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It is so good to see that you are still enjoying your Jag. I can't believe how much you have improved the looks! I just replaced the water pump on my XK8. And in doing so I found a missing bolt on the timing cover that I think was the source of a persistent oil leak.
Hey Lanny, I hope none of those California wildfires are affecting your area.
It's been a busy couple weeks.
Our oldest and her husband came out for a visit and we got a chance to take some drives up in the Sierras to compare the Jag and the Audi. As expected, no comparison...
Our youngest was working the mid-course Medical/Search & Rescue/Recovery station for the Pikes Peak Hill climb, so I flew out to Colorado for a bit to catch that and spend some time with the kids
Back off the mountain, we headed down to the Mighty Roar Jaguar Racing Shop in Golden to play with cars for a bit. Bob was tuning the new carb setup on a V12 E-type
It's nice when your kids get to spend some time with mentors showing them the old craft
Time for the road test...
Not happy with the set-up, we helped Bob swap in a different set of jets, but we had to leave before it was all sorted.
Back home in Nevada, Mrs. S., Tuna the Husky, and I headed back up the mountains to cool off and hike up to the ridge overlooking Lake Tahoe in the picture below.
All that fussing with that Series-III E-Type makes me appreciate the reliability and power of the XKR even more.
it is good to see that you are still enjoying the XKR. What a crime it would have been to let it go for scrap, which is where it was headed. Thanks for the great pictures.
Sanchius,
I just came upon this thread for the first time as I haven't frequented the X100 forum too often in the last few years as my X150 XKR took over my daily driving duties. However, I could not bring myself to sell my 2002 Carnival Red XKR because what would a 175,000 miles X100 bring me on the open market, $4000, maybe $5000. I don't need that so badly that I couldn't just know that I have it in my driveway to look at. In more than 3 dozen cars I've owned in over 52 years of driving, no car has ever received as many compliments as my 2002. There is virtually never an outing where someone doesn't flag me down and say something nice. Your car's story is wonderful, and your photos from around Lake Tahoe and Mount Rose bring back memories as my family had a second home just off of Mount Rose highway in Incline on Winding Way.
Wising you continued enjoyment from your car. It's beautiful. (0f course, I might be biased.) Here's mine after 175,000 miles
My XKR recent stopped because one of the fuel hoses popped off the fuel pump outlet deep inside the fuel tank.
The basic problem is that the little fuel pump outlet pipe is completely straight, with no bulb on the end to give the hose clamp purchase.
I thought I'd fixed this earlier using tighter hose clamps, but apparently not. So now I'm putting in new in-tank pumps with bulbed ends on their outlet pipes
.
Naturally, this happened with an almost full tank of petrol and I HATE working with fuel, so I put this jobs off for a while, even though I knew what needed to be done.
The diagnostic is 0 fuel pressure, even though I could hear the pumps each running when I bridged the relays in the trunk and the fuel filter was new..
An excellent write-up on the basic fuel-pump replacement process is here: JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource
Though, rather than removing the fuel tank, I went in through an access port the previous owner had thoughtfully made in the rear parcel shelf above the fuel tank cover.
Previously, I found the best way to remove the fuel tank interface/cover (17) without damaging its aging blue plastic hose nibs is to sacrifice the rubber hoses (18) connecting the cover to the metal vapor recover/emissions lines running along the back of the tank.
But maybe that's false economy that I discovered that one of the little hoses (part # NND6070AB) goes for $89-$121!
LOL, not bad markup for a 1.5" (3.8cm) rubber hose that should cost $2.00
So, today starts the hunt for a reasonable replacement.
So I started to get a P0456 code, a small leak detected in the Evaporative Emissions (EVAP) system, indicating there was a minor fuel vapor leak to atmosphere.
A smoke test at my local Indy soon found the culprit, the short flexible hose from the tank access evaporative unit to the vent pipe. So a simple fix.......but the cost for this 3" rubber hose (part # NND6070AB) is outrageous! The cheapest i can find is $75 plus tax and shipping from Terry's Jag, and have seen it as high as $121....!!!!!!
This hose, for whatever reason, is a dual-sized item, larger on one end than the other, so difficult to use a one-size substitute replacement, but this has to be the most exorbitantly-priced Jag part I have run across!
Finally fixed the hose, a $0.30 piece of 3/4" hose fit nicely over the small end of the $121 NND6070AB (~5/8"-~3/4") hose. Problem solved.
I replaced both in-tank fuel pumps with ones that give the outlet hose better purchase as a preventative measure.
It is sure nice to have the fuel tank access hatch in the rear shelf that the PO cut into the rear parcel shelf.
Like our Husky, the old R hasn't been trouble free, but, also like our Husky, it's just so darn beautiful that it's worth it.
