The Dark Wob

Hooli wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:09 pm

John F wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 5:32 pm

mercrocker wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 5:01 pm OK, if you had 10K to spend (and were quick) would you rather look like an irritant from a dull motoring forum, or buy some aviator shades and a loud suit and make like a villain from Mission Impossible....


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1968-Chrysle ... SwKKpeZLXZ


s-l1600 (2).jpg


thought so.

Meh.

If I was spending £10k today and wanted a luxobarge with a bit of pep, I'd spunk a few grand on this:



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/jaguar-xjs-3 ... Sw9uxegmm2

... and spend the rest on welding wire and petrol.

I still want a manual XJS one day, 3.6 or 4.2 I'm not fussy as both are meant to enjoy revs more than the other sizes. They are the sexy long low coupe the E-Type never was.

Too expensive & too rotten* for me.


*Eyes XJR out the window & mutters 'cunt'

Could you get a 4.2 XJS? I know the manual fitted to the 3.6 was the wanky Rover 3.5 box.

The V12 was a 5.3, iirc there were very few manual ones sold but from what I've heard the box wasn't particularly strong.

My old one was an auto, not sure a manual box would have suited it with the V12 tbh 'cos it was a heavy old lump.

I've not driven a 3.6 but I'd like to.

If I remember correctly it was a either a 3.6 or 4.0 AJ6, not 4.2 in the XJS.

The later V12s got 6 litres.

This is my old man's 6.0 XJS at our BBQ.

Yeah I was thinking 4.0, oops.

I thought all the V12s were auto tbh?

The very early ones had a 4 speed manual option I think.

EDIT: just checked my Oct 75 copy of Car and it was an option. There was a 5 speed 88mm, not the flak gun before JF interjects, manual box planned but the numbers apparently didn't add up.

I seem to remember somebody, maybe TWR, fitting 5 speed Getrag ones though.

I remember people doing conversions, I didn't know they'd ever been factory versions.

The problem with the XJS V12 is that it only has 3 gears and the ratios are really long. Second gear is capable of like 100+ mph. Iirc Jag say shift into 2nd on the selector for sporty performance. So you get really poor off the line performance.

Then the lack of torque converter lockup means beyond piss poor economy. A manual box gives actually half palatable economy.

Could you change the diff to a numerically higher one?

The XJ2.8 probably had a lot lower gearing otherwise it'd never move.
God knows what the economy would be like, it could be a lot worse or it could be better due to being able to use 3rd more often.

I had a manual V12, 1976 on the P and absolutely mint. It was as fast as fuck and totally different to the auto that had a succession of shit gearboxes - the Borg Warner M12, GM 400 and then some fucking four speed ZF antique. The XJS manual box was a beefed up version of the box in the 4.2 and perfectly adequate. They were geared to do 150 mph at 6000 rpm but the HE had a taller final drive to aid economy. All V12's had the Salisbury PowrLok LSD.
Jaguar ceased regular manual V12's in late 1979 but they built a few in 1980 for special order.