Hi all, I know this sounds like a strange question. Is there an easy way to raise the rear of my XJ6?. Like pack spacers in the springs or something simple.
I have a very steep drive ,and if I have my tanks over 1/4 full or 2 adults in the car it dargs(very much getting over the top into the garage), and worse getting out again,I had to take 50 litres of fuel out of it today to reverse out.
See the pics to understand my predicament. The blue Ford wagon had 2 extra leafs put in rear springs to get it over,the Mazda 3 is a no go. Have to sevice that one on the street.
I think 1-2 inches would be plenty,I'd like to try 1 inch first.

 

You have a few options.

XJS Convertible springs or USA Series 3 springs. Both springs are dimensionally the same but both the XJS convertible and USA Series 3 were much heavier that a Eruo spec series 1 and should lift the car a bit. For sagging related to age KYB pressurized shocks will certainly give the rear a small boost and may suffice. I'd do both KYB shocks and USA Series 3 rear springs because they are the easiest to find here is the USA. You may have a different situation. Fresh springs and the stiffer than stock KYB shocks will make the vehicle more controllable out back in any case.

The springs setup is a simple design. You can make some aluminum or nylon spacers using a hole saw for the outer dimension then another smaller hole saw for the inter dimension.

 

Thanks for the info,gathering some ideas first. Only had this thought about raising it 5 minutes before bed time last night.

Cheers,Clarke

 

clarke,
if you just want to raise to go in/out of the driveway have you considered air bag suspension which can be raised or lowered within the car (standard suspension stays but mini air bags are inflated/deflated when needed) , there's a few suppliers in Australia (i'm in Sydney), if you raise permanently you'll have to do a camber adjustment, another alternative we use to do back in the 70's is use adjustable lower clamp plates on over ride shocker springs, the only draw back with that is, it looks not so good & a chance of the spring coils binding on heavy bumps & again a camber adjustment..........tom

 

Thanks Tom, another option to look into. Just at seed stage for now. Any idea who the better suppliers would be and contact details.

Cheers,Clarke

 

Clarke,
I grew up in Brisbane/Mt Gravatt so i know the hill problem, you could lay a heavy duty steel plate ramp over the gutter area, allowable providing it doesn't block drainage or come any further up the driveway than the outer edge of the footpath, couple of links below apart from ebay for air bags, but i don't know your budget but worth giving them a ring and explain what you want to do...tom
Air Ride Suspension Supplies - Air Ride Suspension Supplies - Air Suspensions Systems and Auto Electrical Products for Rods, Customs and Classics also Catalogue - Rocket Industries
and a link to my picture web page with jags etc in Sydney > jagschemes' photosets on Flickr

 

The road I live on dates back to at least 1951 and possibly was prewar II.

The curbs are uniform all over, Kind of a compromise between an apron at each drive and vertical elsewhere.

Pickups and cars of the era managed them OK. More modern ones not so much.
So, all or most curb at driveways are now modified, or removed and an apron poured. The others, like mine have fillers of blacktop or concrete to create a miniramp and allow lower cars to make it. Except, one house. They just go in at an angle with low and high vehicles. The more elegant ones have a drain over which the filler is poured to allow rain to run along the gutter to the drain.

But, some municipalites might object. This is not incorporated and the county only looks in rare instances. Never positively,

Carl

 

Hi Guys,the problem is not at the bottom of driveway. It's getting over to top into the garage,exhaust scrapes fairly badly when car has a load such as full tanks or more than one person in the car.

Clarke

 

Clarke,
i have the same problem but opposite end and way so now i just come in the back of the property, from an ex builder/concreter point of view>>>>.shave it, simplest & cheapest way ......

 

It's already been shaved a fair bit for previous cars. Can't take anymore off it,and no rear access o property.

 

Clarke,

Looking at the snaps of the various cars in question, and that MOTHER OF ALL driveway, I noted that the Jag "looks" kinda highish in the rear and lowish in the front.

Maybe s front spring change would raise that front enough to allow the exhaust etc to clear the crown.

Check out King Springs. I have used them in the past and no complaints.

