Newbie 3 month owner of a sweet '89 XJS Convertible with 80,000 km, great body and top. Couple minor probs when purchased, working through some of them. Had short in Power Antenna, would drain battery in couple days. Unplugged it, no more battery drain...but now use cassettes for tunes. This will change, as I have already changed out the puny, popping 5" speakers in doors and rear storage box for 2 sets of 6.5" round Pioneer speakers. I have photos and can walk anyone through the door panel removal and speaker mounts if anyone wants. I also bought a nice Pioneer in-dash stereo deck, and bought the Nexxus wiring adaptor connector. I will tackle this, perhaps this weekend
I do have a small power steering leak, will get onto a hoist soon to track it down and repair.
I'll stop babbling now, and get to my jist. -The car has a ever-so-slight tilt towards the rear, sitting flat(following the bottom rocker panel), and when accelerating, squats her *** as the nose raises. I'm thinking weak rear springs, so wonder if I can have a reputable spring/suspension shop increase height (stretch?) the original springs by one inch, or is there a simple (spelled cheap) kit or doughnut available to give me a little more commanding stance. I'm not looking for the 70's muscle car look or redneck jacked up look, just a very slight 'ready-to-pounce' look.
Thanks,

 

There is a couple of things you can do. I would recomend replacing the rear shocks & springs. The old fis was to use XJ6 Series 3 springs & 2 spacers from a later XJS convt on each spring. This will raise the car up in the rear. You may also want to consider front shocks as those cars went thru front shocks rather quickly.

 

Absolutely need to change the rear springs (and shocks if they have had it). Not a good idea to bodge up the ride height any other way.

Greg

 

Start with measuring the ride height. It is listed in the manual. Then you will find out how much lower your car sits than the spec. As Greg in France says, replace shocks and springs.

 

If you look at the rear shocks on a 1994 1996 XJS convt. you will see Jaguar fitted spacers to address the ride height issue. This wa also a fix on the H&E convt to address the vibration on acceleration.

 

Did not know that. Maybe they are there on the car already, and it still has tired springs?

Greg

 

Thanks very much,
I didn't think the ride height would be listed in any manual. I do have an XJS Service/Repair Manual on disc, I will peruse that soon. I also have Kirby Palm's book in my docs, I definitely need to spend some time reading up.
Where would be the best reasonably priced source for a set of rear springs, through Jag, or an aftermarket supplier? -I will also try a local spring/suspension shop here in Saint John NB.

 

The car definitely didnt leave the factory like that. Something is wrong and needs to be fixed. Probably just get shocks and springs. No need for mods

 

Thanks for everyone's input. -I dare say I'll be replacing the springs & shocks, was just on the JagBits site, they have a complete spring & shocks kit (6 of each) by Boge (sskit 501-oe), for $869.95, I suspect better than buying separately. My only glitch will be the shipping costs up to Atlantic Canada. But I believe this will be the plan.