Sunday 2 November 2008

Fixes

Today I wanted to take a look at making a proper stand for the DVD player as the weight of the unit caused the plastic below the glove box to give way.


I wanted to mock up a design to make sure that I was happy with the layout. I checked the shed today and found some old wood. One bit was the perfect size for the front board and I didn't need to cut it to size. I measured up some bits of wood to support the DVD.



I removed the carpet and cut it to the correct size. I had to cut the hole out for the DVD player. I am going to leave this for a week to make sure it stays up and I will then build a proper stand next weekend out of MDF.



It was about time I cut away the headliner, It was pea'ing me off every time I got in the car I could feel it on the top of my head. Also it should give me more of an incentive to get it fixed!

Friday 31 October 2008

Music Time

Today I purchased a Freecom Tough Drive 120GB mobile USB hard drive. Its USB powered and guess what... It works with the car stereo.




I have been trying a number of different USB devices with my Kenwood head unit to see if they would work, like the Nokia N95. You select the phone to Mass storage and the head unit reads it as if it was a USB stick.




I have also wired up the audio/visual lead to the screen in the car so you can use the phone as normal but view it on a large screen.


The question now is how many music files the head unit can see, I am in the process of copying 47GB's worth of music to the drive to see if it will ok but as I am not running windows it should be fine. Navigating will be a problem, and there will be a lot of track skipping.


Not bad for 54 quid...


On another note, due to the weight of the DVD player the bit of plastic that sits under the glove box gave way this week. Need to figure out a way of re-fitting the DVD player and make it look pucker!

Thursday 9 October 2008

Oil, What Oil

Checked the car oil today and it was a little low. In fact it wasn't even registering on the dip stick.

Couple of litres from Westleigh Motor Factors and its registering again. I know where the problem is, I did not replace the sump nut washer when I did the last service and its leaking slowly from there.

Oops!

Saturday 13 September 2008

Quick fix

After washing the car I decided to take a look at why the interior lights were not working. The car was reporting that a fuse had blown but every time I changed it, it kept on blowing.

Also there was no "Always Live" power to the car so the seat did not work when the ignition was off.

I remember that I had some problems fitting the passenger sunvisor, so I took a look at this first... And guess what, I found the problem. The positive wire had split and was connected to the Shell of the car. Is was shorting the car out.



I removed the sun visor and needed to fix that before I refit it.

I also had ordered a new bit of chrome for the front windscreen as it flew off a couple of months ago. It was only 3 quid from Jag which I thought was good!.



Tuesday 2 September 2008

Back to Project Sovereign

It turned out to be a bolt that had snapped so the clip that held the centre pipe to the manifold had come away.



18 years of wear and tear.


At first it looked like I would need a new clip but with some Burrows magic and a hammer I got it out.

Then it came to fitting it. I replaced the broken bolt with a shiny new one and enlisted the services of the Ramus' to tighten the clip as I pushed the exhaust back together.

Now its sounds very quite.

Project Spitfire!

Well, it rained today and anyone that lived through WW2 would have thought that it had started again. Spitfires flying above... But no it was me in the JAG!


On the way to work I noticed a burble noise coming from the Jag. When I go to Ramus' I quickly checked but could not see where the problem was.


I drove very slowly to Motor World and asked Chris to take a look. He took one look at it and confirmed it was defiantly the exhaust, however, he couldn't fix it until this evening.


So we drove very slowly to work. It made it to the gates in the car park and then bang, the car shock, the noise was deafening. It sounded like an old Spitfire getting ready to take off!


When looking closer, it looks like the pipe has come off the manifold. So should be easy to fix.


The sound is awesome but unfortunately not drivable...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDGWLUmbB_Q

Sunday 24 August 2008

Visual entertainment. Day 3

Today I wanted to put the dashboard back together and give the car a good clean.

As the weather was touch and go I washed and poshed the car first.


