Hi all,

I wanted to introduce myself as a new series 3 owner, having picked up a 2 owner lower mile 86 XJ6. The same owners have had the car since 1987 and it has just over 95k miles on it. It has almost no rust, very rare for a midwestern car. It is pretty much stock with the exception of an aftermarket stereo and speakers, but the factory bits were included.

It is getting a new starter, since the original was getting a bit weak. After that, I'm working on fitting some BMW 17x8 2 piece crosslace wheels, planning on 225/55/17s. I'm going to do some test fitting once it warms up to see how much impact the extra long hubs are going to have on the centercap situation.

Not really planning too much after this other than maybe the 7" headlight conversion. I have to admit, the 7" headlight on the series 3 is part of what initially piqued my interest in these cars.

Looking forward to reading up on what everyone else has going on.

dk

 

Welcome aboard.

Series IIIs are great cars.

Cheers
DD

 

Welcome to our playroom from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome!

If you're cheap like me - or don't want to wait to track down some genuine 7" surrounds, you can always cut down the existing surrounds as I did - I used some chrome plastic door edging to fill the space around the top edge as you can see.




Does the job, I think.

 

I add my warm welcome. Challenging, yet satisfying.


My 7" project is on hold. at a risk of thread robbery, I would ask how the bezel was ground to allow the &'s to fit. the door edge trim does indeed look good. I have a pair of spare 5's to trim.


Beware of the "new" starter. New originals may exist, somewhere, but where ??? If of original design, it is a rebuild. Some very well done. Others, far from it. I'd keep the "core" it may be a better platform fr a fix than the "new" one. In actuality, a simple electric DC motor. Very "DIY fixable.


of course, you may have opted for a brand new Asian made unit. Gear reduction, lighter and smaller. Much easier to heave in to place.




Wheel choice is purely an individual thing Mine is shod with lattice wheels from a pristine XJS. I like them a lot.


Carl

 

It's been a while since I did it but as I recall I used pretty much everything I had to hand - a 4 1/2" cutting wheel on a grinder for the rough initial cuts, followed by a dremel and a hand file.

 

Thanks. Colder than I like. but, I'll have another whack at it when it warms up a bit.


Got a smaller grinder the other day, it might work better. thre other was more unweildy.


Carl

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. I guess i should have said rebuilt starter. I got a Bosch unit hoping it is better than the no names.

I'm going to hold out for either an oem or the new batch of 7" bezels. I'm also going to have to scour ebay.co.uk for one of those euro spec light switches. I love the yellow inner fogs with the 7" high and low beam outers.

I can't find any wheel fitment details on 17" wheels. I'm torn between 225/55 and 235/50. 26.7" total diameter for the 225, 26.3 for the 235. 26.3 matches the 205/70/15, and 26.7 matches the 215/70/15.

Coming from BMWs, everything was wheels and there was infinite amounts of information on wheel fitment. I'll share my findings.