Bought myself a new toy on Friday, a 1976 Series 2. Drove it 1100km home with only 1 hickup (small inline plastic fuel filter clogging), otherwise was a dream. fuelpump on the left struggled a little at 100kph uphill but cruised beautifully. Incredibly original and well looked after car (mostly original paint), I can only find 1 bubble of rust anywhere in it. looking forward to pushing it in to daily use while I give my Volvo Amazon some TLC.

 

the engine compartment and the interior (including the headliner), looks in excellent shape. Congratulations.

1974 was the year that the most Series 2 were made by Jaguar, yet there are not many to be seen in the USA. (see production Chart below).

 

Nice patina on that Kitty. Looks very comfortable. Check the tanks if your fuel filter clogged. In the USA we get "Federal" bumpers. I love those euro bumpers.

 

Oops, made a typo, should have said '76, my Shitbox Rally Daimler is a '74. Previous owner kept meticulous detail of everything he did to the car which will be fantastic as I work on it.

One issue I've noticed, accelerating hard from rest or out of a low speed corner (like a round-about) there can be a slipping sensation with a noise like something dragging, previous owner thought it was a handbrake pad coming loose and getting stuck, but my feeling is a brake band in the gearbox possibly loose, anyone else experienced similar?

 

probably the transmission mounts, assuming they have never been serviced. The rubber mounts become like chewing gum after 25 years.

 

They could cause a slip in the driveline? feels like a brake sticking or clutch slipping when the noise happens

 

when they deteriorate, they produce many confusing symptoms. Best to inspect the mounts first and then move on to other areas if the mounts are good.

 

Thanks, gearbox was last touched in 1985 (less than 100,000km since but MANY years ago), will have a crawl under and take a look in the next couple of days

 

that's over 25 years if my calculator is right :-))

if the side-mounts feel like Adams' Chicklets, the donut is also gum.

 

just got it back from inspection and it looks like I have a long weekend ahead of me. Power steering is leaking oil from everywhere, a seal near the crank pulley is leaking notably, the rear disks are undersized and the rear brake piston boots are dry/worn

 

Nice looking Jag you picked up. I picked one up last week too. Was this one on Carsales??

 

Ebay actually. Despite the work needed mechanic thinks it's 20x better than the last he saw. Appears to be genuinely rust free.

 

Oh yea I remember that one now. Was thinking about putting a bid on it but the one i ended up getting was closer. You got it for a good price anyway!

 

Progress being made, rear calipers have been rebuilt, new handbrake pads installed, oil leaks fixed, rego on Tuesday.

I've just got a couple of issues still annoying me. On the trivial side the power central locking works only some days, I'll assume a wire in the console, not too worried by that one.

More concerning, the transmission is definitely slipping/binding. It got a new cotton reel mount when being inspected for roadworthy,fluids are up and full (actually a little over full) and I have adjusted the brake bands. Shifts through the gears seem fairly smooth and where you would expect them, but accelerating hard from rest expecially up hill or on a corner can cause there to be a loud friction noise, and lack of momentum. As soon as I back off the noise will stop and momentum will improve but it has me rather worried.

 

Also is there any way to determine the year and month of manufacture? I am working off what the previous owner told me but can't find a date on the vehicle.

 

Got Vic rego today and in typical Jaguar fashion as I was driving to get the vehicle registered the horn stuck on of it's own accord, causing me to have to pull over, disconnect the horns and hope the inspector did nothing more than check the vehicle numbers matched!

Thankfully all went well and the car is now completely in my name and on the road, time to get used to the fuel bills

The gearbox slip/bind is still worrying me, it is definitely worse when the car is hot. The fluids haven't been changed in the gearbox in a few years (although the still look clean) so I will endeavour to do that this week