A few weeks ago, I noticed a bad sound emanating from the front driver side. A rumbly-screech noise. Wasn't linked to braking, and was pronounced at low speed and turning, and only occassionally. This isn't the sort of sound to ignore (and sadly, I know people who would). I figured a bearing had gone, so I purchased a set of replacements and finally got the time among my many other projects to pull the XJ40 into the garage this afternoon and jack it up.

There was a slight amount of play in the bearing - holding the elevated wheel at the top and bottom and rocking it could rack just slightly.

Off came the wheel (after marking a hole and mating stud), with the lugnuts being laid out in an order matching the studs (I loosen all slightly in a star alternation, then fully remove them). Pad retaining spring, bolts retaining the caliper assembly to the carrier, bolts retaining the carrier to the hub. I set out a gallon paint can to lay the caliper assembly on.

Rotating the rotor produced that grinding noise - but no brake caliper or anything to rub, so clearly a bearing. I removed the grease cap, cotter, castle nut frame, nut, keyed washer, and outer bearing, then pulled the rotor assembly.

I had to liberally spray the inner bearing and work it by hand to get the baked-in grease to loosen enough to slip it off the shaft. Yup, the inner bearing was shot - two of the spacers on the framing between the roller bearings were worn away, and the whole thing was a bit tight and seemed as if it had been run almost to dry (it wasn't, but clearly it was insufficiently lubricated).

I cleaned things up, then greased up the replacement with Mobil 1 synthetic grease, and slid it on, greased more, then cleaned and inspected the inner race on the rotor, which seemed in good shape (no scoring, or discolouration), so I didn't fret with pulling it. Yea, I know, I should replace the race with the bearing. I'll do that if and when I go to replace the front rotor hubs, ok? Repeated the process with the outer bearing (even though it inspected as okay). It's enough that I'm not replacing the passenger side set as well, but I'm not going to replace JUST the inner bearing.

I wiped and blew some debris from the speed sensor interruptor on the hub, then reassembled everything, basically the reverse of the disassembly process.

BTW, I need to pick up some stainless safety wire, because the caliper carrier mount bolts were not wired (and, not having any wire right now - though I have the tool - I can't replace them).

Lastly, after mounting the wheel - with the grease cap still off - I racked it slightly to ensure the bearings were fully seated, then used a 24mm socket on the bearing nut and hand tightened it (hand on socket - not using a wrench), then replaced the castle crown and drove a cotter and bent it over, then replaced and seated the dust cap.

Down on floor and out for a test drive - no more grumble/squeal.
Removed the grease cap,

In my wanderings this afternoon, I came across a LeMans Blue 1994 XJ220, for sale, and the price was too good to pass up.

She's Lemans Blue - looks nearly black until the light hits it just right.

One would think the seller would have taken the time to detail it to maximize the sale value, but given what he was asking when I encountered it this afternoon, I knew I just had to add it to my collection, so I bought it right then and there.

There is appreciable scuffing on the passenger side air dam, and a botched paint touchup on the rear on the same side. The outboard edge of the driver side mirror is also scuffed, as if someone learned how to drive by gunning it down a narrow corridor. Probably the worst of it is that the driver side mirror (mounted just forward of the door) is missing - I rather doubt I'll ever manage to find an original to replace it.

All four Bridgestone Expedia S-01 (25545ZR17 on the front, 345/35ZR18 in the rear) have good tread, and the suspension seems sound.

Now the trick will be keeping my children from screwing it up.

http://jaguar.professional.org/snaps/index.php?dirname=xj220/

Okay, so it is a 1:18 diecast replica. Still...


Here's a link to one that sold on eBay:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/jaguar-xj220-on-ebay-motors/758640/


The same seller also had a 1:43 replica of a silver 1988 Jaguar XJ-S V12 Convertible, which I also picked up. The forward bodywork was a bit loose, but tightening a screw on the underside quickly remedied that. The interior doesn't look to spec though: burgundy seats and black trim. Wheels are chrome starfish.