I had the battery on charge all day yesterday and most of today. When I connected the battery the dashboard reported that a fuse had blown. On inspection it turned out the be the interior lights. When I changed the fuse it blew that one and the other 3 I tried. (Going to leave this until tomorrow)

Also for some reason the +12vdc "always live" from the battery to the stereo was not working. I checked it all the way back to the fuse box. When I checked the voltage at the fuse box it had +12vdc but some where there is a break in the wire.

I decided to run a new lead from the battery and this time fitted an in-line fuse. I started to put the settings back into the stereo but it was getting dark so gave up until tomorrow.


Sunday 17 August 2008

Visual entertainment. Day 2

Day two was all about mounting the screen and complete the wiring of the system.

Yesterday I purchased a gold power terminal from Halfords as I wanted to tidy up the positive connector as it had wires hanging off it.

This was not as simple as I hoped. I had to saw off the old connector and then tempt fate by cutting the cover off the wires without making a visit to A&E.



I also fitted the relay that will supply the DVD player and screen with power

I then set on the headlining, this also was a pain. I had to take most of the left hand side trim apart. (I broke most of the clips again!!!!!)
I then measured up and screwed the screen into the headlining. I made a slit in the headlining for the cable and then drilled a hole in the headlining to feed the cable.
I connected the main lead the the screen and started to put the trim back but I needed to buy some more clips to secure it in place. I wont do this until the headlining has been refitted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxAkbTrQxIg - excuse the poor quality as it was what I sent to Ramus!
I also damaged the "Sky Slop" that goes around the gear stick and stereo. I can get another one of these on Ebay.
I could not fully test the system today as I left the boot lid up and drained the battery to the point twhere the dash board flashes because there is not enough amps to power the system.
I think its going to take a couple more days to fully finish the system

Saturday 16 August 2008

Visual entertainment. Day 1

Its all about the Visual entertainment, I wanted some thing that would help keep the headlining up once it has been refitted. I was originally looking for a set of spot lights that would go in the middle of the headlining

I spent hours upon hours looking and never really found anything I liked. Eventually I noticed that you can get an LCD monitor that attach's to the headlining.

I did not want one that you manually had to move down to watch, I wanted something different. I found a motorized unit that on a touch of the button the screen would come down.


Finding a DVD player was nice and easy.

My next issue was powering the units. I only want the unit to work when the ignition is on to save battery in case the system is left on. However, I did not want to power it off the cigarette lighter as I already have the SatNav and phone charger running off it.

This is quite a simple job just requires some wiring. I used a relay to be triggered off the cigarette socket and then wired a wire to the battery. So when the ignition is on, the relay completes the circuit to the battery and the system should turn on.

Because I now had a direct feed from the battery I wanted to make sure that every device had a fuse and the main lead was fused as well. (Picture to follow).

I wanted to mount the DVD player in the glove box but it was to long for this, I then looked at mounting it under the driver seat but when the seat is moved back it closes the gap and would crush the DVD player. The only place I could think of mounting it was under the glove box in the passenger foot well. Mounting this was quite fun and took me a couple of attempts to get right.

My task for tomorrow morning is to fix the screen to the headlining. The screen came with some screws that you just screw into the headlining but this is not the best way to do it. I have a metal plate that I will fit above the headlining and will screw the screen into this.

The stereo has an AUX input which I will use to give the DVD player audio as the car has 6 speakers and a 12" sub.

Saturday 2 August 2008

Bushes need changing

I got Chris to take a look up and behind the front wheels, as there has been some play in the steering wheel. Its not very much but we did notice a problem...





Its turns out the front bushes need replacing. I have been told this is quite a simple job and should only take 3 hours to change and of course a set of Bushes.




While we had the wheel off we also tightened the hub nut that was a little loose.

Friday 1 August 2008

No more leaving the lights on

Last night was the final straw! I did it again, left the lights on.

I have drained the battery 3 times now doing this.

I know there is an option on the alarm to alert if the lights are left on. The only issue is figuring out how to wire it up.

Nice and simple, just need to get the +12Vdc from the side light to the alarm box.

Now the car beeps 6 times and the key fob goes nuts if you leave the lights on and lock the car.

