can anyone suggest any upgrades i can do to my 1988 xj12 vander plas to make it all around better regardless if its OEM or not as im keeping the car forever due to the lack of respect ive had when trying to sell the car. i am gonna proceed to make it a manual trans but outside of that any input would be great (nothing to the body though or anything that would make it not drive like as smooth as it did before i parked it.

 

1. AJ6 Engineering enhanced ECU and large thottle body kit
2. Unless done, replace ALL rubber components in the suspension and all ball joints
3. Ditto all fluids, coolant hoses and the two thermostats
4. Adjustable bump/rebound shocks all round and platform adjustable at the rear (Gaz or AVO)
5. Check all underbonnet wiring for being cooked and replace (wire by wire) any bit where the insulation is cooked.
6. Remove injectors and have them cleaned, replace the injector rubbers and basket filters, replace the injector loom.
7. Clean all loom connectors wherever they are to be found. Clean all earth (ground) points. Clean injectors power resistor connectors
8. New plugs, HT leads, dizzy cap and rotor, coils, lubricate rotor spindle and make sure it springs back sharply when turned against the spring loading.
9. Clean out fuel tanks and fuel system, new filters etc;
10. Replace main fan torquetrol unit, upgrade auxiliary electriic fan to something more modern and efficient.
11. Remove and clean out radiator and gap between rad and condensor
12. The aircon system your car has is, I think the Delanair II. IF all working leave alone, if not it is not that difficult to get it working (see for example the Jagaire site). The system works pretty well once right.
13. Replace brake system flexibles, master cylinder and replace rebuild calipers; but be careful if you have the TEVES antilock system which requires a special bleeding routine. This system is becoming unreliable due to age, but there is loads on the XJS forum about this and how to rebuild and bleed it.

Good decision to keep the car! Do the work yourself gradually bit by bit and you will have a great car that you properly understand and can maintain no bother. With a manual transmission it will be very lively too!

 

Appearance upgrades? Suspension? Brakes?


I'm a little curious about that

The 5-speed swap suggests you're interested in performance upgrades, yes?

Can you be a bit more specific on what you have in mind?

Cheers
DD

 

Thank u so much im gonna prob end up doing everything u recomended

 

Pretty much upgrades on any parts that are known to fail more easily then others that i can switch out for more modern parts. O chamce i will touch the engine in regards though. i love the way it looks cosmetic wise so no switching there more on the performance side.