Hello ladies and gents,
I am in the process of eliminating the harmonious cow bells from
our 1986 xj6. I am going to have the plenum repainted and while it
is away I want to repair the flaps. I am hoping that someone can
save me some time searching the archives and inform me about what
material was used for the flaps. I was actually thinking of using
pieces of tyvec house wrap or another nylon or fiberglass
reinfoerced material to replace the original with. Also, I am going
to use vinyl top adhesive to glue everything. Is this ok? Any help
from you all will be greatly appreciated as always.I am also
getting ready to have the windscreens removed, the headliner
replaced, and the windscreen frame repaired and the car repainted
(down to bare metal). I wanted to know if it is better to have the
headliner done before or after paint. I consider us very lucky. Our
Jaguar has minimal surface rust other than the three spots on the
front and rear windscreens. This is the first Jaguar we have owned
and after looking at quite a few other Jaguars, (with the intent of
buying another one) I have not seen one that is close to the
condition that ours is in. By that I mean, in as good condition.
Stephen J. Niznik
Pittsburgh,PA
1986 xj6/42000 miles--
dizmando
jefferson hills PA, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
The material is an adhesive-backed foam but you can use anything that
will cushion the flap; the important thing is that the flap remain free
to move with air flow. Do NOT glue them closed! They are an integral and
important part of the climate control.
Headliner: do this after painting. It is not necessary to remove the
rear glass to take it out, that is, if the work is done by an
experienced shop.
It sounds like a lovely car: tell us more about it.
Hello ladies and gents,
I am in the process of eliminating the harmonious cow bells from
our 1986 xj6. I am going to have the plenum repainted and while it
is away I want to repair the flaps. I am hoping that someone can
save me some time searching the archives and inform me about what
material was used for the flaps.
In reply to a message from Dr. Gregory Andrachuk sent Thu 16 Feb 2006:
thismay sound stupid, but someone wanna explain what a
cowbell is?–
Darren B 83 xj6 brg 69k miles 82 xj6 vdp tmu
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
–Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php –
This is the description of the noise made by the air vent flaps under
the rear glass when you close a door. As the air is forced out of the
flaps, they hit the housing; when the car was new the flaps were
cushioned by a foam pad. Heat and age make the foam deteriorate to the
point that there is no cushioning effect, hence the “cowbells”. The fix
is to open the boot, remove the black metal cover which sits at the
forward top edge of the boot (it is held by sealant). This gives access
to the flaps which must NOT be sealed shut. New foam padding can easily
be applied, and the noise is gone.
In reply to a message from Dr. Gregory Andrachuk sent Thu 16 Feb 2006:
Hello,
talking about cowbells. To make a bit more space for an LPG tank
it would be beneficial to remove the cowbells. What is the risk if
I do so, that get a gas smell in the car?
Fred:
The climate control needs air flow to work properly; the air flaps are
an integral part of this. If you seal them, the climate control
performance will suffer. Regarding a gas smell, I am not sure that
sealing them would make a difference.
In reply to a message from Dr. Gregory Andrachuk sent Thu 16 Feb 2006:
Hello,
talking about cowbells. To make a bit more space for an LPG tank
it would be beneficial to remove the cowbells. What is the risk if
I do so, that get a gas smell in the car?
In reply to a message from Dr. Gregory Andrachuk sent Thu 16 Feb 2006:
Gregory,
I meant the other way around. I would leave the holes open. There
would be enough flow for the AC to work properly. I just expect
that some unwanted air is coming back occasionally.
In reply to a message from Dr. Gregory Andrachuk sent Thu 16 Feb 2006:
Hello,
talking about cowbells. To make a bit more space for an LPG tank
it would be beneficial to remove the cowbells. What is the risk if
I do so, that get a gas smell in the car?
The “cowbells” are the sound of the flaps, Fred, not the flaps
themselves, so…
Removing the flaps is emphatically not good - fumes from the luggage
compartment may then more easily enter the cabin under some
circumstances. Apart from the smell - both LPG and petrol fumes are
unhealthy and…hm…volatile. Taping the flaps shut will prevent air
from exiting, interfering with “climate control” of the cabin - to get
new air in you need the old air out…
So if you modify you should retain the intent of the flaps -
somewhere…
…To make a bit more space for an LPG tank
it would be beneficial to remove the cowbells. What is the risk if
I do so, that get a gas smell in the car?..<
Fred, if the LPG tank has been fitted correctly, all connections to
the tank inside the enclosed boot space should be within sealed
enclosures connected to large bore flexible pipes encasing the copper
gas pipes which should exit the car underneath the boot; all this is
to ensure that no leaking LPG can lie around in the boot, for obvious
reasons. So ‘cowbell’ vents or not, there must be no gas in your boot.
If you remove the cowbells and blank off the apertures then, as
Gregory says, the a/c will not work very well. You could always make
other apertures into the boot I suppose. If you leave the apertures
open then any smells from the boot will certainly permeate into the
cabin when the a/c fans are off.
BTW, we fit 70 litre LPG tanks without needing to remove the
‘cowbells’. You could also consider a toroidal in the spare wheel well.
In reply to a message from Dr. Gregory Andrachuk sent Thu 16 Feb 2006:
Hello,
I want to clarify the importance of the rear vents that
ultimately accomodate the cowbells. The vent holes are there to
allow air to escape from the passenger compartment. Without these
vents the passenger compartment would become pressurized when the
blower comes on or the doors are shut. When there is air forced
into a space (fresh air) the air that is currently occupying that
space has to have a way to escape. If the vents are eliminated the
fresh air will not be able to enter the inside of the car and when
the doors are shut you would feel pressure on you ear drums. The
air inside the car would also get stale on long drives with all
windows shut. I would not eliminate the flaps because they keep air
from coming in from the rear. You have to remember that when you
are not moving air could come in through these vents while the car
is running and this could introduce carbon monoxide into the
vehicle. So unless you put a lot of thought into re-engineering a
system on these cars I would not modify them I would restore them
to their original operating perameters.
One thing that can be done, as on ours, is to get a small, 2", 12V computer
fan and mount it (glue or 2-sided tape) over the vent hole in the bottom of
the boot by the tire & fuel pump – it should blow outward. Then connect the
fan wires (- to a ground lug) – the + wire can simply go into a splice on the
fuelpump’s + lead. Then, the boot will be exhausted as you idle or drive.
The same sort of fan can be mounted over the other side’s vent.–
Alex
79xj6L SII (BRG + wires)
86xj6 SIII (Black)
61 Sprite MkII (Red)
Menlo Park, Calif.
Frank Andersen wrote:
Fred Coll� wrote:
The “cowbells” are the sound of the flaps, Fred, not the flaps
themselves, so…
Removing the flaps is emphatically not good - fumes from the luggage
compartment may then more easily enter the cabin under some
circumstances. Apart from the smell - both LPG and petrol fumes are
unhealthy and…hm…volatile. Taping the flaps shut will prevent air
from exiting, interfering with “climate control” of the cabin - to get
new air in you need the old air out…
So if you modify you should retain the intent of the flaps -
somewhere…
