Jaguar XJ40 project

Chassis modifications

2012-01-30T12:43:00.002Z

I'm looking to continue the chassis develop -ments over the coming weeks. My aim to modify the car beyond standard but retain something of an OEM theme, to create a sort of XJR plus or XJR-R to use a Jaguar naming convention. The ultimate aim is to significantly up the engine power at some point, possibly with an X300 XJR supercharged AJ16 engine, so I want to make the corresponding chassis improvements before hand.

The next developments on the suspension front will be to fit stiffer front dampers and a thicker anti-roll bar. The car currently has standard Sovereign dampers which are soft, I've an uprated pair from my previous 4.0L Sport variant. I've also a thicker anti-roll bar from an X300 XJR along with new D bushes and droplinks to fit. I've been doing some hard driving recently and the car does handle much better with the lowering springs fitted, these additional modifications should improve things further.

The brakes are another area that I'll be turning my attention to. They do seem to be working reasonably well though I am getting a “low brake pressure” warning from the digi-dash indicating the system is not in optimal condition. The '86-'89 XJ40's have a complex hydraulic brake system which although very good when in fine fettle has proved to have unreliabilities. The pressure accumulator sphere has a nitrogen filled rubber sack inside which leaks and loses it's ability to hold pressure over time, I suspect this part is failing on my car. There are other parts which can be unreliable too, so one solution to bin off the standard hydraulic systems and replace it with a conventional vacuum servo. There is an American outfit which produces a kit of parts to enable an '86-'89 car to be converted, I'm planning to go for this as it promises to be more reliable and improve efficiency and pedal feel too.

Also on the braking front I have the braided hoses to fit, I'll take the opportunity to change the brake fluid for something decent. I'm also on the look out for some drilled/vent front discs too.

Fitting a bodykit

2012-01-29T22:42:00.009Z

As mentioned in my plans for 2012 post, I'm going to be fitting a bodykit to the Sovereign manual. The purpose of a bodykit is to aid the aerodynamics, by allowing less airflow under the car to thus improving downforce and hence cornering speed. The effect of this aero is probably fairly marginal on a road car, the main reason I'm fitting the 'kit is to give a more sporting and purposeful appearance. I have both the XJ40 XJR bodykits, the TWR design fitted to the series 1 XJR and the Jaguarsport design fitted to the series 2 XJR. Aftermarket bodykits can look naff and over the top but both these 'kits are Jaguar sanctioned parts and in my opinion relatively tasteful OEM type additions.

I've been thinking about which parts to fit and have now made a decision. Initially I will fit the TWR side skirts, followed by the Jaguarsport rear quarter spats, the look of these should work well with the standard body colour painted front spoiler already on the car and the standard bumpers. These parts should be fairly quick and easy to get prepped, painted and on the car, and as a following addition I will add the Jaguarsport front spoiler fitted with the Lucas fog lamps I have (these parts are pictured together). The other piece shown fits under the bootlid over the top of the rear bumper.

Down the line I'd like to fit the TWR front and rear bumpers (see lower picture), these need quite a bit of repair work with replacement fibreglass and filler as they have cracks and small areas of damage as can be seen. Another idea I have is to fit the chrome bumper blades to the body colour TWR bumpers to give a similar look to the Chasseur modified XJ40's. Before fitting any of these parts I'll be ensuring that all rust areas, namely to the sills, will be properly treated before covering them over.

Rear end improvements

2012-01-21T17:29:00.006Z

I decided to sort a couple of areas at the rear of the car today. The first part the got my attention was the number plate, this had been attached with just adhesive pads to the chrome surround and had started to make a bid for freedom. I bought a new set of front and rear plates in the week as the ones on the car were just starting to get a little tatty, £8 from ebay. I decided to fix them on properly with screws starting with the rear.

The next part I turned my attention to was the rear lamp cluster surround trims. As standard the Sovereign had chrome surrounds, the previous owner had painted them body colour along with a number of other parts, to try and modernise the look of the car I think. I've decided I prefer the traditional Jaguar chrome look and want that for the car so found a couple of spare chrome surrounds in the shed and fitted them. They brighten things up nicely.

They are very easy to fit and can be added to any XJ40 that doesn't already have them. I removed the four screws that secure each lamp cluster to the body and popped them out to make fitting easier. The two nearest the wing aren't as easy to remove but can be done by reaching in a spanner. The outer sides of the surrounds have two tabs that clip around the edge of the lens, the inner side has two larger tabs that must be folded around the inner edge of the lens to hold the surround in place.

Things to do in 2012

2012-01-11T16:54:00.000Z

Now we're into the new year I've been having a think about what work needs doing and how I want to progress the car. I've come up with a list of items that'll start to get through soon, I'll be able to really crack on once it starts getting lighter in the evenings.

Interior: I'm pleased with my successful black interior fitment last year, I think it looks great. There are a number of relatively minor items that need either finishing off or fixing. The passenger side rear speaker isn't working, it's a new speaker so it should just be a bad wire connection. The drivers side window doesn't work, I'm sure the switch and wiring is okay so I suspect the motor's packed up. The headlining had obviously dropped and has been glued bad up by the previous owner, it looks grotty could do with replacing with a decent one, though it's a job that's on the backburner somewhat.

Exterior: The paint is very good overall but the laquer is going through on the roof so could do with a re-spray. There some bubbling up of paint around the ends of the sills and rear arches where rust is attacking, I'll grind this back and repaint before things get worse. I've the bodykit parts to fit, I'll start with fitting the TWR side skirts once I've got them painted and the afore mentioned rust is treated.

Chassis: The car is riding well on the lowering springs but the suspension could do with some further development. For the front I've got the polybushed upper wishbones to go on, some sport dampers and the X300 XJR anti-roll bar so that should tighten things up further. On the brakes front I want to get the braided hoses on and replace the fluid. I'd like to refurb the Jaguarsport wheel though I'm still on the look out for a set of 17's or 18's that'll suit the car.

Engine: The engine's running quite well now though does still seem to be a little hessitant at low rev's particularly so I'll continue to investigate. I've got the Jaguarsport inlet manifold so might try swapping that on. I'll be giving the engine bay a damn good clean as it's filthy!

That's by no means an exhaustive list of the jobs that need doing but it should keep me busy for a good while.

Exterior pictures

2012-01-01T16:10:00.006Z

Here's some exterior pictures of the car. It's riding on the five spoke wheels again as one of the tyres on the Jaguarsport wheels has a slow puncture. As all the tyres on the Jagsport rims as more or less finished I'm thinking of refurbing them before fitting a set of four fresh tyres.

Completed interior swap

2012-01-01T15:51:00.008Z

I've finally got the interior swap finished off recently, the drivers seat is now installed. I'm very pleased with how the it's all looking, the condition of this black interior is much better than the doeskin and I prefer it aesthetically. Now it's done I took the opportunity to take some pictures in a setting that wasn't the street outside the house, the local woods.

Interior swap part 2

2011-12-10T18:32:00.010Z

I've almost completed the interior swap on the Sovereign, I've been fitting the black one from an XJR. The final item that needed swapped was the drivers seat. These front chairs are fixing with four torx bolts, they came out with no problems when removing the front passenger seat but I had problems with the drivers seat. The head of one of the bolts was corroded and partly chewed by by a previous attempt at removal, my efforts rounded it off and failed to budge it. I ended up drilling it out which took some. I succeeded in melting several cheap drills before making a trip out to purchase a couple of hardcore titanium coated cobalt ones.

I've managed to ebay off the XKR wheels now I've decided not use them on the car. As the car came with them fitted any money collected for them was a bonus, so I was quite chuffed with £463. Taking that from the £500 paid for the car it makes the net cost of the car £37 which is nice!

Engine temperature issues

2011-11-28T13:42:00.003Z

Since I've owned the car I've found that the engine temperature gauge on the digi-dash fails to reach the midway point, it sits a couple of increments below. This led me to think that the engine might be running a bit cold so I suspected the thermostat might not be working correctly.

I had a rummage through the spares in the shed and found a thermostat removed from one of my previous XJ40's, I knew this one worked okay so decided to fit it. The coolant was looking murky so I also decided to drop this and replace at the same time as the 'stat. Changing a 'stat is very east, access to it is good and it's simply held in place with two long 10mm bolts. The hoses hold on with jubilee clips, the connectors to the two temp sensors just need to be unclipped.

Having replaced the thermostat I found that there was no difference to the temp gauge reading, it was still shy of centre! There appears to be a temp sensor in the coolant tank so perhaps this needs replacement.

Jaguarsport wheels

2011-11-28T13:30:00.006Z

I've been playing around with different wheel options, I currently have the Jaguarsport XJR 16" wheels fitted which I think probably suit the car best. They have that late eighties look about them, the slots around the edge make them look similar to other period wheels such as Ronal Turbo's. I think they are more understated than my XKR or five spoke wheels. I'm looking at selling these other sets I have to raise some money for some other work I'll need. The overall tyre diameter is smaller than the others (the tyre profiles are 55 as opposed to 60 on the five spokes), so the car sits a tad lower.

New gear knob and gaitor

2011-11-05T15:24:00.007Z

I now have the car back from the garage having been relieved of considerable hard earned cash. It's driving much better now thanks to the new clutch. Now that it's done I've decided to sort the gear level gaitor out.

I've been swapping the original doeskin beige interior for a black one, it's most or less complete apart from the drivers seat. The "ski-slope" walnut centre console panel was damaged and faded so I've replaced it with a decent one from an auto car. The cut-out for the gear level is a different shape so I've adapted the gaitor to fit this.

The plastic surround from an auto box was used as it was a perfect fit for the ski-slope used. The square aperture was for the "sport mode" button, I've filled this by gluing in the black growler badge from the original ski-slope, the fit is perfect! I cut the leather gaitor away from the frame the fits the manual ski-slope glued it to the auto plastic surround. I also used black shoe polish to restore the black colour as it had rubbed away in places and looked tired.

To finish off I've replaced the heavy metal gear knob with a nice walnut jobbie, it has a growler badge with "Jaguar Coventry" on the top. I'm pleased with the result.

Clutch replacement

2011-11-03T12:06:00.010Z

The manual Sov is at the garage at the moment having a new clutch fitted amongst other things. It's been on the way out since I bought it, the biting point was high on the pedal and there's been a slight juddering feel. I think it was slipping slightly under certain conditions at lower rev's but recently it was slipping more obviously and making various noises.

I've always tried to do all the work on my XJ40's myself, this is the first time I've taken one to garage for anything other than an MOT. I probably could have tackled it at home but it would have been a lot of work with the car up on stands and I'm keen to get her driving well. I asked around for a few quotes, the best I received was £350 from Mr Clutch so that's where she is.

The work is underway and almost complete now, I should be able to pick the car up today. I've been told that it needed a flywheel skim plus a new spigot bearing and slave cylinder so the price of the job has certainly added up! I've also asked them to change the gearbox oil while their in there. I'm really looking forward to driving the car once I get it back.

I've pictured my other XJ40, she looks well in British Racing Green with gold coachlines. This one doesn't cost as much to run!

Five Spoke fitment

2011-10-16T18:16:00.006+01:00

I swapped off the 18" XKR wheels earlier in favour of the 16" Five Spokes I have. There were several reasons why I've decided to change to these wheels. Firstly, I think the more modern design of the 18's didn't suit the car. They looked big and impressive but I wanted a retro period look for the Sov. Secondly, the XKR wheels are worth about as much as the car, selling them will release some funds to spend improving other areas.

The third reason for swapping was that I suspected the old girl would drive better on the Five Spoke and this was evident after a test drive. The large "donut" tyres give a softer ride than the lower profiles. Also, the car doesn't tramline like it did on the 18's so handles better.

