1972 Daimler Sovereign 4.2 Series 1

Right, a brief update. The dashboard in these Series 1's are a lovely looking thing. However, early XJ's looked even better as the dials had chrome rings as opposed to black rings. They didn't hang about for long, they were removed around the 1970 model year as they were said to cause glare/reflections. There was an early car being broken on the XJ group on Facebook so I put together a shopping list...



As soon as they turned up I got to work. Because the dials were from a 2.8 they weren't a straight swap as the speedo only goes to 120 but the red line is higher. I wanted to keep the mileage the same as well so this meant removing the dial faces from the body.



The faces are held on by metal tabs. By turning the faces to cutouts on the dial body you can remove them. I put lots of WD40 around the dial to help get things moving but also to preserve the thin rubber gasket between the glass and the body.

The middle dials are not separate units except for the clock. I dismantled both sets and used my dials and electrics with the chrome faces. The clock also has to be changed as the unit is different from the later one as fitted to mine. This clock isn't working but I will send this away for repair. I think you'll agree the chrome is an improvement...





I also changed the panel that the radio sits in. The radio is now integrated into this panel, I'm made up with the result.

Lovly looking car! Nice with the Chrome! The interior of the S1 is just such a nice place to be!

Any more news on this one? Just love this car.

Not much to report, mainly been enjoying driving.



Thankfully I never had to sell her in the end. The house we were looking at was too much to take on financially meaning we’d have had no hobbies or holidays etc. No good that! All sorted on the housing front now and, as one of my terms and conditions for moving, she has her own summer house to live in.



While we were on a camping trip to Betws y Coed back in June with the rest of our Retro Car Group, we were hit with a biblical torrential downpour. My pal following in his XJ couldn’t see my tail or brake lights. Doesn’t bear thinking about if it was a fully loaded artic behind....

I decided that, even though I don’t use the car in conditions like that normally, LEDs were the way forward.

I know EBay is flooded with them but I wanted some that would be reliable, bright and last the distance.

A friend of mine who has LEDs installed gave me the web address for Classic Car LEDs. I decided to change side, tail, reverse and interior lights. They arrived within 24 hours and I was delighted with them.

You could tell they were a quality item as soon as I opened the box. I’ve tried to illustrate the difference below but I can’t stress how much brighter they are! I’ve since swapped the reverse light ones for warm white as opposed to cool white which are a bit too modern looking for the old girl.

In the pics below the LEDs are installed on the drivers side compared to standard filaments on the passenger side. Side, tail and brake.







If you’re after some LED bulbs I can’t recommend these highly enough.

Thanks very much! It’s not the most interesting thread compared to some on here, mainly done as a visual service history. Which XJ have you got?



I bought both of these through Keith Parrington @ XJ Restorations. The Wishbone bushes are the only bushes recommended to be changed to Poly if you want to preserve the ride quality. The shocks are fantastic and easy to adjust to what you want after a few spins around the block. Another job well worthwhile doing is Polybushing the steering rack bushes. Sharpens the steering feel up no end.

When changing the wishbone bushes, the top ones are fairly easy. The bottom ones with the pins going through the sub frame can be an absolute ar5e to put it mildly, you’ll need lots of heat if they refuse to move.



I know Kenlowe have now stopped producing these electric cooling fans for Classic Cars now, I’ll have the invoice if you need the details of it. My alternator copes well with the extra load and you can set the fan to come on automatically with a temperature control knob under the bonnet. It was quite easy to install by following the wiring diagram, I think I still have that too. Let me know if you need pics of the install, I’m going to my Man Cave tomorrow.

Hadn't spotted this thread before, what a lovely old motor!

That old fashioned white is so much easier on the eyes than the kitchen appliance type white of modern cars, and it looks fantastic on some of the low light photos, great atmosphere.

I'm glad to read that you've been able to hang on it. I miss my old XJ lots and lots (albeit a much more modern x300) and reading threads like this help me get my fix!

Thanks for your answer! I did my steering rack bushes with poly already, definitely makes a big difference as you say. Guess I'll be getting myself some more poly bushes! On the Kenlowe front I was mainly wondering what size you fit, find it hard to judge how big is big enough.

Beautiful old car and great to see such an enthusiastic owner looking after her!

Quite a while has passed since the last update and the tough old Jag (ok, Daimler) has pretty much performed to its usual high standards. Lots of trips done again last year, never missed a beat.



















One thing that had been bugging me for a while was a clunk when the box would shift from 2nd to 1st. It’s a Borg Warner 65 in this car from the later XJ, not an 8 or 12 that it should have. I gave the box an oil and filter change and after doing this and also adjusting the kickdown cable, things improved but it was still there.



A quick check underneath of the prop shaft centre bearing and mounting and the prop driveshaft UJ’s (all 7 of them) revealed that they were looking a little bit tired. So, with a big service pencilled in anyway before our trip to Snowdonia with our other Classic Car buddies, I decided to overhaul all of these too.





Astonishingly, everything came apart remarkably easy, even the rear hubs. Before breaking everything down into its component parts for a thorough clean, I initially paint marked everything before removal, then marking what went where with a punch once it was on the bench.









After a thorough clean in the parts washer the shafts were masked off and then treated to a coat of black Hammerite before the messy job of reassembly.











I also replaced all the mounting bushes and the ball race of the prop shaft centre bearing.







Once everything was reinstalled the driveline felt superb, far tighter. However, the clunk, although minor, was still there. It was only after seeking advice of a few people who know these cars better than I do that Jags with the BW65/66 auto ‘all do that’. Pays heed to do your homework! Ah well, still a worthwhile exercise. I learnt some new swear words too.



I had also noticed the car had become a bit harder to start from cold. Normally you pull the choke out (I fitted a manual override onto the AED not long after I got it) and she fires up first time, every time. A check inside the AED filter chamber revealed a nice big chunk of rubber that had decided to make itself at home in there. I hadn’t changed the rubber fuel hoses since 2014 and this told me they were obviously breaking down internally. I decided that during this period in dry dock, all the rubber fuel hoses would be replaced with ethanol resistant ones. I also changed the fuel filters. I’ve got 3 on this, the factory one inside a glass bowl after the pumps and before the carbs and some aftermarket in line ones fitted before each pump on each fuel tank.





The oil pressure sender was also sacked after deciding it didn’t like working. Disappointingly, the no doubt Chinese replacement has decided it prefers part time working to full time so more investigation is needed there.



After all this work was done she once again performed faultlessly all year, including our annual trip to Snowdonia. She even go to star in a music video for the supremely talented artist Robert Vincent, the video and ‘backstage’ shots you can see below.











This year, although there is stuff I want to do to it, it will just be a service. I want to get my little Triumph project on the road at the latest by the end of Summer so any major improvements will have to wait for the time being. I do have a few things I’d like to address before the Sunbeam returns to the nest as that will be in the workshop for a considerable stretch as it goes back together, meaning that I need to address any major stuff on the Jag before its return. Hopefully I can get her into the workshop this coming Winter for some much needed TLC.