[xj] What's the Dumbest Thing a Previous Owner's Done to an XJ6?

XJ
41

At that time being in wonderment at the strength and utility
of the epoxy glues, I glued the carburator on to the intake
manifold, and hooked everything up.

I used JBWeld to fill a crack in an exhaust manifold in an AMC Pacer
once. I sold it a year later, still sealed.

What I have been noticing in these posts is that with the exception of
the leather bearings, which to work for a short time, and the
windshield wiper fuel pump, which didnt work at all, most of these
things seem to work and continue to work. Which means, they were not
idiot repairs, but legitimate “spit and bailing wire” repairs.
Jim Isbell
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 8:37 AM, BudFox morlockx15@gmail.com wrote:

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42

In reply to a message from Jim Isbell, W5JAI sent Sat 11 Oct 2008:

I recently fixed TWO cracks on my oil pan with JB Weld. All’s well
so far. Apparently, one must have been pre-existing because I have
noticed a sharp drop in how often I have to add oil. A carb on the
other hand!?! I guess wonders never cease. Good point tho’ Jim;
most of the ‘dumb’ fixes mentioned do seem more ingenious and
expeditious than dumb. Some pretty good ‘war stories’ if nothing
else! ;-)–
The original message included these comments:

of the epoxy glues, I glued the carburator on to the intake
manifold, and hooked everything up.
I used JBWeld to fill a crack in an exhaust manifold in an AMC Pacer
once. I sold it a year later, still sealed.

–
Chris '83 XJ6, '78 XJ6C
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43

In reply to a message from Alex Cannara sent Thu 9 Oct 2008:

Bud:

How did you deal with the big end of the rod on your crankshaft?
Or did you ‘‘merely’’ punch a hole in the top of the piston?
Aye, there is usually a way.

In about 1978, my friend as VP of administration succombed to the
entreaties of the Ford Motor Company to buy Comet 6 cylinder four
door sedans for the company fleet. After the customary two year
service, I was offered one at a very good price. I just didn’t like
the things, althugh they were very serviceable and fairly well
equipped.

When my son was playing wih derelict Corvairs and Renaults, his
best friend had a nice little 60 Comet coupe. A kit was installed
to get two one barrell carburators on the log manifold. It involved
cutting a hole in the manifold and attaching a flang with epoxy.
Amazingly, it worked and the little car with a glass pack was very
peppy. Not good enough for the 65 turbo Corvair Corsa coupe,
though.

Carl–
The original message included these comments:

Good one! Shows imagination & courage, maybe made easier by knowing no
one relly cares about a Comet!
We can practice the driving experience on our XKs by just flipping any
two spark wires.

–
Carl Hutchins 1983 Jaguar XJ6 with LT1 and 1994 Jeep Grand
Walnut Creek, California, United States
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44

So does everyone know about stopping a leaking gas tank with soap ?
If it’s a small hole you can just drag a bar of soap across it and if
it stops it will hold a long while.
In 1954 my new wife and I were prospecting for uranium in our new
little Nash Cross Country Rambler (just got back from Korea,spent a
year in the Honor Guard in the Presidio, married, and started college
on the GI Bill; musta been Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome !)
Anyway, some where in New Mexico we dragged across a rock and just
made it into a gas station out in Nowhere.
All they had was a thing in the men’s room that dispensed a pink
powder called Boraxo Hand Cleaner (absolutely no affiliation )
so i crawled under the machine and slapped a handful of the stuff on
the hole…it stopped the leak!
Figured we should be able to make it into the nearest town (long way
on dirt roads) and do sufficient repairs to get back to Southern Cal.

Now here comes the Context !

Three years later we traded it in at Peter Satori’s in Pasadena on an
XK140 MC Drophead Coupe (though not with Uranium Money !) and saw it
later on a car lot and as far as I could see from a distance, no gas
leak !!