All in all I'm pleased with the change. There are a few other areas that will be restored to give a more period look, I'd like to get shot of the X300/X308 side mouldings and put some chrome rear lamp surrounds on in place of the body colour ones on it at the moment.

Lowering spring fitment - the results

2011-10-03T08:55:00.008+01:00

Here's some pictures of the car sitting on the lowering springs, I'm pleased with the way it looks and drives. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like wearing some retro rims, I'll try it with the 16" Jaguarsport wheels I have.

Lowering spring fitment part deux

2011-10-03T08:50:00.000+01:00

I got the rear lowering springs installed at the weekend. Swapping out the rear springs on a Forty is a relatively straight forward job.

The first thing to do is to jacking the car up, remove the wheel and sit it on an axle stand. You can then get in to remove the four 13mm bolts holding the top spring pan to the body, the bolt furthest in requires a long socket extension to access. Before removing all the bolts it's a good idea to support the hub with a trolley jack as it will drop down once the bolts are out.

The next thing to do is unbolt the bottom of the damper, this is secured with a 30mm bolt and 24mm nut. Once this is out the spring and damper assembly is unfixed from the car, to get it out you need to remove the brake caliper, this is fixed on with two 15mm bolts.

Once the assembly is out the spring needs to be compressed so that the top spring pan can be removed. Standard spring compressors can be used, make sure they are heavy duty items otherwise they will bend! Once the spring has been compressed the top spring pan can be unbolted and the spring removed. Refitment is the reserve of removal.

Lowering spring fitment part 1

2011-09-22T14:00:00.012+01:00

So I've got around to fitting the AVO -35mm lowering springs, just done the fronts so far. I've covered the installation of XJ40 front springs in a previous post so I won't go into detail here. I was planning to fit the polybushed wishbones at the same time but decided to leave that until a later date. The wishbone bushes are actually in decent order having been changed by the previous owner, the car rides well so I'm not desperate to change bushes at the moment.

I'm now planning to fit the rear lowering springs soon, hopefully at the weekend, having bought a pair of standard spring compressors recently. I've

also done some more work on the interior so that should also be finished soon.

Fitting the XJR door cards part 2

2011-09-19T09:19:00.000+01:00

To fit the XJR door cards I needed to fix their fixing brackets onto the doors of the Sovereign manual. I was initially thinking I'd just use self tapping screws but I decided to do a proper job and use rivets as that's how they were originally fixed. I bought a riveting kit from Homebase (£14.99) that included a riveter and a selection of different sized rivets. I found that 4.8mm rivets fitted perfectly so used those.

Along with fitting the brackets I had to remove the plastic bush type parts from the door as holes were too small for the new door card fixing plugs. Once this was done fitting the door card was very straight forward, just a case of connecting up the connectors and screwing them on. So far I've riveted all the brackets on and fitted the front two door cards, hope to get the remaining two on this week. I've also removed the front passenger seat and centre console, so the interior work is really coming on now.

Engine running issues

2011-09-16T09:32:00.002+01:00

Although the manual Sov starts fine and drives it seems to feel hesitant and lumpy, and lacking in power somewhat. The car is quite high mileage at 168k and didn't come with much history at all so I'm going to be working through a thourgh service that will include changing all fluids and replacing parts to get the drive optimal.

In an effort to sort the running issue the first thing I checked was the plugs. I found that although they didn't look very worn they were Bosch Super 4 R6's, a modern four electrode plug and not a recommended type for the AJ6 engine. They were also grimy and smelt of petrol which suggested the engine was running rich. I swapped these plugs for a set of new NGK BCPR6E's which are a traditional type of plug often used in these engines.

The next items I checked were the distributor cap and rotor arm, these looked a little worn so I replaced these too with new parts. The engine seemed to run a little better on the new plugs and cap but still the hesitant, lumpy characteristics remained so I haven't s
orted the problem as yet, I still think it's ignition related.

In other news I've bought some new tools, a Draper compression tester and a pair of spring compressors to remove the rear springs. I used the compression tester for the first time at the weekend, I was slightly worried about what I might discover but found that all cylinders had strong compression, up around 200psi according to the tool.

Exterior improvements

2011-09-11T18:31:00.008+01:00

I'm in the process of gradually tidying up the exterior of the car. The latest task was to remove the badging applied to the car by the previous owner as it wasn't to my taste. There were X308 XJR "R" badges stuck to the front wings below the indicator and also one on the boot lid. The boot lid also had a union jack flag and an "XJ6" badge which I removed. I felt the badging a bit silly as the car is a Sovereign so neither an XJR non XJ6, plus I think the body looks smoother and cleaner de-badged.

Another modification that the car came with was body colour wing indicators, that's both the

chrome bezel and the lamp lens painted. I bought a pair of used but decent indicator lamp units

so I could restore the car to the standard items.

Initially I've just replaced the lens, I intend to get hold of some double sided adhesive strips to fix the chrome bezel part in place.

Fitting the XJR door cards

2011-08-30T13:23:00.006+01:00

Now I'd bought the manual Sovereign I didn't really have adequate space for the 3.2 Sov, or the time to spend on her so she had to depart and is now gone. Unfortunately I didn't make anything but I at least got back most of what I paid.

I've not had much of chance to work on the manual Sov recently, I spent some time over the weekend treating the Golf GT TDI to an engine oil and filter change and a new air filter. I have had the chance to do a bit of work on the door cards though.

I recently fitted new Alpine speakers to the XJR door cards that I'm going to be fitting, I've started soldering on the correct connectors to these having removed the connector and wiring from the Sovereign door cards. To fit the XJR cards I'll need to fit the mounting brackets (see picture) fortunately the doors on the Sov have pre-drilled holes to fit these so I just need to find some suitably sized self tapers to hold the brackets on. The other fixing appear to be the same so the 'R cards should go on easily.

The drivers electric window doesn't work and the passenger side is intermittant, I'm hoping it was just a fault with the switches and that the they'll leap into life with the fitment of the replacement switches in the XJR door cards. If they don't I'll have to assume that there's a problem at the electric motor end of things.

Interior swap

2011-08-14T12:13:00.005+01:00

I made a start on swapping in the black XJR interior yesterday. So far I've fitted the Momo sport steering wheel and the black dash trim up front, it's already starting to look a lot better I think. In the back I've fitted the black parcel shelf, seat belts and seats. I hope to crack on and get the rest done soon.

The Sovereign 3.6 manual

2011-08-08T09:00:00.001+01:00

Well I've bought another Forty. Since deciding to dispose of the 4.0S restoration project and replace it with a rolling project I've been on the look out for a new project car. I liked the idea of converting the 'S' to manual but that would have been a lot of work and expense, so it made sence to look for one that was already manual, preferably a 4.0. I've not long bought the 3.2 Sov so did plan to take my time in finding the right car, but my girlfriend found this 3.6 Sov manual on ebay and I just had to have it! A 200 mile round trip ensued which took all day due to a dire traffic jam up on the M25, I feel it was all worth it though.

The Sovereign 3.6 manual is a very rare car indeed now, it seems that there is only 4 left on the road, and this is the only '89 one left. The paint is Tungsten grey metallic and the interior is Doeskin. The car has quite a few modifications already which really attracted me to it. It's fitted with 18" XKR alloys fill the arches nicely, I think 15's can get lost on a car of this size. The "fishtanks" have been swapped for quad lamps and quite a number of trim parts have been painted in the grey to match the body, which looks good though has been over done in places I feel.

I'm very pleased with the overall condition of the car for a '89 G, it's had some restoration already from the previous owner which is good. Needless to say it does need work in a number of areas which I'll be posting about soon. Inital plans include fixing anything that doesn't work, tidying up the bodywork rust, the fitment of my black XJR interior and the suspension parts I have.

Lamp lens replacement

2011-08-04T16:37:00.000+01:00

The Sovereign had a couple of broken rear lamp lens so I replaced these with good ones from the shed at the weekend.

The fog lamp lens is an easy swap, simply held in place by three screws. The main rear lamp lens is a glued on part of the lamp assembly so it's far easier to replace the complete unit. These are held on with four nuts. The Sovereign models have chromes lamp surrounds so I swapped surround from the old to the new unit. They are secured with four metal tabs that hook around the lens, two can be bent back on one side to allow removal.

The rear of the car is starting to look smarter now with the new lens in place.

Boot lid chrome strip replacement

2011-08-04T13:14:00.001+01:00

I've replaced the chrome strip that runs across the boot lid on the Sovereign. This chrome strip is part of a steel panel that is fixed to the underside with three screws. It has three square cutouts for the number plate lamps and the boot release.

As can be seen from the picture, the old one was rotten around the fixing holes. The panel had come away from the boot lid on the right side, a previous owner had used tape to resecure it. Along with the new lamp lens this tidys up the look of the rear end of the car.

Series 1 XJR bodykit

2011-07-25T17:35:00.000+01:00

I've now managed to procure a series 1 XJR bodykit consisting of the front and rear bumpers plus the side skirts. I've always wanted this bodykit and have eventually managed to find this one at a reasonable price so I'm very pleased. It's tatty but all in one piece, the only damage being a crack on the underside of the rear bumper and scuffs on the underside of the front. I'll be prepping this kit by sanding back the very tired paint and filling any holes and damage, ready for undercoat.

I see this kit as the final piece I require to build my dream "sporty forty", I know it's not to everyones taste but it does it for me, it gives a great sporty and aggresive look. I will now be on the look out for the ideal car to fit this to along with my other favourite parts to, namely the -35mm lowering springs, polybushes all round, the Jaguarsport 16" alloys, quad headlamps, and the black leather XJR interior.

Sovereign pictures

2011-07-25T13:42:00.004+01:00

Here's a couple of pictures of the Sovereign on the five spokes, enjoy.

Five spoke wheels

2011-07-25T13:40:00.001+01:00

I've decided to swap the orginal 15" Teardrop wheels on the 3.2 Sov for a set of 16" Sport five spokes. The originals look rough and in need of new paint so I'll give them a DIY refurb.

The wheel centre badges on the five spokes are faded, they should be red but are now of a naff pink/purple colour. I had a set of black centres from another set of wheels so fitted these.

The five spokes are in a "champagne" type colour as opposed to a straight silver, they are in decent

condition and have good tyres. They are one of my

favourite XJ40 wheel designs and a nice addition to the Sov.

A change of plans

2011-07-25T13:25:00.003+01:00

Well, I've had a significant change of plan with regards to my modified XJ40 project. The project has been stalling for various reasons. The move to a new house has meant the loss of the car port and workshop facilities that I had previously making the practicalities more difficult, plus I have less time to get the work done.

I recently came to a point where a lot of parts were stripped from the 4.0S shell for refurbishment and I faced the formidable task of putting the car back together and getting everything fixed. I started with a car that required work on top of my modification plans so I gave myself a considerable amount oto do. I was confident of achieving this with the space at my afore mentioned previous address but have found it a struggle at my new place. In retrospect I should have kept the car on the road as a rolling project but it was my aim at the time to take it off the road and complete a restoration.

I've thus made the decision to strip all the parts I'd fitted to the 4.0S, plus all the other useful stuff besides, and depose of what's left. It's very disappointing but the only way to move forwards. All the refurbed parts covered in my blog over the last several years will be removed so I won't be wasting the time and money spend on those. Despite being an apparent set back it'll actually help me complete the project much quicker as I plan to replace the 4.0S with a Forty already in decent condition. I'm not exactly sure what variant of XJ40 the new base car will be, preferably a 4.0L manual, and it will definately be a rolling restoration. I've now amassed a decent collection of spares to use on this new car and the Sovereign.