Last month I discovered the hard way that buying low-priced fuel pumps is not a good idea, Naturally, the cheap fuel pumps worked OK on the test-drive until we started a steep tight climb up a mountain pass with a river on one side, a cliff on the other and no pull-offs. Fortunately it never quit, just wouldn't go over 40mph, sticking me in the slow lane, barely keeping up with the climbing tanker trucks. I wised up, yanked out those POS cheap pumps, and installed a name brand set that now work just fine.
In fact, Tuna the Husky and I spent yesterday playing in the Sierras, tagging onto a San Francisco - Lake Tahoe - San Francisco vintage car "Snowball Rally" in which my brother was running his Volvo P1800. These guys/gals are not afraid to push their cars and drive fast and let's just say we enjoyed a rather invigorating afternoon's drive through the Sierra Nevada mountains..
The XKR performed magnificently and had no trouble keeping up with the other sports cars, though it does appear that heavier-duty anti-roll bars might be something for me to research.
2022 SnowBall Rally SFO-RNO-SFO Mt Rose Summit
2022 SnowBall Rally SFO-RNO-SFO Lake Tahoe Stopover
The Rally looks like a lot of fun! Live in Sacramento so can appreciate your trips to Lake Tahoe and surrounding areas. It's fun to see an X100 getting used creatively. Dirt and show aren't an issue. Our bikes go in the back of a Honda Pilot so racking them on an XKR is certainly a different solution. Thanks for sharing
It starts in Sacramento Saturday morning, heads SE into the foothills and over the Sierras to Virginia City NV, then ends the first day in north Lake Tahoe.
The second day is north out of Tahoe to Graeagle, down the Feather River Canyon, and finishes back in Sacramento.
sanchius,
I just sent you a p.m. in response to yours. Your car is quite beautiful and that snowball rally looks like it was great fun and probably covered some great roads. Now that after 24 years of ownership my De Tomaso Pantera is finally reliable enough to drive more than 500 yards at a time, I'd love to participate in such a rally. Maybe next year...
It's super nice to be able to Jaguar to nice biking locations. Too bad it is so unsightly.
The big problem is finding a XK8/R hitch anymore.
It's a pretty generic design that doesn't bolt into the car frame and I'm sure a competent shop could make one up.
The rack is an older Saris Bike Porter 4. ~$20 from either Craigslist or a neighborhood garage sale years ago.
The ratchet hold-downs are far superior to any screw-down mechanism, which should be avoided at all costs.
It's a 2" hitch to match my van hitch. Unfortunately, my R hitch is 1.25, so I have to use a hitch adapter that extends everything significantly rearward.
While this keeps the bike tires away from the exhaust, it also introduces bounce oscillations that I mitigate with a top strap attaching to the trunk frame
It's super nice to be able to Jaguar to nice biking locations. Too bad it is so unsightly.
The big problem is finding a XK8/R hitch anymore.
It's a pretty generic design that doesn't bolt into the car frame and I'm sure a competent shop could make one up.
The rack is an older Saris Bike Porter 4. ~$20 from either Craigslist or a neighborhood garage sale years ago.
The ratchet hold-downs are far superior to any screw-down mechanism, which should be avoided at all costs.
It's a 2" hitch to match my van hitch. Unfortunately, my R hitch is 1.25, so I have to use a hitch adapter that extends everything significantly rearward.
While this keeps the bike tires away from the exhaust, it also introduces bounce oscillations that I mitigate with a top strap attaching to the trunk frame
Last month I received a cool job offer I couldn't refuse that, unfortunately, is both far away and needs to start ASAP.
After weighing the pros & cons, Mrs S and I said "Let's do it!"
We put the moving machinery into motion, listed our house for sale, loaded up the XKR & the Westy on a carrier headed east, and set out on our next adventure.
The view from our back porch last summer of the massive Dixie Fire plume just over the NV/CA border.
Earlier this year I hid android smarttags in all our vehicles as part of their multi-layer anti-theft defense packages, so it is easy to track their shipping progress across country.
After leaving Reno two nights ago, the driver mentioned that he would be stopping by his home in Cheyenne, Wyoming for an oil change and it looks like he made it there last night. For reference, the total cost of shipping these two vehicles 2000 miles is $1.4/mile and will take 5-6 days.
Congratulations, mainly on having the courage to embrace a new adventure, and the great unknown.
Too bad a road trip in your swell XKR wasn’t on the cards. One can’t have too many of those, & the experiences / memories a road trip is sure to produce.
Congratulations. Sounds like a great opportunity. Interesting choice of vehicles (Westie, the XKR) which are certainly at opposite ends of the automotive universe. Smart tags a great idea.
07-04-2021, 12:47 PM
I am so glad I sold you that XKR
