1994 Jaguar xj6 Gold (xj40)

Right, well here’s my first write up, this isn’t my first project as I have a heap of different things in the garage and on the workbench at any given time. My problem is motivation, I am really good at starting stuff but after the initial buzz I usually get distracted by something else, start that then get stuck, move on to something else and so on. I find a lot of motivation on this site so I’d like to put something back and I hope to use this thread to keep tabs on my plans and progress.



Here’s the Jag, I’ve not had it a month yet after swapping a BMW 330Ci for it. I wasn’t after one of these cars in particular but I have a thing for 3 box saloons and it ticked none of the boxes in the “sensible ideas” section of the life choices handbook so that was a good enough reason to have a go. Also it got plus points for being able to hold my large bass guitar case in the boot, a major win over the 330!


So far I’ve done 500miles in it (it’s only got 63k on the clock!), getting about 20mpg. All I’ve done so far is put fuel in it, give it a quick inspection and had it through a carwash where I broke the auto erecting ariel (fud). For a huge car it drives really well, I’m quite surprised how well goes round corners and picks up when you flatten the pedal. I expected way more body roll and the acceleration keeps surprising me. It’s definitely got that “older” car vibe but it keeps up with the modern traffic well.


It does have some issues, other than the broken ariel, it leaks in front (or as it should be phrased with this type of vehicle “she’s taking on water forward of the bridge”) probably from the crusty bulkhead. The rubber mounts for the radiator are totally perished so I’m not sure what the rest of the rubbers will be like. It came with no service history and the mot history shows some spectacular fails in the past so hopefully it’s not too trashed underneath. There’s no immediate handling issues, clunks or whines to indicate anything drastic though.



So my plans with it are:

• First off use it as a daily driver while I clear out* the other projects (it’ll get a service along the way).
  
  *This “clear out” requires sprucing up two cars to sell on, servicing and tidying up the wife’s daily driver, rebuilding a tractor engine, then rebuilding the rest of the tractor, fabricating some loader mounts for the same. I’ve then got my sights on getting my old Series 3 Land Rover back on the road and use that as my daily. The wife’s also just given birth to our second child so looking at the workload I think the Jag should get some garage time by Saturday, next decade.
  
  
• I’m keen to do a bit of restoration work on the Jag though, it's going to need some welding and rust repair.
• Give the brakes an overhaul as they aren't that impressive.
  
• Get some wheels with a bit of dish as those standard alloys aren't my thing.
  
• Longer term I’m keen to do an air suspension upgrade, this would be further down the line but I’m going to do a bit of homework and see what’s possible.