Sovereign problem areas

2011-07-18T08:25:00.007+01:00

There are a number of areas that need sorting on the Sov as you'd expect on an nineteen year old car at this price. The main area of concern is a brake caliper that it sticking on after braking, releasing slowly. It seems to be a rear caliper but I will have a closer look to determine which one, perhaps it's both. The near side wing repeater bulb needs replacing, so that's another priority.

On the cosmetic side of things there are a number of tatty areas. The wheels have quite a bit of corroded areas so I plan to give them a DIY refurb, I'll swap on my set of five spokes in the meantime. The rear lamp cluster lens are cracked, the

nearside one quite badly, I have a decent spare set to replace them with. Obviously there's the usual rust patches so these will be grinded back, treated and painted.

A good service is in order: engine oil and filter, air filter, transmission oil and plugs if necessary. The central locking isn't working so that needs a look. The interior needs a couple of bits of trim but is okay overall, just a good clean required. The bumpers need a bit of fettling but the chromes are good.

The Sovereign

2011-07-18T08:22:00.011+01:00

I've been really keen to get back behind the wheel of a forty that works so I've bought another one, a 3.2L Sovereign. These are becoming quite a rare model now, at the last count there were 202 licensed cars on the road (source: http://howmanyleft.co.uk/ ) It's not my first choice of XJ40 model as I generally favour the "sporty forty" models, but it is a smooth and enjoyable cruiser.

This ones a well used example, it's clocked 166k miles over it's 19 years. It did come with a more or less full service history and a big load of bills which was good to see. It's quite tatty and crusty around the edges but is a good runner with no obvious mechanical problems other than rear brake calipers sticking on slighty, presumably a result of

sitting around undriven for several months.

I'll be giving it a good fettle and sorting some of the problem areas in due course.

Anti-roll bar refitment

2011-06-20T21:38:00.006+01:00

I've now started refitting parts to the car. The anti-roll bar and the drop links are the last of the front suspension parts that I need to refit. New OE bushes were bought for the X300 XJR roll bar, plus I bought new drop links rather than replace the bushes in the ones that came off the car. I reckon I'll nail the front brakes back on next, with the new braided brake hoses.

I've now done the required modification to the front seat frames, this involved dusting of the grinder and chopping some of the metalwork that the protrudes down from the top area area. I'll now

be able to fit the '90 seat backs to the '94 seat frames, so there's nothing stopping me now from getting them fully assembled.

Front chair rebuild part 3

2011-06-18T20:13:00.008+01:00

After a quite a bit of umming and ahhing I've decided to modify the front seat frame of my '94 4.0S to fit the black leather seat covers and foams from the '90 XJR seats. Some of the seat frame metal work requires cutting away with a grinder to enable the black seat backs to be fitted. Both front chair frames are now stripped and ready for this modification, I'll then be able to get them fully reassembled.

Once the front seats are done the interior will be ready to refit to the car, before I do this though I'll fix the headlining which has sagged down badly. I've bought some strong spray adhesive for this.

Jessica has also helped me with the interior by cleaning up the front and rear carpets.

Loudspeaker replacement part 2

2011-05-22T10:08:00.000+01:00

I've now completed the fitment of the new speakers. The door pockets need to be removed, they are held onto the door card with several screws. The speaker grills have four threaded shafts that fit from the front through the door pocket and speaker lugs, with a nut holding things together.

The below picture shows a fitted speaker. They aren't as discreet as the standard items which have a black mesh covering so that the driver is unseen. For a more original looking speaker upgrade I'd go for a black speaker, though I don't think the new speakers will be especially noticeable once the door cards are fitted. That said, I do like the silver, it looks purposeful.

Front chair rebuild part 2

2011-05-16T09:50:00.005+01:00

Having stripped the first 4.0S chair down the next task was to adapt it for use with the '90 seat covers. The cage for the rear reading lamp was removed by drilling out the two rivets fixing it, this allows the '90 seat back foam to fit.

The post '93 seat style has a raisable head rests with two metal shafts that fit into the seat frame. The '90 style head rest has a single shaft and is not raisable, luckily enough this seems to fit rather snuggly in the frame. The top picture shows the trial fitted head rest in it new home. I'll be able to drill a hole and fit a screw or bolt through the head rest shaft and seat frame if required, to hold everything

in place.

The only other items that need resolving are the seat backs. The lower picture shows the grey back from the 4.0S and the black one from the XJR interior. Whilst superficially very similar, the main difference and issue for my chair rebuild is that the recessed area near the top of the seat back is a fair bit deeper on the black back. As such it interferes with some of the gubbins in the upper area of the seat frame and doesn't go on flat. This leaves several options: either chop the seat frame gubbins to get the black back on, paint/dye the grey backs, or get hold of post '93 blacks (the most desirable option I think).

Front chair rebuild part 1

2011-05-16T09:11:00.002+01:00

I've started working on the interior for the car. After mulling over the options I've decided in my infinite wisdom to use the original 4.0S seat frames and recover them with the XJR black leather trim. This means that the electrics will be compatible and that the chairs should be lighter in weight as they've less motors. The XJR seats have a different style of head restraint to the later so I will need to adapt these seat frames for this.

This job certainly isn't one I'd recommend to another owner, if you want to change the indoors your better off finding an interior for the correct model year and fitting that rather than messing about with taking the seats apart! I particular want this interior in and like a bit of a challenge so I thought I'd get it done.

The top left picture shows the naked 4.0S seat frame with the covers and foam removed. The base of the seat removes easily being held in place with a couple of screws, likewise the

back trim. The leather covering for the top had various fixing to remove but nothing too painful, plus the foam had to be pulled off as it was glued on in places. The foam is a different shape for the later interior so wouldn't fit correctly under the coverings I am fitting.

Moving onto the back of the chair, there is a metal cage to house the reading lamp which must be removed in order to fit the alternative covering (the XJR seats have the lamp in the head rest). There is also a fibre board cover that I will remove to get access to that which lurks behind it.

Moving an XJ40 part 2

2011-05-14T18:09:00.005+01:00

Well I've finally got busy on the project again and got the 'S' moved to its new home. I had the local recovery chaps come and move it about one mile across town from the relatives driveway where it was previously residing. It cost £60 which wasn't too disastrous.

It's been under a tarp which has obviously been rubbing on the car body, causing some damage to the paint in places. There were quite a few bad areas in the paintwork arena before it was moved too. I guess it's a good excuse to get some new paint on once I've finished working on the oily bits.

Loudspeaker replacement part 1

2011-05-14T17:57:00.006+01:00

I bought the new door card speakers today, I went for a brand name and got a couple of pairs of Alpine SXE-1025S. They have a 10cm (4") driver that will fit in the '90 door cards I'll be fitting (the later post '93 cars have a larger diameter driver). They are nothing too special in the power output stakes, being rated at 25W RMS and 180W peak, but this is adequate to handle the output from a standard CD player head unit.

As they are a small diameter speaker the bass responce will be quite limited so I will complement them a subwoofer and/or one or two mid bass drivers. I'm not after roaring sound

pressure levels and trouser flapping bass but I do want an audio system that has decent clarity,

punchy dynamics and a flattish frequency responce.

The lower picture shows the aperture in the front of the door card where the speakers fit, the speaker and grill have already been removed (see a previous post from way back). There is a panel at the back of the door card to allow access to this area.

XJ40.com Owners Club Black Sheep Meet

2011-05-11T13:05:00.002+01:00

Saturday saw the first full XJ40.com owners club meet at the Black Sheep Brewery in West Yorkshire, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the model. Unfortunately my car wasn't in attendance due to it not being in one piece but I was able to get along to check out the cars and meet the some fellow owners.

It was a great day out, great cars, great people, great beer, even the weather behaved it's self mostly. About 27 XJ40's and 50 owners were in attendance on the day. I strongly recommend the club to any other XJ40 owners reading this who aren't already a part of it.

Here are a couple of snaps taken from the event, they don't do the day justice, it was certainly the most XJ40 I'd ever seen in one place before.

A new daily, a diesel Golf

2011-05-09T21:41:00.006+01:00

I've not been on the project recently as I've been playing daily drivers. With fuel prices being the way they are I wanted, needed something economical, but still with a bit of shove. Have dabbled with the idea of a diesel Alfa I ended up bottling it and getting a diesel Golf. This is called a GT TDI PD150, the rarer one with a GTI badge on the back and 150 horse under the bonnet.

The book says it does 52.3mpg combined cycle and I've certainly had some good returns from it so far. If I can save some dosh at the pumps then it should be give me a bit more money to spend on the forty :)

Resuming the project

2011-04-03T20:21:00.016+01:00

I'm almost in a position to restart work on the car now, having got a drawn out house move done and dusted. To the left is a picture of the car in it's present state (when it was still at my previous address). I want to get the car back on the road as soon as I can but I've quite a lot of work to get through first. Here's a brief summary of the main stuff that needs doing, I'll be posting about this lot soon:

Engine - I'm fitting the XJR cylinder and new gasket set to get rid of the value stem seal and head gasket issues. I also have to fit the Jaguarsport inlet manifold, plus exhasust manifolds

and non-cat downpipe.

Brakes - I've not got any front brakes on the car at the moment. I've got the braided hoses to fit, I want to get some drilled and vented discs plus uprated pads. I'm currently on the looks out for parts, so not exactly sure what's going to go on the car yet.

Suspension - The front suspension rebuild in more or less complete, I just need to fit the anti-roll bar to torque up all the bolts correctly. The rear lowering springs now need installing along with the new bushes, I'll probably fit new dampers at the same time.

Exterior - The refurbed bumpers need to go on, plus the grill, and XJR splitter.

Interior - I've the black XJR interior to go in, and the headlining needs glueing back up.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some clear side repeaters on ebay, these are from an X308 I believe. I think the clear lens will work well with the exterior look of the car (the XJ40 doesn't have amber repeaters front or rear, they are "smoked").

Moving an XJ40

2011-02-01T09:29:00.003Z

The restoration project is currently on hold as I'm homeless at the moment! The new build house we're buying isn't yet finished and our rental tenancy has now expired, meaning I've been faced with storing all our stuff, including the Jag.

As the 4.0S obviously isn't in a road worthy state I had some local car recovery chaps come and move it about a mile across town onto a relatives driveway for the time being. I've strapped a large tarp over it to keep the rain water off. Due to the car not being taxed or insured it was transported on the back of a flat bed recovery truck, as can be seen in the low res phone pictures.

The forty looks good on the lowering springs at the front, I'm pleased with the ride height and it should sit down a bit more once everything's back on the car. It was actually very close to scrapping the lower radiator support when coming on and off the ramp, it's just as well I've not fitted the front splitter yet as it surely would have bottomed out on the road.

The 'S' will sit on the drive for a few weeks before being transported again to our new property once that's complete. I'll take the chance to procure a few new parts I need over the next few weeks to get the car finished and driving once again.

Refitted steering rack, brake discs and wheels

2010-12-30T21:56:00.009Z

The car's now back on the deck, a big step forward. I've refitted the steering rack and the brake discs, so was able to fit the 16" Jaguarsport XJR wheels and drop the car down as a trial to see how the 4.0S sits on the shorter springs. As can be seen in the picture, the cars sitting a little high at the moment, I expect it to be lower once the new springs have had time to settle, and once the interior and various engine gubbins are back in and adding more weight. I had a bounce on the front wings, the springs feel compliant like the standard items though it'll be stiffer when the new roll bar is fitted and the wishbones are properly torqued up. I'll wait untill all the extra weight is back in and the suspension is in its proper position before tightening all the bolts to there specified torque.

