Hello, I am new here so I apologize if my question has been asked many times.

I have a 1989 Jaguar XJS. I love my car but have never been very thrilled with the stock grille. I'd like to swap it out, but did not find many options online.

I'm wondering if any of you know of a website where I might find some options? I am not real big into chrome. My Jaguar is dark blue.

I am also considering Halo headlights. Any opinion on how these look on an XJS?

Thanks!

David

 

David,

I also wanted a new look, I found some aluminum grate and did my own, here are some pictures.

Hector
1988 XJS

tried to upload some pics and not possible, will try later

 

David,

home made grill

 

Wow Hector. That looks really good. What was the process for doing it?

 

David,

Gutter aluminum grill from home depot, a couple of bucks and just molded the grill to the shape with a small rubber mallet. Removed the old fins and glued the grill from the back , painted black. changes the look. I also shortened the bumpers and it complements each other very well.

 

Thanks for the info. That really does look good. I'm going to give it a try.

 

The only other I found was this one: Jaguar XJS 73-93 Mesh Grille Grill stainless steel and in my opinion your custom job looks a lot better.

 

@Hep320. Do you have any pics of the grill installed on the car. Looks great!

 

There was a post about this some time ago.

Lots of variations shown from memory.

This is mine I did about 15 years ago.

 

I have my hood off, working on the hood vents, so the grill is out of the car at this time. Hopefully this weekend the vents are finished.

 

Hep, you'll definitely need to post photos of hood vents you had installed. -I've thought for a while now the hood of these cars should have vents or louvers, to take away heat from the engine bay.

 

@Grant

That looks great, I will put that on my To Do List for the car.

 

mine is a bar grill, straight across, cut to fit opening.

 

Ive veen interested in doing this too mine! You found halo lights ! where about ebay?

 

Here is a picture of the grill and the rough cut on the louvers. This is with a stainless square grill in the louver but I am using the existing pattern I used in the front grill and paint it black. This weekend I should have the drip trays finished also. Not enough time for all the projects! Im waiting to finish the louvers so I can do the body work. It is incredible the amount of heat that comes out of the louver.

 

Hector,

It looks like there is quite a bit of "Tom Foolery" going on under the bonnet...electric fan, dual coils mounted horizontally at the front of the vee, and it appears that you have implemented The Napoli Mod (removing the inlet fuel pressure regulator, and moving the outlet reg to the fender well). I LIKE!!!

Where did you find that fuel pressure regulator with the gauge on it, and those adapter plates for your throttle bodies?

 

On closer inspection, I also see a revised cooling system scheme, an aluminum radiator, copper coolant manifold pipes, relocated relays, and a lot of fresh wiring going to who-knows-what.

Nice work, Hector :-)

 

Scott,



First sorry for hijaking the thread. I have enjoyed your posts and your car.

Good eye. Yes I have modified my car quite a bit, not as enterprising as your car but I will get there. I love my Jaguar, and really do not care for authenticity or concours, I have always used them and admire them no trailer queens here.

I started with the usual inspection of fried cables and ended up rewiring the whole engine bay and adding a few updated things. All the cables now come from the back. It simplified the wiring so much I had two local cars asked for the injector harness, so I sold a few.

The electric fan is from a volvo along with the fan relay, excellent by the way, it is a two speed controlled by an inexpensive aftermarket fan controller for the low speed, and using the water pump thermo switch for the high. Works really good and less than 75 dollars for everything. The radiator is a mustang unit, I added an external transmission cooler so the radiator just works for the coolant. The single hose conversion is all home made using a ford taurus sho coolant t, junkyard.

Replaced the alternator with a 130 amp Range rover unit form the salvage yard, $25, no modifications needed. I removed all the emission and vaccum systems, so I am relocating the alternator to the pump site and the ac compressor will take its place.

 

Adapter plates for throttle bodies, plastic, Autozone, 4.95 each. working on the intake cold air.

 

Hector,

It all looks great. I applaud you for finding economical supply sources for superior replacement/upgrade parts. There is no doubt that, while the XJS is a wonderful car, some of the engineering is questionable. It makes perfect sense to look to other car manufacturers to see how they addressed issues which vex the XJS, and then adapting those technologies to our cars. I try to do the same thing whenever possible.

Plastic is an excellent choice for those adapter plates, as it doesn't soak up all the heat coming up off the exhaust, thereby allowing the cold air charge to remain colder when it hits the intakes. I've been looking for just such an adapter.

What type of filter are you planning to use, and where will you put it?

What size are the hose flanges on those adapters? I need something that has an inside diameter of about 3" in order to match my AJ6 Torque Plus throttle bodies.

Are these adapters hanging on a peg in the store, or do you have to ask a counter guy to get it from behind the counter?

How about that fuel pressure regulator? What brand is it, and where can I get one? I looked at Summit Racing's website, but, can't find it there.

I'm curious as to how you're going to get your car past the Florida emissions inspectors. When I lived there, they did both a visual inspection AND shoved a sniffer in the exhaust pipe. Have they changed the emission tests, or are you simply planning to slip the inspector a little something extra under the table? LOL.