More Context, if you think about it for a moment…A trick I learned
in the desert, with the Rambler, was to pull on the heater to max
heat when it boiled…it would give it more radiator area, and it was
already too hot outside to make a difference !?!
It ‘Worked a Treat’, as you say in the Mother Country …

Yr. Svt.
Alaska
'71 Lump
'86 V12 van den Plas, eh?On Oct 11, 2008, at 7:02 AM, wosmo wrote:

In reply to a message from Jim Isbell, W5JAI sent Sat 11 Oct 2008:

I recently fixed TWO cracks on my oil pan with JB Weld. All’s well
so far. Apparently, one must have been pre-existing because I have
noticed a sharp drop in how often I have to add oil. A carb on the
other hand!?! I guess wonders never cease. Good point tho’ Jim;
most of the ‘dumb’ fixes mentioned do seem more ingenious and
expeditious than dumb. Some pretty good ‘war stories’ if nothing
else! :wink:

The original message included these comments:

of the epoxy glues, I glued the carburator on to the intake
manifold, and hooked everything up.
I used JBWeld to fill a crack in an exhaust manifold in an AMC Pacer
once. I sold it a year later, still sealed.

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45

In reply to a message from William de Creeft sent Sat 11 Oct 2008:

Actually, I have heard of both fixes and have used the heater ‘fix’
more than once to limp a car home before it could over-heat (always
late July or mid August per Murphy’s Law). The soap fix on the
other hand, well, let’s just say I never beleived it worked until
now. You’re the first person I ever heard from that actually used
it.–
The original message included these comments:

So does everyone know about stopping a leaking gas tank with soap ?
If it’s a small hole you can just drag a bar of soap across it and if
it stops it will hold a long while.
in the desert, with the Rambler, was to pull on the heater to max
heat when it boiled…it would give it more radiator area, and it was

–
Chris '83 XJ6, '78 XJ6C
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46

Why does it work??? I will believe it when I hear the physics of it.On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 1:25 PM, wosmo cwonsmos@yahoo.com wrote:

In reply to a message from William de Creeft sent Sat 11 Oct 2008:

Actually, I have heard of both fixes and have used the heater ‘fix’
more than once to limp a car home before it could over-heat (always
late July or mid August per Murphy’s Law). The soap fix on the
other hand, well, let’s just say I never beleived it worked until
now. You’re the first person I ever heard from that actually used
it.

Jim Isbell
“If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space.”

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47

I guess i am more Zen about it .
I believe it because it works …

But I await the explanation…Alex??
Bill
Ps…not hard to prove …and very inexpensive…evidently gasoline
does not dissolve soap so soap fills the hole…don’t know about
driving in the rain !?!
But the boraxo set up like cement, as I remember (only 55 years ago!)
maybe soap was different, maybe gas was different; Heaven knows the
world was different.
BillOn Oct 11, 2008, at 10:53 AM, Jim Isbell, W5JAI wrote:

Why does it work??? I will believe it when I hear the physics of it.

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48

Believing me, and knowing the reason for something, are two different
things.
I see the phrase makes me huffy…when i have lied in this life, it
has been for way bigger stakes !?!

I’ll just watch for the result.
I don’t know where I heard it in the first place.
Since that time I have done it by just scraping an ordinary bar of
Ivory across a pinhole.
Can’t explain it .
But if you are a long way from home sometime with gas leaking out of
a damaged tank…keep it in mind !
‘Grin’
‘Smiley’

BillOn Oct 11, 2008, at 10:53 AM, Jim Isbell, W5JAI wrote:

I will believe it when I hear the physics of it.

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49

In reply to a message from William de Creeft sent Sat 11 Oct 2008:

Carl;
The main bearing journal is what ripped out of my comet
engine. That’s why it wouldn’t turn- the rod was blocking
the main bearing journal when it would come around. I
removed the piston and the rod together as a unit through
the top of the block- the opposite journal cap and bearing
fell into the oil pan.