I've refitted the refurbed lamp assemblies as can be seen. I've now finished painting the anti-roll bar and mount brackets so they're ready to go on. I'll roll it out of the car port over the weekend so that I can give it a good clean and make a start on sorting some of the interior jobs such as the headlining. I'll have to put the car back on my smaller axle stands to get some of the remaining underside jobs finished

Upper balljoint fitment

2010-12-29T11:45:00.006Z

I tried refitting the near side upper ball joint, it proved to be quite sloppy, the nut got stuck with both the nut and the threaded shaft just turning. I stopped the turning by using a clamp and tried to get it tightened but managed to get it stuck on tighter. I ended up just cutting it off and replacing it with a new one, which I've now fitted. It was a bit of a set back and cost a bit of time and money, so pleased to get it sorted.

Fitting an X300 XJR anti-roll bar

2010-12-29T11:17:00.011Z

I've now received the anti-roll bar that I'm going to fit, this has been removed from an X300 XJR. It's of a larger diameter than the sportpack one that I've already removed, it should tighen up the handling and complement the other suspension modifications I've made.

The roll bar cost me £20 including postage from an ebay seller so was something of a bargain and represents a cheap upgrade. I've also bought the necessary OEM 'D' mount bushes to be used with this roll bar (about £8 each) and new drop links (about £12 each) as shown in the top picture. This was me trial fitting the bushes onto the roll bar as it came to ensure it would fit to the car.

The roll bar had flakey paint, surface rust and dirt so I gave it a going over with the wire brush in preparation for give it a lick of rust preventing black paint. I'm giving the 'D' bush brackets the same treatment.

Refitment of the anti-roll bar is straight forward, each 'D' bush bracket fixes to the the subframe with two bolts, the ends of the roll bar bolt to the drop links, which in turn bolt to the lower wishbone assemblies.

Under radiator support panel fitment

2010-12-14T22:46:00.013Z

I fitted the new under radiator support panel to the car last night. The original was completely rusted through so I had previously pulled it off having bought a solid used one to replace it with (as detailed in earlier posts).

On the post '93 XJ40's like mine there are four bushes that mount the radiator between an upper and lower support panel, two at the top, two at the bottom. The original spongy type bushes that mounted the radiator in my car were completely shot, the lower ones had more or less disappeared! The upper ones had become very crumbly and perrished as can be seen in the top picture, this left the radiator to flap around on the supports, obviously not a good situation. I ordered four new bushes, these are made from a much tougher rubber (also pictured).

The new painted under radiator panel was jacked up into place and refitted with new bolts. The condition of the radiator it's self is good so I've not replaced it, it's fared much better than the panel that supported it.

Now the new support panel is fitted I can get on with refitting the other front end parts. I've had a go at offering up the Jaguarsport front splitter to the front end to judge how it'll fit. The post '93 cars like mine have a redesigned front end whereby they employ a tubular crash bar across the radiator (see the lower picture), the ealier cars use the Jaguarsport front splitter don't have this. Therefore I'll have to modify the splitter by cutting two sections away to accomodate the crash bar, it also needs paint and the new fog lights fitting.

Front suspension spring refitment

2010-12-10T17:35:00.007Z

I'm making some good progress this weekend, I've finally fitted the new front springs. As when removing the old springs, I used the borrowed home brew spring compressor tool. This fits up through the spring pan and spring, and locks into the subframe allowing the whole lot to be compressed.

I was feeling pleased that the suspension rebuild was nearing completion when I had a set back when refitting the second spring on the nearside. I bought a new spring pan bolt as one rounded off on me when I was removing them. This new bolt was somewhat stiffer going in and was pretty much in when it sheared off. This bolt cost over £4 so wasn't cheap, but was presumably a pattern part and not a genuine Jaguar one. It seemed shear off very easily, I'm not impressed at all. I'm now faced with either drilling out the shaft of the bolt, retapping and fitting a new bolt, or replacing the arm of the wishbone.

As well as the spring pan bolt problem I also had trouble getting the nearside upper wishbone ball joint back on, the nut got jammed on halfway up the thread. I'll buy a new ball joint and nut.

In other news, I've not refitted the anti-roll bar yet as I've bought a large diameter one from an X300 XJR, just waiting for it to turn up.

Front suspension rebuild continued

2010-12-09T21:11:00.016Z

I've received a few new parts I ordered including a new lower wishbone fulcrum shaft. The nearside shaft was tough to remove when I was disassembling the suspension previously, as one of the lower wishbones was seized on. I managed to hammer it out in the end. This ripped the seized on centre sleeve and some of the rubber out of the bush, I also managed to wreck the thread somewhat. I've fitted the nearside lower wishbone and new shaft though I've noticed that the thread seems to be a larger size so the nut I have from the old shaft doesn't fit, I'll have to buy one that does!

I had another bush sleeve seized onto to a bolt, this time one from an anti-roll bar drop-link, which I'd been meaning to tackle. I managed to cut it off with the angle grinder. The picture shows the refitted wishbones and damper on the offside, I've now refitted the spring and spring pan this side, more to follow soon...

Just to update this post, my new fulcrum shaft should have been supplied with a new nyloc nut but wasn't, the parts supplier has now sent this free of charge. As I say, the new shaft and nut have a different thread to the original parts so you need both!

Front lower wishbone refitment

2010-11-28T19:03:00.011Z

With the subframe back in place I can now start refitting the lower wishbones and hubs.

I had already fitted the new bushes to these wishbone using Powerflex polyurethane items. These bushes consist of three parts; two halfs of the urethane that fit into the wishbone arm from either side, and the steel sleeve that fits through the centre. This type of assembly differs from the Polybush polyurethane bushes that I used for the upper wishbones where the urethane is moulded onto the sleeve forming a single piece that presses through. Another observation is that the urethane of the Powerflex bushes is significantly harder than that of the Polyurethane which is softer and more rubbery.

When previously fitting the bushes I noticed that the sleeve through the lower wishbone rear bush seemed somewhat short for the urethane material that it fits through. Under closer recent inspection this seemed to definately be the case, the sleeve was around 1.5mm short which left me with a problem! I contacted the manufacturer about the issue asking for advice and they were very helpful. They made me some new sleeves free of charge that were 1.5mm longer than the standard item and sent them to me in the post so I received them the next day. The top picture shows a standard sleeve on the left and a newly fabricated one on the right. Needless to say I was very satisfied with this outcome and have now started to refit the lower wishbones with the reinstalled bushes.

I need to buy and a few new nuts and bolts to complete the reassembly of both sides, hopefully these parts will arrive by next weekend.

Front subframe refitment part 2

2010-11-21T16:22:00.004Z

I've now finally got the front subframe refitted!

I had fitted the bolts through the mount bushes so that I could pivot the subframe up and attempt to fit the vee-mounts, as I mentioned in my previous post. I had read that this was the way to do this job, but I found the subframe sat about 10mm too far forward for the vee-mounts to fit to the body. I couldn't find an easy way of levering the subframe back to compress the mount bushes and align and thus fit the vee mounts.

After a bit of thought and asking for some forum advice I decided to approach the task differently. Instead of fitting either both mount bush bolts or both vee-mounts first, I did one side at a time. I raised one side into position with the trolly jack and half fitted the pegs on the vee-mount into the body. I then used a crow bar between the body and the mount bush to press it down and forward, compressing the vee-mount somewhat. With a hammer in the other hand I was then able to drive the bush bolt in, then jack up the vee-mount fully into it's correct position.

The rubber in both the mount bush and vee-mount is compressed a bit to get the subframe in place, I guess this is to ensure that it's nice and tight with no play. The X308 mount bushes I used from the later XJ are a little stiffer than the XJ40 ones so that probably contributed to the difficulty of the task.

Having the subframe refitted is a decent step forward in my front suspension restoration, I'm looking forward to getting the other parts refitted soon. As can be seen in the picture, I've got the upper wishbones on.

Front subframe refitment

2010-10-25T14:11:00.000+01:00

It's been a bit slow going as usual but I've made a start at refitting the re- assembled front subframe. The round rear bushes at the rear of the subframe must first be attached to the body with the large nut and bolts, with the tools I have it's a bit of a two-man job really, I found it quite tricky but managed after a bit of a struggle.

Once the bolts are in place the subframe can then pivot and be raised up into place as seen in the lower picture. The two threaded pins on the top of the vee mounts fit into the body and are held in place with bolts that enter from the engine bay side. Before I get the subframe fully repositioned I will refit the rebushed upper wishbones and possibly the lower wishbones too as they will be difficult or impossible to refit once the subframe is fixed in it's correct position.

When raising the subframe I found that it wants to sit too far forward, the threaded pins protruding from the vee mounts misalign with the holes in the body. When refitting the subframe I'll have to lever it backwards to allow the pins to align with the holes, the rubber in the round bushes ar the rear will compress and give somewhat under this pressure.

Front subframe rebuild

2010-10-24T21:01:00.008+01:00

I've put the front subframe back together so it's nearly ready to refit to the car. The engine mounts and vee mounts fix on with 13mm bolts, I applied copper grease to these as an anti-seize measure. Hopefully I won't have to remove these bolts again anytime soon!

Fitting lower wishbone bushes

2010-10-10T17:56:00.013+01:00

I've now got the Powerflex lower wishbone and lower damper bushes fitted. These poly-
urethane bushes come in two halfs with a steel inner sleeve that must be press into the centre. As with the upper wishbone bushes, a bit of washing up liquid helped everything slip into place. The two halfs of the bushes fitted into place easily by hand, the center sleeves pressed into place with a G-clamp.

I've finished painting the suspension components, subframe and under the wheel arches. The POR-15 paint goes on in two stages, with an undercoat that can be applied directly onto rust it need be, and a thicker topcoat that provides the tough finish. I plan to underseal the whole underside of the car but initial, I've painted under the front wheel arches around the areas where the suspension components fix to the body, essentially the points where the subframe fixes plus where the tops of the dampers fit into the inner wings. These areas would be much harder to apply paint to with the suspension refitted. Before applying the paint I bushed off any dirt and loose rust present and cleaned the area with water.

Fitting new upper wishbone bushes

2010-09-19T20:37:00.013+01:00

I removed the last of the bushes, the lower damper bushes from the lower wishbones (see left). One was drilled out as before, the other had the rubber and centre sleeve ripped out when I removed the damper so the outer sleeve had to be cut through with a hacksaw. I'm now finally putting the car back together which is a good feeling, it's the rewarding part of the project.

Once all the bushes had been removed and several coats of the POR-15 rust preventative paint had been applied to the wishbones I could start fitting the new polyurethane bushes. I started with the upper wishbone bushes which are single piece Polybush parts. To help the bushes slip into their new homes I used some washing up liquid, this is greasy but washes away easily to allow the bushes to grip as they should. To press them into the wishbones I uesd a bench vice, this ensures they go in nice and straight. I used a 30mm socket to to cup over the back of the bushes and press against the surrounding metal of the wishbone. The picture shows an upper wishbone with the new bushes fitted.

XJ40 Literature

2010-09-06T20:50:00.010+01:00

I've been on holiday for a week, got back at the weekend so not much progress to report. I'm back on the go now getting this front suspension back together.

I thought I'd do a quick post about some of the books avaliable on the XJ40, the picture shows the ones I have. The yellow "XJ40 Engineering" book is great I think, it covers all those big jobs like suspension rebuilds, head gasket replacements, etc. I've read that more than any of the others. All the pictures are clear and in colour which is very helpful. The yellow "Buying and Maintainance" book covers common mechanical and electrical problems plus body repairs and replacing trim and the like. The car featured is an early 2.9. I find the blue Haynes book is handy for some jobs but it only covers the earlier pre '93 cars (mines a '94) which while fundermentally the same do differ in places, and it isn't in colour. The black XJ40 book and the Project XJ40 book are interesting reading, not essential though.

