My new Jag.

[Manky Monkey]

Flap & I spent the afternoon at my brother's workshop on a farm in Marlborough today. I've been given a 4.2 straight 6, auto, fuel injected XJ 6 Jag as an engine donor for my hotrod project. We've got to pull it apart fairly soon & get rid of the remains, but obviously had to test drive it first so spent a happy half hour hooning around the farmyard in best Dukes of Hazzard fashion. No jumps unfortunately but lots of wheel spinning & slidey cornering. Whoo hoo! That's going to be SOO quick in a featherweight 2 seater fibreglass bodied rod!
Took one look at the fuel injection setup with hoses & wires all over the place -& decided to bin it & fit a bank of 3 polished SU carbs instead. Don't need the power steering or the heater or the air con either. Air conditioning? It won't even have a roof I also pulled out the lovely cream leather rear seat. Going to make myself a very comfy new sofa for my flat. Just needs a tubular framework made up & powder coated.
Going back next week to carry on disembowling it.

[Manky Monkey]

.

[wizzkitt]

SACRILEGE!!!!

[flap]

It is sacrilege. It was a great car. It was either this or give it a roof chop, lower it and paint it Matt black. 

[Manky Monkey]

How DOES she do that big writing thing?
Yeah, we did toy with the idea of chopping it or even cabrioleting it! Gorgeous car to drive. First time I've tried an automatic -interesting! Got a Sport option on the gearbox -press a button & it won't change up until it redlines. The engine is physically hee-uge. Gawd knows how we're going to cram it all into the rod chassis. The results will be either an enormous grin inducing experience or a white knuckle ride of terror.    Need any spares Wizz?

[wizzkitt]

After seeing what you're doing to the Jag I definitely ain't going to tell you how to do the big writing, ^or_how<sup>to_dothis or this.

My Jag is also a 4.2 auto. Never look under the bonnet, but because there's plenty of bonnet, I assume there's plenty of engine. Trying to think if there's any spares we need - the boot gas struts might be useful because mine doesn't work and you have to be careful not to decapitate yourself.

Why was it off the road in the first place? What was wrong with it?</sup>

[Manky Monkey]

Already taken the bonnet struts off & put them aside, just cos they looked useful -no bonnet, boot or doors on the rod, just climb over the side to get in. Just as well it'll only be 2 inches off the ground! Boot struts are yours madam. We need the engine, gearbox, prop, maybe the back axle, pedals. Think that's about it. The motor is enormous, like a truck engine, but runs really sweetly. The fan shroud was clattering a bit against the blades after I hit a farmyard pothole a little too enthusiastically & Flap nearly slid it into the slurry pit, but should go in the rod with just a quick wash & brush up. Not going to poke around inside the casings if we don't need to.
The previous owner is the guy who bought my Triumph. Bugger won't let me have it back for less then 3 grand. It's sat in the corner of Steve's workshop just gathering dust. Such a waste of a gorgeous bike. He picked up the Jag as a running MOT failure for 20 quid cos he wanted one of the rear door glasses -then broke it getting it out. So it's been sat on the farm for a few weeks with the interior getting wet but still basically sound. Anything else you want cos it'll be scrapped once we've scavenged what we need? 
I really gotta figure that big, small writing thing out.

[wizzkitt]

Great cars to drive - I love mine, although it is, like all Jags, thirsty. Last car I expected to like. The FYM insisted I took it when I went up to my Mum's a few months ago, much to my reluctance because it's the size of a small county. I really didn't want to drive it ... by the time I'd done a hundred miles I loved it. Have never given it back. 

And I drive it a lot slower than anything else we own - because I can. 

[Urban Terrorist]

hate the bloody things!! On good thing is spiking the tanks of the ones owned by flash toffs

[Manky Monkey]

How do you tell the flash toffs from the Manky ones?

[summer]

do you need the seats mister? can I have the seats please mister?

jags are yummy

wish I could afford an XK140 tho

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Manky Monkey]

I've already baggsied the rear seat. Lovely unblemished cream leather. Going to make a framework for it in either powdercoated steel tube or, as Steve is a jolly clever carpenter & joiner type chappy, that wood stuff, & instal it as a very classy sofa in my little flat -complete with fold down arm rest Was in "Cargo" this afternoon & they sell a club style chair that would match it perfectly.
The front seats are incredibly comfy & are fully electric -as you said in another thread, be wary of electrics, especially electric chairs! But Steve keeps saying they'd be pretty cool mounted on a chrome plated base with a control panel so you could move 'em up & down & back & forth. I'd toyed with using them in my hotrod but don't think they'd really suit, or fit, it. Only damage is to the edge piping on the driver's one, but I happen to know an auto upholsterer in Newbury who I'm sure could fix that.
Yours if you want 'em Hon. Err, why?
About 15 to 20 years ago when I was married, (God, was it really that long ago?!), I used to work cash in hand in the afternoons for a neighbour who restored Jags for a living. I was only a grease monkey doing odd jobs in the workshop but got to drive a couple of restored XK120 dropheads, (soft tops), & a few mark 2s. The twos were my favourites. Gorgeously sumptious motors & I could pretend to be a villain from The Sweeney. The bad guys always drove a white Jag cos the Beeb had some library footage of one crashing over a cliff that was used in countless 60s & 70s chase sequences. Not many cliffs in Reagan's manor though. I'll shut up shall I?

[wizzkitt]

The rear seat will make a nice sofa - cheapest leather sofa you'll ever have! You could get the front seat mounted on frames too (not sure about installing the electrics too - I can't even work the ones I have in my Jag, but then again I've never had a car with [four/i] electric controls to adjust the seat!!). My Mum has a couple of Lotus Elan seats made into 'proper' seats in her office.

[Manky Monkey]

Didn't actually find the seat controls but Steve told me they were & he knows just about everything. We were too busy racing round the farm in it pretending to be Bo & Luke Duke. I actually had a quick look on Ebay last night to see if I could find a 500 quid bargain XJ6. If you spot one let me know cos I'd be seriously interested in buying one now.
I was thinking of mounting the front seats on 70s style swivel bases, but my compact & bijou flatlet ain't big enough for the full 3 piece Jag suite.

[wizzkitt]

You probably could pick one up for around that, but, to be honest, I wouldn't advise it. At around 15-18mpg I couldn't afford to run mine as my only car. I know you probably wouldn't do that much mileage but they are expensive to run. Then again, what other luxury motor can you pick up so cheaply? Mine probably cost around £40,000 new (and it's a F-reg), and we sure as hell didn't pay that for it. But there is a reason why they're cheap, and that's because they do cost to run.