Jaguar thoughts

Hmm, if I convince the wife to take my truck, and then I sell her station wagon, I can rationalize buying myself a Jaguar XJ.

Didn't help that while day dreaming about this I found several very cheap and nearby.

Every car guy needs to experience teh joys of owning an XJ... ;) I've had 2 of them, both '86s. Lovely cars, with some typical problem areas (over here it's primarily rust). Post-Ford cars are more reliable, but pre-Ford cars are more interesting (especially the Series III and older cars).

Even after having two of them, I'd have another. But next time around I'm gonna look for a '75-77 XJC.

A local used car dealer has a mid '80s XJ6 for sale, supposedly with very low mileage...and under $5K, if I remember correctly.

www.cityauto.com

No affiliations of any kind.

The price of used XJRs makes them attractive. Unfortunately, maintenance on them is too steep for me.

I do, however, see old XJ8s with SBC for very reasonable money frequently. One of those would be great to have.

my dad just did some paint and body work on a new XJ8, pretty cool car, way bigger than i ever thought they were. What kind of V8 came in the newer ones? Are they based off the P71 chassis? They did have some huge brakes on them front and rear.

The S-type and the Lincoln LS share a platform, but I don't think the XJ shares anything with other Fords.

i'd love an 80's XJ6... with a SBC swap :)... should be right up there wight a p71 :)

Bad week to bring up Jaguars with me. I just wrote a repair estimate on a S type, and everything is stupid expensive on them.

Then there's the total piece of crap X type which is nothing more than a tarted up Ford. Apparently they have a self-grenading transfer case that is not repairable.

I wouldn't take anything but a 'true' Jag (XJ), and that would have to have a V8 swap to even be tempting.

Well, ya shouldn't have mentioned that, ddavidv. There's an incomplete XJ/SBC swap on John's Island down here listed for $1500.00 on the local Craigslist.

DirtyBird222 wrote: my dad just did some paint and body work on a new XJ8, pretty cool car, way bigger than i ever thought they were. What kind of V8 came in the newer ones? Are they based off the P71 chassis? They did have some huge brakes on them front and rear.

Unless the P71 is aluminum and glued together (I'm not kidding) and has about 400 links in the suspension, no.

My dad had an 04. It only had 2 MAJOR mechanical failures in the 22k miles he had it. It was also one of the least fun cars I've ever driven. All the air suspension and electronic shocks have no idea what to do in a nice series of esses. It definitely rides nice though. It wasn't my kind of ride and I constantly made fun of him for having such a geezer ride.

The one Jag in The Punisher that the gay dude drives (John Travolta's Main man) is sick, I would pimp that one for a DD. I don't know the name of it though.

My favorite XJ. Series II coupe with Series III bodywork:

As for the regular XJs of the era, The stock 6 cylinder is quite rugged, actually, the most issues coming from the electrical system (which is not changed when an SBC is swapped in with the exception of the starter and alternator, both of which can be upgraded on the stock I6 for cheap). They may not be sprts cars, but I still loved driving mine.

How timely; my 2001 XJR barely stumbled into the garage last night after stalling at almost every stop on the way home and just generally running like crap. It was running just fine, then started kind of 'chugging' a little about 20 miles from home - it felt like the AC compressor was kicking on, but moreso (you typically don't feel the compressor kick on in this car). It did this about once a minute, then slowly increased until it was about once every 5 seconds. When I got off the freeway, and had to idle at a stoplight, it stalled. I managed to nurse it home (driving back roads and rolling through stop signs) and it will idle in park, but it continually stumbles and sounds like it wants to die. I pulled the codes and it says left bank is running rich, MAF sensor out of range, and IAT sensor voltage high. My guess is the MAF sensor crapped out so the computer is running it rich to protect the engine, but why is only one bank rich? It's stumbling its starved for fuel, but maybe way too much fuel is getting injected and it just can't burn it. I pulled the plugs in the left bank to see if I could see if one cylinder was running richer than the others, but they all looked the same. I pulled the plugs on the right bank to compare, and all 8 plugs looked the same, and none of them looked fouled. If anyone has any ideas, I'm listening.