Last month I had my car featured in the "Readers Yard" reader car section in Practical Performance Car, I've been a regular reader of the magazine for years so it was nice to see my own car in the pages. It would be great to get a full feature once the car is finished, maybe in PPC or Retro Cars, or perhaps a Jaguar club publication.

Air conditioning removal

2010-08-24T13:59:00.000+01:00

I'm deleting all the air conditioning equipment from the car, maybe fans of originality will want to look away now. It's never worked and I'm not interested in spending the money on recomissioning and maintaining the system so it's coming out, I'll only miss it on the three days of the year when it's hot enough to warrant using it. I'll lose a few kg's of weight which is always good plus I'm interested in reducing complexity in the car where I can.

The picture shows the compressor and condenser, these were easy to remove with many other front end parts already off the car for the other jobs I'm doing.

Under radiator panel removal

2010-08-23T20:43:00.002+01:00

I'm replacing the under radiator panel as essentially it's now just a big piece of rust and very weak. These panels can suffer very badly on the XJ40 and mine has been no exception. I've already bought a decent replacement panel as detailed in a previous post, this came from a younger X300 that shares the same part with the post '93 forty, and was painted up in black Hammerite.

The four fixings for the panel were very rusted too. For some reason they don't have proper hex bolt heads but the small star shape screw heads. All but one screw rounded off on me, I managed to get the front two out but the others have so far refused to play ball. The actual panel came away easily as it was serverely weakened by rust, I basically just chopped it off with 24" bolt cutters.

New lowering suspension springs

2010-08-20T13:15:00.006+01:00

Some good news, my new suspension springs turned up today, over a month after having ordered them. They're obviously not a popular product as they aren't kept as stock, they were made to order.

They are 25% uprated and lower an XJ40 by 35mm. I've had a quick look over them and am satisfied with the quality, the ends are tapered nicely so they should seat well in the spring pan. They are finished in black so should look like factory items.

Having got them back home I compared the height of the two front springs to the ones that I had already removed. As can be seen in the lower picture, the new ones are significantly shorter, by around 2.5" or 65mm in fact. This should translate to a drop of around 20mm (the 'S' springs are 15mm shorter than standard XJ40 items).

Lower wishbone bush removal

2010-08-15T21:58:00.005+01:00

Progress has been a little slow lately due to other projects and activities but I managed to get a bit of work done this weekend. I've removed all the front wishbone bushes now, I finished getting the lower ones out today. I used the same method of drilling these out apart from one which had the rubber and centre sleeve ripped out, I had to hack saw through this one. I've also done a bit more painting with the POR-15 underseal.

I'm waiting on the AVO lowering springs I've got on order now, they were supposed to take three weeks to be manufactured and delivered but I've now been waiting over four weeks for them. Once I receive them and the painting is finished I'll be able to start putting the front suspension back together!

Jaguar "SPorT" badge

2010-08-04T12:55:00.003+01:00

I've bought a couple of reproduction Jaguarsport style “SPorT” badges, I got them from ebay (as usual). These badges were fitted into the Jaguarsport XJR grills and onto the rear of some cars fitted with a boot infill panel. There weren't many cars produced with these badges when new and Jaguar no longer manufacture them, so these badges are now very hard to find, especially in any sort of reasonable condition. The badges I've bought are reproduction items that look suitably similar, I plan to fit into the boot infill panel. As my car will have the Jaguarsport series 2 XJR enhancements then the Jaguarsport style “SPorT” is appropriate. As my car is also a 4.0S ('S' for Sport obviously) then this badging scheme also fits in with the naming there too. I didn't want to badge the car as an XJR as although it'll be of equivalent spec. it doesn't have that name on the V5 and just seems a bit naff and wrong, a bit like BMW drivers putting M3 badges on there 316i!

I've also now removed two of the lower wishbone bushes, one of these had to be cut through with a hacksaw as the rubber and centre steel sleeve had been ripped out when hammering out the pivot, hence there was nothing I could drill into. I've just the two larger bushes to do now, I need to get a couple of larger drill bits as the largest in my set, 10mm, wasn't large enough to break through the outer steel sleeve, a 10.5mm and 11mm should hopefully do the job. I've been splashing some more paint on too.

Upper wishbone bush removal

2010-07-26T09:56:00.002+01:00

I've been removing the upper wishbone bushes this weekend, I've got them all out now (see left). These bushes have a steel casing which is an interference fit in the wishbone, this must be broken through if you want to stand a chance of getting the bush out without a large press. There are different methods to acheive this but I chose to drill them, using progressively larger drills between the inner and outer steel sleeves until the outer is broken. I used drill sizes from 5mm to 7.5mm. Once they are weakened it's a case of smashing them out with a hammer.

I've made a start on the lower wishbone bushes now using the same method, but I'll need to buy a couple of larger diameter drill bits (larger than 10mm) to finish them off.

Chassis painting

2010-07-26T09:15:00.008+01:00

I started painting the chassis components yesterday. I'm not aiming for a concourse finish, I'm just trying to get it slopped on and done so I can start getting the car back together. The POR-15 paint goes on in two stages, firstly an undercoat that can be applied directly to rust, then a top coat to finish things off.

The most important part to get paint on was the subframe, these can rot through well especially on early cars and are expensive to replace. They are are filled with foam which will absorb water and rot the subframe out from within if water gets through. Even some MOT'ed XJ40's are driving around with a badly corroded subframe, this is a very important structual area of the car to preserve.

I want to get everything well protected as needless to say rebuilding the front suspension isn't a job I want to be doing again in a hurry!

Front damper polyurethane bushes

2010-07-25T10:20:00.007+01:00

I've now tidyed up the front dampers and put the new urethane top bushes on, so they're ready to refit to the car when the time comes. I plan to replace the dampers with new ones at some point but will refit the old ones initially. The lower damper bush fits into the lower wishbone.

As is typical on an XJ40, the old top bushes were in a bad way (see above). Although mine look to be in quite a bad many older, higher mileage forties have even worse bushes than this. They are made of a foam like sponge substance which gets very compressed and powdery with age as can be seen. They can be the source of many a front end suspension knock.

The new bushes were made by "Jagbush", a seller I found on ebay who since seems to have disappered which is a shame. Before fitted them I gave everything the ol' wire brush treatment and then a blow over with some blue Hammerite. I'm painting everything to protect against future corrosion, I'm pretty much just lashing it on and getting it done as it's all unseen chassis components underneath the car anyhow.

Exhaust refurbishment

2010-07-17T17:58:00.002+01:00

I've cleaned up and painted the exhaust manifolds and downpipe in some grey high temperature paint to stave off corrosion and make them look cool. The paint doesn't fully cure until the exhaust gets up to temperature on the car. The downpipe is the non-cat item from the XJR, I have a new Bosch lambda sensor to fit.

Front subframe bush fitment

2010-07-17T17:32:00.005+01:00

I got the two round bushes at the rear of the front subframe fitted today, I received these in the post in the week. I took the subframe and bushes down to a local garage who pressed the old ones out and the new ones in, it cost £20 to get done. As they are relatively large and an interference fit I don't have the tools to fit them myself. As can be seen in the picture, the center hole of the bushes are offset so care had to be taken to ensure the new items were correctly aligned.

The design of this X308 bush differs from the standard XJ40 item, it has more rubber around the chunky center bolt hole to cope with more power. I'm planning on upping power down the line so I'm uprating the chassis to handle it.

Front subframe refurbishment

2010-07-14T12:39:00.005+01:00

I was getting the subframe sorted last week. I've now removed the four wishbones plus the vee mounts. The vee mounts came off easily, each one is fixed to the subframe with four 13mm bolts. The upper wishbones were easy to remove too, but the lower wishbones put up a bit of resistance. The pivot bolts that fix them to the subframe had to be hammered out, one was particularly stubborn in coming out though, one of the bush centre sleeves had seized onto it. Hammering this bolt out ripped the center out of the bush with it, so I'll have to remove this, or I may just get another bolt.

Once these parts were removed I gave the subframe a good clean, it needed it, it was caked in 16 years worth of oil and road grime. I then gave it a good going over with the wire brush to get rid of any flakey paint or rust. The great news is that the subframe has faired very well, there's just a few areas of surface rust, no holes or damage. It just needs another clean with some alcohol then it's ready for the POR-15 paint.

I do still need to replace the two round mounting bushes at the rear of the subframe, I plan to get an engineering shop to press in the new ones in for me. I have these bushes plus the vee mounts on order at the moment. I've gone for Jaguar X308 XJR V8 subframe bushes as these fit and are tougher than the standard XJ40 items. I've heard that pattern subframe bushes can fail prematurely so I went for the genuine Jag ones. The vee mounts I've ordered are patterns as they don't have problems and are half the price of the genuine Jag part. In other news, I've also ordered the AVO lowering springs that I'll be fitting.

Front subframe bush replacement

2010-07-06T13:12:00.002+01:00

Here's a couple of pictures of the front subframe bushes, the large round one mounts the rear of the subframe, other is called a vee mount on account of it's vee shape and fixes the subframe to the inner wings of the body. There is one of each type on each side. To help acheive their famous magic carpet ride, Jaguar used subframe bushings to isolate vibrations from the suspension and engine from the car body. I'm using polyurethane bushes for the wishbones, dampers and anti-roll bar to sharpen up the suspension control and handling, but using standard Jaguar subframe bushes to maintain the ride comfort.

My car is a very late XJ40, a '94 on an M plate. After sixteen years and 110k miles these bushes aren't completely knackered but are well passed they're best so I'm replacing them. The vee mounts are fixed onto the subframe with four bolts so are straight forward to change with the subframe removed from the car, the round bushes at the rear have a steel casing which is a interference fit so ideally need to be pressed out.

I'm thinking of getting a local engineering shop to press the old bushes out and the new ones in for me. These bushes aren't concentric, the centre is offset, so care must be taken to ensure that the new bushes are located the same way.

Front subframe removal

2010-07-06T11:13:00.004+01:00

I managed to get the front subframe removed at the weekend, this really feels like good progress. This is held in place by two bolts each side that fit through the inner wings and into the vee mounts on the top of the subframe, plus two large barn door sized bolts with 30mm heads and nuts, I had to buy a couple of new sockets for these. The subframe carries the two engine mounts so a nut had to be removed each side to get these off, plus the dampers have to be unbolted. The picture to the left shows the subframe with a damper still bolted to the lower wishbone on the nearside. I now need to remove the wishbones balljoints, I've made a start on this.

As the subframe supports the engine I had to hold it in place by some other means so propped it on a tower of bricks.

Chassis and under-body painting

2010-06-24T13:18:00.004+01:00

I'm going to be painting the underside of the body and the chassis components in a bid to keep them free of rust, plus it should look smart once done. I've recently received the paint I'm going to be using, some chassis black POR-15, I bought it in small tins as this allows you to paint progressively in relatively small amounts.

It seems that underbody treatment has moved on from traditional underseals, tests have shown that POR-15 is a better, more advanced product than the more tradional treatments. POR-15 actually absorbs moisture when it dries and goes rock hard, and is less pourous.

I've now got the 30mm impact socket I need to remove the lower wishbone and subframe bolts so I'll be able to start preparing the under body ready for the paint this weekend. I'll need to have a good session with the wire brush to get rid of any flakey bits, then it's a thourgh clean.

Front brake caliper and brake disc removal

2010-06-19T19:39:00.004+01:00

I got the brake calipers, there carriers plus the brake removed today. The calipers on the post '93 cars like mine are held on with a 7mm female hex bolt, I had to buy a half inch drive male hex socket to get them off. The caliper carriers are fixed in place with two 17mm bolt, these were much tougher to removal. Initially I tried to get them out using a standard 17mm socket with long half inch drive wheel brace, I managed to crack the socket! I succeeded once I'd bought a tougher 17mm impact driver socket, I had to jump up and down on the bar to get them off!

