Hey guy's I was in the process of removing the interior of my "Jacobra" 89 XJS only to find that when my car had the engine fire,(before i bought it) Unbenounced to me, it had also burnt everything up under the dash. Now when I purchased this car, I asked the man, if it had burnt under the dash, He told me no, he didn't believe so, Wrong! I looked for all the tell tale signs, smoke stains on the windshield, melted ac vents, or heater vents, dash pad cracked misshapen, etc. and found none of that. So I took his word and bought her. So now I'm fixing to pull the console, and started to remove the little bezel on the passenger side and can't see the heads of the screws??? I looked a little harder they weren't visible??? Then I noticed just a little curling of the edges of the vent disfussers and pulled the bezel and the cover panel to find the wiring fried I don't know how this car didn't burn all the way to the ground! Now I'm stuck, as I have to either fix what I have, or scrap it, and start over, which is not what I want to do BUT???? Damn The Luck! Anybody in the Central part of the USA got a parts car they want to let go of??? Man this sucks!
89 Jacobra

 

I recently put an ad on Craigslist in the car section looking for a parts car. Someone closeby had one. Another option is to search Craigslist using Google (with 'site:craigslist.org') or SearchTempest. There is always a cheap XJS somewhere. And if it is a few hundred miles away you can use Uship to haul it home (for $0.80 to 1.00 per loaded mile).

I already bought two this fall, both too nice to be parts cars.

 

Yeah thanks for the tip. I've began using Search Tempest last night. I've found several, the closest one is about 350 miles away. I've opened a line of communication and we'll see where it goes from there. Funds are a little bit limited, so I'll probably chase them myself, if all works out. Thanks Again.

 

I think you already have the parts car. No telling what other issues may present themselves in the future. Seems like the seller represented the car and didnt hide the fact that it had a fire so unless he took it apart he wouldn't know.

 

What parts do you need?

If this is the car you're talking about, I see a few options.

(1) Trash it. You're only out $600. You could probably recoup most of that by selling wheels, body panels, etc.
(2) Repair it by re-wiring the interior. That would be a difficult job if you we're keeping the stock motor but since that's gone it's easier. I bet you could buy enough wires and connectors to do the job for a couple hundred $.

 

While all those are good thoughts I sold the engine and trans for $600.00, so it doesn't really owe me anything. The underdash is all toast, further inspection shows that the AC/ heaterbox is deformed and rusted, so everything would need to be replaced. I have viewed several online, and I may just start with one of those, and use mine as the parts car, as you suggest. I really can't believe this car didn't burn to the ground???
PS that's the car.

 

Well a little more cheerful up date. My A.D.D./ A.D.H.D. Brain never shuts off. It doesn't matter if the problem is something that occured 10 minutes ago, or last week, it never quits trying to solve the problem, and several days later the light bulb come on, and I think why not look into a self contained AC/Heat Unit. Similar to what small buses use? So I looked on Ebay and lo and behold they make just such a critter. It's about 16 inches wide, 13 inches deep, by 5 inches thick. Then with a little engineering and some duct work I'll have Heat and AC. So we're back in business. "Jacobra" will LIVE!!! I'm beginning to feel like DR. Frankenstein!

 

Got pics of this device?

 

If the car in the other posting is yours, and you're finding all of that damage underhood, do yourself a favor and find another car.

XJS's are so cheap now (especially with just mechanical trouble alone, no fire) that it's not worthwhile to save one like this. Too much work, too much money, and it will never be right.

Find another car.....

 

Yes the car in the other posts is mine. And I'm still giving thought to starting with a cleaner slate. Thanks for the thoughts.

 

Hey Flint. I tried several times to copy the image but all I got was their LOGO. So I copied the Ebay Item number. If you go to Ebay, and put this number in the search bar. It will take you to the listing and you can have a look at it. Ebay Item #391646268039. Sorry but I'm not a computer whiz kid . Best I could do.

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...68039&_sacat=0

 

Just look up a hot rod magazine and shop the adds. Tons of them. I think Vintage Air in Texas, as I recall, has basic heat and air kits for after market installations in limited spaces.


Carl

 

Yeah, Vintage air also wants about $1000.00 to $1500.00 Bucks for their setup. I can piece this together for 4 or 5 hundred without much trouble, and with a little ingenuity probably have something near as good, if not better, as I've heard told the original wasn't all that great?

 

Well I finally got lucky, and found a 89 XJS Parts Car. Virtually identical to mine. The biggest difference is this one hasn't been on fire and I've even gotten it to run. So I'm way ahead of where I was when I started this thread. I promised pics so here they are.
The interior is very usable and looks much better then the pics. It's nice and black, not gray as it looks in the pics. So everything to repair mine, is there. Even the wood trim is decent. It will need a little refinishing, but it's at least intact. I wish the parts car wasn't so rusty, as I would be tempted to use the whole car, but coming out of New York originally, and having made regular trips between Louisiana, and New Jersey. There's just way to much rust, I had to put a piece of 2x4 between the right front lift point, and the pad on the lift. To raise it off the ground so I could inspect the underside. and wow is it gone. So It's a case of rip 2 cars apart, and build 1.

 

So the build has slowly continued. I have worked on getting the engine to sit on the mounts, and had to create mounts of my own design, as "NO ONE" makes parts, or a kit for what I'm trying to accomplish. Here are some pics of the engine compartment where I had to cut the rear portion open, due to the exhaust comes out of the Ford heads at roughly a 45 degree angle opposed to the V12's going straight down. I have simply cut open areas that weren't critical, in that they were just dead space. Nothing vital thank God. So I went to work building the motor mounts. Trying to use the Jag mounts if possible. I used the passenger side as it was, and constructed a mount to go back to the original mount bolts but since the Ford mounts are set back 10 to 12 inches behind the Jag mounts it was a challenge. The drivers side was more challenging as you have the Oil filter coming out the left front corner on the block, and constructing a mount means it must go around the area and still be strong enough to hold this Monster. So The DS, mount has about 10 hours fab time, and the PS, has about 6 hours fab time total. but I utilized the Jag biscuts, and the engine is sitting solidly on the mounts. Now to see if I can modify the Jag trans mount to hold the back end up, and it will officially be installed.