Another jag...

Whilst restoring a Mark 2 jaguar I bought this XJ6 rather impulsively. Although it's "only" a 2.8 (the engine notorious for blowing out its pistons) I found it very interesting because it had already undergone quite a lot of work and there were lots of spare parts. The price was right too. For the entire car, I only paid about one third of the price of the repair works. The gentleman who owned it before me had already sorted out the paperwork.

Just to give you an idea about the works done and the works at hand:

To do list (preliminary)
- repair dent above right front light
- repair small dents (bonnet, sides)
- repair or replace power steering pump (doesn't seem to be helping much)
- sort out electrics (some lamps aren't working, others stay on, some switches are stuck)
- try to repair leaky left petrol tank
- try to repair right petrol tank gauge
- replace cam cover gaskets (leaky) + check valve clearances
- try to find out why water temp and oil pressure gauges are giving a high reading
- replace flasher unit (acting weird)
- repair leaky heater (disconnected by previous owner) - "dashboard out job" - maybe revarnish dashboard at the same time.
- test brakes extensively
- repair rattle from prop shaft and align it
- test and if necessary correct compression, timing, carburetters - but all of that seems pretty good.
- replace front seat belts
- repair scar in black dashboard surround
- sort out rattles and loose bits and ends

Expensive, time consuming or optional things I might not do
- replace seat covers + driver's door trim
- new paint job (paint is old and worn)
- repairing some rust starting in the doors, under the bumpers...
- ideally, fit a new bonnet
- replace windscreen rubbers
- replace brake discs and possibly change the rubbers etc
- replace suspension bushes
- tyres
- belts and hoses
- lamp gaskets and lenses

Done in 2006
- new door rubbers
- new headlining
- welding and rust treatment for most of the underside and chassis of the car ("good for another 20 years according to the mechanic's letter)
- new rear view mirrors
- radiator cleaning
- maintenance (sometimes long overdue)
- placed a couple of simple seat belts
- replaced brake pads, aligned brake discs
- replaced most of the exhaust + silentblocks
- front wheel bearings etc replaced
- lots of silent blocks replaced
- computer geometry check
- cleaning and tuning of carburettors
- misc. bodywork repairs

All in all, quite a list. It would be a shame to let all this work go to waste, so I'll try to keep this car in a good state. Whether I'll decide to sell it when the Mk II is ready is still under consideration. I'm very thankful I have a big garage :-)