I've bought some red brake caliper paint so I'll get that brushed on once I've cleaned them up.

Front suspnsion spring removal

2010-06-19T19:09:00.003+01:00

I got the front suspension springs removed today using the borrowed spring compressor tool mentioned in my previous post.

The tool was fitted into the subframe and wound up so that the lower wishbone was almost parallel with the ground. The six 13mm spring pan bolts on each side were then removed, most of these came out okay apart from one which rounded off on me. A bit of grumbling plus reducing it down to 12mm with a file eventually had it out.

With the bolts removed the nut on the tool was wound down allowing the the springs to drop out. This'll now allow me to remove both wishbones on each side and fit the polyurethane bushes I have. I'll also be removing the subframe for rebushing, this has two large mounting bushes at the rear plus V-mounts that attach the top of the subframe to the body.

Front spring compressor tool

2010-06-19T18:32:00.004+01:00

I'm completely rebushing the suspension on my forty starting with the front suspension. To replace the lower wishbone bushes the front suspension springs need to be removed. Jaguar developed a special tool, JD115, for this job, basically a long threaded shaft that locks into the subframe and presses up against the spring pan allowing the spring pan bolts to safely be removed. This tool is available from the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club for £330, or £40 to hire (pictured left).

Alternatively, a suitable tool can be made yourself from suitable materials. Fortunately for me a friendly forum member kindly lend me his own home brew tool (pictured bottom left). This consists of a high strength steel threaded shaft with a welded and shaped end to provide the lugs that locate into the subframe. Two 24mm nuts are welded together which when wound push a small steel cup up against the spring pan. I plan to make my own tool in a similar vein but as I want to get my suspension done quickly, borrowed this tool to save some money and time.

Bodykit preparation and exhaust work

2010-06-14T09:38:00.004+01:00

I made some more progress at the weekend, I've almost finished prepping the bodykit parts. This has involved some quite time consuming sanding back of the paint. There's a few small gouged areas that I'll skim over with a bit of filler and sand back in an attempt to achieve a better finish. I now need to get myself a couple of tins of Kingfisher Blue ready for a spot of DIY spraying of the bodykit, plus some rough areas on the car body. I'd like to get a proper respray at some point when I can afford to but for now I'll just tidy the existing paint, it's not too bad really.

Another thing I managed to do was remove the old lambda sensor from the XJR exhaust downpipe I'll be fitting. This was an absolute sod to get out but it came in the end, I was so pleased I had a beer to celebrate! I've now cleaned off the oil and rust from the downpipe and exhaust manifolds and given them a coat of silver/grey high temperature paint to smarten them up. This paint will only cure fully once the exhaust is run up to temperature.

AJ6 manifold design

2010-05-31T21:44:00.002+01:00

Here's the two types of inlet manifold back to back. The top one is the standard part that I have just removed from my 4.0S, the bottom one is the Jaguarsport part fitted to the series 2 XJR.

It can be seen that the standard manifold appears to have longer inlet pipes that fold down at back before joining the plenum chamber. The Jaguarsport manifold has shorter inlet pipes and large bulges either side of the throttle body to extend the volume of the plenum. The Jaguar literature from the time said that the modifications were developed to improve air flow and thus power at high rev's, the specification showed that the XJR was up around 15bhp at the expence of a slight drop in peak torque.

Interestingly, a company called AJ6 Engineering produce a modified standard manifold called a "Plus Torque" which has further extended inlet pipes inside the plenum with bell entries. This seems to develop the AJ6 manifold in the opposite direction to the Jaguarsport item.

As can be seen in the picture, I've done some work on cleaning up the XJR manifold as is was grubby when it came off the car. I used some a degrease product and wire brushed it. I then used some Autosol. My current thinking is that I'll paint this and the other engine parts in some silver engine paint to smarten them up and stave off corrosion.

Brake refurb and new suspenion bushes

2010-05-31T21:21:00.005+01:00

I've made a start on refurbing the front brakes. I've removed the old hoses, they're fixed with a 14mm nut to the calipers and a 14mm nut at the top end to the brake pipes. I'll be replacing these with Goodridge braided items that I previously bought for £25 on ebay, they should improve brake pedal feel by reducing spongyness, plus they look ever so cool. The picture shows old and new hoses back to back. I've going to remove and clean up the calipers and give them a coat of high temperature paint. I'm thinking of going for a go faster red.

I'm approaching the stage where I can start to fit the new suspension bushes. So far I have the bushes for the front upper and lower wishbones, and the upper and lower front and rear dampers. I just need to get hold of these anti-roll bar bushes.

Various engine parts removal

2010-05-31T21:03:00.004+01:00

Well it's been quite progressive weekend on the Jag front, I've managed to get quite a few bits and bobs pulled off. I've made a start on gutting various engine bay gubbins in preparation for swapping the cylinder head and inlet manifold for the XJR items I have.

I've removed the coolant tank, air box, air flow meter, thermostat, inlet manifold, throttle body, exhaust manifolds, exhaust downpipe, plus various hoses (see picture).

These parts were all straight forward to remove, most of the smaller items are held in place with 8mm bolts. The inlet manifold is retained to the head with a lower row of six 10mm bolts and an upper row of 13mm nuts on studs. Each exhaust manifold is fixed with four 17mm nuts on studs, it helps to soak these in penetrating oil before removing them.

Steering rack removal

2010-05-30T09:44:00.005+01:00

I've now removed the steering rack. This part is fixed to the subframe with four bolts, plus the tie rod ends must be unbolted of course. The rack also has two steering fluid lines that must be removed, these were very stubborn buggers that require a bit of swearing but they came away in the end. The condition of the steering rack is good so won't need any work before refitted, apart from maybe a spot of paint again.

So just to recap, I've now removed the steering rack and anti-roll bar, this'll now allow me to drop the subframe once I've de-compressed and removed the suspension springs with the special

Jaguar spring compressor tool that I need to hire. Using this tool is the only safe means of removing the front springs.

In other news, I've removed the wheel arch linings to get a good look at condition of the bodywork in these areas, the ends of the sills in particular. I knew the car was good bodywork wise and more or less free of rust, but you never know what you might find! Thankfully, all is solid so I'll just need to give it all a wire brush and a clean before painting the whole front underside with underseal. I'm planning to do this once all the front suspension is removed.

Anti-roll bar removal

2010-05-30T09:28:00.005+01:00

Ah, a rainy bank holiday weekend, perfect for cracking on with the Jag! I've not done as much as I'd wanted recently (another car project on the go) so this is a good time to get on.

I got the anti-roll bar and drop links removed yesterday. The bolts were a bit stubborn but after a good soak in penetrating oil the nuts came off without too much drama.

The drop link bushes are past their best so I will definitely replace them. The anti-roll bar 'D' bushes actually look in useable condition but I feel I might as well replace those anyway while I'

m doing the others. Polybush make poly-urethane anti-roll bar and drop link bushes though last time I checked these couldn't be purchased separately from the complete suspension bush kit. Also, this roll bar from the 'S' is thicker than standard so I'll need to make sure I get the appropriate size bushes.

The roll bar paint is very flakey so as usual I'll be wire brushing it over and painting it with some rust preventing paint.

I've also made a start on removing the exhaust. As mentioned in earlier posts, I'm fitting a non-cat downpipe from an XJR and non-cat centre section as well. Another reason to remove the exhaust is so I can get better access to paint the underside of the car in underseal. I'll also paint the manifolds in some exhaust paint to sex them up a bit.

Suspension refurb part 1

2010-05-23T17:31:00.003+01:00

I've finally started the rebuild work on the front suspension. I've had to buy up some new tools for this work including a high lift trolley jack and high lift axle stands.

The reason for these new tools is that the front springs must be removed with a special Jaguar spring compressor tool that requires a considerable clearance from the ground. This tool consists of a long shaft that fits through the botom of the spring pan, up through the centre of the spring and locks into the subframe. A large wing nut at the bottom of the shaft can then be tightened on the shaft thread, compressing a cup shaped section up against the spring pan and thus compressing the spring. I will be hiring this spring compressor tool from an owners club.

The suspension is being refurbed with polyurethane bushes, the springs must be removed to replace the lower wishbone bushes. I will also be painting the underside of the body and the suspension components including the subframe in rust preventing paint. So far I've made a start on removing the anti-roll bar and drop links, and the steering rack. More to follow soon...

Bodykit preparation

2010-05-08T18:24:00.003+01:00

I've made a start at prepping the Jaguar-sport bodykit that's going to be fitted to the 4.0S. This is the front splitter, side skirts, rear spats and rear trim piece that fits under the boot lid.

The paint was flaking off in numerous areas but mainly along the bottom edge. I decided to sand all the paint off using a sanding disc drill attachment, I've only completed the one side skirt so far (see picture). Once the paint is sanded off the parts I'll smooth them over with some fine wet and dry paper, give them a clean, then they should be ready for some primer.

Under radiator support panel

2010-05-01T16:48:00.002+01:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I bought a used under radiator support panel from an X300 to replace the very rotten one on the 4.0S. The post '93 XJ40 shares this panel with the later X300 XJ so it a good way of getting a younger used item instead of shelling out for a new part. I'd recommend any '40 owner check out the condition of their under radiator support panel, especially if's an early car living in a damp climate.

When the panel finally turned up it had quite a lot of surface rust, I got out the wire brush for the drill and gave it a going over. The surface was very pitted and the supposedly rot free panel did turn out to have a rust hole in it, oh well, a drainage hole at least! I slopped some black Hammerite over it so it should last a good while. It's not the prettiest thing in the world but the lack of cosmetic appeal doesn't matter as it'll be doing it's job out of sight underneath the car.

It's ready to fit now, I just need to get some new bushes that hold the radiator into both the upper and lower support panels.

Diff Output Shaft Bearing

2010-04-09T13:26:00.005+01:00

I've bought a couple of items that I'm going to need recently. One of the main issues with the 'S' is a knackered diff output shaft bearing on the nearside, rocking the wheel reveals some play so it needs replacing. I found a shaft with a new bearing fitted on ebay for £25 (see picture), I received it this morning. I'm going to be refurbing the rear suspension so am planning to fix the diff while everything is in bits.

I've also bought a used but rot free underside radiator support panel, which I received yesterday. These panels collect a lot of road dirt and water and rust through very well, the part on my car failed the screwdriver test in some style so is very due for replacement. The later post '93 XJ40's had a different design for this panel, one it shares with the later X300 shape XJ. I had a hunt around and managed to find someone breaking an X300, this gave me a newer panel than one from a '40 with no rot. There is some surface rust so I'll be giving it a going over with the wire brush drill bit and coating it in some protective paint.

In other news, I've started preping the bodykit. I removed the side skirts from the old car with a crow bar as all the fixings had turned to rust, they pretty much just flaked off! I chopped off all the rusty lumps off the bodykit parts with bolt cutters, the next step is to remove some of the old glue that they were also fixed with.

XJ40 Tuning And Modification Guide

2010-04-08T15:28:00.009+01:00

I thought I'd write a piece on XJ40 tuning and modification as I'm carrying out some of this development on my own car and have done some researched on the subject. I'm by no means an expert, just a DIY enthusiast, but hopefully some of this info is useful to those considering similar modifications.

The '40 isn't a performance or sports car as such, it's a large and heavy barge of a car so there obvious limitations to the acceleration and handling capability. It is however a powerful, large engine car with good handling, perhaps like a more refined British equivalent of an American muscle car in some ways. They can be bought very cheaply here in the UK, and can be relatively fast and a lot of fun to drive. With the XJ40's appealing aggressive, retro looks and the Jaguar “grace, pace and space” experience there are few cars that can rival it for value in my opinion, and it can be further improved with some choice performance mod's if your so inclined.