Thursday 31 July 2008

Fuse

Even though my car is 18 years old. Not many cars will tell you that a fuse has blown and which one.


When I started the car last night to come home I noticed the "Lightning bolt" on the dash which means a blown fuse. I pressed the VCM button and the on board computer told me it was in fuse box one, which is the right hand fuse box.


Only to find out it was the cigarette lighter fuse that hand blown. Nice and simple! 5p Fix.

Wednesday 30 July 2008

Hot Hot Hot and Still Hot

Had some one out today to take a look at the Air conditioning in the Jag. I was hoping that it would just need re-gassing but guess what... Its not that simple.

The electrics checked out OK but there is a leak in the compressor. So it needs a new one and they range from 150 to 300 quid... Ouch... It will be winter soon... LOL


Saturday 12 July 2008

Boot lock

This afternoon I set on the task of fixing the boot lock. Since I have had the car, I have had to use the key to unlock the boot.
Where, this is not a major problem, it was a fault that needed sorting.....
For some reason you could not unlock the boot with the button in the glove box and when you unlock the car with the remote the lock would pop but not unlock!!


(Yes that is a driving cap that Rash and Ramus bought me)

I first set about checking the fuses in the car but quickly realised that the car would tell me if a fuse had blown and which one...
Maybe there was a wiring problem with the button!?

I started by checking all the wires under the glovebox. I did some continuity checks and after about 45 minutes I was certain that it was not a wiring problem...



Then I turned to the lock and release unit. I stripped the units out and checked the mechanical workings of the lock. I noticed that a small micro switch did not look right... I bent the metal contact away slightly and hooray, it seems that the micro switch told the car that the lock had manually been locked and was over-riding the central locking!

Now the button in the glove box unlocks the boot and pops it up a little.

Now I could set to work on wiring the boot release up to the alarm. The alarm has a trigger relay for the boot. It took me some time to figure out how to wire this up but by cutting into the wires and getting the relay to complete the circuit, the alarm now unlock the boot as well.

The cool feature with the alarm is it unlocks the car and deactivate the alarm, then it unlocks and pops the boot.

Wednesday 2 July 2008

Not done yet

Well, what can I say. I have not had chance to sort the headlining.

Now its about time for the Jag's six month service. Bit's I need to do on this service are as follows:

Air Filter
Spark Plugs
Oil Filter
Oil Change
Coolant
And if I feel brave, Transmission fluid!

When I do the service I will look at taking the headlining out. At the moment I have a temporary fix, which is working.

Sunday 29 June 2008

Miles Per Gallon

Well,


Since I have changed the wheels and done the major service the car had six months ago, the MPG from the car now averages 30 MPG.




Not bad for a 4 litre monster!

Also the Car Tax is nice and low, costing me only 185 quid a year and if I take it into the London "Low Emissions Zone" they report...

Not subject to LEZ - Based on the information you have entered and information held by Transport for London (TfL), the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) does not apply to this vehicle. As long as the vehicle remains not subject to the LEZ the daily charge does not have to be paid for this vehicle when it is used in the zone.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/lez/

HA HA

Friday 13 June 2008

Headlining

Next week is all about getting the headlining fixed. Its a logistical nightmare
  • I am going to have to drop the car down at Motor World Car Body Shop on Monday
  • Arrange for the Windscreen company to take the windscreen out on Tuesday
  • Tuesday night remove the headlining from the car (Joy!)
  • Wednesday arrange for the headlining to be dropped off at the trimmers
  • Allow a couple of days for the job to be done.
  • Hopefully Friday its should be finished... Fingers crossed!

Friday 6 June 2008

Great!

Bloody great, thanks Mr Audi driving **** who cut me up and I hit the curb!

Sunday 1 June 2008

Red brakes

Today was all about painting the callipers red. Total time spent doing this was 4 hours!



Masking tape and last weeks news.... Joy!



One finished, 3 to go...

Saturday 31 May 2008

Petrol Cap + Rear Bumper

Today was about sorting out the petrol cap. Last week while filling the car up, the hinge broke. I gave the trusty people at Howard's Car Spares a call and they said they had one, but I had to remove it myself!

