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| A candid photo reveals that I could stand to lose a few pounds! |
A New Year calls for resolutions even if we don't stick to them for very long. I no longer verbalize my resolutions, no need to call attention to my failings!
However I do have plans that I would like to accomplish this year. Plans that include my cars of course. Especially my XJS.
I've had the XJS for several years now. I think it's actually been around four years plus. I bought it before I bought my XJ6 and well before I bought my Mark VII.
Progress has been made, but it's happened slowly. One of my priorities was to spend very little money, very slowly. I have taken a very low buck DIY approach to the project.
The car was a running and driving example when I bought it, although there were clearly problems with the transmission. It was slow to engage gear and would slip before catching, especially in the drive position. It was a bit better in the First gear position.
Over time I tried many things to fix the transmission on the cheap, but was unsuccessful. Swapping in a good used transmission got the car up and running. That cost me all of 180.00 but much more in effort and frustration. I am very glad to say that the transmission shifts beautifully and will kick down with a tap of the toe. Mission accomplished, at least in this area.
While I have been involved in other automotive and home projects the car has always sat on the back burner.
I replaced the front lower suspension arm bushings, That was easy, there was no need to drop the steering rack though I did it anyway. I should have waited to see if it was necessary. It did make a noticeable difference. The car tracks straight when I let go of the wheel. It could use an alignment as the wheel isn't oriented in the center. I also don't want to ruin my new tires.
After the suspension work I experienced all that rough running business which I was able to sort out with the assistance of my fellow forum members.
The car really needed a new set of tires and that has been the biggest single cash expenditure so far. But now I can actually drive it around. I'm trying to put some shakedown miles on it.
I'm concentrating on the ABS system, as I have some valid concerns. Changing the fluid does seem to be flushing the system. I need to replace a broken wheel lug so that will be a good time to bleed the brakes to clean the remainder of the old fluid out. I would also like to put new pads in the parking brake system so I'll have to crawl under the rear of the car some more.
Up and running that's the plan.
It's about time that I moved the car up on the roster.
Can I get the car into the condition that I would be able to use it as an actual car? One that I can drive to work, on errands and little road trips?
That's what cars are for, but they have to be real. Can this become a real car?
My feelings about the car are ... complicated.
I do think that it is a very handsome car. While it is not easy to work on, it is actually one of Jaguar's better designs.
Comparing it to the later XK8 model it comes out looking pretty good in the comparison.
The motor doesn't have the Nickasil liner problems or plastic timing chain tensioners that plague the early V8s.
The transmission is a well proven General Motors Turbo 400, the same as found in every late 60's Cadillac, Corvette, and classic big block Muscle car. There's no issue with the "A" drum breaking. The convertible top mechanism is reliable and the manual front top clamps will never spray me with green hydraulic fluid.
Both cars are known to wear their suspensions bushings out fairly quickly. Pretty much like every other Jaguar.
The only really well known XJS problem is a propensity to overheat if the cooling system is neglected.
Overheating can result in the notorious dropped valve seats. The V12 kiss of death. My car has never displayed a problem even when I drove it in 90 degree temperatures.
Still.
Posters on the forum declare that the V12 engine is so tough that you just can't wear it out.
I might snidely remark that no one's ever kept one running long enough to find out!
So, keeping a twelve cylinder XJS as a pet is not the most illogical choice.
I'll admit that I feel a bit uneasy driving the car. It is so out of the ordinary. It seems kind of "excessive" to fire up twelve cylinders just to make a run to the supermarket. I feel like I'm firing up a Rose Bowl Parade float to sneak off to the Dollar Store! It's not the most profligate when it comes to fuel consumption either. Twenty miles to the gallon on the freeway bests a whole herd of brand new trucks and SUVs. And nobody's shy about driving those things.
The experience of the driving the XJS is quite sublime. It quietly rolls smoothly down the road feeling like an enormously heavy sled coasting down a snowy hill side. Yes, it is somewhat heavy. It weighs just a bit more, (200 lbs) than a brand new Mustang. So that weight is somewhat of an illusion. Most modern cars are pretty heavy. It sticks pretty well going around turns, inspiring confidence.
So do I love the car? Is it everything that I hoped it could be?
Not Yet. Irrespective of the real work that it still needs, there is still "something".
Growing up in a family of modest means, a vehicle of this type and the people who would have owned it are completely outside of my experience. I was originally very self conscious when I first got my Cadillac Seville.
I have to get over a tremendous feeling about the novelty of driving the car. Driving it seems like a "put on" almost a gag. At this point it doesn't feel like something that you could actually use as daily "transportation."
Funny that I think that this old, almost worthless car is too special for me to drive. This afternoon I was returning home from a fifty mile shakedown run, just cruising along. Suddenly I hear the high pitched roar of exhaust and some BMW hyper car blows past me and cuts directly of me. I guess to establish "what's what."
So maybe it ain't all that special to anyone else.
I still need to bond with the car, it's still a stranger to me. Many more miles will be needed.
I don't need to make the car perfect, just to get it into reliable driving condition. Then I can deal with the myriad little problems that need to taken care of.
Put up or shut up.
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