Hello everyone! Love the forum and have learned so much here, thanks to everyone who has contributed. Let me introduce myself, I am a machinist and tool maker for the last 20 years. In 09 I lost an arm and leg in a motorcycle accident involving an eighteen wheeler.Being stubborn I refuse to be labeled handicapped. Now, being more or less retired, I spend my time tinkering with cars, guns, building custom power wheelchairs for myself and others and generally annoying the populace. I have found I have a fondness for European and British cars and have developed a bit of a compulsion to buy abandoned projects. Or as my friends put it " Another piece of sh**.".

Currently I have an 82 928 Porsche, 98 BMW 740i, 2000 BMW 328ci, 70 Cougar Eliminator and the 97 Jaguar Xk8 that brought me to this fine forum. I purchased my Xk8 last summer on the Gulf coast through a Craigslist ad. The ad listed the car as having just over 100k and needing transmission work. Being that the price was hardly more than the cost of gas to go look at, I began my quest. Once seeing the car drive up I could see that it was in mediocre shape, having had a badly applied respray at some point. After driving the car and determining it definitely needed a transmission, the air sorta worked, all electrical goodies seemed to be in good order. I ran the vin to check the surprisingly clean Carfax and equally surprising no leaks or underbody damage, I loaded my new baby on my trailer and headed home.

Upon returning home I had a local Euro speciality shop replace the trans with low mile replacement with updated internals. While they were at it they replaced all of the plastic cooling components and all belts on the engine. When I dropped it off the engine ran perfectly, no rattles or anything.When I picked it up, the moving of the coil harnesses while performing the work had created massive misfires. I had a bit of money in the car now and had become a little discouraged by the turn of events. I had the poor cat towed home where it has sat, only occasionally being started until a few days ago.

Having completed or at least gotten my other projects road worthy, I eyed the sad coupe while imbibing some lovely 18 year old Scotch. Upon inspection all 8 coils had connectors that crumbled at the slightest touch along with their counterparts on the harness. Additionaly there was a wonderful, ice cream sprinkle effect from all of the insulation that had flaked off the wiring. After.checking on new coils and the nonexistent repair pigtails, some crying, cussing and more Scotch I remembered I had read here of the similarities with the lincoln LS engine. I acquired a coil from the local parts store and found it to be a perfect fit even with only having one mounting ear. Additionally the pigtails for the LS coils are cheap and easy to get. So upon receiving my remaining coils and pigtails I turned my wrath to the naked wiring. I trimmed the loom back until I found good insulation and seperated each wire for access. Working one coil at a time I used marine adhesive lined heat shrink to cover the exposed wires back to good insulation. I then used butt splices and more marine shrink tubing to seal the joints. As a final measure I filed a syringe with flowable silicone and pushed a full dose into each loom where I trimmed back to, just in case.

After changing the oil and charging the battery I twisted the key expecting to still see reduced performance and check engine, only to hear the sweet throb of smooth running machinery! After a quick victory dance, or rather wiggle in my case, I see there are no error messages on the dash at all! A quick drive, the first in a properly running Xk8 and I am in love. I have used several diy guides to clean the part load breather, the full load breather, reset my windows and computer and clean the MAF and throttle body. I think this is my favorite car now, wonderful interior, beautiful engine noises and sexy shape. Thanks to all the members for keeping this site going.

By the way my next project is a "cheap" Aston Martin V12 Vantage. Wish me luck!

 

. . . and let me be the first to say . . .well, HOWDY!

. . . and welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of Jaguar. We all love these cars too.

One thing that you didn't mention was the cam chain tensioners of which the plastic version has killed many an engine. Check the stickies above for more info or start with these links to previous threads on the subject:

Help - sudden fail - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
I just changed my own timing chain tensioners........HOW TO - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
Ford tensioners for Jaguar??? - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
Tensioners, when are they a "must replace" item? - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...eplacement-pdf

The stickies also have the full factory service and repair manual (JTIS) complete with electrical schematics . . . for free download.

Someone is going to come along and ask that you post an introduction in the new member forum. A copy of this post or a link to it would seem perfectly adequate.

Now you need to find some hills and twisty roads to exercise you new car which are in short supply in Mississippi.

 

JW, welcome and we are glad too have you. Good work on the wiring harness, that took some doing. After the 928 most would have given up, not for the faint of heart.
Now about the this Aston, DB6?? That I could sink my teeth into.
Thanks for joying own crazy gang, let us know if you get a rattle on start up.


Wayne

 

Welcome to the site! You will not believe the great wealth of information and just overall helpfulness of the great gents on this forum.

I'm here daily reading all forums just to gather information on the brand.

It seems like you've already been seduced by XK8... look out she's a charmer.
Juke

 

Welcome to the best car forum on the planet, and congrats on your many accomplishments! Enjoy your XK8 and by all means, keep us posted on that Aston Martin....

 

Welcome,
It's so rewarding when things work out. You'll really enjoy that XK8, I've put nearly 100,000 miles on my 2002 XKR since I bought it five years ago with about 60k on it, and i still love it. How's that Cougar Eliminator, boy does that bring back memories, my first car was a brand new 1969 banana yellow Eliminator. Wish I'd kept it. I blame it for causing me to buy the Pantera, I used to see it in the showroom everytime I brought it for service, it haunted me for 35 years til I bought one.

Again, welcome aboard!

 

It looks like you already got the point on these cars and in life, never give up, the reward is just to great!

Welcome and good job.

 

I'm not the first, and certainly won't be the last to welcome you aboard. This is my 5th Jaguar, and by far the most beautiful and fun to drive. Before I bought my XK8 I used this forum to research anything and everything that could go wrong. Most of it was stuff I could work on (used to be a foreign car mechanic in another life), but impending shoulder surgery dictated that I take to an indie shop. Long story short, it all got done; tensioners, water pump, belt, hoses, transmission valve body upgrade and several other things I don't recall. And none of it would be possible without the help I got, and continue to get, from this forum. Enjoy the ride!

 

Hank you everyone for the warm welcome! Tberg, the Cougar is in running shape but needs some work and a paint job. Still a nice 351 Cleveland car. I love the Pantera! I am planning on checking and likely replacing the tensioners soon. Currently I have no symptoms, but will take care of it anyway. As I have the factory tunable mufflers from my 2013 ZL1 I likely will remove the entire exhaust, install Nameless cat and fabriate a new stainless exhaust

 

Hey Mississippi--welcome to Jaguar ownership and to the forum. This was pretty much the first place I visited before diving in to the ownership experience and you will find a bunch of great folks with a wealth of information here.

Congrats!

Doug

 

Welcome- glad to see another XK saved and cherished!