I enlisted the help of "The Ramus" and we set to work. It was a sorry sight seeing an old Jaguar the same age as mine rusting away, being taken to bits.



LOL Me doing some work!!!

5 quid later we headed down to Motor World to fit it.

Changing the hinge was a nice and simple job. Only took about 30 minutes to complete but was worth it as the petrol cap now pops up.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5enSAaZKLVM - Yes I did upload it to YouTube!

Then I wanted to fit the new bit of chrome from the rear bumper and have a look at sorting the dent in the rear bumper.

The rear bumpers are really easy to get off, but I had to cut the cable to the rear fog lights as there was no connector to disconnect. The look on Ramus' face when I just cut the cable was priceless... LOL


I will get it to fit!

It took some beating but I got it looking a lot better... Not perfect, but it looks really nice.



The view most people have of the car....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTylVoq6VSQ

Thursday 29 May 2008

Alarm issues fixed

Just fixed the small problem that I had when I installed the alarm. I wired both indicators up to the same relay to save time but in fact when I singled to turn left or right both flashed... lol

I fitted another relay and now both indicators flash with the alarm. Job half done, all finished now.

Below is a basic wiring diagram to show how to wire up the indicators in a Jag...

Tuesday 27 May 2008

They fit

Well it took me and Ramus over an hour to replace all the wheels but it was worth the hard work. They Fit!!!! I have been worried all day, wondering, wishing, hoping.


New V's Old


Ramus doing some work!


All finished.

Straight away I noticed an improvement in the handling and stability at high speed. She has never driven so well... The best bit was not the new wheels, but that the car has been sat for over 5 weeks now and she started first time and I had no problems with the engine or gear box! (Touch wood)...

Wheels are here

Wheels turned up today Yippeeeeee!!! they seem a lot bigger than what is on the car now, but in actual fact they are smaller! Figure that one out...




The Question is will they fit?

Monday 26 May 2008

Sunday 25 May 2008

Warning Contains....

While spending some time today cleaning the engine bay I came across this:





This car was clearly built before the years of Health and Safety!! None of this "Oh know, you cant use that in a car". British engineering at its best!

Saturday 24 May 2008

Funny Ha Ha


This was sent to me by "The Ramus", need I say more.


Rear Bumper

As i'm awaiting for the new wheels to turn up I thought it was about time to replace the rear bumper chrome that had been damaged. (Not me)




I have already replaced the front centre chrome piece, so I know this is going to be a dog to change!! I sourced a new bit of chrome on Ebay for the sum of 40 pounds about 3 months ago lol.
After removing the old piece of chrome, I could see that the rear bumper has taken quite a knock and it would be better to replace it, rather than to waste time trying to fix it!



Going to make a call to the trusty people at Howard's Car Spares. I will have to get Chris at Motor World Car Body Shop Ltd to give me a hand getting it off, as the bolts holding the bumper on, are on really tight!
It won't budge, even with all the will in the world, I feel I am more likely to shear the socket off the wrench.. lol

Thursday 22 May 2008

Already upgraded

I had a telephone call on Monday evening from the wheel company expressing their concerns that a 255 tyre would not fit the arch and it was recommend a 225 tyre would be a better alternative.

After thinking about this I decided that I did not want to do that as the car already has 220's and for the price I had paid it wasn't worth the upgrade...

I spoke with a guy called "Michael" who was very helpful and after loads of telephone calls we changed the wheels and the tyres for a different size!!

I now have coming 245/40/18 - upgraded to 18" rims. The overall size is a little smaller than the current tyres but hay. Size aint every think Ramus!

Message from the supplier

"Just in case you need confirmation we will be sending you 18" muggelo + 245/40/18 tyres. again sorry if we have confused you but it becomes expensive if you get it wrong. thanks dp"

P.S. Thanks Rash for winding me up about the result last night...

Monday 19 May 2008

WHEELS ORDERED!!!!!!!!!!!

Today, I ordered some new wheels for the car. I have bitten the bullet and ordered a nice set of new wheels.