This past March or so, the front end of the XJ40 was mushed - the driver side (LHS) headlamp was busted (though at the time, both bulb elements were functional), the grille was mashed, and there was some bonnet and fender crumple.

The incident was caused by some nimrod buzzing across a freeway onramp, which was a turn from the lane I was in -- the light turned green, traffic started to move, and as the car in front of me pulled away, I started to accelerate -- then everybody stopped because the bicylist zipped across the onramp (which I wasn't even turning onto - but the lane I was in had access). Smusholla. Since I rearended the car in front of me, it's deemed my fault, and because I don't carry comprehensive coverage (it's a rip-off), the repairs to my car weren't covered.

I've been just too busy to deal with things - which isn't good, because I should have made it a priority to fix. A couple of months ago, I bid on and won a LHS headlamp assembly on eBay, and the very same day I closed on that, I managed to get a "fix it" ticket in Santa Rosa while returning from taking my son to get a CAT scan from a head injury. The citing officer (who pulled me over for no reason other than the headlamp) said I'd probably have to return to Santa Rosa to have an officer there sign off on the repair, because their office gets the revenue from the fix-it (there's a fee regardless). Joy.

My back has been killing me for the past week, but today, I trudged out and proceeded to disassemble the front flip of the XJ40, bending the bonnet, fender, and some other bits using a large C-clamp and piece of cork gasket making material to prevent messing up the paint (not that I was expecting to restore things to pristine shape, but if I can avoid flecking the paint, it'll just be rippled, but not promote rust).

The bonnet now "pops" properly when the release it pulled, though while removing it to bend things, I torqued it down on the passenger side (RHS) headlamp and split the mounting plane. Fsck! I removed that, drilled some holes, and passed rebar tie wire through it, twisted it tight, and reassembled. Good as new - or at least, nobody would know until they disassemble it, and by the time they're doing that, it's probably to replace the headlamp assembly for some reason.

I installed the driver side headlamp assembly, and did a best effort at adjusting the aim, though I note that the low beam doesn't seem that bright. I suspect that it's a non-halogen replacement bulb. I need to pull and check, get a proper replacement.

As a result of some percussive maintenance on the bumper trim, I managed to knock the front turn signal bulb silly - so I need to replace that bulb as well.

I hammered the kink out of the grille trim, and removed the grille inserts - taking the hosed one out to the barn and setting up a little jig to keep the fins spaced properly. I cut some rebar tie wire to length, and dropped those into the channels on the back sides of the grille fins and filled them with epoxy, while clamping them. The idea is that the wire should help to keep the parts rigid and lined up even if the epoxy doesn't hold across the original break effectively. Put another way, it should keep the original break lines in the grille from being too highly stressed.

So, that's setting up out in the barn, and otherwise, the XJ40 is back together (pending a new halogen lowbeam bulb and a replacement turn signal lamp).

I replaced the windshield wiper with the new Bosch one, so I'm better prepared for the winter weather now.

I need to tweak the mounting of the marker lamp bumper segment on the passenger side - apparently, it is the source of the rattle sound I've been attributing to the shock mount.

Next up: I need to see if a highway patrol office will sign off on the lamp repair and spare me the trip clear to Santa Rosa.

I posted a few messages on the Jag-Lovers XJ40 list and got some useful information. Tackled removal of the tank on Saturday afternoon, though it started raining just after I got it out, which was unfair. I had confirmed that the pump ran, and also had about a 2.5 ohm resistance across the pins of the connector (the one INSIDE the tank). Decided that it was obviously a duff intermediate connector at the evaporative flange and that there was no reason to replace the pump itself.

Cleaned the connections on the intermediate connector and on Sunday morning (which was bright and sunny), went about reassembling the tank and getting it back into the XJ40.

That proved to be more of a chore than removal.