Another story- broke a fan belt on a 318 Dodge van engine.
What to use? Again in Colorado. Tied on an Ace wrap, and
damned if that thing didn’t last the trip! Actually, I was
busy when I got back to Texas, so I kept it on another
thousand miles before I got around to replacing it!–
BudFox
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50

BudFox wrote:

In reply to a message from Frank Andersen sent Thu 9 Oct 2008:

''Way back a friend got an old Essex 6 very cheaply due to a
persistent
misfire. Coming home a cursory examination revealed shorted
electrodes
on one spark plug. Gleefully rubbing hands he regapped the plug
correctly and drove of. Then there was this enormous bang…

As the state of affairs made an inspection easy the truth
was easily
revealed. #3 piston was missing. Ay least you took remedial
actions…‘’

Wow, I never realized that. I don’t think I disconnected the
spark plug wire- I could have blown the entire engine up,
couldn’t I?
Ignorance is bliss!

You need a lot of bad luck, Bud - the fumes in the sump isn’t that
easily ignited. Primed by fuel injections I wouldn’t feel too safe
though…:slight_smile:

Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)===================================================
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51

In reply to a message from BudFox sent Sat 11 Oct 2008:

Bud:

Broke the rod off, huh?

Somewhwre on this forum is a video of a beautiful woman impeccably
dressed driving her XK 120 in the country with the top down. she
notices the temp guage climbing. She opens the bonnett and observes
that the fan belt is a drift, She removes full length stocking
supported by a garter belt from a beautiful leg. Stocking replaces
belt and beauty motors away.

There is another picture of a similar car with the lower half of
what appears to be the same beauty sticking out from under her
XK120.

Three of us were in the mountains of New Mexico in Billy Myhre’s T
Ford. It came to a locked wheel stop on a back road at dark. The
engine was locked solid. We thought it had thrown a rod. Billy was
paranoid about rods. We pulled the pan and the rods seemed to be in
the right places, but there was a tangle of wire at the rear of the
sump! We decided it came from the field coils of the flywheel
magneto. We opened the trans cover and found that some of the
magnets had come adrift and were locking it up. We got them and the
loose wire out bit by bit. Then, we got concerned that we had just
gotten it way out of any semblance ofg balance and destroyed the
oiling system. So, we cut off all the magnets. We always took a
pretty good tool box, including a hack saw!! We put in ourt extra
oil and decided we would put in ehnough oil sothat the rods had to
dip in it. In the next hamlet, we raided the gas stations barrell
of used oil and topped it off. since billy was eccentric, his
exhaust went forwartd! So, when the engine was revved, a cloud of
samoke obscured the road, lights or not. We did make it home about
time for me to shower and go to work!!! Billy sold the T to the
Shriners and went off to Texas A & M to become an officer and
aeronautical engineer. I wonder how his airplanes did?

Carl–
The original message included these comments:

The main bearing journal is what ripped out of my comet
engine. That’s why it wouldn’t turn- the rod was blocking
the main bearing journal when it would come around. I
removed the piston and the rod together as a unit through
the top of the block- the opposite journal cap and bearing
fell into the oil pan.
Another story- broke a fan belt on a 318 Dodge van engine.
What to use? Again in Colorado. Tied on an Ace wrap, and
damned if that thing didn’t last the trip! Actually, I was
busy when I got back to Texas, so I kept it on another
thousand miles before I got around to replacing it!

–
Carl Hutchins 1983 Jaguar XJ6 with LT1 and 1994 Jeep Grand
Walnut Creek, California, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
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52

another fine story of days gone by thanks… the likelihood of such tales
in the future diminishing with every electronic enhancement…
and yes…I was wondering about the rod…and if someone would enquire!
cheers
Koj

XJ6 S3 Big Red (under repair)
XJ6 S3 Snow White (in limbo)
XJ6 S3 Walter (looking good, running well)

Adelaide OZ----- Original Message -----
From: “cadjag” carl.hutchins1@sbcglobal.net
To: xj@jag-lovers.org
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: [xj] What’s the Dumbest Thing a Previous Owner’s Done to an
XJ6??

