1973 series 1 XJ12.

..............1973 Series 1 XJ12...................

Sydney,Australia

16/10/4. Had the beast back a few weeks form the lh head being repaired( 4 new valves) and all the tappets reset, and its running pretty good. Had a small stumble with the ignition amp a week a go, but traced it to a bad solder joint and repaired it.

11/5/04 Not been a good few weeks! bout 6 weeks ago the car started lacking power. Traced it to spark plugs fouled and with broken insulators, to the extent so that I dont know how it ran at all. Replaced em all, but there was still a miss somewhere. Suspected the distributor rotor, replaced it but no difference. Changed the dissy cap, no difference..Suspected the ignition amp, so pulled it to bits but couldnt see anything wrong. Car then made a horrible mechanical noise while idling in the garage and stopped and wouldnt restart. Finally had a road service guy have a look, and after he squirted petrol down a vacuum pipe straight into one manifold it fired up, but with a distinct tapping from the LH bank, that I think is a dropped valve seat.However just talked to a mechanic, and he thinks it might just be a dropped shim...so ill get it towed shortly...

12/1/04 Well sold the series 2 parts car last month,for $300, and about 2 months ago bought a 76 xjs with a 5 speed manual in it. Had a few probs, but it runs fine...Havent had time to do any more to the series 1 and unfortunately due to the garage being full, the paint has deteriorated a bit, so itll be a cut and polish when Ive moved house next week.

Picked up a running (just !) 74 XJ12 L for $900 with an immaculate set of seats which was just what I was looking for. Pretty easy to change, and everything fitted.The rest of the cars available for spares, so if you need anything email me or my mobile is 0417043083. I know this page takes forever to load, Ill fix it when Ive got time.

23/8/03 Well a week of trial and tribulation...well only a day actually, but that was enough. After a 200 odd mile run on the Sunday,where the car ran purrrfectly,off to the local shop Monday. On a main road lose all power for a second, then an almighty backfire, runs for a few meters, then dies. Thought it was fuel, so pull fuel hose, quick ignition flick, plenty of fuel. Fiddle with wiring near dissy, finally starts, off I go again. 6 cars back from the lights, in the middle lane it dies again and wont start. Fortunately its flat and I push it out of that lane and drift downhill to a carpark.(not at all embarrassing......!) Call the g/f to bring the truck with tools. Find a loose connector in the ignition wiring and replace it with something more suitable, and away I go again. On the way home 2 hrs later dies again. Cant be fuel so go through ignition again. Call g/f again to assist turning ignition while I fiddle under the bonnet. Pull fuel hose again, this time no fuel...Look in the boot and in my hurry from earlier breakdown have dropped the spare carelessly back in the boot and kinked a fuel hose.....Call myself suitable insulting names.

So when I get home time to tidy up thoses hoses! I'd decided to link the two tanks together, cos Im sick of problems with changeover valves and associated other hardware.(Id previously canned the original dual pumps for a single high capacity Holley.)So now Ive disconnected the solenoids for the fuel return, with the tank returns going straight from the T in the boot to each tank.,Ive also put another T in front of the fuel pump so it draws from both tanks simultaneously. Upon filling one tank this morning, I think I couldve filled the other, and had about 7/8 full capacity in both tanks, because it takes some time for the level to equalise in both tanks, in fact about 15minutes driving until the other tank showed half full...I think this'll work for me.

	Wondering where the oil was coming from yesterday, found this hole in the dissy cap today..car was running fine suprisingly
first bit I found
	numbered the leads b4 removing them........

Lovely, what would I do without this car to keep me busy...

This is it as of this morning, new rear discs fitted, caliper repaired. Front suspension bushes to be done.

Nice xk120 in the background just in for a clean underneath

Cam covers coming off when the sumps back on, for new gaskets.Rear seal's done, front to be done along with new timing chain and adjuster. Should have it back in a week or so...

20/7/03 Well finally financial enough to get the rear main seal repaired...Ends up also needs rear caliper repaired,leaking,and the discs are undersize so getting new ones....and the pinion seal I did a few months ago has started weeping too...ho hum...Also with the cam covers needing doing and the front seal also highly suspect the engine is gonna have to come out ,and it needs new front tyres and an alignment ....But the good news is that all this is only going to be about $3500.plus tyres..Havent mentioned the timing chain adjuster to the mechanic yet so that 'll be a few hundred more from what Ive seen of the price of them.......Must try and get a few pics of the engine out and in bits...

12/12/02 Two other expat Kiwis I hadnt met before put this together from a good shell and a reasonable engine......Quite suprised how good the body was when I went to look at it...

After a painful first drive home with smoke billows and general bad running on a busy Saturday arvo in Sydney traffic, I drained the fuel tanks, flushed with a garden hose then clean petrol. First improvement.However the car wouldnt go over 50mph, and felt fuel starved. After adjusting carbs, replacing sticking needle valve on one I put an accessory fuel pump in line with the reconditioned (by PO) pump and found an immediate improvement. Opting not to shell out $880.00 for 2 new jag pumps I bought the biggest Holley available, a 15lb 'blue" with regulator.However installing this wasnt too straightforward. It requires the use of a changeover valve ala later model sedans, and a 12v relay to control either the supply to the pump or the solenoids for fuel return. At the moment this is only half done and Im running round on just the one tank, after forgetting about the relay needed and nearly having a boot(trunk) fire after backfeeding somewhere when switching tanks.

Removal and repair of both fuel guage sender units.Tricky little job resoldering the tiny little rheostat wires......

Replacement of rear crankshaft seal. Top priority when funds available! This is bad, oil pumps out straight on to the exhaust at speed leaving an embarrasing cloud of smoke in my wake...Will have repaired in a shop for round $900 using the sneaky Pete method. Probably get them to do the camcovers as well..In the meantime Ive wrapped some foil lined roof insulation around the offending pipe area to at least stop the smoke!

Get air-conditioning working. Hottest summer on record and not one vehicle with AC working...

Replace seating, currently blue velour! Personally I like cloth seats, never get too hot if car left in the sun, pity about the colour tho!

Change steering wheel for wooden variety. The originals a bit chipped, tho I find it better after removing the leather cover that was splitting...

	Plumbing nightmare !


	30 years old and still beautiful! (hope I can say the same about the g/f!)

Me on the folks Mk IV Jag in New Zealand about 1960..I remember it was a shortlived love affair,

one or two problems....