Decisions have been made and things are being finished off.
The exhaust had been worrying away at me. I had finally completed the front half of the exhaust using factory mid mufflers and front pipes. I ran a small crossmember across the transmission tunnel, just ahead of the front of the centre mufflers. It was the perfect location for a pair of exhaust hangers. This crossmember also ties the floors together at the bulkhead under the rear seat, so it also helps to strengthen the vehicle:
It'll also locate the front of the torque link I intend to hang off
the front of the rear suspension cage when I get around to that. Even
managed to put in a crossover pipe.
Trying to decide to follow the factory path through the rear axle, go under the cradle or through the cradle using a different route were the options for me to finish off the rear exhaust.
In the end, I chose to run the exhaust between the half shaft and control arm. I had fitted stock front mufflers to the car and had found some really nice rear mufflers, so I mounted the rear mufflers up after I had finished the front half of the exhaust to see what I had to do to join them up with the rest of the exhaust. made up and welded on a couple of hangers to use the stock rear exhaust isolators:
Yes, I know they look pretty fancy, but they were $100 for the pair! Polished stainless steel too.
Once I had the centre mufflers in place and supported I could run the exhaust through the cage. Started with the exhaust touching the half shaft. My reasoning is that the car will only ever see full suspension droop either hoisted up or jumping clear of the ground, not very common occurrences! Bought some stainless steel bends and had a go:
Anyway, it ended up working out really well. I jacked the suspension up once it was done and the pipes ended up exactly half way between half shaft and lower control arm at normal ride height, so plenty of clearance all round. very pleased with how they turned out.
Having previously convinced myself the horrible noise coming from the engine was the crank counterweights hitting my modified sump with windage tray, I pulled the timing cover off and gave it a bit more clearance. Starting the engine again revealed I had achieved nothing to reduce the noise! So I ran the engine again and got under the car, the sound was coming from the torque converter area and transmitting through the sump (which was touching it) to the front of the engine.
Removing the torque converter inspection cover revealed the problem, the crank flange was rubbing on the inspection cover Here's a before shot, note the shiny metal in the half round cutout. Was fixed with the grinder and some clearancing:
The noise is now gone but has been replaced with a chirping metallic sound, which I expect is the cover just touching somewhere else, will look into that.
Spent a long time agonizing over what to do for a radiator. XJS ones would obviously fit, but horrendously expensive and the outlets are in the wrong spot, not to mention a poor design and very heavy. I have one here from the parts car, it weight at least 35kg!
In the end, I bought a new aluminium Holden Commodore V8 radiator, which is what the engine is out of. It fit perfectly on height with plenty of side clearance for things like cold air, oil coolers etc. Even the bottom locating pins were in the exact same spot as the Jaguar subframe. I suspect Jaguar were in bed with GM for far more than just transmissions back in the day!
So, here is the Holden radiator:
As you can see, the height and distance from the engine are perfect, allowing use of stock Commodore radiator hoses. I really couldn't have asked for better. This radiator has about 25% more core area than a stock Commodore radiator as well, so no overheating. And the replacement radiator was well less than $200 due to the fact that they are made in volume for Commodores!
Today I made up a couple of side supports for the new radiator, welded onto the stock top radiator support:
The TH700 transmission also needs a constant 12v supply that switches off when brakes are applied. I played around with the two Jaguar brake switches I have ad they are both garbage! They stick and are unreliable. So my solution was a Mitsubishi 4 pin, dual contact brake switch. This provides normal brake lighting current when braking AND the off with braking I need for the transmission, plus they are half the price of Jaguar brake switches:
For some reason the engine has decided it doesn't want to idle, it will hold just off idle bit only with some light throttle. I may have disturbed something when removing the timing chain to access the front of the sump, but I doubt it. I'll check ignition timing and look for any new vacuum leaks as the engine is now also hooked up to the climate control vacuum supply (may be a vac leak in the cabin somewhere) and will also check a few other things. It won't be anything major I don't think.
And just because I can, a photo of the car with a wheel on it. First time the car has had a road wheel fitted since I've owned it!:
Now I have the radiator sorted out, I know that stock Commodore coolant lines will work, even for the heater circuit, so I can order some new hoses and pressurise the system to see if I need to replace the heater core before the dash goes back in. I can also check to see how the A/C system works as well whilst the dash is all apart. All that is left to do mechanically is the rest of the cooling system, throttle cable, transmission and power steering coolers, power steering high pressure line and speedometer cable/ ECU pulse interface.
It's coming along nicely!
Trying to decide to follow the factory path through the rear axle, go under the cradle or through the cradle using a different route were the options for me to finish off the rear exhaust.
In the end, I chose to run the exhaust between the half shaft and control arm. I had fitted stock front mufflers to the car and had found some really nice rear mufflers, so I mounted the rear mufflers up after I had finished the front half of the exhaust to see what I had to do to join them up with the rest of the exhaust. made up and welded on a couple of hangers to use the stock rear exhaust isolators:
Once I had the centre mufflers in place and supported I could run the exhaust through the cage. Started with the exhaust touching the half shaft. My reasoning is that the car will only ever see full suspension droop either hoisted up or jumping clear of the ground, not very common occurrences! Bought some stainless steel bends and had a go:
Anyway, it ended up working out really well. I jacked the suspension up once it was done and the pipes ended up exactly half way between half shaft and lower control arm at normal ride height, so plenty of clearance all round. very pleased with how they turned out.
Removing the torque converter inspection cover revealed the problem, the crank flange was rubbing on the inspection cover Here's a before shot, note the shiny metal in the half round cutout. Was fixed with the grinder and some clearancing:
The noise is now gone but has been replaced with a chirping metallic sound, which I expect is the cover just touching somewhere else, will look into that.
Spent a long time agonizing over what to do for a radiator. XJS ones would obviously fit, but horrendously expensive and the outlets are in the wrong spot, not to mention a poor design and very heavy. I have one here from the parts car, it weight at least 35kg!
In the end, I bought a new aluminium Holden Commodore V8 radiator, which is what the engine is out of. It fit perfectly on height with plenty of side clearance for things like cold air, oil coolers etc. Even the bottom locating pins were in the exact same spot as the Jaguar subframe. I suspect Jaguar were in bed with GM for far more than just transmissions back in the day!
So, here is the Holden radiator:
Today I made up a couple of side supports for the new radiator, welded onto the stock top radiator support:
And just because I can, a photo of the car with a wheel on it. First time the car has had a road wheel fitted since I've owned it!:
Now I have the radiator sorted out, I know that stock Commodore coolant lines will work, even for the heater circuit, so I can order some new hoses and pressurise the system to see if I need to replace the heater core before the dash goes back in. I can also check to see how the A/C system works as well whilst the dash is all apart. All that is left to do mechanically is the rest of the cooling system, throttle cable, transmission and power steering coolers, power steering high pressure line and speedometer cable/ ECU pulse interface.
It's coming along nicely!
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