hello there

I have owned my jag for 10 years now - bought it 5 days after my oldest daughter was born, my wife didn't seem too pleased.

It's a UK spec 1986 series 3 sovereign with the 4.2 litre XK engine with the BW 66 automatic gearbox.

It started life as metallic steel (LEC) with a doeskin leather interior.

What I thought was a reasonable car turned out to have all sorts of hidden horrors which started me down the road to full restoration.

Evenwith all its faults it's still a great car and it's easy to see why they have a big following around the world.

So far I have done the following:-

Replaced inner and outer sills,both front wings, front cross-member,front valance,rear valance,rear quarter panels.

Repaired front floor and inner wings, welded new rear wheel arches.

Removed front and rear screens, repaired frames, re-bonded screens.

Replaced head-lining material, replaced dash-board,console.

Stripped cylinder head (head was then skimmed) and replaced gaskets.

Repaired bodywork and fully primered.

Replaced main engine wiring harness.

Replaced shocks and springs both front and rear.

Stripped down, repainted pepperpots.

main jobs remaining are:-

Complete engine re-wiring (something I want to go into more detail in the XJ forum)

Install new exhaust system (been sitting in the boot for 7 years)

Fix rear hand-brake

Strip down all brake calipers and renew seals.

Strip down leather seats, replace stitching with (rot proof) polyester stitching, re-dye leather with liquid leather and re-assemble

Re-chrome front grill, front and rear bumper blades and boot plinth.

Respray bodywork (something I want to go into more detail in the XJ forum)