Hello all. I am looking to purchase a Comprehensive Workshop manual for my 1990 XJS V12.
I am tearing my engine down and since I have never done V12 before, I need to have some good guidance for the teardown. STEP BY STEP procedures.
This is besides me taking tons of photos to help me with the reassembly.
Which is the best one I can buy?

 

See my post on the other thread.

 

+1 to Greg's advice in parallel thread to get the genuine factory manual . . .

• Official Jaguar book format workshop manual, including HE Supplement is excellent . . . expect to pay US$80 to $100;
• IMHO, Haynes version has poor visuals and is mostly a wasted purchase . . . but cheaper at around US$30 or so;

Here is where I advise you go further . . .

• save the nice clean book format for nighttime pre-reading;
• grab a digital version of the workshop manual (1975 to 1991) as here <https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/125704360780?>
• either in disk or usb (whatever your pc, laptop, tablet) containing auto-run, indexed, bookmarked pdf . . . less than US$20 and brilliant for printing off just what you need for workshop where those pages, not your Jaguar book, will get covered in pencil notes, oil, etc and then be discarded when you are done.

I have done this for all in my Cattery and, after many years, still have nice clean manuals . . . except for Mk 1 in my avatar and then Series1 E Type as no computers existed over 50 to 60 years ago.when I first started on the tasks you are planning.

Best wishes and, please, keep us posted (with pics) of your progress.
Cheers,

 

Advice given to me a loooong time ago.

Dont overthink it.
It is a Double Six in reality, not a "V" in the traditional spec.
Dont rush, slow the hell down, it is not going anywhere.

I have the Haynes, and the Jag books, and many, many sheets of what was "Butchers paper", old age in a wonderful thing, and I laid things out in the order they came apart on said pa\per, on a very separate bench, and as Ken said, thousands of scribbles, and this worked for me.

NOT the 1st engine I have rebuilt, as it was my apprenticeship in the mid 60's, BUT a far simpler engine than I expected it to be.

 

+1 GREAT advice from The Wizard Of Oz on patience, separate bench to lay out parts in sets, especially once cleaned and dried . . . and I love the advice for butchers' paper. I wish I had thought of and used that to ensure perfect cleanliness during many full rebuilds . . . especially as I have a full roll of paper in my shed and it's not been used for years. Thanks for that tip mate.

 

If you haven't seen them, watch The Camp Chaos Chronicles channel, season 4, on youtube. He goes into extensive detail on rebuilding the V12. Measurements, clearances, pitfalls, sealants, etc. Also be sure to watch an earlier episode on retracting the chain tensioner much more safely and with less chance of breakage than the factory method.