Elbow grease
It’s still too cold to use the Gentry and the Sovereign is off the road, but with over 123,000 miles on the clock, the old basic entry-level Jag 3.6 XJ40 continues to provide me with economical classic transportation.
Following the damaged sustained to the offside headlamp on the Sovereign last month, I was very lucky to find a decent used square ‘fish-tank’ style XJ40 lamp unit.
Removing and replacing the damaged lamp unit was straightforward enough but did require the removal of the front grille vane inserts along with the the main grille surround for access. The grille surround and inserts obviously had not been cleaned for years and at first I thought I would have to discard them and get some replacements.
Fortunately, the grille surround cleaned up perfectly with the help of good old Solvol Autosol. The inserts however appeared so badly marked, I thought there was little hope of saving them. I decided I might as well have a shot at retaining the original items though before junking them. An initial attack of elbow grease and Solvol Autosol showed that there was hope but clearly more effort was required so I popped out and purchased a selection of small cleaning buffers to pop into the electric drill.
Using lashings of warm soapy water and taking great care so as not to damage the chromed surfaces, after some time I managed to get the grot away. Eventually, I was able to wash them off, dry them and finish off with plain Solvol Autosol.
These items aren’t cheap and sometimes hard to come by in good condition, so I felt that was a good result. Once everything was back together, I also replaced the headlamp washer hood that had been destroyed when the headlamp was damaged and the job was complete.
Recently the indicator stalk on the Jaguar XJ6 has become unreliable. It seemed to work OK when signalling left but had become more and more reluctant to function in the right turn position. I could have removed it, tried to strip the part down, clean it and then reassemble it, but I reckoned that if it was beyond repair I would then not be able to legally use the car until a replacement was fitted. I emailed Naki Kauyioumtzis, at www.blackcherryjaguar.com in Lincolnshire and two days later received a used item in perfect
Disconnecting the electrical connections from underneath
the steering column was the usual contortionist’s job
working order for a very reasonable sum. In order to get the faulty unit off the car though, I had to remove part of the cowling surrounding the steering column. That meant removing the steering wheel after first having to pry off the pad in the centre of the wheel to access the central securing nut. After carefully noting the position of the wheel on the splined column I set to and pulled the wheel off the shaft. At first it was somewhat reluctant to leave its comfy perch but after a couple of whacks with my fist behind the wheel it freed itself.
After first removing the instrument lighting rheostat dimmer knob, I removed the screws securing the lower steering column cover and detached it. At last, I now had access to the screw retaining the indicator stalk switch itself. Disconnecting the electrical connectors from underneath the steering column was then the usual contortionist’s job after which I finally got the unit off the car. Refitting was then straightforward.
After connecting the new stalk and testing to see it worked as it should, everything thankfully went back together easily enough. Now it’s off the car, I might try to repair the faulty unit to keep as a useful spare for the Sovereign.