Also bitten by the XJ-S bug...

[naki_k]

Come on please say it’s ready to drive! Enough tinkering now? I want to see some red lime rev counter action.

[pimgmx]

Come on please say it’s ready to drive!

It's been for ages, just not legally so...

Enough tinkering now?

You know me better than that: never!

But hey, there's also a house that's still not finished yet...
I had to nerd out on my flooring first before I could pick up the XJ-S work again:



I have ALMOST finished the XJ-S exterior work now, having shortened the car over 2" in the process...

Here's the visual narrative:

1 - unbolted the rear bumper center. Two bolts, both of them yielded without requiring ultraviolence: nice!


2 - discovered that the bumper beam held a rodent nest...


3 - rebuilt the rear fog lights, not present on my US-spec car. New bulbs and wire grommets, of course.


4 - a thorough clean for inner & outer rear bumper, then used NOS spring clips to reunite the two.


5 - stripped back the boot carpet, unbolted the two bumper shockers and hammered them out.


(6 - drilled through the wire grommets on the body, fitted foglights to 'new' bumper, as well as the adapter rods)

7 - fed foglamp wires through the body grommets and test fitted the bumper assembly


8 - bolted up the adapter rods: job done!!!




And for those asking 'why?': this is what the rear looked like before this little intervention:

[Elsa_jag]

That’s a worthwhile improvement Pim, looking much sharper now

[pimgmx]

The local heat wave has kept me away from my storage/workshop, so only a parcel update for now.

50213969566_2d8934dd3e_w.jpg (29.49 KiB) Not viewed yet

AJ6 Engineering has been swamped with orders since the beginning of the pandemic, so I had to be patient, not my strongest point...
This ECU has been reprogrammed to 'understand' there is no longer a slushbox attached to the engine, and that it has had intake/exhaust upgrades, so basically a bespoke setup for my car particularly.

I'm waiting for our weather to return to normal, can't wait to test the difference versus the old ECU!

[naki_k]

The local heat wave has kept me away from my storage/workshop, so only a parcel update for now.

50213969566_2d8934dd3e_w.jpg

AJ6 Engineering has been swamped with orders since the beginning of the pandemic, so I had to be patient, not my strongest point...
This ECU has been reprogrammed to 'understand' there is no longer a slushbox attached to the engine, and that it has had intake/exhaust upgrades, so basically a bespoke setup for my car particularly.

I'm waiting for our weather to return to normal, can't wait to test the difference versus the old ECU!

Hopefully that should prove to be a noticeable improvement. I hope they programmed in for the twin superchargers too?

[pimgmx]

Just to annoy Naki: yet another update, and STILL not announcing that the car's back on the road!

I took delivery of a set of Arden (17" x 8 1/2J) alloys in the weekend, items I had only seen before on two 'proper' Arden vehicles, an AJ3 shooting brake and an AJ5 XJ40 conversion.
As with many aftermarket items, they will not be to everyone's taste, but I consider them a nice period upgrade over the 15" Lattices currently on the car.

They are not 100% mint, but in very good condition for their age.
A mild clean will be followed by some head scratching: shall I leave them as-is in silver, or have the centers painted in body colour, like they did on the AJ3?

[katar83]

Leave them as they are Pim, the Eventer has a different colour scheme and black/silver combo works ok with it, yours will look better as they are now, me thinks

[pimgmx]

It’s great to live in the 21st century, working on a 20th-century vehicle!

I just received two upgraded parts, designed and produced by the proverbial ‘man in a shed’; small-batch runs like this would be financially impossible only one or two decades ago.

A new A/C idler bearing (to replace several kilograms and one or two horses’ worth of parasitic drag from the US-spec air pump) and two throttle rod bushes. The original versions of the latter tend to crumble and disappear under V12 underbonnet heat, resulting in slightly erratic idle and so-so throttle response.

[leo_denmark]

I like Jonas’ bushings. I made a set myself in brass, but with a collar instead of the circlips. That meant I had to remove the bracket it runs through to mount them, and with the circlip design you must be avoiding that ?

I wondered what the other part was. Forgot yours were from US.

Merry Christmas and greetings to Cassandra!

[pimgmx]

...with the circlip design you must be avoiding that ?

Correct!
These can be ‘clipped on’ without dismantling the throttle actuators.

Merry Christmas and greetings to Cassandra!

Thanks, Leo!

All the best to you and the family!
Crossing fingers that ‘21 will be better in many, many ways compared to this year...