Follow-up on the Jaguar

It turns out that when the oil-pressure gauge shows low, it means low oil. Seems obvious enough, in retrospect, but given that newer cars don't vary even slightly about what the gauge shows, I didn't know that...and with an older car, you could wonder if it means low oil, oil sender has probs, gauge has probs...no way to be sure.

So I eventually looked at the oil dipstick, and it looked way down. Added 3 qts (car takes 8, which is more than US cars). Things looked good after that, pressure varied from 20-40, and it sounded smoother. A few weeks later I added another qt--I don't know what my consumption rate is, although I certainly know I have several leaks. Two are the valve-covers, you can *see* the crack in one where it was over-torqued bolting it down; I have a replacement for that one.

Still...car is running just fine, have been enjoying the driving, even though it is winter and the heater doesn't work.

Another round on the Jaguar

So it turns out that the oil pressure gauge tells you exactly what it should be telling you: when the pressure is low it means you need to add oil. I finally checked it, needed to add quite a bit, and it was just fine after that. Problem is that unlike a modern car, which keeps/shows a constant reading until you are dry, this one varies based on speed, and given that it's an old car, I wasn't sure that it wasn't something else wrong...now I know.

It still leaks oil, but that's normal for this car...it's not very fast, but it does happen. And there's more than one leak, two of them are the valve covers; both are tiny, but not necessarily hard to solve. I have one replacement cover now, got for $25. As they are aluminum, that may be not too hard to weld back closed. The current cracks are from having been torqued down too tight.

Got the voltage regulator replaced, which was critical. Old one was misbehaving badly. No surprise, it's a crappy two-transistor design that doesn't really regulate voltage so much as reduce fluctuations. Still, better than a mechanical one, which is just turning one flavor of AC into a pulse train which is just a different flavor of AC.

Car drives pretty well, although more work is needed. As it's drivable, I do that unless it's bitter cold out, because I haven't gotten the heater repaired. That is a job for the spring--I think I can do some/most/all of it myself. I'm sure it's rusted sealed, and the motor doesn't turn. Can't work on it in the winter, tho. Too cold out.

But it's now at the point I wanted it to be at--I can drive it. That is good fun.

Back to the Jaguar

My car has been at the shop the past month, slowly getting some things fixed:

1) The alternator/charging system. Got a rebuilt alternator, and some wiring fixes. This is now working properly (exc see below). Have a new regulator coming, from ebay.

2) Cooling system. Got the hoses, thermostat replace, radiator core rebuild. This is working nicely. Engine block freeze plugs replaced.

on Oct 21, I got to have the car back for the weekend. The following notes are from the return email I send sunday night.

I was able to drive home ok (Chantilly), albeit slowly because of traffic...Then I drove north up Rt 28 to Sterling, south back to I-66, then to the Fair Oaks Whole Foods grocery, by which point I had a flat tire on the left rear. Because it was dark, we left it there overnight, and I put the spare on Saturday morning after bringing the proper tools. That all went fine, but it was a regrettable surprise. Therefore, I need the wheel that is in the boot repaired--not sure what is wrong with it, but that is the better rim (at least in terms of minimal rust and better appearance). I also put my last inner tube in the back, if it is needed. While going north on Rt 28, there was a thump underneath my feet while driving, like something hit the underside; my guess is that whatever that was caused the flat--it was dark, and I didn't see anything. I hope it was not something falling off the car and bouncing up off the road. I do not have an additional spare. When I got these tires put on the rims, it was at Radial Tire in Silver Spring MD, that could handle the wire rims. I'm ok with you all doing this if you can, else I need to see about it myself, don't really want to drive without a spare (although that is how I got it home in the first place). If it's just needing a new tire, I will get a matching tire (came from a Firestone place in Sterling).


They were very right about the throttle linkage being sticky--it cold-starts very high rpms. Saturday it was near 2500 rpm when I started it after changing the tire. Sunday it was nearly 4000 rpm at lunch time start-up. I had seen Dave poke on the linkage to fix that, so I did the same thing, and it was better, but this is something that needs attention before something goes worse wrong.

The voltage meter often shows something near 16 volts from the alternator, which is definitely too high. Saturday afternoon it was down at 13 for a while, which was fine. the 16 is alarming, not good for the battery. I will have the new voltage regulator in my hands in a few more days, probably time to replace that.

The speedometer is only partially functional--it doesn't rise above 40 mph, and doesn't always drop below 20 when stopped. I have bought a sender off ebay, perhaps we can try that out as a replacement. Or perhaps something is sticking there...

Oil pressure was somewhat variable, but was never down to zero--it ranged from 20-50 (what that really means) over the weekend. This seems ok for now, unless it's supposed to be a very steady pressure.

Headlights worked ok in the dark. I didn't look at the brake/turn-signal lights. They were ok 2 yrs ago.