I have gone with some bad boy wide tyres! I saw a set of 255's on Chris's new Range Rover and wanted some of that!

17" DOTZ MUGGELO ALLOY WHEELS SUPPLIED WITH 255/50/17 PERFORMANCE TYRES

The reason I went for 17" is because I did not want to change the overall size of the wheel as I wanted to double check they fitted in the arch and the speedo was correct.

Also a new tyre for these wheels are 66 quid not 140 quid.. so I can replace 4 new ones for the price of 2 old ones... Beat that offer Tesco's

Sunday 18 May 2008

More about the authors

I know its not about the car, but it was brought up in dinner tonight so I tested it... LOL - Google searches on the authors (3R) Ramus, Rash & Ross

Ross Burrows
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=ross+burrows&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

Mark Ramus
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=mark+ramus&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

Arash Foroozandeh
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=arash+foroozandeh&btnG=Search&meta=

Friday 16 May 2008

Cool tool

I have found this tool which shows the effects of changing your wheel and tyre size and how it changes your car.

I have been trying to work out what the change in wheel size will have on the car, and if they will work out a similar size.

This site will even tell you what the effects are on your speedo after you have changed the wheels.

http://www.kouki.co.uk/Utilities/tyresizer.asp

Thank you! http://www.kouki.co.uk

Wednesday 7 May 2008

Wheels - Dimple but not simple!

Well what can I say, it is very depressing trying to find some replacement wheels for the Jag.

I wanted to get some Dimple alloys that replaced the silly ones Jaguar originally used. The old ones are 390mm where the Dimple ones are 16".

EBay seemed a good place to look, but people want silly money for a set of wheels! So I am starting to look at aftermarket ones.

Replacing the tyres was an option, till I got a price of 140 quid per wheel, and need to do 3 of them!! :(


Dimple but not simple!

Thursday 24 April 2008

Jag Running

Bored, don't know why I recorded it... LOL even spent the time to upload it to you tube....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7Km0ZbgbhE

The fan is strong enough to blow you over if you stand to close. It will be nice in the summer standing by the car... Cool breeze from the engine....LOL

Great Headlining

Would you "Adam and Eve" it. All I need!!!!!.... I went to check on the Jag and noticed that the headlining had started to come down.

I was taking some pictures of the air intake to see if I can find an induction kit that might fit the jag.

Looks like I will have to call Portchester Trimmers tomorrow to see if it can be fixed. If not the front windscreen will have to come out again.

Joys of owning the Jag!


Monday 21 April 2008

www.projectsovereign.co.uk

Its all about having a domain name.

Just purchased http://www.projectsovereign.co.uk/

Yes yes

At least its not just me

This morning was fun...

Ramus picked me up for work as I'm still deciding what to do about the wheels on my car!
The only problem was Ramus ALSO got a puncher... On the same wheel as me!!

We were travelling down the M27 heading towards Fareham, in a traffic jam, in the rain. Some bloke in the car next to us, got our attention and said "Your tyres flat mate". I looked out of the window, and yep it certainly was!! Ramus asked me how flat, as I think he wanted to drive to work like this! I said "Dont go over 70MPH flat".

We pulled over on to the hard shoulder and I made Ramus stop under a bridge...



Changing the wheels on a Citroen thing'y is really easy!! Pump up the suspension, place the jack under the car and lower the suspension... As easy as that!!

The HA support team turned up and watched us change the wheel... But at least they had some handy wipes. LOL

Saturday 19 April 2008

Moving the car

Today I wanted to move the car to the back of the house. I enlisted in the help of Ramus and Rash to keep an eye on the wheel as I moved it.


I only just made it with the tyre nearly coming off the wheel..... LOL....



These tyres are a right dog to find and are silly money!! I think this is because the wall is height (65) and the size are in mm (390) not inches they are a funny size...

"Thank you" to the person that designed the wheels for this car!

Friday 18 April 2008

Great start to the day!

What a nice start to the day. I know I needed to change the front tyres but I didn't think I would need to do them just yet!!!

