1989 Jaguar XJ-S V12

My pride and joy… The Iron Lady reborn! A 1989 XJ-S with everything the factory offered including the rare glass sunroof! Currently under going a good restoration. Engine and tranny are out, being cleaned and sealed. Everything done in my humble garage :)

The engine has cleaned up really nicely and the tranny has been sealed new. Just need some new parts yet (luckily they are readily available, even though the XJ-S with “-“ has been out of production for 25 years, the XJS without “-“ sind 20 years!). Once they arrive, the engine will be fully sealed and reassembled (exhaust manifolds, intake manifolds, etc.) and refitted.

The front axle is being overhauled at the same time. As it was only held in place by 4 screws, I removed it and am fitting new bushes, balljoints, hoses, bearings, basically everything I can’t get to easily when it is all fitted again.

After cleaning that dirty piece of British engineering up, it has turned into a “sparkling” beauty :)

It really is a pleasure to work on this, as you really see how it comes along. Sometimes it gets a little annoying, as you just do something and need to do it again… But that is a Jag… Or as Clarkson would say: Jaaaaaaaaaaag.

So, the axle was due. The entire axle is in pieces waiting for new bushes and ball joints. As well as many little bits and pieces like screws and some nuts. But heck, that isn’t a worry! Spring removal was and is trickey, as the springs are twice as long when not in the car… So that means they are under a lot of tension… But with the “ghetto methode” it works quite well… An M20 threaded rod is enough.

So, some of my parts finally arrived and I started moving on getting more jobs done. Like completeing the engine and assembling the new wishbone parts… Oh, and giving them a coat of POR15.

A fascinating part to me, was the rear crank seal. I knew that Jaguar didn’t offer it anymore. But I didn’t expect Bentley to sell the part I required. And then for such a low price! Bit “gob smacked”…

After installing the rear crank seal, I was able to replace the “sandwich board gasket” and the sump gasket. Both common to leak on these marvellous pieces of kit. One of the gaskets is a good 3’ long… Probably the longest gasket I’ve seen in my life!

After doing the lower gaskets, basically all “urgent” gaskets have been sorted. That means that the old engine should stay oil tight… At least for 20 years. I’ve used newer materials which are more durable compared to the old paper or fibre stuff Jaguar used in ‘89. So I started to refit the oil cooler pipes, the exhaust manifolds and the tranny… The good old GM TH400 Turbohydramatic…

Again, waiting for more parts, I decided to turn to the front suspension. I’m awaiting the delivery of my new springs and shocks for the front axle as well as loads of rubber, some screws and other bits and bobs. I also need to get the subframe welded… A little hole is above the spring seat… Can’t ignore that!

After finishing the upper wishbones, my gutfeeling called and said something was in the engine. Don’t know why, but I followed it. And wasn’t let down! A washer was in cylinder 5A. Luckily I was able to remove it without taking the head off (that would have been a major job which would require lots’o’cash… I borrowed a Hazet endoscope to peak into the cylinders. All the cylinder walls look like new (with a few patches of rust as the engine hasn’t run for nearly 2 years now!) and the pistons are clean. Just one washer stod out…