I have what I was told was a Borg & Beck 10.5" clutch that is behind a V12 in my Daimler Van den Plas Double Six
It has a 5 speed Supra gearbox behind it, with a Dellows custom bellhousing
It was a my daily driver for quite a few years, I installed the parts myself
The seller of the parts told me this clutch was a very superior quality item, and quite rare
I will now be selling this vehicle, or if not, as much of the running gear as I can
As such, I wish to be accurate in my description
Can someone confirm the Manual gearbox equipped XJS came with the above mentioned clutch please ?
regards Tony
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
2
Not sure what you’re asking. A 5-speed Jaguar V12 didn’t come with anything, Jaguar never offered such a beast. If you installed a 10.5" Borg & Beck clutch in it, then that’s what it’s got in it.
That setup is exactly what my (ex) race car XJS has in it. W58 box.
I assume that the clutch is a standard XJS B&B but with a driven plate that is the correct diameter but has the correct number of splines for the W58. But given that the vast majority of the early XJS were automatic…no clutch.
I now own a very early factory manual XJS. It has a series 3 E Type box in it, which uses HK9728Q which is a 10.5" Borg and Beck diaphragm clutch, which is what the S3 E Types used.
Thanks, I know it all works well as I drove it for more than 5 years
I think its a W57 ( I did this nearly twenty years ago)
The guy that supplied me with the parts, it came out of a XJS, that had a Supra fitted, but he told me the clutch parts were originally out of a rare 4 speed manual XJS.
The owner did not like the heaviness of the clutch (nor did my Mrs) and he converted it back to Auto
Unfortunately, the Daimler body is too rusty to restore, it was rusty even when I bought it, as an auto, the auto broke, so I installed these parts. I hate selling it
However, I would like to get the best money I can for what I consider a good drivetrain setup
It transforms the V12 cars
I put the item for sale in the classifieds, but didnt get much interest
A similar kit is available for $A1500 on Oz Gumtree, but no gearbox
My Supra gearbox has a heavy duty input bearing inserted to cope with the extra torque of the V12
Same box as E Type including 6 cylinder 2+2 and all manual V12s, but with different top cover; lever further back as the engine was mounted further forward as compared to E Type. Also used in non-overdrive XJ6, when specified, with appropriate bellhousing.
The seller, who was an engineer and racer, and helped develop the Dellows kit (cant remember his name, except he was in Brisbane) told me the Borg & Beck 10.5" clutch was very superior to most other clutches.
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
8
It’s been a while, but when I did this job I recall concluding that the clutch that Jaguar used was definitely not the one to use. First off, you want nothing to do with that carbon-faced throwout bearing. But besides that, the SIII E-types with 4-speeds were notorious for having clutch problems.
I chose to go with a Corvette clutch instead. Corvettes are not known for having clutch problems, and if they were there’d be a dozen aftermarket companies offering upgraded hardware. Since Corvettes commonly came with big honkin’ V8’s with gobs of torque, I figured I couldn’t go too far wrong. Just took the flywheel and the Corvette clutch cover to a machine shop and had them drill and tap holes for it.
Funny you should say that, as now that I think about it, I am sure he mentioned to never let anyone convince me a GM clutch was anything but inferior
This one did have some custom parts, maybe the throwout bearing
At one point it did break the clutch fork in half, and I spoke to Dellows, who were very rude & unhelpful imo.
They told me that my casting was the prototype, and I had to pay full price for a new bellhousing
There was a poster on here who was from Bathurst NSW, who used to, maybe does still, race Jags, he was a mechanic, and had worked for a Jag Service place in USA, cant remember his name either, but his posts are still on here somewhere, he was super knowledgable about jags, but got banned for slagging off about various things, at least 20 years ago. He also was involved with the development of the Dellows V12 kits
@abowie maybe had something to do with him if you are involved in Jag Racing, I think Terry might have been his first name, or maybe his last name lol