Most of the parts I mention are OEM items fitted to different XJ40 models so can be picked up cheaply second hand these days, my own project car has a tight budget so used parts are important. This piece is a bit of a work in progress, I'll keep updating it as I remember and find out new information...

Engine

Obviously the aim of engine tuning is to produce more power and ideally torque. Requirements will depend on what the power goals are and whether you are trying to put together a fast road or race engine. The aim for my car is a cheap, mildly tuned fast road engine so this is primarily what I will be discussing.

The American's have a saying, “there ain't no replacement for displacement”. Obviously with all things being equal a larger capacity engine will be more powerful than a smaller one. The straight six AJ6 engine comes in four flavours, 2.9, 3.2, 3.6, and 4.0 litre. The 2.9 is pretty much a boat anchor, it has the 12V SOHC head from the V12 and is weak in a big car like the '40. The 3.2 replaced it and was a big improvement having the 24V DOHC head, and it pulls the car capably, though it's still a bit weak as a performance proposition. The 3.6 and 4.0 are bigger and better in power terms, the 4.0 having a small increase in power but a decent increase in torque due to a longer stroke crank. The 3.6 is perhaps more revvy in nature and the 4.0 is possibly more prone to head gasket failure. I went for a 4.0 car for my project as I felt this was the best starting point, though the larger AJ6 engines are bolt in swaps for the smaller variety.

The AJ6 engine is a very tough unit with no real fundermental weaknesses. The block was orginally designed with a diesel in mind so is very stiff, the whole bottom end stands up well to intergalactic mileages (with appropriate servicing) so doesn't really need improvement. If extra strength is called for then the steel crank from the AJ16 (X300 engine) could be used in a rebuild, or the complete AJ16 engine perhaps. In addition to the AJ6 engine Jaguar also produced a 6.0 V12 for the XJ40 from 1993, a mighty and complex engine with famously smooth power delivery. There are various ways to tune this engine including alternative cranks and/or pistons to increase capacity, most of which are expensive and beyond the scope of this article!

As far as NA tuning of the AJ6 goes, Jaguar already did some of the hard work with the series 2 Jaguarsport XJR. This model had a longer duration inlet cam and and a higher compression head, 9.75, up from 9.5. A twin plenum inlet manifold was also added to improve breathing at high rev's, plus some exhaust changes that I'll talk about later. To take advantage of these changes a modified map was squirted into the ECU. The result of all this was an increase in power from 235 to 250bhp which may sound moderate by does result in a perceivable improvement. If a 4.0 engine is being tuned it may well be worth seeking out these engine parts as although quite rare they can be fairly cheap second hand, complete XJR engines can cost around £200.

There are the usual aftermarket air filters from the likes of K&N and Piper, direct replacements for the standard airbox panel filter are available or it can be replaced with the cone type. If you have the money or the skill and tools yourself then port matching and gas flowing of the head can give good improvements apparently. In addition, a company called AJ6 Engineering do bored out throttle bodies and modified inlet manifolds for additional small improvements to breathing.

If large gains in power are sought then forced induction is the way to go. Rare Janspeed, Turbo Technics and Chasseur versions had twin turbo charged engines so are the amongst the most powerful '40's made. The later X300 ('94 to '97 XJ) XJR was fitted with a supercharged AJ16 engine which is based on the XJ40's AJ6. This engine should be a straight fit into an XJ40 though sorting the engine management could take some significant work as it uses a different ECU. These engines can be had for around £500 in the UK so it's feasible on cost grounds and is currently a bit of a pipe dream for my car.

The air conditioning compressor runs off the engine, getting rid of all the air con equipment will gain some power and save a bit of weight.

Drivetrain

To help put the power down, XJR's, V12's, 'S' models and cars with the sportpack came with LSD's which can be found second hand. The vast majority of '40's had the ZF 4 speed automatic gearbox, the 4.0L cars had the better electronically controlled version that has the more aggressively shifting “sport” mode feature. The sport mode box can't be fitted to a smaller engined car due to them having a different ECU. A small number of cars, often the 2.9's, were fitted with a Getrag 5 speed manual gearbox, not a popular option new but quite sought now. These manual boes can be fitted in place of the auto box but they are not usually that cheap to buy due to demand for their use in other Jag's such as modified E Types, racers, etc. Between around £200 to £500.

Exhaust

As standard the '40 has a twin exit stainless steel exhaust system. Following the UK emissions law change in 1992 the cars were fitted with a central catalytic converter plus pre-cats in the two branches on the downpipe.

Removing the central cat from later cars should help the exhaust flow more freely improving responsiveness and power somewhat. Earlier cars that pre-date the emission regulations have straight through centre sections that can be fitted to later cars in place of the centre cat. The series 2 Jaguarsport XJR has a non-cat downpipe that retains the boss for the lambda sensor so this can also be fitted to cat equiped cars to completely remove all cats. Bear in that the MOT requires that post '92 cars pass an emissions test, so a cat will probably need to be in place for this.

The XJ40 exhaust has two silencers per each side of the exhaust to keep things refined and quiet, a pair of silencers could be removed though by fitting straight through pipes, AJ6 Engineering make some off the shelf items for £150. Larger diameter cat-back systems can be fitted though I think this would only really be necessary for a race engine or a car with forced induction, unless your just after a more throtty sound! Companies like Paramount Performance and AJ6 Engineering make a range of performance exhausts.

Suspension

The XJ40 has great suspension technology which lead to the car being highly praised for it's magic carpet ride and good handling. At the front independent double wishbones are employed with an anti-roll bar, and the coil springs isolated from the body by a foam filled subframe. At the rear, double wishbones again are used with the drive shafts forming the top wishbone in order to reduce unsprung weight.

The XJR, 'S' versions and cars with the optional "sportpack" handling kit have uprated -15mm springs, firmer dampers, plus a thicker anti-roll bar. I think that a 4.0 car with the sportpack spec is a good basis for a tuned car, though these items can be used to upgrade a '40 with standard suspension. Some of the more opulent models had self levelling rear suspension, this was unreliable and even Jaguar recommend that it is decommissioned in favour of the conventional springs. A further upgrade to the thicker than standard sportpack anti-roll bar is to fit an even thicker one from an X300 XJR.

To further lower the XJ40 lowering springs are available from Avo at the cost of around £200, or custom springs can be made to suit for a similar amount. Dampers can be upgraded, the XJR's had Bilstein dampers which are available for about £80 each, Gaz and Koni make adjustables, the Gaz items can be had for £60 each.

One of pet dislikes about XJ40's is that they seem to eat suspension bushes, especially earlier cars. Luckily several companies produce polyurethane bushes, these give better suspension control and handling at the expense of some ride comfort plus last a lot longer. Polybush do a kit for doing most of the front suspension for about £160, Powerflex produce front wishbone and lower damper bushes, Superflex also make a selection of front and rear bushes. I found a company selling on ebay called Jagbush who do front damper top bushes plus rear damper upper and lower bushes for about £35 so between these companies the pretty much the whole suspension can be polybushed if desired. In my experience the Polybush items are softer and more compliant so will maintain the ride quality that the XJ40 is renownd for, the Powerflex items are harder so will give more control at the expence of a firmer ride The front and rear subframes are located to the body with large bushes, these can be upgraded with the stronger, stiffer ones from an X308 ('97 to '01 XJ).

Wheels

XJ40's came with a variety of wheel styles with 15” and 16” rim sizes, having a 5 x 120.65 PCD, a 35-45 offset and a 73.9 centre bore. The metric wheels on early cars are difficult to get reasonably priced tyres for so it's a good idea to swap to imperials. The XJR's had wider 16” Sportline wheels with lower profile Pirelli P6000 tyres, they have a nice sporty period look about them. The later 'S' models had a 16” five spoke design which look good and meaty.

Wheels from newer Jaguar models also fit and can come in larger diameters. The X300 XJR had a nice chunky 17” five spoke design, the X308 XJR had several 18” wheel styles, wheels from the XJS and XK8 also fit. For those who want to go even bigger and have money to burn there are 19” and perhaps even 20” aftermarket wheels out there that'll go on. Several other non Jaguar car models have very similar wheel fitments so can provide wheels, the BMW 5 Series and Holden Commodore are two examples.

Brakes

If well maintained the brakes of the XJ40 are very good, though there are various products out there that can be used to improve them. Companies like EBC make drilled and grooved discs that help dissipate heat and brake dust, they cost around £150. Aftermarket pads are also out there, like EBC's so called Greenstuff and Yellow stuff pads for fast road driving. Goodridge make braided brake hoses, these don't expand like rubber ones can so improving feel, plus they look quite cool too. If the brakes wish to be improved further then those from an XJ40 V12 will provide an upgrade. Going further, big brake aftermarket kits are out there if you've a couple of grand to part with.

The brakes on early '40's have a vacuum pump that ran off the engine, this uses up a couple of bhp's. Brakes on the post '90 cars were driven with an electric motor. Alternately, the braking system can be binned off in favour of a conventional servo set-up from the series 3 XJ.

Exterior

I think the two main guises of the XJ40 are the Sovereign and the XJR. The Sovereign had the prestigious luxury appearance, the XJR's had the sporty forty look, and there were various models between these in the spectrum. Which look you have is obviously dependant on what car you have, which is preferable is down to personal taste. I'll detail all the sporty appendages here that can be source second hand and used to modify the look of the car to a more sporty one.

There were two styles of OEM bodykit, the TWR series 1 XJR type and Jaguarsport series 2 XJR type. The TWR series 1 XJR type has GRP side skirts and body colour GRP bumpers that replace the rubber and chrome ones usually fitted. The Jaguarsport series 2 XJR had more sculpted side skirts, rear side spats under the conventional rear bumper, plus a front spoiler / splitter under the conventional front bumper. These bodykits can be found for around £100 or so secondhand, the bumpers are around £150 each new.

The standard car had chrome look grille vanes in a chrome grille surround, some later models had vanes that were sprayed black or body colour. The series 2 XJR had a single piece “egg create” type black plastic grille insert, with a recess for a “Sport” badge. Series 2 XJR's and the post '93 'S' models had a body colour plastic boot infill panel which brought the inset space between the rear lights flush, these cost around £30 secondhand. Series 2 XJR's, 'S', and V12 models amongst other had the black non-chome window frames, the Sovereign's and Daimlers had the chrome items, all can be swapped about.

The Sov's, series 2 XJR's and Daimlers had the square lights which can be swapped for the more popular round lights fitted to the other models. The complete light assembly must be changed including the relay modules. The series 2 XJR had grey rear light lens, the Sov had chrome rear light surrounds which brighten the rear up a bit and look good.

So called “leaper” bonnet ornaments can be ftted by drilling a couple of holes in the bonnet, the non-spring loaded ones are apparently illegal.

Interior

The best spec interior came in the Sovereign, XJR, V12 and Daimler models, plus the rare Majestic version. Some of the cheaper models had cloth or part leather trim which can be swapped for leather. The post '93 cars had redesigned doorcard, the two styles can be swapped between if the mounting brackets are changed over and the electrics rewired.

Airbag removal

2010-04-02T16:24:00.004+01:00

Well, this week I've managed to remove most of the rest of the grey interior from car, today I finally pulled the dash out.

I'm fitting an earlier interior and wanted to "delete" the airbags. The passenger airbag was easy to remove, the assembly is held place with four 13mm nuts.

The drivers side airbag in the steering wheel was more fiddly, it needed to be disarmed by unscrewing a thread hidden under a sprung flap located on the back of wheel. This thread has a half circle grub type head, I managed with the aid of long nose pilars and some patients to twist it out. This then allows the adjacent bolt to be removed, plus there are two other nuts to get off before you can lift the airbag unit away from the wheel.

