’s recommendation for the V12’s was 20/50 in normal/typical climates and 10/40 in winter/cold climates.
Yes, viscosity is one issue, particularly on startup, but so is frothing and potential starvation during hard driving.
Which is why you don't use thick oil! The heavy oil doesn't flow as well, it needs to get in and out of the bearings for cooing as well as for lubrication. Oil that is thick generates heat in the bearings due to the shearing friction. I have seen the soft bearing melted and smeared on the crank after some high rev/ high load driving with thick oil. The shear generated significant amounts of heat and because of the viscosity the oil didn't flow and locally boiled.
In the 1995 documentation I have see for the AJ16 and V12 it simply says to use 5W-20 to 20W50 depending on climate. The "normal" oil for a UK type climate was 5W-30 or 5W40, with 20W50 being specified for ambient conditions like you might find in the Middle East in summer, i.e. ambient conditions of 45°C and greater.
I have less concern with the 50 portion than the 20 for moderate climates. For the E Types using the XK engine Jaguar specified 20W for winter, 30W for moderate climates and 40W for tropical, although this was in the era before quality multigrades.
I’m not sure that once the engine has warmed up that there’s much if any difference in the 90 C operating temperature of the engine or the oil regardless of exterior ambient temperatures. So yes, don’t drive the $h!t out of it until then but after that I’d be more concerned with lack of lubrication as a result of frothing than insufficient viscosity. I would however agree that the quality and characteristics of modern oil whether synthetic or not are better than when Jaguar first wrote those specs. I have put a lot of km’s on a ‘92 V12 over the course of 15 years as a daily driver that always ran 20/50 with no issues. I have also run a sister ‘92 V12 for 10 years - although not as a daily driver - that uses 10/40 with no issues (partly because she does sit for longer periods). Within reason, we might be having an angels on the head of a pin discussion but I appreciate the informed additional information…
I have put a lot of km’s on a ‘92 V12 over the course of 15 years as a daily driver that always ran 20/50 with no issues.
Did you do oil analysis? What were the lead, copper and iron numbers? Until you know those you don't know what the engine wear is.
I used to design oilfield equipment that used engines up to 5000hp, and a important part of the design was fuel gas quality and oil change intervals. There is no specified oil change interval for these engines from the factory in terms of time, it is specified based on oil analysis. The condemning limits are based on viscosity change, and things like wear metals from the engine components and the TBN and TAN numbers.
I did one project for the city that was a power generation project using landfill gas. Basically extracting methane from the decomposing materials in the landfill and burning that in the engine to make electricity. Landfill gas is full of contaminants, and based on oil analysis the oil change interval was 100 hours. The same engine running on wellhead gas near Medicine Hat was close to a 6000 hour change interval, the difference was due to cleaner fuel. Until you have done oil analysis and measured the trends of the contaminating metals, or done a teardown and measured the bearing clearances you can't really say you have no issues because you don't know the state of the engine internals. All you really know is you haven't had complete failure. I know I'd never operate an engine I cared about in an Edmonton winter on 20W-50, unless it was never shut off. I also had a 92 VDP in Calgary and it got 0W-30 synthetic in the winter, as the car had to sit outside during the day.
My elder brother lived in Bluffton in South Carolina. On a visit there in 2015 I wandered into a small car dealer/breakers yard. There was a yellow Jaguar E type in decent condition. On making enquiries, I was told that he had turned down $10,000 for it! I wanted to offer him a lot more, but my long suffering wife was having nothing to do with it!! What a missed opportunity! My brother has now died but for a while he kept an eye on the car, Just in case.Alec G.
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