Well I partook In the removing the cage and replacing or cleaning up, parts.


I Found a full cage assembly on craigslist here in town, that I picked up out of a 89 xjs.


Since I have been having brake issues and I thought one of my Diff seals was leaking, "I have the DANA diff" why not replace it with a Salisbury diff out of a newer xjs and rebuilt those calipers. and the hubs and half shafts im using out of my xjs since I don't have ABS and it sounds like the bearings are going bad on the 89 hubs.


So 2 months ago I started slowly dissembling the 89 cage. took everything apart, cleaned it all up as much as I could saved good bolts and nuts etc.. and then prepared for the day to removed mine out of my xjs.


Removal wasn't to bad its just a matter of unbolting everything.
and my gosh was it dirty in there.


And on to the assembly.
I used my cage from 86 xjs, I stuck in the 89 diff and those rebuilt brakes. all new seals for the inner fulcrum arm. the spacers and bolt wires.


I picked up months ago new springs and shocks and had them put together at a shop and the small trailing arm bushings.


I got new sub frame mounts and those where awful I couldn't get the holes to line up on the frame, them I removed attached them to the cage and then tried lowing the car to the cage and the mount holes still didn't line up after 3 hours for switching around, I ended up using two of my old ones on one side. oh yay...


bled the brakes attached the E-brake.


Now here's the ah oh what's going on part.


The ride height is way to high I went driving around hoping to have it all settle and when I turn going quickly around curve the tires make a squeal.


there is a knocking\hitting sound on the right and under me and it gets worse when I turn right, when I step on the brakes it stops when I let go of the gas it its loud when I hit the gas it seems to go quite.. idk what that is.


oh and to top it all off my brakes are still awfull, im pretty annoyed at this point.


I don't remember the springs I bought it was awhile ago, they have the green strip of paint on them, and my ride height is almost 9in. needs to be around 7in +-.25


Before all this I replaced my master cylinder and vacuum booster and rear pads which then seized up, causing 480+ temps and smoking.


so that's it, anyone have ideas?

 

Hi Shawn

I had the very same problems as you with my 89 XJS, which took the form of a 'Thump thump thumping' right under the Floor which I was convinced was the Exhaust banging on the Floor Pan underneath.

Having just passed the MOT which I remember as being incredibly strict, there was nothing else that it could be?

Except that the MOT Tester forgot about checking the Front Shock Absorbers!

On further inspection by myself, I was horrified to find the Shock Absorber Bushes had completely worn away, to the point where they were non existent!

Which meant the Car was bouncing every time I hit the slightest bump, which was even as small as a 'man hole cover' but resulted in a very loud 'Thump' underneath.

So you've either got the same problem or your Shock Absorbers need replacing.

Instead of buying New Bushes, I used a Hole Saw to cut some from a strip of Butyl Rubber, which not only cost pennies instead of pounds but was far more resilient that the original OEM.

Result! No Thumping or Bouncing and the most Amazing Handling on Corners.

Except for the Front Wheel 'Squeal' on even the very slightest bend in the road, which as I later discovered was because the 'Tracking' was out, when I measured the 'Track Rods' on each side of the Car.

So I took a bit of a Short Cut and took a Track Rod measurement from my other XJS to make a comparison.

Then adjusted the Track Rods to match that, as a temporary measure to see if it made any difference.

Once again a great result, the Squeal just disappeared and my guesstimate of the Track Rod lengths turned out to be almost perfect, with no uneven Tyre wear whatsoever although I know that I should have gone to a garage/shop to have this done properly.

I also had stuck Callipers, which very nearly set the Car on fire! in which case I would get yours replaced as you might not be so lucky.

Hope this helps.

 

Shawn,

Lots of work for sure.

The ride height is purely shocks and springs. The shocker part is the position of the lower retainer ring where the collets clamp on. I have had some over the years where that "ring" is welded in the wrong place, as in higher up the shocker, which puts a lot more tension on the spring and raises the car accrordingly.

Springs, NIGHTMARE. so many different versions, suppliers, makers, whatever out there, and none really get it the way Jaguar did. I have never replaced springs on any of mine, never had the need. Others here have had all sorts of dramas, so I really have no answer.

The ride height is probably got a lot to do with the odd banging etc going on.

Awful brakes. air in the system. They can be a mongrel to bleed, fact.

I will assume you have used the shims between the output flange and the disc rotor to CORRECTLY "centralise" the rotors in the caliper aperture?. That setting being out of whack will have brake issues.

Sometimes awful brakes will be a fact with all new rotors and pads, until the "Green Fade" is bedded out of them. This can take about 1000kms or more.

 

thanks for the inputs guys,


everything is new. I bled them and used one full bottle of fluid, im thinking I received a crappy master cylinder. idk what else to think other then I didn't rebuld them very well, yet the front are still ify as well. I really need to push hard on the pedal. its travels halfway before things start to grab/slowdown and also if I have the rear lifted
up and have the wheels spinning and press as hard as I can they will stop but there isn't much grab, I can give more gas and they it over comes the brakes and start to spin that shouldn't happen.


so that knocking I think it could be the U-joints on that side or possible bearing failing.
I shot a slow-mo video you can see the shaft not spinning straight there is a wobble and sound the left side spins with zero movement.

 

Yep, a bad master cylinder is on my list as well.

Did you replace the 3 flexible brake hoses. They do and can cause grief as they age, and what you are saying is one of them.

In the engine bay, RH side, basically below the shocker top mount, is a pressure differential valve, with a switch attached (single wire), as well as brake pipes. Loosen that switch, SLOWLY unscrew it, and LISTEN (so NO stereos etc boomin), and you will hear a "click" as it resets the spring valve, STOP, retighten that switch, and try the brakes again.

My sound card is having a hissy so cant listen to that video, son will sort it tomorrow maybe, so over to the others.

 

I did replace the rear flexible hose and I checked out the front ones they seem to be OK.
That valve you're talking about I was thinking about that but I was reading which I can't remember where is that was deleted after a certain year. Early 80's.... I did peek down there and didn't see it but I didn't take off the intake to look to see if maybe it was down further but when I get home today I definitely will check that.
That video was pretty crazy it's neat to see the driveshaft wobbling at 240 frames a second

 

In the video you could notice the exhaust shaking but it's not touching anything that's just the engine movement/normal stuff

 

Not sure on your market, but my '85 and '87 both have them.

Follow the metal pipes from the master cylinder, and you will find it. I am RHD, so MAYBE its on the LH side for LHD cras, DUH, I will wake up one day.

I think the delete came with ABS in 1988 somewhwere.

 

Nope it's not there. Dang

 

Has to be somewhere.

The pipes for the front brakes come off it. There is only 1 pipe for the front brakes out of the master cylinder, and that switch block splits them into left and right, as well as that switch.

So that block will have 3 pipes and 1 switch connected to it.

OK, gone looking and found this in my Parts Book. The LHD is a complicated plumbing system as compared to our RHD, but, NO switch, so that is not your issue.

 

Haha grant I just pulled up that same diagram because I was tearing my hair out looking for it.

I also noticed that from that rear cage that I bought the springs have shims in them an I have the old set of springs with the red and white stripes on them. My shocks didn't have shims at all which is probably why my right height was so low. I'm going to remove those new green stripped Springs and put the new KYB shocks into the old ones and see how it sits.