Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

Fall colors and a running XJS. It's the most wonderful time of the Year!

Those Autumn leaves...

Northern California is being pounded by record gusty winds. Further North they have contributed to several wildfires and power shutdowns. We endured our own power shutdown a couple of weeks back. Today, in the South Bay, the winds are refreshingly blustery.  I love this time of the year, driving down my local streets through a whirlwind of Autumn leaves.

What could be better than piloting my XJS after a period of crushing frustration?

Interestingly enough, this component was manufactured in Italy.

I had finally traced the engine's problem to an inoperative CTS. I had rebuilt the ignition amplifier, replacing the ignition module and disconnecting the condenser per Grant's List. I don't know if the module was failing or not, but I will say that it had been assembled without the heat transfer grease. Maybe it had broken down a bit, and I can attest to the fact that it was producing some pretty pitiful sparks. 

I originally tried to start the motor with the jumped CTS plug. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts I decided to replace the sensor first. I wasn't going to foul those plugs again! I was concerned that coolant might drip out when I removed the sensor so I had the new one ready to go. I had wrapped some Teflon tape around the threads. After I removed it I heard a couple of gurgling sounds but nothing dripped out. I quickly inserted the sensor and carefully tightened it 

I started the engine and it started immediately and settled into a high idle.  I let it run for a couple of minutes then checked the sensor for possible leaks. It looked good, but I would check again after it warmed up.

I put the car into reverse to back into the street. 

Clop, clop, clop, the sound was accompanied by a shaking, side to side motion. 

Hmmmmmmm. What could be causing that? I made a quick check of all tires and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Had I left something loose on the suspension? I was most concerned with the engine so I figured that I would just go around the block slowly, so that I could listen to the motor. The swaying feeling got worse as I sped up. I pulled over and checked the front wheels. 

The driver's side tire looked like a disfigured bagel! It was a classic tread separation, but much worse than the one that had affected my XJ6. 

The left front tire has assumed an interesting profile.

I returned to my driveway to check the situation more closely. I used my small floor jack to raise the car to spin the tire. I knew that these tires were old and worn to the cords on the inside, but I didn't expect this!

Dang!

This is why you have to regularly check the condition of your tires. These are pretty old tires. They have always squealed quite a bit in regular driving. Luckily my car had a very good spare that was just low on air. The spare might be the original as it's a Pirelli. Second and third hand owners are reluctant to spend the money for authentic replacement tires, primarily because of cost. Costs will factor in during my selection of tires. I'm going to be looking at a new replacement set pretty darn soon.

My car had been missing the original jack when I bought it. Luckily, I located one for sale when I was down in Anaheim, a couple of years ago. It came in the original carpet bag. The kit contained the jack, winding crank, folding lug wrench, and a spark plug wrench and T bar.  It's nice to have the original equipment in the trunk.

Let's see what's inside.

It doesn't look any of these tools have ever been used.

After I added air to the spare tire, as it was a bit low, I headed out. 

The steering did feel better and there was less groaning coming from the front suspension. I initially applied the brakes gingerly and the first harder application did cause the car to pull to the side. I continued driving around the neighborhood. Their was little traffic and I did some progressively harder braking trying to see how they would behave.

The rate of deceleration was very good and the ABS light had turned off. 

I actually made some pretty hard stops that kind of settled the steering and suspension. 

The car ran very well as it always had. 

I had let the car idle for an extended period and had been driving quite slowly around the neighborhood. I turned the motor off and the fan remained on. I checked the coolant sensor again and it had not sprung any leaks.

On the second go round the car fired right up. I drove for ten miles varying my speed up 40 mph. This time when I stopped the fan stayed off. I knew would run cooler once it was moving down the road. I had never had cooling problems even when the Summer temperatures were in the 90s.

So what does all this mean?

I find myself at the beginning.....again.

At least I now have a running car. There are still quite a few things that I have to follow up on. But my mood has changed.

I will admit that I was quite elated. Quite a change of mood from several weeks ago.