In reply to a message from BudFox sent Sat 11 Oct 2008:

Bud:

Broke the rod off, huh?

Somewhwre on this forum is a video of a beautiful woman impeccably
dressed driving her XK 120 in the country with the top down. she
notices the temp guage climbing. She opens the bonnett and observes
that the fan belt is a drift, She removes full length stocking
supported by a garter belt from a beautiful leg. Stocking replaces
belt and beauty motors away.

There is another picture of a similar car with the lower half of
what appears to be the same beauty sticking out from under her
XK120.

Three of us were in the mountains of New Mexico in Billy Myhre’s T
Ford. It came to a locked wheel stop on a back road at dark. The
engine was locked solid. We thought it had thrown a rod. Billy was
paranoid about rods. We pulled the pan and the rods seemed to be in
the right places, but there was a tangle of wire at the rear of the
sump!

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53

In reply to a message from Earl Kiker sent Fri 10 Oct 2008:

Earl:

None of my cars have borne Texas plates since 1957. But from the
late thirties, as I can recall, the plates went with the car. Two
plates as I recall. My short stay in AZ was two plated going with
the car.

Here in CA, yes twwo plates that follow the car. I think vanity
plates are an exception. You’d think they would, huh?

The big after market cow catcher on my 85 150 4 x 4 had no real
place for a front plate. I got it with none and yearts later sold
it with only one. Never busted.

My 88 Tbird came with two. the front one was mounted an an
appendage that just didn’t look right. I took it off! Wasn’t long
before I was busted by a meter maid!!! Put it back on!!

Now, cars have hiddn numbers, so a ‘‘walk-away’’ could be traced
and get you a ticket for a bunch of stuff.

In the late forties, we were camping in the desert outside
Alamogordo New Mexico in the vicinity of la Luz. A real nice 27
Ford Roadster body and frame was in a wash. Ty as we might, we
coluldn’t get it up the wall and couldn’t come up with a way of
taking it home on my over loaded T fitted with stake bed for the
occasion. In those early days, engine numbers were the ID, and we
swapped things around freely and were supposed to tell the DMV,
guess what!!

Carl–
The original message included these comments:

Jim,
No longer do plates go with the car here in Texas. The law has been changed and when a car is traded, the plates are removed and returned to the seller. I imagine the rules were changed as so many buyers were simply driving the car and never spending the money for sales tax & title fees. This of course resulted in the prior owners receiving all the citations the new owner should have collected from toll gate violations, traffic light cameras and parking tickets.

–
Carl Hutchins 1983 Jaguar XJ6 with LT1 and 1994 Jeep Grand
Walnut Creek, California, United States
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54

In reply to a message from cadjag sent Sun 12 Oct 2008:

Back in the late 40’s my Step-Father had a repair shop, one day a
guy from California came through and as he neared town, he threw a
rod. Clif towed him in and pulled the pan and head off, and
confirmed it indeed had thrown a rod, the piston was scrap also. No
parts were to be had, I believe it was an Essex, plus the guy was
low on cash, Clif said he could fix it to finish his run. First he
removed the remains of the rod and cut the rod off the rod end,
then figured the weight and added lead to the rod cap and rod end
to balance the missing parts. This accomplished he then cut a round
wooden plug and force fit it in the top of the cylinder. He removed
the push rod so intake valve wouldnt open (left the exhaust valve
working for ventalation) and reinstalled the head. Started it up
and he said it ran good. The guy paid him and off he went. Clif
said about a month later the guy came back through on his way back
home and said it never missed a beat on the trip from Illinois to
New York, with that the guy continued on his way. Several weeks
later Clif got a post card from the guy saying he made it all the
way back to California and he had no intentions on replacing the
missing rod and piston.–
81 XJ6 350 Chevy Conversion & 65 MK II RHD 2.4 EDF 116C
Rock Falls/IL, United States
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