sorry guys,the comp was only open to the uk,yes what happend to your car nik?????????

 

watched parts of it online yesterday

 

Did they use a different "Pristine" car?

 

No they didn't (I saw a bootleg copy *shhh*) I'm wondering if they ran out of time and cut that segment.

 

From what i saw of it last night, which was all but the first 30 seconds while i tried to check it was recording, they didn't show any other example of an XK8.
Mind you, they were touting their car as the most sorted XK8 available.

Personally, from NikasilNik's pic's i'd have preferred his car any day, so perhaps they just didn't want to show themselves up.

 

Agreed, their XK8 looked a bit ropey, even when Edd had finished with it. The wheels needed a new set of stainless steel outer trims for a start.

 

That's odd and disappointing.
I've watched the show off and on over the years and they always featured a pristine example of the vehicle they were tarting up.

 

Yes, I though the brake upgrade was a bit unnecessary. I also saw that massive scratch on the rear bumper. The wheels were in desperate need of a refurb, too.

 

They are offering this particular car as a competition prize. A few minutes of th eprogramme last night were taken up with the competition details, so maybe they had to drop the pristine example bit.

 

Just in case you were wondering about your sanity, I've consolidated the two Wheeler Dealer threads. :-)

 

I normally really like WHeeler Dealers and I was waiting for that episode ever since I got my XKR around 3 weeks ago.

I was hoping to learn something new but to be honest I felt it lacked something, maybe because they where not going to sell the car but offer it as a competition.

As already suggested some of the work was not reall needed.
I missed the scratch but i thought that they would have had the bolster on the seat repaired and maybe even looked at the bushings which always seems a hot topic on these and other forums.

I have to say that the decarbonising looked great and if anyone finds out where this can be done in the UK please let me know.

 

No mention of the service history and other work that may be needed on it soon.
For the 2 grand they spent on the brakes they could have done the cam chains and tensioners, the vvt's, refurbed the wheels, got the 4 pipe back box ( like on NikasilNik's car ), and a few other bits as well.

Tut . . . of course, if by some miracle i happen to win it, i hope Norri will delete this post

 

Haven't seen the episode yet. Snap-On Tools (among many others) sells (or, at least, used to sell) a decarbonizing machine called 'Motorvac'. If interested you could probably contact Snap-On or google motorvac and find a shop with a machine. I'll wager most machines are sitting in a dark corner collecting dust.

To be totally honest, they do a fairly decent job, buuuuuttttt... most modern cars, especially with both electronic fuel injection and computerized ignition and engine controls, rarely build up an appreciable amount of carbon in comparison to older vehicles with carburetors. And yes, cold water or specialty chemicals such as 'Seafoam' through the intake tract, in reasonable amounts, can break up moderate amounts of carbon. My opinion is that if I had an engine I thought was a candidate for such a process I'd consider it to be more of a candidate for r&r and a good going through.

BTW, I was a MAC Tools distributor for several years, about twelve years ago. They had a similar system that one could decide to inject through the fuel rail, through a hypodermic needle into the snorkel above the throttle body (most snorkels are soft and self-healing) or a nozzle held above a carburetor throat.

 

Nik, Congratulations on your trophy!

Perhaps you can enlighten us as to you preparations for winning among such a large showing. I am curious what made your car stand out...I assume everything was pristine...but I also assume others were pretty darn good too..?

Thanks in advance.

 

That's a good question.... From what i can see, Niks car, has had a lot of carefull and respectfull enhancement to make it an outstanding example, that looks as good, if not better than when it left the factory maybe 13 years ago. That is a very rare occurance, as more often than not, additions or alterations don't improve on the overall ballance and designed beauty that an xk8 exudes.
The new wheels, with rear arch extensions are a thoughtfull upgrade that would not look out of place in a Jaguar showroom today. I think the rear light upgrade is a great improvement over the early drab units, which alone, give the illusion of it being a much later model.
I was looking forward to see his car on TV, but i think it was dropped as the superficial job they did on their car would have been seen for what it was.

 

Watching them do a BMW 840ci right now. The shoe salesman just called it a "mainstream car" that wouldn't require any special advertising. "Mainstream"? Yeah, right. Well, he got a "mainstream" price of about $7000(?). 7000 pounds.

 

A few things i noticed were that:
1) £480 for the rear pipes was over £200 more than i've seen them for from other sellers.
2) £39 for a half hour diagnostics was well cheap compared to what i paid.
And
3) they'll probably make more money from the competition at £1 an entry than their entire budget for the car.
Just thought i'd throw in my tuppence worth, or rather, 2 entry texts worth

 

I just watched the one regarding the XJS. A lot of the work Ed did was very help full, especially redoing the wood on the center consul. I had the same problem with my old 85 Maserati Bi Turbo vert. I bought the wood veneer and the panel was puckered like his. The vacuum technique was the way to do it for a big piece like he had to do. Did you see the color of the transmission fluid, yuk. It makes me want to change the fluid on my 03 XKR, but after watching Rev Sam's video on how to do it, I think I will have my dealer do it. I sure want to see them do the XK8 in their next show.

Bill N
03 XKR vert
01 XK8 vert (for sale on cars.com)

 

I intentionally make stuff look harder than it really is so that you guys will think I'm macho.

 

Reverend Sam, considering my XK8 has a gearbox oil cooler pipe leak ( which will make changing the gearbox oil prudent), shot upper wishbone bushes and is in need of new track rods, i have watched your videos.
You are fast acheiving God like status in my eyes
When are you going to do the lower wishbone bushes, and a steering rack rebuild ?