Hmmm... Went over to my semi tractor. Big 700hp 16 liter diesel. 4 1100 cold crank deep cycle semi batteries. But did it want to start? No. So oh well, pop the trunk on my jag and expose the 1050 cold crank interstate battery. Hooked it up with 0 gauge jumper cables to the big beast. 10 seconds later and the mighty diesel roared to life.

Now try and top that my fellow feline owners lol

I was finally going to take a photo of my car today and post it here. But gosh, a gorgeous jag ragtop in amongst a herd of semi tractors wouldn't be the greatest backdrop to pose it in front of. Guess I'll have to find me some mansion with 20 acres of gardens surrounding it to match most of the photos on here lol

 

Why not? It would make a good contrast.



Graham

 

Work. It's a BEAUTIFUL road that I commute on. It's a twisty backroad with only one traffic light. Makes a 15 minute commute out of a 10 mile one.

 

The Jag vs. the semi tractors would be a great photo. BEAUTY AND THE BEASTS. Please post a few. Great story on the battery. I guess it takes a 1000 amps to keep our Jags starting and lighting up all the weird electronics. My seldom-driven '97 drains the battery constantly unless I put a trickler on her. But I finally got the smog recertified after I had only put 150 miles on in the 2 years between tests. yeah, it's ridiculous. I had to drive it 300+ miles to get all the systems working so the smog testing machine would read the sensors. Anyway, no new pics since I moved from Las Vegas 5 years ago.

 

Pretty standard day, showed up to my 'shrink' appointment; did you kill today, do you plan to kill today, you know the usual.

 

Cool photo with the old jag and the Australian classic Mack truck. My 97 would look lower and my huge semi is one of the biggest models on the road. But yeah I'll post a photo of the two just like the one above. Of course I have a Herd Moose Bumper on the front so I think the contrast between the two will look even awesomer lol.

As for the batteries that are the best for our kitty cats. There are only 3 battery manufacturering plants in the world. Each plant makes batteries for the various brand names, and conforms to each brands spec orders. There are 2 battery names that I have always sworn by for cars and light trucks. Interstate, and Sears Die Hard Gold. Well, a few years ago I happened to be idly surfing online and learned of the only 3 manufacturers. I was floored that the same manufacturer of both my favorite brands also made batteries for Walmart. Each battery is almost the same quality, same process etc, just with different badging. So I easily and properly added WallyWorld house brand batteries to my top list. If I had a typical puddle jumper I wouldn't be ashamed to pay cheap and get a top battery. But I dunno, like some gear heads and other snobs for whatever thing, having a Walmart badged battery under my hood (or in my trunk as the case for my jag) is kinda embarrassing and shame filled lol. So yeah, get a good name instead and pay extra for the same thing. Vanity, thy name is man. Of course did I put those top name batteries in my boat to power up my monster motor? Oh hell no. I put in two deep cycle semi batteries to turn over the stroked beast. (For those that don't know, semi batteries are only deep cycle. Can be abused by the elements and last through any temperature). Why people use masses of 6 volts in boats and RVs is beyond me.

 

What engine is 16 l and 700 HP? Can't be Cummins ISX, that 15 l and 605 top now.


Anyway, gotta beat. Starting up my boat engines each 1015 hp CAT C-18's each with twin turbos. 4 8D batteries for the engines only.


Wow! Can't believe I said that! Feel like I'm back in school!

 

The engine is a Volvo motor. Yes 16 liters instead of the typical maximum 15 liter displacement other manufacturers use. I am a Cummins freak, and have been so for a very long time. But at the time when I was buying the last truck, Petes and Kennys that had ISXs in them were priced ludicrously. 1.5 million miles and no rebuild yet for $75k+. So I decided to hold my nose and buy a Volvo, but a sleeper that nobody else comes close to. Fresh inframe done on it and only 725k miles total. It had a natural 625 hp motor in it, so I took the opportunity to dial it up to 700 while it had just become a second hand virgin. and more than $30k cheaper buying price too. Of course Volvo trucks are shame magnets. But the 880 is fairly rare, and pays homage to the classic large car. I added all sorts of goodies and yeah, even chromed it out. Hah, try and find chrome for the dust buster Volvos. Anyhow, that amount of hp deserves some good torque behind it. Mine has 2250 ft lbs. Is a joy to wave at 600 cats grinding up The Smasher as I blow past them (if you watch highway through hell that's the infamous hill that's featured the most in that show. Only 40 miles east of me too) as I blow past there max torque 2050 buggies. Up here tandems gross out ot 86,000 lbs and change, tridems go up to 102,400 lbs, and super b trains gross out at 145,000 lbs. No wimpy 80k maxes here, or wonderful interstates that almost always never exceed 6% on their grades. Try 2 lane goat trails, through hundreds of miles of serious mountains. I cross 6 ranges just to get to Calgary. But back to my beloved Cummins. Gimme a crate N14 600 any day. But those ISXs have jakes that just can't be beat. You have to wear a seatbelt, otherwise when the jake kicks in you'd be thrown through the windshield lol.

Cat does make awesome boat motors though. But actually, even though you couldn't pay me enough to put a Detroit in a truck, their marine diesels are fantastic.

As for my little 23 ft cuddy, it's got a stroked 496 in it, full roller motor dynoed at 583 hp. Does 80+ mph on the water. I know two semi batteries are overkill in it, but hey, truckers on the water have to have something to brag about lol.

 

drove to Boerne Texas over the weekend...perfect weather if a bit cool for central TX. I figured there would be a group
of x100's and 150's I could gawk at but no. Only two x150's but this gorgeous 1935 ss90 was present.
The only x100 present was mine, parked on the street. Still a great day to travel about.
wj

 

Drove the Jag to Chinese lunch with old buds from high school(class of 1966). We have a pretty good gathering every month....kinda drive everyone else out of the restaurant if they don't close the doors to our private room. Nice weather, top down, new tires....nothing like it.

 

To work... oh well.... had fun on the drive anyway!

 

This was a month ago but I haven't had time to post.
I drove my 2000 F350, with 440,000 miles, towing my 16' box trailer with my 2001 xk8 project car inside. My wife was following me in my 99xk8. We drove from Sacramento, CA to Hickory, NC.

My son moved there a year ago for his career as a diesel mechanic. When I visited him I liked the area and the friendliness of the people. I purchased a house there and plan to live there when I retire, I can't afford to retire in California. My son will rent the house for now, until I move back there.

The property has several barns on it and I will make one my shop to work on my cars.

On the trip the 99xk8 ran perfectly with no problems while going 90 mph at times. The only problem we had was with the trailer. We lost 2 tires at different times, the trailer had sat a year since the last time I used it. The 99xk8 my wife drove was a project car I bought with a bad A drum, I repaired it about a year ago. We drove the car to give it to my son and as a car we can use when we are back there.