Maybe even the S1 V12 fronts will give what you want with yours being a 6 cyl and all. Then there are the factory spring packers for the front to adjust ride height that may have been removed in a previous life, mmmm. Had that on an XJ-S once, and that chin spoiler was shaved something fierce. Put the spacers back in the fronts, same springs, all done and sweet as.

 

Thanks Grant, front springs is another option to look into. I will check out the packers when I get a day off on Thursday,hopefully will have those new engine mounts by then too. And can add to the "tuning SU" thread.
Here is a better picture of the height of the car , I have had a look at sereis 1's on google images,they don't look much different to mine. Some look lower. I guess it is only a matter of 25-50mm that I need. It is not an urgent project,just something I thought I would start gathering info on,plenty of more pressing problems I have to sort first. But if there is an easy fix I might look into it.
The reason I started thinking of the rear is that there are rub marks on the wheel arhces from the tyres so assumed the rear was sagging for some reason like shocks or springs worn, havn't even got as far as investigating that yet.


Clarke

 

Still having trouble attaching them sometimes.

 

NAH, those snaps show a PERFECT stance S1 car.

The LWB models really are LONG, and that is an issue.

We also have suburbs here with that insane driveway nightmare.

One club memeber bit the bullet and dug his out almost flat to road and put his garage/s at ground level with the old "house garage", now the roof of the new one, as his home theatre, so wifey happy at the same time. Obviously money was not an issue, but you wanted ideas HAHA.

 

Clarke,
I'm with Grant in that your car has perfect stance! Not often seen really.
Another thought though... have you looked at fine tuning the position of your exhaust pipes? I've seen many hanging low from previous work, and in my experience there can be a good bit of room to raise them, even bending new pipes a bit different to accomplish this. Although, I did remove the front silencers completely on my car. But there is a possibility you could gain a half inch or so. Nice ser1 you have there!
Bill

 

Thanks Grant and Bill, The moving the garage is a good idea but not financially viable.
I will have the car up on ramps this coming Thursday as my new engine mounts arrived today. Good to know you think the car is sitting at the right height.
I may well pick up a a bit of lift with the mounts as the engine is sitting on the subframe at the moment, while I'm under there I'm going to see if I can jiggle an inch or two out of the pipes. Combined it may be enough to get where I want.

Thanks, Clarke

 

Grant, in your last post you mention LWB. Is mine a LWB model? I think it is a SWB going by what info I could find. Doe's VIN give any indication.

Update. 1L30046BW. Just read another thread where it is stated that the 1L is series 1 LWB,so I assume the BW part is Borg Warner?

 

Clarke,

I am sure yours is a LWB, as the snaps simply give me that indication.

The S1 were mainly SWB, and the LWB was an option order when the 1st person did the original buy. Since Jag were competing with Fairlane, Phoenix, Chevs of all sorts, etc, and then take into account the waiting list at the time, most were ordered from Jaguar as LWB. Of course some speculative buying by dealers also saw a lot of LWB coming our way.

The LWB was standard on S2 and S3 (in OZ anyway), and I reckon as the S1 got closer to S2 change point, LWB was standard down here.

The BW is for Borg Warner, yes. Probably Type12 in your year model.

 

Hi Grant, I'm sure my car was right near the changeover of models as it has a build date of 5/73 , and I looked at a series 2 when I was in the market to buy that had a build date also 5/73. According to what I can find on the interweb only 574 LWB series 1 were built.
Yes it is a BW12, I have had to replace parts on it. It also came with a BW12 book with the owners manual.

Total production figures for the Series 1
Model Production
Jaguar XJ6 2.8 swb 19,322
Jaguar XJ6 4.2 swb 59,077
Jaguar XJ6 4.2 lwb 574
Jaguar XJ12 swb 2,474
Jaguar XJ12 lwb 754
Daimler Sovereign 2.8 3,233
Daimler Sovereign 4.2 swb 11,522
Daimler Sovereign 4.2 lwb 386
Daimler Double Six swb 534
Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas 351
Total Production for Series 1 98,227

 

Well, it occurred to me that messing with the height of either end would effect
wheel alignment and as such driveabilty would suffer. Not good. So, I'd focus on a plan to adjust the driveway to accommodate a car at a perfect or near perfect road height.

Mebbe an approach at an angle would do it. Or as suggested, get the pipes up a tad.

Carl