Hi Chaps and Chapettes. I've been handed a RHD 1994 Jaguar XJS 4.0 Litre manual Cabrio thats been off the road for at least 5 years if not more, and I'm having a hard time finding the parts required to get it back up and running, hence the reason for joining. The engine and fuel system is sorted and the engine is running sweet. Brake parts appear to be readily available; but I'm struggling to find clutch components! I need a master cylinder, a clutch release bearing and probably a clutch disc. Despite several google searches, I cannot find any suppliers with the clutch components in stock. Is this normal? Any pointers to specialist suppliers that could help would be appreciated. Muchas Gracias from mallorca, Spain.

 

First you need to establish if the manual box is original or aftermarket.
If it is aftermarket, then you'll have to do some digging.
Do you have any service records?
That would be where I would start.

 

Yachty,

Congrats on the acquisition of the car and good luck with the recommissioning! A couple of thoughts:

- If you're describing the car to Parts Supplier, remember that you have a "Convertible", not a "Cabrio" (An XJ-S Cabriolet is a much earlier, very different car)
- Do you have an AJ16 or an AJ6 engine? This is very important when buying parts. The changeover is at April 1994. If your VIN is higher than 194774, you have an AJ16 engine.
- As mentioned, is it a factory-built Manual car or a conversion? If it's factory, the 9th digit of your VIN will be 7. If so, it will have had a Getrag 290 gearbox.
- Clutch parts can be difficult at present, but there should be options, certainly Release Bearings are available Talk to some of the UK independent specialists for advice. Try:
- Simply Performance
- Swallows
- David Marks Garage
.
Cheers

Paul

 

Hey Paul are you sure about the 9th VIN digit being the manual gearbox indicator? My factory manual 4.0 (built 6/1991) has a 1 in the 9th position and the VIN Decoder from this site says 9th position is a check digit https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/vindecoder.php

 

Greg,

The VIN you're referring to (and that VIN decoder) is not the primary VIN. That decoder only works for the North American secondary VIN. Cars that went to North America were given a secondary VIN to meet local convention. The real, primary VIN for your car as allocated by Jaguar and held on the Jaguar build record can be found on your car stamped on the metal ledge just at the front of the scuttle panel. The ninth digit will 3 (RHD Auto), 4 (LHD Auto), 7 (RHD Manual) or 8 (LHD Manual).

Hope that helps

Paul

 

Thanks Paul.

 

Normal?

Yes, I'm afraid so. Manual transmission XJSs were only a small fraction of overall production so there is little demand for clutch parts. Hence no incentive to continue manufacturing them.

Jaguar still sells the release bearing

If you can't find a replacement cylinder I feel sure yours can be rebuilt; there are specialists for that sort of thing. Same for the clutch disc; they can normally be relined with new friction material.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi Paul
Many thanks for the detailed reply. Very helpful
According to the papers (Spanish) it was first registered in October 1993 in the UK and subsequently brought down to Mallorca in 2008.
The ninth digit of the VIN is a 7 and the VIN is 190833.
I haven't had time to check the engine number yet. On which part of the engine would it be?
Going by the numbers you stated above, I guess this car has an AJ6 engine and the Getrag 290 gearbox. I'll do some more googling to find the locations of the numbers
Many thanks for the information and advice

 

Yachty,

The car will definitely have an AJ6 engine with that VIN. If you Google AJ6 engine and AJ16 engine, you'll see they look very different.

4.0 Manuals are rare and lovely to drive. They only built tiny numbers as no-one ordered them at the time. Possibly only a few hundred made (I'll try and check numbers), so availability of new clutch parts is problematic. But talk to those specialists and you'll find a solution.

Cheers

Paul