Some people hate the idea of plumbing hard lines, I don't mind it too much.
The hardest part is deciding where to run the lines. I didn't like the way Jaguar ran the lines over the floorpans towards the rear of the car, I've seen too many damaged fluid lines on jags to know it's a dumb idea.
So I decided to follow the recess in the transmission tunnel that the exhausts follow. I'll be adding heat shields to either the pipes themselves (most likely) or the floorpan to protect the hard lines from heat.
I've left the ends open so I can finish them off to length later. The fuel lines are interesting, Jaguar used crush olives on the tank ends, which are super easy to use, so I'll use them again. The other lines will be double flared.
I bought some really cool stainless steel line clamps:
I didn't buy stainless for wank factor, it's just really, really hard to find cad plated or zinc plated clamps!
I bought 3/16" for the brakes (will use a few in engine bay) as well as single 3/8" for fuel lines and the double 3/16-3/6" items for the long runs under the floor. I couldn't find a double clamp in a 1/4-3/8" size for the charcoal canister line, so I just opened up the 3/16" double ones I bought, which worked out great.
Previously I wanted to use Cunifer line for the brakes, but I got a great deal on zinc coated steel lines for all three sizes so I went with it. The originals were zinc plated and lasted 36 years...
So, here is the line you'll need to fully replace all hard lines on a Jaguar:
Each coil is 7.5m. The brakes will use all of a 7.5m coil, fuel likes almost all of a 7.5m coil and the charcoal canister line about 4m.
I found bending the 3/16' and 1/4" lines easy enough, they can be bent around your thumb with hand pressure, only using a bender for tight or compound curves. The 3/8" steel line, well, it's very easy to kink in the bender for some reason. If I was to do it again, I'd buy aluminium line without hesitation. The steel is too stiff and prone to crushing in this size.
So anyway, the lines took about a half day to bend up:
I used a pair of powerful disc magnets I have to help hold the lines in place when bending.
And here are the finished lines, with the pretty stainless clamps:
So now the car can go back onto it's "wheels"!
The inside floors, trans tunnel etc will now be finish ground, primed, seam sealed and coated in body deadener, then I'll start stripping paint and doing cosmetic body work.
A couple of weeks ago I bought a complete interior minus headliner, C pillar covers and roof rail covers, so all I need for the interior now is those parts and an instrument panel.
And yesterday I found a complete rear end at a very good price:
It's everything I was after, 3.31 ratio, LSD AND a factory rear swaybar. This has saved me quite a bit of time and money hunting those parts. I was considering going with a slightly higher diff ratio, but I'll see how the 3.31's go with the TH700 ratios.
With a combined ratio of 10.1 in low gear using the TH700/3.31's as compared to the combined 6.896 of the stock XJS/V12, I think I should see some significant acceleration improvements, and that doesn't even factor in the increased low end torque of the Holden 5 litre.
The hardest part is deciding where to run the lines. I didn't like the way Jaguar ran the lines over the floorpans towards the rear of the car, I've seen too many damaged fluid lines on jags to know it's a dumb idea.
So I decided to follow the recess in the transmission tunnel that the exhausts follow. I'll be adding heat shields to either the pipes themselves (most likely) or the floorpan to protect the hard lines from heat.
I've left the ends open so I can finish them off to length later. The fuel lines are interesting, Jaguar used crush olives on the tank ends, which are super easy to use, so I'll use them again. The other lines will be double flared.
I bought some really cool stainless steel line clamps:
I bought 3/16" for the brakes (will use a few in engine bay) as well as single 3/8" for fuel lines and the double 3/16-3/6" items for the long runs under the floor. I couldn't find a double clamp in a 1/4-3/8" size for the charcoal canister line, so I just opened up the 3/16" double ones I bought, which worked out great.
Previously I wanted to use Cunifer line for the brakes, but I got a great deal on zinc coated steel lines for all three sizes so I went with it. The originals were zinc plated and lasted 36 years...
So, here is the line you'll need to fully replace all hard lines on a Jaguar:
Each coil is 7.5m. The brakes will use all of a 7.5m coil, fuel likes almost all of a 7.5m coil and the charcoal canister line about 4m.
I found bending the 3/16' and 1/4" lines easy enough, they can be bent around your thumb with hand pressure, only using a bender for tight or compound curves. The 3/8" steel line, well, it's very easy to kink in the bender for some reason. If I was to do it again, I'd buy aluminium line without hesitation. The steel is too stiff and prone to crushing in this size.
So anyway, the lines took about a half day to bend up:
And here are the finished lines, with the pretty stainless clamps:
The inside floors, trans tunnel etc will now be finish ground, primed, seam sealed and coated in body deadener, then I'll start stripping paint and doing cosmetic body work.
A couple of weeks ago I bought a complete interior minus headliner, C pillar covers and roof rail covers, so all I need for the interior now is those parts and an instrument panel.
And yesterday I found a complete rear end at a very good price:
It's everything I was after, 3.31 ratio, LSD AND a factory rear swaybar. This has saved me quite a bit of time and money hunting those parts. I was considering going with a slightly higher diff ratio, but I'll see how the 3.31's go with the TH700 ratios.
With a combined ratio of 10.1 in low gear using the TH700/3.31's as compared to the combined 6.896 of the stock XJS/V12, I think I should see some significant acceleration improvements, and that doesn't even factor in the increased low end torque of the Holden 5 litre.
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