I dont think the car knows I have a wedding to pay for...
What do I do, need a new spare tyre and now two new fronts, so I am looking at 360 quid to payout on tyres!
Or do I buy a new set of wheels that come with tyres?

Wednesday 16 April 2008

XJ40 TV Advert

I found an old TV advert on YouTube for the XJ40 - Aired November 1, 1987. I was 7 then. LOL

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p0bplJoqDUo

Tuesday 15 April 2008

All Passed!

The Jag passed its MOT today with flying colours. There were only a couple of Advisory Notices.

** Two new front tyres and because I have a child seat fitted in the back, they couldn't test the rear seat belt! **

CO Max: 3.500 - Actual value: 0.120
HC Max: 1200 - Actual value: 104

All other bits passed. It was quite a shock, I thought it might have failed on some thing... But hey, can't complain.

I do have an issue with it smoking when I boot it! Could be that I put too much oil in the last time I topped it up. (Need to check some forums)

Thank M & N Autos (http://www.mandnautos.co.uk/)

Monday 14 April 2008

MOT Tomorrow

Tomorrow is MOT test day. The Jag has only done a couple of thousand miles since the last test and the only thing I think I might have a problem with is emissions.

This is because I have changed the whole ignition system when I was trying to find out the problem with the car misfiring a coupe of months ago!



(Just dropped the car off at Motor World)... ahhhh

Keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Saturday 12 April 2008

School Boy Mistake

Well what can I say.

I sat behind a car and was waiting to turn left but I could see my right indicator was flashing, I checked to see if my hazard lights where on... They weren't!

Then it hit home, I had wired both the grounds together on the same relay to get the alarm to flash both lights.... What a tit, for the last week or so I have been driving around like this and no one had noticed.

Simple fix... I cut one of the ground leads last night and will have to buy another relay and do it properly some time soon.

D'oh

Wednesday 9 April 2008

Cruise Control

This morning Me and Ramus tested how good the cruise control was on the Jag. We took the back roads to work going down PortsDown Hill, I have to admit I was a bit sceptical about it as it was 18 years old.

I set the cruise control to 40MPH and let the car work out the rest. I could not faulter it at all! It keeps a constant speed even going up and down hill’s

I still had my foot hovering over the brake and accelerator pedal.

:)


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Ports+Down+Hill&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.555061,81.914062&ie=UTF8&ll=50.851366,-1.118631&spn=0.038094,0.079994&t=p&z=14

A terrain map from Google Maps

LOL @ Stuart

LOL, I found this old Video of Stuart who works at Motor World. I posted it on You Tube nearly a year ago.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jtcCRFhyLtc

All will be explained.

Sunday 6 April 2008

All Finished

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOhZsO9ncdk

Well what a start to the day, as I set off the snow started to come down really heavy and fast. The motorway was covered with snow and could only manage about 30mph. Not the best day to drive, but was worth the risk to finish off the Jag!




A good note was the car started as she always does so the cold did not effect her!... Yipeeee

Today was about soldering the wires. This took about an hour, but it was worth doing the job right.

Then I started to put the car back together. I found a place for the alarm box and a place to feed the cables. I fitted the trim that was below the glove box. This has never fitted correctly since I have had the car. It never looked right, as was always a gap in the trim below the glove box. I used a bit of brute force and bent the frame into shape, which sorted the problem and it now fits like a glove!

I then had to put all the trim around the steering wheel back together and hide the bluetooth module for the hands free and the USB connection to the stereo.

At the same time I cut the wires for the audible alert, which constantly beeps at you when the key is in the ignition barrel and a door has been left open... Peace at last!!!



Ramus had turned up now and checked the AMP settings for me, which were fine. So I then asked him to help with the brakes
. They had started to squeak since I had them changed. For some reason Joe had forgot the passenger side anti squeal pad. Copper Grease later and hopefully the problem will go away.



LOL Ramus doing some work.

The only thing I could not finish is the boot trigger release and alarm. From some reason this has stopped working... I will have to make a call to Howard's Car Spares for a replacement :)