Hello everyone,

I have a 1992 Jaguar XJS and have been diligently plugging away on rebuilding the font sub-assembly (which led to numerous other front-end projects).

I haven't had an opportunity to touch the rear sub-assembly and note the car had been sitting for ~5years prior to being picked up.

Where I live there is an opportunity to buy a complete rear subframe from a car that went thru a six-figure restoration within the previous 10 years. Though it is a 1986 Jaguar XJS V12. The seller is asking $1k Canadian.

Both cars have inboard rear brakes but obviously the 1986 wouldn't have had ABS. Depending on if the hub assemblies were replaced (the ABS opening may be present). If it isn't, then I suspect I could swap out the hubs.

Am I just being lazy or wasting money? Should I just plug away on the rear assembly I have and order parts as I need them? Costs go up fairly quick....thoughts?

Feedback, as always, is appreciated.

Stephen
(20+) Marketplace - Parting Out: Fully Restored 1986 Jaguar XJ-S V12 | Facebook

 

I know it is hard to give feedback without seeing the car.....just curious what you would do.

 

A few things come to mind, and its coffee #4 as I type.

1986 MAY, stress MAY be a Dana diff assembly, big deal
NO drain oplug, its a Dana.

ANY PARTS CAR IS NOT A WASTE OF MONEY. Bits and pieces are as rare as hens teeth down here, and you are maybe the same.

ABS, not rocket science to sort, as you mentioned.

The other "jewellery". oh boy, PRICELESS in my opinion.

 

For that kind of resto money, that must be a pretty car. Unless it was since rolled or something. $1K is dirt cheap if it hasn't been wrecked, Mmmm, parts...

Since the sunbject was brought up, what were the various V12 differentials in the 1986-1990 time frame? which was the best vs why wasn't the others, not best?

Doug

 

To be clear, $1k is for the IRS and associated parts. Not the entire car.

I’m going to check it out on Tuesday.

 

The 92 should have a differential with the speedometer pickup on the back of the differential, it reads on a toothed wheel on the carrier of the differential gears. The 86 will have a transducer mounted on the transmission and nothing on the differential. While it is possible to swap the toothed wheel over, it requires a complete differential rebuild, which kind of negates buying the 86 IRS.

For the money and effort, it's probably just as simple to rebuild what you have if it needs it.

I work with another fellow and we run a small restoration business, mainly specializing in British cars, although we always do interesting cars. I have seen plenty of high dollar restorations that have been done very poorly. They usually come to us when the owner has pulled the car from a shop with instructions to "unf**k it up". You wouldn't believe some of the things I have seen - who takes an E Type differential apart, "cleans" the bearing races with a power sander and puts it back together?

After seeing some of the things so called specialists have done, I will always take an untouched factory original part over a so called restored one unless it's actually a shop that really does know what they are doing. Unfortunately, those seem few and far between.

 

That's pretty easy.

In that time frame they'd all be 2.88 ratio and have limited slip.

Some, circa 1986-1987, would be manufactured by Dana rather than GKN/Salisbury. But the GKN unit itself is basically a Dana 44 design.

Those manufactured after VIN 142xxx use the differential mounted speed sensor. This would be roughly mid-1987 calendar year.

Operationally I don't think there's any advantage/disadvantage to either. From a repair perspective the Dana-manufactured diffs have some unique parts which seem to be harder to find.

Cheers
DD

 

FWIW, in my neck o'the woods (PNW USA) the going price would probably be more like $500. I reckon that's just simply supply and demand.

Cheers
DD

 

Just looked at the listing, and that car did not have what I would call a restoration. It was a LS swap resto-mod and by the looks of it the owner was not at all concerned with authenticity. I would urge caution because I suspect most of the money was spent on fat fenders, spoilers, paint and other things that the owner could see and show off. Since he took a shortcut doing the LS swap there’s no telling what other shortcuts were taken on the “unseen” parts of this car. Or what abuses occurred after the resto-mod was completed.

Also, given the wheel damage on the rear wheel opposite the side of the crash damage I might be skeptical about the damaged while “parked “ statement.

EDIT: I’m not necessarily against RestoMods, but it introduces some uncertainty regarding the issues Jagboi64 mentioned.

 

I agree. There are several later XJS differentials on ebay for less than $1000. For that money I would have mine rebuilt, IF NEEDED.

 

That's different dollars too. $500 USD is about $700 CAD.

 

Damaged while parked is very plausible.

Both right side wheels are trashed.

if some one hit the front left corner, it would have pushed the car back and sideways into a curb. Very possible rear end damage, also.

Not really much usable Jaguar stuff left on the car, the tail lights, perhaps

Doug

 

Thanks for the insight on the speedometer and feedback about some of these restorations. I would have missed the speedometer aspect. I'm under my car today poking away and assessing....may not be as bad as I thought.

 

Really appreciate the cautionary advice.....Lots of aspects that I hadn't thought of. I'm just really eager to get mine on the road again and the feedback definitely gets me thinking.

 

Hello everyone,

I've decided not to move forward with the 1986 IRS and can't say enough how much I appreciate the info people provided.

Now...back to the garage to finish rebuilding the front sub-assembly.....then tackle the IRS in a couple of weeks.

Stephen

 

Does your IRS actually need anything? They are pretty tough units generally if they have been maintained. Lots of times the grease points are neglected. Depending on the year, there should be 4 on the inner wishbone, one on the bottom of each hub, and one on each U joint on the halfshafts (4 in total on the shafts), so 10 grease points in total, excluding the U joint on the driveshaft.

 

I was weary of dropping the IRS, but once you persevere through the job your perspective changes. It isn’t as daunting as it looks. You might find my iRS thread helpful reading:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...needed-270488/

 

I will second a couple of points made above.
1. Given the age of the cars and probable need of or will need attention removing the rear cage is advisable. You can address so many things with that out. Brake lines, new calipers, rotors, etc....
2. Yes, grease all the IRS points mentioned. Additionally do not neglect the rear hubs (make sure they are adequately filled with good grease for the rear wheels) AND do the front wheels. If you do not have a grease point on the hub consider repacking the wheel bearings. Its not hard and given the age of the cars good insurance to prevent a hub failure due to lack of lubrication.

 

I was poking around with it last night and it looks like, overall, it has held up well. A refresh is probably all that it needs and I"ll keep an eye out for the 10 grease points (probably not done in 20 years)....

 

Thanks for the link to an IRS thread. I'll use it for sure. Can't be worse than the front end rebuild and oil cooler replacement!