Coolant/water temperature gauge looked great the whole time, on the low side of normal range, so great job on that. Keeps my feets toasty warm while driving.

There seems to be a low speed at which there is a motion resonance bounce...not sure if this means a tire is out of balance, or what. Noticeable on a really smooth road, elsewhere not so much.

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Comments on the above: the oil system had been a little off, in particular the oil pressure gauge usually read zero or nearly so. I got a new sensor off ebay, it got installed. The speedometer used to work ok, I thought. I think the replacement sensor I am getting is used, so it may not matter. The throttle linkage fix is probably part of a larger system fix that includes better carb tuning.

I could not tell whether the front suspension was showing any effect from the ball joints needing work...related: probably ALL the rubber anywhere needs replacing.

Anyway...it was great fun getting to drive the car...once more things are fixed, it will be even better.

Best part at this point is that we have not yet even hit the halfway point on my budget, although we are close. Still...remaining budget should cover good territory.

I had replaced the stereo soon after getting the car. New unit takes a USB drive to play from, which works pretty well. I made an 8GB drive, which results in a really good lot of stuff. Only flaw: it plays in alphabetic order, A-Z. Would prefer random.

Cars n such

Recall from earlier entries that I got a Jaguar XKE 18 months ago...joined the local Jag owner's club about that same time...last summer's picnic was good, and there was a couple there with an '03 XK8, sea-foam green (my mom's fave color). This car is a nice looker...probably the best-looking Jag after the E. And if you don't need a new one, a used one is a good bit cheaper than an E.

[here's where a secret is revealed] So my wife decides she really likes this one, and wants one of her own, except she wants a convertible. This took a while to manage, basically not until I had a chunk of $ come in as bonus money this year...so here's what we got:

I apologize that the size is wrong. Just click right on it and click "view image" in the popup menu.



it's midnight blue, with a nice light tan interior (ideal for when it's hot out, unlike my E, which has a *black* interior :(:( which I gotta fix one of these days)

So now we are a two-Jag operation...plus two other cars...altho the pickup is going to evolve into being my son's car, since he's 18 now.

More about the Jag

Spring is here, and I'm getting itchy to get the Jag fixed up and drive it.

Finally got a replacement (not new) alternator to try out (hope that's all that is wrong).

Just ordered new inner tubes for the wheels, so I can get the tires all replaced too. Then I can get out and really wind it up!

Having it out of commission the past few months has been painful...going past it in the garage, knowing I can't do anything but look.

Last I fiddled with it a few weekends back when there was some actual warmth outside, I took the non-functional A/C off, and the old ALT. With luck, this new(er) one...

another Jaguar XKE note

having bought the car, I find myself noticing how many others ripped it off back in the 60s and 70s.

The original (this is mine):



It looks like nearly every sports car in the 60s was a rip-off of the style...without managing to look as good.

Felt like a blog on this, having seen the trailer for The Graduate go by last night on TCM. Didn't quite recognize Dustin Hoffman's car...it's an Alpha Romeo Duetto:

a little less curvy than the Jag, but clearly derivative.



As was the Corvette tear-drop:

which was clearly the previous body style updated to look like the Jag.

and the Datsun 240Z:

which did at least have a price advantage over the Jag (about half, actually).



Even the classic 1964 Aston Martin (the Bond car of all time):



which shows up briefly in the recent Bond film Casino Royale.

and of course the late 70s Mazda RX-7:

Jaguar XKE notes

Have you seen this?

http://jaguar-xke.blogspot.com/2009/01/jaguar-xke-sports-car-have-you-ever.html

"You will pay less amount of money for second hand cars than for new cars. The difference in cost or price can going up to over ten thousand dollars. If you are thinking about buying a second hand car make sure to check the cost of a new car of the same type and see how much you can save."

(looks like ESL)

While that first sentence is generally true, it really isn't for an XKE. Not that you can buy a new XKE. You could certainly buy a different used Jaguar model, for a lot less. But a used XKE is *not* cheaper than a new car...cheaper than *some* new cars, but not many. OK, a cheap XKE might be more cheaper, but then it may well not be one worth getting, because you're going to have to do a chunk of work on it.

The rest of the blog entry is comparably off-target.

On buying a Jaguar...

Mind you, that's a 3-syllable word. Jag-u-ar. Said with british accent.

Went and got the car last weekend, drove it home. $20k.

It is British Racing Green, of course. Not the original color, it turns out, which was a light blue. (See Jeff Dunham's comments on that color, on youtube).

I have a variety of things to do with the car, some percentage of which have to be done before I can register it for driving. Turns out, here in VA (and elsewhere, apparently), I can register a car as an antique, and it doesn't have to be safety inspected. Just by being 25 years old, it doesn't get emissions inspection. So I can work on it until it can pass safety, then I can have it be for regular driving.

So I've been making a list of what all to do. None of which is likely to be *cheap*, per se, but some things at least won't have to be TOO expensive. I hope.