Recline and console yourself.

 With the rear seats and side panels done, it was time to move on to the front seats.
 Frankly, after I disassembled the stock XJS front seats, I found them quite underwhelming, especially for what was supposed to be a grand tourer. Very underbuilt frames, virtually no support, rubber diaphragms instead of springs, a poorly shaped back rest. The XJ sedans have far, far superior seats....
 Anyway, I had been hunting for a nice pair of used seats that would be supportive, fit in the XJS and not look too modern. As the XJS is only a relatively small car, the backs couldn't be too high, nor could they be too wide, as the XJS has very large sills and a fairly wide and high transmission tunnel and console.
 Eventually I found a pair of series 4 RX7 seats that were complete, looked OK style wise and being from a small sports car, should have fit in the XJS. They also have the huge bonus of having a decent, adjustable lumbar support for driver, adjustable headrests and the passenger seat has a tilt forward pedal for rear seat passengers. Plus, the seats have actual steel springs, instead of the stupid rubber diaphragm, which means extra support where needed!
 They are a perfect fit. Here are some photos of me mocking them up into the car:

As you can see, they were old and filthy, but complete. So, onto modifying the bases and retrimming them.
The RX7 seat base frames were pretty simple, the bases were dead flat in the mounting plane, except for the driver's side inner, it kicked up a bit, to clear something on the RX7 floorpan. I had to make short legs to compensate for that, but the other six mounting points were very close to the stock XJS mounting points. It only required some flat plate about 2" long to be welded flat to the base of the RX7 seats and drilled to suit the XJS tracks, and the tracks then bolted straight on. Very easy.

Bases patterned up and laid out for assembly:

And base with new skin stretched over for a trial fit. Note that I carried the fluting over from the back seat, makes the seats look factory!:

Completed base:

As you can see, the RX7 seat is also very low, as per the XJS seats, so headroom is not terribly adversely affected. I would say the seat cushion sits about 1" maximum higher than the stock XJS seat.
And the pair completed, but without headrests:

Installed in the car, they really do fit quite well. Enough clearance for hand brake, console and the seats with headrests tilt and slide forward without catching the headlining:

So all in all, a great and easy swap.They are extremely comfortable as well.
Next on my hit list was the centre console. I had 3 to choose from, two very early ones and a later one. I chose the later one as it was the least warped. Jaguar stretched the vinyl onto the earlier consoles without using a seam for the contours, and it pulls the sides of the console out over time.
Here's some photos of marking up and the final console. Not too much to comment on, except that I deleted the rear ashtray for a cleaner look:

I also retrimmed the A pillar kick panels. They were fun, the old cardboard was a bit warped, but the relatively heavy carpet I used has flattened and stiffened them up nicely. Of course, once they are screwed into place, they will be nice and straight anyway. I prefer these early kick panels, they have a more custom look than the later vinyl/ leather trimmed ones:

Take a seat.

 But first, in the my god, does it never end/ cascading jobs needed before doing something else department, I wanted to install the door glass.
 To do that, I needed to install the door quarter vent glass (previous post) and re run the door wiring. Now, the door wiring boots for the XJS are no longer available new and the old ones disintegrate as soon as you look at them funny. I've also been leaving the front guards off so I could sort out the wiring.You can see how one small job can hold up work over a large area on a project!
 So I made some new cable boots using generic, cut to size boots, split tubing and heat shrink tube. They turned out way better and less cobbled together than I expected:

 Once that was done, it was back onto the interior. I got the headlining and pillar trims sorted out easily enough. Again, this colour of headlining is just not available in Australia, it was one of the materials I ordered from the US:

Then, onto the seats. I foamed up the rear seat base and back, this helps smooth out old seats and hides all those small imperfections old foam accumulates over time. If you look closely, you can see that jaguar was still using coconut fibre as a padding material in 1977:

Then it was onto the marking up and cutting out:

Trial fit:

Rear seats finished. With this type of material, having a foam backing, it's normal to initially have a few stubborn creases that won't pull out. They disappear over time as the foam relaxes and the material finds it's own levels:

 The quarter panel trims on an XJS, they are a nightmare! So many sub assemblies and small parts. No wonder Jaguar couldn't make money on these cars, way too labour intensive to produce
 All these pieces:

To make this (yes, my parts car had a dark green exterior and a dark brown interior. The 70's were unkind to vehicle interiors...):

 I added some cedar I had laying around to the pockets because they had gotten wet and warped, plus I wanted to fit speakers and wanted them a bit stiffer:

 Needless to say, as with every other piece of interior trim in a 40 year old XJS, the quarter trim casings were cracked, torn and damaged. They needed some help with realignment and some fibreglass:

The quarter panel cases are covered with one piece of material, it's a long, tedious process getting it stretched into place and looking right! Each side would have a solid four hours in it:

 I'm still working on the interior, the door trims are disassembled and being flattened out, more pics and an explanation in the next installment!

More exterior bits and pieces.

 It was time to really get the interior moving. My materials arrived from the US (Australia has a very limited selection of upholstery supplies, that is, if you don't want to choose from the same half dozen colours that everyone else has in their car), and I wanted something quite specific.
 All the carpet has been cut and the tunnel and sills have had their carpet glued in place. The floor mats need a final trim then I'll bind them. I really like the carpet, the colour suits the era of the car:

 It was also time to close up the C pillar covers and fresh air vents. My fresh air vents had cracked and split, just like every other XJS out there, and were definitely leaking water. These pieces really contribute to rust on the XJS, as the water runs directly into the boot, quarter panel and rear jack point when they leak.
A local supplier had one listed as an XJS quarter panel vent on Ebay, but inexplicably, had the other side listed as a really vaguely titled auction on Ebay, just listing the part number, which was hard to track down.
 Long story short, I now had two brand new C pillar vents for under $50:

 Now, the pillar vent issues don't end with them being old and cracking. I have now removed four of these vents off two cars and not one of them was sealed to the body properly. Another huge problem is that the vents are made of several pieces, and where these pieces join at the bottom, there is a gap. A gap right where any water trapped by these vents runs past!
 I can guarantee that if your C pillar trims are original and have never been removed, they are leaking....I made sure my ones were well sealed with butyl mastic.
 A long while ago, I scored a NOS C pillar trim on Ebay dirt cheap. I could never find a new left hand one, so I decided to restore my old one. Then I realised it wouldn't be much more work to do all four, so did them all. I'll sell off the extras.

They've all been stripped, cleaned and the die cast covers in the centre painted with 2k urethane. The vinyl is the closest match I could come up with, but they look great:

  Before I put the rear glass into the car, I wanted to make my new parcel tray (the old one was soggy and disintegrated), plus I wanted to add a high mount brake light from a later XJS.
 Modern drivers are very distracted, everyone expects to see high mount third brake lights on cars and high mount brake lights are just a great safety device.
 So I decided to mount the brake light onto a piece of wood I fashioned up:

 It was time to dig out the glass and tint it, in preparation for installation:

 Rear window installed, so I can work on the rear of the interior:

 The door quarter windows were then fitted, as I needed them done so I could fit the bailey channel for the door glass;