Anyways, sorry for the complaining. The cars is about average as far as reliability goes. I tend to have about one problem a year with this car - last summer was a crapped out water pump (covered under certified used warranty), before that, the front sway bar bushings went bad (not covered under certified used warranty - cost was less than $50 for the bushings, installation was easy). The warranty ran out last november, so I'm on my own with the current problem. Maintenance really isn't that bad. Pads and rotors can be found for relatively cheap at Napa (sometimes at least - I got Brembo rotors for the front for $25 each), but if you need to repair something, most parts are only available at the dealer, so you have to pay through the nose.

When the car is running right - I love it. 370hp, 387lb-ft of supercharged V8 goodness, great handling (avoid the CATS computer controlled suspension and just go for the normal shocks) and a good ride, and since Jag hasn't changed the way the XJ looks in 30 years everyone thinks its a new car. The bad parts are that the trunk is tiny (the full sized 18" spare tire, trunk mounted battery and low trunkline really cuts into trunk space), the paint is super thin, and the back seat isn't as spacious as you'd think it would be in a 'big' Jaguar.

They're surprisingly cheap too - A decent, low mileage (50000 mile) car can be found for $10- 13,000 without looking too hard.

Insurance isn't too bad, only about 35% more than what I pay on my 99 Cougar.

If you are looking at the V8 powered cars, there are two engine problems in the early cars that you need to research: timing chain tensioners and nikasil.

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

Bob

very pretty cars

I was definately thinking cheaper and older than most of you guys. Series I and II would really make me happy.

Wasn't helping finding things like these in the local craigslist

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/853845594.html

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/863961116.html

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/878074487.html

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/878134061.html

Stay away from the XJ40 (the '88-up pre-Ford cars). Even in the Jaguar realm they are the worst when it comes to reliability and parts cost. And just as bad when it comes to rust.

I bought this one for $1300 and drove it home from PA. it was a decent all around driver, though like all of them of the era, it needed a bit of TLC (upgraded Bosch starter, valve tappet stake-down kit)

I did one of those tappet sleeve kits in my dad's '69 E type.

So that's why I found cheap ones to be that era.

My knowledge of Jaguars is admittedly light Haven't found any really good sites outlining things like the tappen stakedown you mention. Let alone specific problem eras and such. Do you have any recommended reading?

i had a series II xj-6 for about a year I think it was a 74. When a friend of mine took over a body shop, it was sitting in the back with a tree growing through the engine bay, no idea how long it had been sitting, but the tree had about a 2" trunk. he was getting ready to borrow money from me, so i gave him $600 for the jag (better than a "loan" , i knew id never see it again, but wanted to help him out in his new business) cut the tree down , and yanked it out of the hole it had dug itself. After rebuilding the dual cd2 carbs, changing the fluids, and replacing some lucas (someone had let the smoke out!) we eventually got it started, even found the rotting ignition key under the rug and there was still enough left for a locksmith to make a copy. interior took allot of treatment, but the leather did soften up...we requested and received title via the mechanics lien route. I used it as a commuter for over a year, it tried to kill me once by blowing out the rear brake line, but otherwise it was a fun car. i had to clean up the carbs often, they fouled allot. I can honestly say i have rebuilt cd2's in a tux on the side of the road on the way to a black tie affair! I hated the rear inboard brake set up, pita to get too for anything but changing pads.. when the tranny went out i gave it to another friend for the price of towing it out of the parking lot it was stuck in.. i did enjoy it though.

The tappet thing was a 4.2 problem, the tappets ran in an iron sleeve in the head much like a sleeved cylinder in an aluminum block. The sleeves would come loose and rattle. The fix was some plates with a relief machined along the edge and screw holes in the middle. You put the plate against the sleeves, centerpunched the holes, then drilled a shallow hole for a self tap screw, or you could tap it for a machine thread. You had to be careful not to go too deep and hit water! I did my dad's by using a drill stop on the bit.

Image from www.georgiajag.com

Get an XJS if you don't need the extra doors and put a SBC in that. In my opinion the XJS is much cooler and underrated.