Well now!
A lot of people are probably saying I am really quite lucky! They are right!
Many a fine Jaguar V12 model, '89.5 and later, have been reduced to burned
out hulks for the very same reasons that affected my car. Always insist on
genuine Marelli ignition components, ask them to show you the Marelli
trademark, or put in writing that it is the real thing. Ask the mechanic
what the spark plug gap should be, .025" should come out of their mouth
immediately. The spark plugs that were in my car had screw-on caps, each of
which were unscrewed slightly, instead of the solid caps like the O.E.M.
NGK BR7EF (also per The Book).
Speaking of plugs, I got mine at: http://www.clubplug.net/, fast and easy,
and at $1.74 ea., very reasonable (I thought), downside is you have to buy
them in quantities of 10. Interestingly enough, I checked the gap of each
one, straight out of the box, and they were gapped perfectly at .025".
Onward with the story, now feeling thoroughly disgusted with the work that
had been done to my car, I thought I would start from scratch and make sure
everything was just right. Using Kirby’s book as a guide, and my 5-Volume
OEM Repair Manual set. I decided to check the distributor body position.
This turned out to be right on, as when the crank pulley sensor was lined up
with the timing mark, the arrow on the rotor lined up perfectly to the notch
in the distributor body. This corresponds to the information in Kirby’s book
on rotor position with respect to the pulley crank sensor. The picture of
the distributor body, which shows a small piece of masking tape representing
the actual location and size of the distributor cap lug for cylinder 1A, and
the picture of the crankshaft pulley sensor, in particular the location of
the actual timing mark in relation to the sensor finger, I believe,
validates The Book’s description of the edge of the rotor blade being swept
just past the edge of the dist. cap lug when the sensor finger is centered
over the sensor.
As long as I was in the valley, I had a number of fuel injector connectors
that had been siliconed in place due to age brittleness and cracking, so
with the help of Ed Sowell’s excellent work with the F.I. harness
rebuilding, Sean Straw’s excellent wire splicing technique, CONDUCT-TITE
#85850 Bosch Fuel injector Connector Repair kit (Pep Boys) and of course,
“The Book”, I am just about finished with the harness. At the same site that
I posted pictures in part 1, you will see pictures of the F.I. harness
connector with pin locations and wire colors for reference. I am using 18
ga. tinned marine cable for the harness (Boat US) because it matches the
wire ga. of the repair kits and Jaguar harness, I also like it’s corrosion
resistance and soldering ease, temp. rating is 105 Deg. C, but I will also
be running the cable along the intake manifold nut-line (per the Book) .
In my next installment (3), I hope to post some pictures of the finished
harness in place, A/C Compressor positioned up and away for access, modified
throttle pedestal (per The Book) also for easier access as well as throttle
pot setting (also per The Book).
Part 4, my final installment, will hopefully be a glowing (not the Cats!)
performance report.
kind regards to all,
-Don Buresh, 1991 XJ-S V12 Coupe, Classic
Orlando
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