Jaguar XJS progress.

Up date;   we've been working on the Jag welding up holes in bulkheads to conform with safety rules.  We've found the regular MIG welding  is extremely hard.  Too easy to burn through no matter how low we go on heat.   Too slow and the wire doesn't feed smoothly,  and we are using the smallest wire available.   TIG welding on sheet metal is a real battle  until we went to silicon bronze.  That's working very nice.  If you polish it just a bit it looks like the brazing  done on the XKE.   So we're real happy with that.  
    I'm stiff and sore so We put in a great day and are very happy with the work we've got done today.  
      Tomorrow.  We'll put the new trunk floor in.  
 Nothing wrong with the old trunk floor except we don't need to carry two sets of golf clubs.   So we cut it out to allow the heat from the inboard brake disks  to escape. ( and we probably removed at least 3 or 4 pounds of metal too).  
 

In reply to frenchyd :

The trunk is in and I'm cleaning up the bottom. Jeff did his typical  beautiful job with a difficult situation.  Made a little easier with the work laid out flat in front him instead of needed to just about stand on his head  to get access to weld things. 

In another post you were wondering about an early 90s Jag V12 engine. Today a guy I’ve come across before mentioned a Jag V12 at the used parts emporium. I just happened to be headed there and it is right where he said it is. Here is Prescott Valley AZ. I snapped a pic of the VIN so you can confirm if it is what you are looking for.

In reply to L5wolvesf :

 Thank you.  

In 1993 Jaguar went from from 5.3 liters to 6.0 liters.  That gained an extra 50+ horsepower, more torque, built to a much more exact tolerance reflecting better production practices.  
 Plus a few other advantages. Compression was lowered from 11.5-10.5  which on the surface seems to be a backward step.  ( but it's not).  Bigger oil volume, and getting rid of the distributor  to rely on more accurate and easier adjusting electronic firing.  Unlike older distributors,  Jaguar can't simply be loosened and retightened  when the best timing is found.   
  The engine must be stopped, distributor cap and rotor remover,  3 Allen head bolts  loosened.  A guess made how much to advance or retard it, everything reassembled.  And the timing is checked at the bottom of the engine.  Not up top where it's easy to see.  
      In 1993& 94  the engine was still using the forged crank shaft. By late 1995 -96-97 The last batch of V12's had switched to Sintered iron.  Which while perfectly acceptable for normal driving. The strain of racing at full throttle is not likely to survive.   

Up date; more work on the XJS.   The raised trunk floor turned out exactly as we envisioned. Now we spent the weekend matching body lines with it giving the hot air from the inboard rear brakes a clear exit path.  
 Intake air will be from a pair of NACA ducks in each rear window. One blowing air from the differential side and the other at the caliper.  
    Most tracks such extraordinary  efforts wouldn't be required. But with Elkhart Lake as my favorite place to race there are 3 long straights followed by tight corners to really heat up  the brakes and a Total of 14 corners in 4 miles.  That's a massive amount of heat generated. 

 The last few weeks Jeff and I are slowly doing the fine tuning on the body work. By raising the trunk floor we are providing a much better path for the heat from the inboard brakes to get out  and maybe as well reducing turbulence a bit which helps drag reduction.  
    This is more cosmetic then any serious attempt at making the car faster.  But since the original trunk was designed to hood two complete sets of golf clubs ( and I don't play golf).  It's like  flipping off those who's priorities I disagree with.  ;-) 

       But I love how it follows what Group 44 did to their rear ends. 

I am looking forward to this thing coming together.  I can only imagine what one of those v12s sounds like when it is wide open.  I have dual stainless flacon exhaust on our xk120 with a xk150 motor in it and the sounds are great!

Thank you. we hope to add a little to the sound because I'm going to put brass megaphones on it to really a some volume to the sound.  

In reply to frenchyd :

Ya snoze  ya loss.  608 bd ft black walnut   Plus a 8" jointer  

 Better hurry while some is left

This is all that's left.  

Are you building an xjs woody?

Going real classy with the interior trim perhaps?

In reply to johndej :

I'm trying to give away wood so I have room to work without having to move 47 things first. 

In reply to frenchyd :

I really like the raised trunk. As well as the reasons! 
 

Sure wish I was available to relieve you of a fair bit of your woodpile. A lot nicer than my choices down here!

frenchyd said:

In reply to johndej :

I'm trying to give away wood so I have room to work without having to move 47 things first. 

My dads buddy got elderly and sick and gave a ton of hardwood to my dad.  He made a lot of crafty things.  

We cleaned his basement out when my dad was sick and I got the hardwood  

Somedays I look at my wood collection thinking about who I can pass it down to.  I'm only using so much at a time and Country Crafts aren't as popular any more

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

Most of the wood was originally going on the floor but my new wife insisted I buy pre-made wood flooring because of her feet.   
       So far I've given away most of about 3000 bd ft.  With roughly 8000 left.   Considering I started with over 50,000 ( I've got a record someplace of everything).  
 If I don't find a home in a couple of years I'll give it to habitat for Humanity. Maybe along with the wood working equipment.  

03Panther said:

In reply to frenchyd :

I really like the raised trunk. As well as the reasons! 
 

Sure wish I was available to relieve you of a fair bit of your woodpile. A lot nicer than my choices down here!

I'm doing a few other tricks to the body work.  Trying to decide if I'm going to open up the exhaust notches to take the brass megaphones I'm going to use.  Or leave them the original ( smaller ) size and just hang the megaphones below them.  

obsolete said:

I vote maximum flares. When I think of a low-budget Jaguar XJS race car, this is the benchmark:

Woah. 

In reply to kevinatfms :

If you are familiar with Group 44's Jaguar XJS , that's who made my flairs.  So it will be a tribute car to theirs.  I'll get it very close to their car with the exception  of the megaphones  out the back.  

There it is! Just saw a random YouTube video on lemans Jags and made me think of what is Mguar up to. Figured I'd bump this and your other thread for your (nieces?) car build. Hope all is well up north in the summer. 

Slow progress this year on the XJS.  I thought I would have the whole summer to work on it but I'm still driving the school bus at least until August 3rd. What time I do have is occupied with the honey do list. 

My Group 44 Tribute. 

Original factory V12 manual. 

Now running Jaguar V8 Supercharged with a manual gearbox 

This was in a Hemmings article... made me think of ol' Frenchie...

Over 600 HP from a supercharged V12 backed by a 6 speed manual.  Sounds like fun... except for the $282K starting price and only 88 will be produced.