New headliner

I really wish I had some photos to show how horrible the old headliner was. It was sagging down so low that it would rest on your head when you sat in the car. You couldn't even see rear passengers from the front seat. You had to hold it up with one hand to see anything from the rear view mirror.

A workshop charges around $800 to do the job. It involves either removing the rear window or front seats and taking the roof biscuit out . The fabric is then glued to the biscuit and then installed into the car. Easily 8 hours of work.

I didn't want to take the car apart just to put in a new headliner and I wasn't about to spend $800 bucks on it. Being the first time I've ever done anything like this I knew it wouldn't be perfect but I'd be content with just doing it myself if I could do a semi-decent job of it.

Pulling off the old headliner was child's play. It was only really still stuck on at the edges. A lot of glue residue was then brushed off using old paint brushes. I then wiped the surface with a wet cloth and allowed it to dry.

The material and glue cost me a total of $20. With the help of a friend, it took about 3 hours to scrape off the residue and glue on the new material. Even wearing masks it was quite intoxicating gluing the headliner while in the car.














Its definitely not perfect. But I'm happy. I think when I get round to redying the seats I'll stick something nice like sued or alcantara ontop of the current material. A thicker material is a lot easier to glue without getting kinks.

2010 All British Car Day (ABCD)

55,000 miles

The Jag just rolled 55,000 miles today (Canada Day!). After installing the new ignition amplifier the car has started running much better. However there was still a backfire from the rear left carburettor. The backfire can only be caused by a sticking exhaust valve as the timing and mixture are set correctly.







A fellow Ottawa Jaguar Club member suggested I try a product called "Guaranteed to Pass". He and some others have had great success using this product when doing their emissions test.

I had nothing to lose and as such I tried it out. I poured it into a full tank of fuel and went for a long drive. After 50miles of highway driving, the sticky exhaust valve seems to have freed itself as the backfire has completely gone now. I'm very happy with the result and I recommend the product to anyone trying to delay a top-end rebuild. Its called CRC "Guaranteed to Pass" and I bought it from CanadianTire.

The engine is running the smoothest it has ever run since I got the car. There is still quite a bit of valve chatter but overall the strong oil pressure is reassuring that I'm on the right track.
I will have to do a valve adjustment soon. I'd like to do it this year, but feeling lazy. Its a very time consuming job just to get down to the valve covers, let alone do an adjustment on 24 valves.

I've taken the car to both "16 Service" and "Autobahn" in Manotick for a valve adjustment but both of them refused to even touch the car. Mechanics these days are so pathetic. All they seem to be able to do is replace parts. Actual hard mechanical work is becoming very rare. Anyways, if you want something done right, you do it yourself.

40 Years of Jaguar XJ

Out with the Opus

If you a have a Jaguar V12 with the original Opus ignition amplifier, just throw it out right now and order a REOPUS board. I know its expensive, but it'll be the best money you'll ever spend on your car.

Just look at what an Opus looks like after 36 years.

Installing front coil spring

This was one hell of a job. I'm never ever going to do this again. Compressing the spring, and lining up everything so that it goes back into the wishbone is a very painfully slow and iterative process. I must have compressed and uncompressed the spring at least 5 times in order to figure out the exact position to fit the spring compressor's arms so to not cause damage to the spring torrent yet provide enough compression at the same time. Without power tools refitting the front springs can easily take a full 8 hours.

Unlike the removal process whereby I used consecutively longer bolts while dropping the spring pan, I had to use a proper threaded rod for the installation. There is just no other way to line up the spring to the wishbone otherwise.

I screwed in 4 pieces of threaded rod, each 1ft in length into the wishbone. Then slid the spring and pan assembly into the threaded rod guides and tightened it up until the pan and wishbone made contact. Then I removed a rod at a time and replaced it with a bolt.








The original setup had 1 packing piece at the bottom and 2 at the top of the spring. In order to avoid blocking the drain hole at the bottom of the spring pan I decided to put all 3 pieces at the top of the spring. I taped the packing pieces to the spring so it wouldn't slip off while I fit the spring. Hopefully I haven't introduced any squeaks by having the spring in direct contact with the spring pan.

May God bless anyone who has to do this.

Removing front coil spring

Once you get used to the suspension and steering of a Mercedes nothing else will do. The Jag's suspension and steering has always felt rather vague in comparison. The steering is horrendously over boosted and the front suspension needs to be in a "good mood" if you're to get anywhere. Having tight new polyurethane bushes goes a long way in getting the big cat handling right but having the right shocks and springs is vital. Vehicle manufacturers are faced with a compromise when installing suspension components, comfort vs performance, longevity vs cost etc.. So the stock shocks and springs are good for nothing in my book.

I installed 4 new Bilstein HD shocks and H&R springs on the IRS and it totally transformed the way the backend felt. So I decided to change the front springs and shocks too. However the front suspension does not have McPherson struts and thus removing the springs from the suspension is quite a scary affair.

To do the job, you need an internal spring compressor. Some people make their own, but I bought one from Boss Tools on the basis of an article I found on Jag- Lovers. There is a simpler one for $30 on Boss Tool right now.

Removing the front springs on a Jag is likely one of the most, if not the most dangerous DIY job. I spent months reading on how to do it first.

When free time and decent weather met a few weeks ago I decided to give it a go. The job was fairly straight forward, but the most crucial part about it is to use a set of bolts to guide the spring pan down a little, before you loosen the spring compressor. No matter how tight the spring compressor is, there will always be a little tension on the inner side of the spring pan simply because of the shape of the wishbone. This is why the guide bolts are crucial.

Once the inner side of the spring pan has dropped about 4" from the wishbone, there should no longer be any tension pushing down on the pan.

As a safety measure, I left the spring and spring compressor assembly in the spring tower while I loosened the spring compressor as far as my guide bolts would allow. Then I took the guide bolts off and set it on the ground and removed the remaining few pounds tension from the compressor.

It was the first time I had ever done anything like that before, so it took me about 5 hours to remove that one spring. Now to just POR-15 up all the bits and install my new spring and shock.