Hello! I recently bought a 1976 XJS V12 and I'm looking for advice on what I should do with it.



Pros:

• 12,xxx miles
• Seems to be mostly original
• It runs

Cons:

• lots of rust
• it sat for a long while
• has no key
• gas tank leaks
• likely a million other things

First thing I did when I got it home was removed the gas tank. Lots of rust, lots of holes. Beyond repair in my opinion. I changed the fluids and such and started it up using a gas can and.... it sounded great. And then the lower radiator hose blew and now I'm waiting for that to arrive before I can start it again.

It has a Crane electronic ignition installed, and an oooold fashioned built in radar detector. The interior is in pretty decent condition. The drivers seat has a tear, but that's about it.

I'm not sure what I want to do with it at this point. It has low low low miles, which I verified with the reciepts that were included, but it did sit. So I don't know if I should throw a fuel cell in there and simplify the thing by removing the emissions crap and AC stuff, or what.

I'm basically looking for advice for this car that I don't think I have the money to fix.

 

Welcome to the Forum

How much did you pay for her?

 

The car will cost a bomb to fix. You will need to renew the brakes, the water hoses, the fuel injection hoses, the suspension rubbers throughout, the shocks.

The rust will be extensive and will be in many or all of the structural parts of the shell.

If you were to do all of this work yourself expect a budget of about 10,000 USD and months or even years of work.

Aircon will be a problem too. Parts for these very early models are also harder to source than for later ones. Unless this sort of thing is your hobby, sell it to someone with an early XJS who needs the parts.

Greg

 

The car makes up for its miles in age. You can just replace a lower blown hose on a 40 year old car, you need to replace all the hoses. This goes for everything. Don't simply replace the fluid in the master and then replace the lines when they break, rebuild the entire hydraulic system.

It sounds like you have a good project for a restoration, not a car you can throw $500 bucks at and drive everyday. Not saying you shouldn't try, I am just saying you should be very thorough.

If you can do the work yourself, you may be able to make it a decent driver. I had to rebuild the rear brakes, master, and replace the hoses on my brake system to make it a daily driver. Replaced all coolant hose and eventually the water pump, as well as installing an electric fan and replacing T-stats in my cooling system.
Cleaned and resealed the fuel tank, replaced the filter and fuel pump, all the fluids in the car, tires, TX valve, and all sorts of other stuff. As long as you can get it done you can probably get it driving decently, just remember that it won't be a showcar and that 12k miles doesn't mean the car is perfect, it just means the engine internals have relatively low wear. The engine internals themselves are one of the best made parts of the XJS, so it isn't something to concern yourself with anyway.

Replace the fuel hoses, don't burn your car to the ground.

 

or insure it, then let burn to the ground ^^^^^^

 

I am working on getting a 50,000 mile 78 back on the road, basically the same as your car, except USA emissions. Rust sure can be an issue, what rust do you have? It looks OK in the picture. If you can replace the tank and have it run OK, I would start there and see what it takes to get it road worthy. n my car I have reconditioned the brakes, a lot of work, about $100 US invested, done some rust repair, about $30 US, and a lot of work invested, and replaced the early design fuel injection trigger board with the later design hall effect trigger board and rotor, about another $100 invested. If you are paying somebody else to work on this you will have a money pit, if you are capable of working on it yourself, you can have a very cool car for not a lot of money. It depends on your skills and your desire and motivation.

 

Rainbow Beard - nice car! I thought the early cars came with a black rear panel in-between the lights?

 

No idea. I do know that the previous owner traded the euro style headlights for the ones that are on it though. Dunno about the rear

That's good to hear! I assume this one has USA emissions as well, but I plan on gutting everything that isn't needed including the emissions and the interior heat. The rust on this is all down low from sitting outside. Not the usual wheel wheels ect. The trunk is the worst since the seal was bad. Nothing unfixable though. Interesting note on the fuel injection trigger board. Is that a known weak point? Was it hard to convert? Also, I'm working on it myself. I'm not a mechanic but I work at an auto parts store and have an ASE certification so I'm not completely lost.




Also, bit of an update. Ran the car again but it seems to only be running on the left bank. The right side of the exhaust is all spitting and sputtering.

I'm going to try plugs, wires, cap n rotor, and replacing all the vacuum lines. The vacuum line going from the right bank to the distributor vacuum advance was cracked, so I'm wondering if that's why that side isn't firing. I pulled some plugs from that side and they looked fine.

This certainly doesn't look good:

Oil and water I'd reckon. Didn't smell like gas.



And then there's this sensor (?) near the A6 plug; behind the throttle twirly-ma-boop.

Anybody know what it is?



Bonus pics: The interior is pretty nice. No cracks on the dash.


Certainly has low miles


This is going to be operation simplify right here

 

Following on from ALL the above. All that has been said is 100% fact.

The early cars are rare, some markets like that, some do not. They have rust, from the factory, it was free, no extra charge for that item, and that is a bummer, but once repaired and sorted, are soooooo nice to own and drive.

The 6 cylinder V12 in the PreHE (yours) is as common as it comes. The trigger board INSIDE the distributor has 2 reed switches, and each switch fires one bank of injectors. They fail, and they did so when under warranty, cost Jaguar a mint. The Hall Effect was developed, and is a DIRECT replacement and is basically bullet proof. The 4th wire on the "new" trigger board is for a 12V feed. The original board was ony a 3 wire unit.

The rotor for the 3 wire is different to the 4 wire, so make sure you get a "Trigger Board Kit" which should include the board, rotor, plastic screws (4), rubber spacers (4).

Failing that fixing it, the next most common failure is the actual EFI loom itself. It is mounted waaaaay down in the bottom of the "V", and simple OLD AGE will now render it toast. Make your own, very simple, you work in the right place to get all you need.

In case you did not know, under the battery is another fuel tank, it will be equal in condition to the main sucker you have removed. The tanks on the Coupes are the same up to "about" 1990, so one should be able to be sourced without too much grief.

 

Would I still need the sensor in the distributor with the aftermarket crane ignition installed?

Also, for the fuel tank, I'm just going to go with a fuel cell.

 

.

i odmeter says 12+++, or is it 112 thousand?

water and crap in the intake blown head gasket or $$$.?

fuel cell good idea, along with ALL the iron fuel lines, and any thing related to corrosion in the complete fuel system!

 

The crane ign should be self contained. No need for additional sensors

 

if the crane is an OPTICAL system YES it would need an optical pickup in distrbutor, very simple to install, just remove the old opus stuff! but use the dizzy opus rotor.

i have had the Crane XR700 box and optical since 1994, it is old technology, but mine still does what its supposed to do. runs great!

 

The Crank ignition requires its own optical sensor in place of the OEM Lucas pickup, and an optical shutter wheel for it to sense distributor rotation. This is independent of the trigger board that activates the fuel injectors. The crane system makes sparks, the trigger board makes fuel. You need both. I have seen the trigger board kit on Amazon, with rotor, mounts and shims, for about $175.
I believe the device in your picture is an oil pressure sensor or switch, not sure though. and I cannot identify the thing that is leaking, where on the car is that photo?
Your wiring for the injectors down in the V of the engine probably is rotten, with all the insulation flaking off. I fabricated a new injector harness using 16 gauge TXL rated insulated wire using injector connectors I got from NAPA. I got the wiring out of the V, tied it up on the fuel rails to reduce the amount of heat it is exposed to.