Newby here with some questions please !

[cass3958]

Mine is all chipped Glyn but after this photo was taken. I was very care full to lower the bonnet down with the stay catch held open with my fingers until the hook was through the hole then I would push down on the leaper to close it. Then my son closed my bonnet for me one day and as they say the rest is history. I must repaint it and think of a way of protecting it. May be a clear plastic ring of some kind around the hole?

[Glyn Ruck]

Yes. I was thinking of touching up & placing some sort of protection on the hole edge with Tectyl under it. At the moment it has a smear of grease on it to keep the tin rot away.

[Fredomusicman]

I'm on 3 different manual 3.8L+OD LHD without rust:

- BRG + Beige/Cream, Motor renewed but Cream trim at the very end, and I don't find a replacement (I also asked John skinner and I'm waiting for the offer), huge cost then, saddler.
- Carmen red + Beige/Cream, very nice trim and wood ! Painted not for a long time (I have to get pictures before and while restoration..). Red is not really my color, but really in good condition.
- White + Tan, not really my colors..
All 3 are between 5.h30 and 6h30 to drive, and not in the same directions .

None of them met all my specifications, appart the first one, but if I arrive to 7-10 000€ costs at the saddler, I will arrive to the cost of a MK2.

This is a selection from 11 different 3.8S and 3.4S manuals.

[Fredomusicman]

Hi,
For the first one (BRG): I still not have the VIN, but he says it's BW and should be DN. Yeah clear.. May be it was also a 3.4L ? And went from RHD to LHD ? Not clear at all... Engine number is 7B65046-8. I found nothing on Saloon.collectordata or XKdata. But 7B for S, 5 digits for 3.8L and 8 for compression, but from/for which car ?

[cass3958]

Hi,
For the first one (BRG): I still not have the VIN, but he says it's BW and should be DN. Yeah clear.. May be it was also a 3.4L ? And went from RHD to LHD ? Not clear at all... Engine number is 7B65046-8. I found nothing on Saloon.collectordata or XKdata. But 7B for S, 5 digits for 3.8L and 8 for compression, but from/for which car ?

According to our records on the register 7B65046-8 should be a car from around April 1968 to one of the last cars to be made. It should be a LHD 3.8. The suffix BW would mean an Automatic and the DN would be a manual overdrive.

If it is a 1968 car it will benefit from the BW35 gearbox and if it is power steering it should also have the Marles Adwest Variomatic power steering box both of which are desirable in my opinion. Buying new leather seat covers for the car although expensive is a lot cheaper than fixing body work and paint work.

Being a 1968 car you should check that the seats are actually leather and not vinyl. Jaguar replaced a lot of the leather with a material called Ambla. Ambla is a vinyl and I have it in my 1968 3.4 and to be truthful it is as good now as it was 54 years ago when it was new. In contrast 54 year old leather unless well looked after and treated with a moisturiser would have dried up and cracked by now. Both Ambla and leather seat covers are easily purchased as replacements and not too hard to fit over a weekend but you will also have to replace the foams under the cover as well. I replaced my foams a couple of years ago and had no problems using the correct tools. I am not an upholsterer but found it easy.

[Glyn Ruck]

Hi,
For the first one (BRG): I still not have the VIN, but he says it's BW and should be DN. Yeah clear.. May be it was also a 3.4L ? And went from RHD to LHD ? Not clear at all... Engine number is 7B65046-8. I found nothing on Saloon.collectordata or XKdata. But 7B for S, 5 digits for 3.8L and 8 for compression, but from/for which car ?

Many BW automatic cars have been converted to Manual OD (DN) because its quite easy but never looks right. They have a wider tunnel for the Auto but you can cut a hole in it for the gear lever & while it is wrong it's covered by the console. The pedals are easy to change to give you a clutch. This was one of my donors that got caught n a brush fire lying on the ground ~ what a mess. Fortunately I had all the bits I wanted from it but a nice set of instruments got destroyed.

Like this.

IMG_20180219_082108 - Copy.jpg (2.52 MiB) Viewed 1776 times

This is what a Manual should have.

$_57g.JPG (296.63 KiB) Viewed 1770 times

[Fredomusicman]

For new leather I have to take in account a budget of 7 000€, confirmed by another Saddler. Ok, But I think I will stuck on a original DN, and not a converted BW.
So I'm on another beautifull one, nothing to do. But the XK has already 135 000km/85 000mls, may be at his end ? And no seat bells (100-150$), no wire wheels (3 200€), sport wood steering wheel (500-600€).

[Fredomusicman]

I have another newby question.... Of the fact that the S type have a steering box and not a rack. Do they have play in the Steering ? (I mean like old US cars ?..) or not.
The car i will try next, and to buy, has no PAS.
Thanks !

[cass3958]

The S Type does not have from factory rack and pinion steering although some have had this fitted as an upgrade. I say upgrade as there are some potential problems with setting up rack and pinion, getting the tracking correct along with Ackerman angles and so on. Personally I do not think there is anything wrong with the factory designed steering box and steering arms. The main difference I think between rack and pinion steering and a steering box set up is movement in the system caused by wear and tear. As the steering box set up has so many moving parts, at least 6 potential wear points and because of its age(50 plus years old) there can be some movement in the system. The rack and pinion steering has the same number of wear points but is deemed to be more modern, possibly newer and less hassle but this is not necessarily true.
If the steering box system is maintained correctly ie the joints are greased, replaced if worn, the steering box refurbished then the original steering box system is as good if not better than a rack and pinion system that was not designed for the S Type in the first place.
My system has been fully rebuilt as has Glyn's and we both have no movement with nice taut direct steering using the original steering box and arms system.

Upgrading from a non PAS system in an S Type to a modernish PAS system from a later S type or from a 420 is not a big or expensive job once you have sourced the parts. Once changed over some of the expense of buying the parts can be off set by selling the old parts.

[Glyn Ruck]

Concur entirely.