Once I'd removed the airbag I could then remove the steering wheel and fit the Jaguarsport Momo item (shown in picture). Now that I interior removal is virtually complete I'm ready to start the big task of rebuilding the front suspension and painting the unside of the front of the car, fixing any holes and whatnot that I may find lurking!

Fitting earlier door cards

2010-03-21T17:55:00.005Z

I'm fitting an interior from a 1990 XJ40 into a 1994 model. The interior trim was revised somewhat in '93 and a change in the style of the door cards was one of the significant alterations made. The door pockets and armrests were restyled to a more modern shape, I prefer the older style, I think they're more in keeping with the period design of the car.

The door cards have differnent brackets that they mount to. These are fixed on with rivets, I removed the brackets from the XJR by drilling out these rivets, the first picture shows these. The 'S' doors have the later brackets (see second pic) that I'll remove in the same way, they also already have the holes drilled for the earlier bracket type so it's just a case of fixing them on with the right sized self tappers.

Interior removal

2010-03-21T17:42:00.005Z

Now that the XJR is no more I've been getting on with the real work today, restoring the 'S'. It's been languishing away in the car port for some months, I've been unable to get it out due to the 'R block it in. I drove it up and down the garage block and it still feels fine, gave it a good clean too.

I've started with removing the interior, this is going to be replaced with the one from the XJR. I made some good progress with this today, I got all the seats and door cards out plus some other bits of trim that need to go. I just need to remove all the parts around the dashboard and centre console now.

XJR disposal

2010-03-15T20:56:00.005Z

I've finally got rid of the XJR now, had the rolling shell disposed of. I stripped off most serviceable items to either re-use or sell.

It's a bit sad to see it go as it was my first XJ40, I had a some good use out of the car and enjoyed it a lot. Overall though, I'm very pleased to free up some space and be able to get on with the real work, restoring my 4.0S!

The '40 is my favourite car model and the thought of having a mint restored example is exciting. I more or less have all the parts I need so it's just a case of getting busy with the spanners. I would still like new dampers and lowering springs though, and maybe XJR series 1 bumpers...

XJR cylinder head and downpipe

2010-03-07T11:04:00.004Z

I have now removed the XJR cylinder head, it is resting on the exhaust manifold studs on the bench in my workshop. On initial inspection the condition looks very good, there are no badly corroded areas or excessive wear, and the gasket face seems straight. It will obviously need a good clean up though.

As I have the head off the engine I've been giving some thought too doing some porting work to improve gas flow and thus engine performance. Having looked into this I found that it's an expensive thing to have done due to the labour involved so probably won't be a goer. What I probably will have done though is a skim of the gasket face, and perhaps the manifolds too.

The downpipe has been removed and is still attached to the manifolds at the moment. I will clean these parts up and give them a coat in some exhaust paint to make them look a bit prettier plus stave off the dreaded corrosion. I've already bought a new lambda sensor some time ago so this will be fitted to the downpipe.

XJR parts

2010-03-01T21:28:00.004Z

This weekend was a busy one, I was able to get on and remove the last few parts I wanted from the XJR. These included the remaining interior trim, wheels, ECU, cylinder head, and the non-cat exhaust downpipe. I'm really looking forward to getting rid of the XJR shell now and working on actually building the 4.0S into the car I want it to be. :)

I've listed a bunch to parts from the XJR that I don't need on ebay so I'm hoping to raise some money to bankroll some purchases.

I've had a thought regarding the front seats that I'll be fitting, I have the fully electric items from the XJR. The potential problems with installing these seats are that they have different fixings to the floor and that they will require all the associated wiring to be plumbed in. What I'm now planning to do is swap all the black leather cussions over to the non-electric 4.0S seat frames. This will reduce significantly reduce the complexity of the installation and save a lot of weight, the motorised seats weight a ton!

New wheels

2010-02-16T13:53:00.006Z

There's not been much done on the '40's over the past couple of weeks due to me having to work on the daily drivers.

I plan to refurb the Jaguarsport 16" wheels from the XJR and fit them to the 4.0S. I really like these wheels they have a very period look, my favourite design for the XJ40. I also want to keep and refurb the 16" five spokes of the 4.0S too so this left me wanting a grotty set of wheels as spares. I found a local set of scrap X300 wheels (pictured) which I plan to swap them at the weekend.

Leather treatment

2010-01-26T20:12:00.003Z

With the complete XJR interior removed and sitting in the conservatory, I took the opportunity to give it a good clean and applied some treatment product to the leather work. It's aged somewhat but in a good way, it has a nice patina so I don't want to use any dyes and over restore, it looks and feels great as is.

There's nothing else I want to do with the interior so it's ready fit into the 'S' when the time comes.

Jaguarsport engine components

2010-01-17T18:57:00.006Z

I was doing some more stripping of the XJR today, I made a start on the gubbins in the engine bay.

As I've mentioned previously, my plan is to remove the go faster Jaguarsport engine parts from the rotten XJR and fit them to the 4.0S. These Jaguarsport performance parts consist of a twin plenum intake manifold, higher compression cylinder head with reprofiled inlet cam and a non-cat downpipe. To take advantage of these uprated parts, I will also swap over the ECU which has a revised map.

A problem with the 4.0S is that the valve stem seals in the head have worn causing the engine to burn oil and smoke when run, especially on start-up. Swapping over the Jaguarsport head from the XJR will fix this problem and give an improvement in engine performace.

Today I removed all the intake parts including the manifold, and also removed some other items from the head in preparation to get that off next weekend.

Jaguarsport bodykit

2010-01-10T17:21:00.004Z

I've been stripping the XJR some more over the Xmas holidays when I can, the foul weather has hindered my progress somewhat however, causing me to chicken out and stay in the warm. I have had time to finish the complete removal of the interior though, apart from the steering wheel which I left in place for the time being so I can turn the car if required.

I've made a start on removing the bodykit, the side skirts have proved tricky to remove as they are held in place with some relatively strong adhesive along the top of the sill. I've got one removed so far, the other is on it's way. The side trims below the rear bumper proved easy to remove though.

I'd previously removed the front valance part of the bodykit. This has brackets which mount the fog lamps, which I'd previously painted in Hammerite and drilled to accept my new Lucas fog lamps (see earlier post). One of these brackets had come away from it's glued position, I refixed it with some superglue.

The next job on the agenda is to start to dismantle the gubbins in the engine bay and remove some other bits and bobs I can sell off. Once I finish getting the XJR stripped of useful parts, hopefully fairly soon, I'll get it take away to the scrap yard so I can then concentrate on getting the 4.0S sorted. Fingers crossed that the weather sorts itself out, I'd rather not be working on the cars in sub-zero temperatures!

Front valance modification

2009-12-13T19:25:00.002Z

I will be fitting the bodykit from my XJR onto the 'S'. I had removed this valance already, it features a low splitter and apertures for the fog lamps and brake air ducts.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have bought some brand new period Lucas foglamps to fit. These are fixed with one large thread and nut, so I drilled a hole in the brackets to accomodate this. These brackets were rusty so I removed all the flacky crud and got the Hammerite out again.

The valance will need some modification to fit the later car. The post '93 XJ40 seems to have the radiator mounted further forward so I'll have to cut the mouth of the valance back by an inch or so. Once this is done I'll start preping the thing ready for some primer and then Kingfisher Blue paint. Along with the side skirt and rear spats it should look great.

Headlamp refurbishment

2009-12-13T18:53:00.005Z

I finished my headlamp refurb today. The 'S' has the twin headlamps which look great on the XJ40, mine had seen better days though and had pretty rotten lamps.

I started by unbolting the headlamp assemblies from the car and stripped them down to remove the individual lamps. Three lamps required replacing so I bought three decent used items over the period of a few weeks as they came up on ebay.

While I was waiting for the new lamps I painted the frames with black Hammerite and cleaned up the plastic surrounds. I had the all body colour surrounds but decided to fit some which have the chrome detail around the lamp, I felt this would balance the chrome rear light surrounds that I am planning to fit, I think Jaguar's look good with plenty of brightwork. I also polished up the chrome bezels that hold the lamps in position on the frames.

Once I had all the parts together I reassemblied everything using plenty of copper grease on the screw threads in an effort of ward off the dreaded rust. The headlamp units now look a lot fresher, they are ready to be refitted to the car.

The Alfa

2009-11-19T21:20:00.005Z

I've not done too much work on the '40 over the last week or so as I've aquired a new daily driver that needs some fettling.

I've gone and bought myself a '99 Alfa Romeo 156 2.0 Twin Spark. It's quite high mileage at 126k but has full service history up until fairly recently and only set me back £835. Overall, the car is in very good condition and runs and drives well but is in need of a good service. So far I have dropped the black sludge stuff out and replaced it with some 5W/40 fully synthetic, and spun on a new oil filter. I've also now got an Alfa air filter and 8 new plugs to nail in at the weekend.

Speaker removal

2009-11-19T21:07:00.003Z

The audio system in both 40's have certainly seen better days, the speakers were sounding pretty tired. I've now removed the speakers from the XJR door cards I will be fitting, they are a 10cm (4in) Philips driver as pictured.

I'm going to replace them with decent, more powerful coaxial aftermarket units of a two or three way design. I'll solder the connector plug onto the new speakers terminals. Due to the small diameter of these speakers I am thinking about fitting one or two discreet sub's to supplement the low frequency audio content, at the moment I'm undecided as to where to locate them in the car.

Fog lamps

2009-11-11T13:57:00.003Z

The fog lamps removed from the XJR valance are in poor condition, one has a badly broken lens and both have plenty of corrosion and stone chips. I decided to look for some new ones and ebay turned up a brand new set of Lucas FX65's. They are a period lamp and are a square size similar to the originals. To fit them I will drill a hole for the thread in the fog lamp bracket that fixes to the valance. They cost me only £6.92 including postage so didn't exactly break the bank.

XJR strip down

2009-11-09T20:30:00.004Z

I've stripped the XJR some more over the weekend, the interior is almost completely removed now along with trim trim the boot and the rear of the car.

Interior replacement

2009-11-01T17:59:00.005Z

I've been planning on replacing the interior with the one from the XJR that I am breaking. My 4.0S has a leather interior in light grey which isn't a colour I'm particularly keen on plus the front seats are looking worn. The "S" XJ40 models had the more basic interior specification of the base model cars but with a few changes such as the Rosewood panels and additional stiching.

The XJR's had the top of the range interior specification very similar to the Sovereign model. This included Autolux leather trim with piping, walnut veneer panelling, fully electric leather seats

and a boot mounted disc changer. There were also Jaguarsport additions to the XJR such as a Momo sports steering wheel and the "Sport" motif embossed on the head rests.

The XJR interior I am fitting is in excellent condition. The charcoal leather with grey piping and the walnut is my favourite XJ40 interior and really looks the part. It should complement the Kingfisher Blue exterior very nicely.

So far I have removed the rear half of the XJR's interior. It looks like I'll have to remove brackets the fix the door arm rests as the arm rest in the later cars like the 4.0S are of a different design and fixed with different brackets.

Front end strip down

2009-10-12T20:31:00.002+01:00

I've been stripping down the front end for restoration recently, this is what things currently look like.

I'm refurbishing the front bumper with paint and decent chrome. The headlamp assemblies are being sorted with non-rusted lamps plus bezels with chrome lamp surrounds. The lower valance has been removed to be replaced with the front spoiler from the XJR once it has been painted, I'll also fit the XJR grill. While I got the front off I also want to replace the panel underneath the radiator, this has bad rot and is becoming flakey.

My XJ40 zone

2009-10-11T20:37:00.001+01:00

Here's a pic of my little car area and workshop, it's a bit of a squeeze but they both fit.