MGuar you are a bad influence

No thanks to all your talk of Jag V12 awesomeness I'm going to look at this next weekend. http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/2724957640.html Enable me, or better yet, talk me down.

Where are the hidden rusty areas?

Where is the best place to get parts for these beasts, I already checked out Rock Auto, and there selection of XJS parts is pretty limited. Is there a Jag equivalent of eEuroparts?

What problem areas other than rust should I be on the watch for? Keep in mind the seller already says can't run as it is now.

If I do pick it up, (and I actually hope that someone else beats me to it, or that it's an obvious train wreck), I don't plan to use it as a track car, just a fun fast cruiser , a BABE rally car if I get it cheap enough, then sell it and hope I make s small profit, or at least break even.

Here are a few places online that specialize in Jaguar parts. I haven't bought from any of them so I can't give a review, but it should give you a good idea of what parts are going to cost you.

http://www.motorcarsltd.com/

http://www.jaguarmerriamparts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?siteid=215718

http://www.coventrywest.com/

http://www.gaudinjaguarparts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?siteid=214626

Hopefully MGuar has some more reasonable sources for parts.

Kirby Palm's XJS book (available for free download here: http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/Jaguar.html ) also has a list of companies but I don't know if it's been updated recently so some of the companies may not be around anymore. It will also give you a huge amount of info about the XJS.

Good luck with the car!

Bob

In reply to Schmidlap: Thanks for the information. I just found and bookmarked the Kirby Palm site yesterday.

Bump

In reply to HappyAndy:

I don't have the links at hand right this second, but there are better cars in the greater Philly area for about the same asking price. Buy the best one you can afford.

Speaking of V12 Jag projects...

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/jaguar/e_type/1367694.html&refer=news

In reply to mguar: I was planning on $500 paying at the most.

BTW The BABE rally is long distance rally for $500 or less beaters. There are a few folks on this forum who are regulars.

At my day job I specialize in repair of odd ball electric powered industrial vehicles. I think I could handle a Jag project as long as I have access to parts and good information.

HappyAndy wrote: In reply to mguar: I was planning on $500 paying at the most. BTW The BABE rally is long distance rally for $500 or less beaters. There are a few folks on this forum who are regulars. At my day job I specialize in repair of odd ball electric powered industrial vehicles. I think I could handle a Jag project as long as I have access to parts and good information.

Jags really aren't hard to work on. With good parts and the right tweaks an XJS makes an awesome car. You can get running, scruffy examples for less than the grand the guy is asking for the one you originally posted though.

Do you have designs on it beyond BABE? That could affect which car is best for you to buy.

In reply to MG Bryan: If I take it to the BABE rally it will be for 2013, I don't have enough vacation time to do it this year.

If I really like it maybe I will get a better one, or drop an early engine in that one and do the twin turbo & megasquirt thing. And I will be able to say that I once owned a V12 Jag even if I don't like it.

In reply to mguar: Thanks for the input. Where could I get poly suspension bushings? Also, is the TH400 trans identical to/ interchangeable with the GM version?

All this Jaguar talk on the forum is going to cause problems among the weak-willed.

It's just not the right time for me to be looking at XJ6s...

In reply to mguar:

Thanks! Perhaps I can just re-read that to defer my temptation 'til I stumble into an XJS I can't pass up or some other hopefully less-painful venture...

If the six is terrible and the Chevy is sacrilege, is the only sedan answer an XJ12 or 12-swapped XJ6?

I need to go back over your misc posts in other threads to assemble a more coherent picture of what's good, bad, or terrifying...

In reply to mguar:

Any hints on good places to offer some Jaguar bits and pieces for sale?

mguar wrote: What would you like? It would help if I fully understood your goals, limits, or needs and perhaps then I'd be in a better position to advise..

It would help if I understood those as well...

I certainly don't mean to put you on the spot for advice when I'm not sure what I'm after, and you've already posted a great deal about Jags in other threads for me to glean. If I go and track all that down, it's likely to have an impact on what it is I think I want, and I'll start there.

mguar wrote: I come from a position of there are transportation cars and there are cars that are toys.. I certainly place Jaguars well and truly in the toy category.

I guess I think of "my" hypothetical Jaguar as being among the playthings, but one comfortable and reliable enough that we might choose to use it rather than the household appliance for some driving (esp. pleasure trips within a few hundred miles).

I purchased my first new car a little over a month ago. Most of my life I've used old project cars as daily drivers, but nothing British yet. I figure this is a vehicle to be driven when I have time to convince it to be in a mood to drive...

mguar wrote: To get reliability out of a Jaguar requires above average knowledge and willingness to do the work properly.. In exchange it rewards it's owner with above average class, pleasure and prestige. Yes it can be made reliable.. However most people drove it until it failed then beat it with a stick to get it running again.. It's that sort of knowledge.

This sounds like many of the cars that are beloved by the GRM comunity. (Rotary anything, VW, BMW, SAAB, Volvo, Corvair, FIAT ext).