Needed to use some spray contact adhesive (3M "Super 77") to affix the foam seal back onto the base of the tank (around the two fuel fittings). Getting it all back in with the fuel filler tray took a few attempts. Basically, you've got to insert it nearly straight in - not one side before the other. I removed the brackets which the retaining straps had connected to to ensure I had a little more wiggle room.

While in the boot with all the carpeting removed, I also took the time to re-seat the grommets on both sides, and to feed an aftermarket CD changer wiring through the grommet on the RHS - the idiot that had installed it originally (prior to my ownership) had popped the grommet and run the wire through the opening, rather than taking the time to do it properly and squeeze the several wires in through the grommet. What good is a grommet if the wires are still dangling free to chafe on the metal edges of the opening?

Chocked the front wheels, jacked the rear up, put it on stands, checked that the load was set, then slid underneath to connect the fuel fittings (which I'd cleaned off while the tank was out, both to make it easier to see where the retaining pins were to go, but also so as not to introduce any crud into the connection). RHS one is the fuel supply and is the larger hose, LHS one is the return line, and is smaller. LHS (which appeared to my right in photographs due to being on my back with legs out the back side of the auto) is the first one to go on, otherwise the hose for the RHS one would interfere with sliding the locking clip on. It seated easily enough, and while getting the clip in was tricky, it went in fairly quickly. The supply side however proved annoying just trying to get the connector to seat. I eventually resorted to taking a roughly 12" long piece of scrap wood something less than a 1x1" in dimension), pinning that against the back of the plug and tapping the end with a hammer. Once I was sure it was seated, I then contorted my body to attempt to get the retaining clip back on. Ultimatley, a set of locking forceps proved to be the best tool. What I need to do is increase my selection of medical tools - a set of long locking forceps with a 90' relationship between the handle and the nose would be ideal for the confines of that space.

I didn't end up smearing the rubber gasket with petrolium jelly before reassembly of the tank, which is something I'd postulated doing on the J-L list.

When all assembled, she started up, and I took her for a drive to the next community north, filled the tank, and returned home without incident. Here's to hoping it'll remain reliable.

Also, since the SLS was disabled on my car prior to my ownership, and while fixing a power steering leak, I deleted the pump, I finally also removed the SLS relay. Prior to this, while the rear was jacked way up and I was testing the pump Saturday evening by having it connected to the harness danging outside the boot, the battery voltage dropped too low, and then the parking lights were flickering while a clickity-click sound was heard in the cab. This continued even after the ignition was turned off and the key removed. The parking lamps hadn't been turned on either.

So, in the end, no new parts used to get it back running - which is a relief given that the one breaker I'd gotten in touch with quoted me US$400 for a _used_ pump and evap flange.

Wednesday, the fuel pump gave out. I spent about 30 minutes fidgeting with the connector, checking voltage, bypassing the fuel pump relay (jumper between terminals 30 and 87 on the yellow socket), no joy.

So, it looks as if I'll need to siphon the tank (which, thanks to recent drops in the cost of petrol, is virtually full), pull it, and remove the internal pump.

I've called around to try to source a replacement pump, but as of yet have not found one. If the darned thing were easier to get to, it would be less of an issue to pop it out and see if I couldn't fix it - but no, if I've got to deal with pulling it, I need to have a replacement on hand so I can just get her running again quick.

I started by emptying the boot (did that Wednesday), then dismounted the CD Changer, removed the carpeting from the left rear (part of which covers the fuel filler), disconnected various electrical wires and hoses, removed the spare wheel bracket, and loosened the two retaining straps for the tank.

I have to jack the car and disconnect some hoses from underneath the tank - which is situated above the IRS. Then I'll be able to extract the tank, open the flange and check the pump.

I mixed up some epoxy and fixed the broken retainer around one of the pins in the electrical plug (the 2.5 foot wire running from the harness to the connector on the evaporative flange).