Having set my heart on an XK8, I was introduced to a guy named George in Collier Row, Romford, a Jaguar specialist trading by himself as GP Jags for the last 14 years. George has many customers and two of them wanted to sell their 8s to trade up to the XKR and one wanted to sell his XK8 convertible.

I looked at the convertible and the blue 8 but never got to see the black 8 because that was quickly sold to the owner's next door neighbour. Nevertheless, George had inspected all three cars and told me all about them and about 8s generally. He has a red XKR convertible.

Summarising, this is some of what I learned. Pre-2001 cars with Nikasil liners (later replaced by Jaguar with steel liners) have suffered catastrophic engine failure as early as 18,000 miles on the clock. A replacement engine can set you back around £6750 plus fitting plus VAT. The auto box and the differential are electronic. Replacements can run into well over £1000 each. The rear shock absorbers tend to go soft after 3/4 years and set you back many hundreds of pounds. The timing belt tensioners themselves cost £1500 plus fitting. And so the list went on with cost of parts and fitting running into hundreds if not thousands of pounds to cure the suspension wear (bushes and other bits of rubber) and all the design 'faults' and weaknesses inherent in those models.

I cringed in fright at the cost of keeping an XK8 in roadworthy condition let alone one rolling off the production line late on a Friday afternoon.

"OK George, what's good about Jags?"

That was a leading question because 9 years ago I bought a 1989 2.9 XJ40. I had it for a year but it was with another Jag spacialist for 9 months who charged me 670 GBP to fail to find out why it wouldn't go. In fact, the compression was almost non-existent that I discovered when I checked it through myself before part exchanging it. The 2.9 was an excuse for an engine and undoubtedly the worse one bearing the Jaguar name. It was a cut down 3.6 (the very best) made for the American market.

"You buy them with your heart, not your brain. You got to be prepared to spend real money on them." " So which Jag is good?" "They've all got their funny quirks." "OK. What about the XJS?" "Parts are getting difficult to get. The early ones are rust buckets unless they've been kept in pristine condition or been in a museum. The later ones pre-facelift, you gotta be careful with because they can cost you big bucks becuse a lot needs to be done on them. Best is the latest one you can get, especially when Jags galvanised the bodies."

So Ebay it was and having looked at many, rejected them with rust around the wheel arches, jumping auto boxes, clangy suspension, noisy timing chain and drove just one, I took a deep breath and bought it, a 1995 Celebration Spec XJS with 100,000 miles on the clock.

Thing is, unless I wanted to sit right up against the steering wheel (I am 5 feet 8 inches short), I need a 36 inch inside leg to comfortably reach the accelerator pedal. without getting cramp in the right leg. The car quickly went into George for a top to bottom inspection.

The front brake pads needed replacing and I asked them to be replaced with 'red stuff' pads. The rears are OK but the rear discs are rusty because the car did 6 (six) miles between its last two MOTs. Bits of rubber in the suspension needed replacing. Both headlamps had cracks and because they cost £150 each but Jags can no longer supply them (a price but no delivery - work that one out), I lashed out on the twin headlamp conversion using easily available units. All electronics and gizmos OK and all tyres OK. All 4 wheels have lacquer lifting and some white corrosion (I already saw that before it was bought) and will need to be refurbished at around £70 per wheel (but I'll get that done in Malta at 150 euros for all 4 wheels). The dust covers lodged into the back of each wheel cause overheating of callipers, pads and the discs can warp, so those have been thrown, meaning a rebalancing job. One front calliper had a sticky piston which is why the car was steering to the left.

The oil pressure guage flickers but George says they all do that. The brake light switch had a sticky spring leaving the brake lights on - you guessed it, they all do that at some time. Apart from these things, not too bad apart from a seepage around the bottom of the steering rack. As I'm off to Birmingham next week, George says for me to bring it back after that run because the rack may settle - the car has been standing a long time.

Generally, my friendly expert says "an engine that's good for 400,000 miles, an indestructible gearbox and back axle and a car not prone to the quirks of the XK8 and a lot easier and cheaper on parts and labour."

Back from Birmingham, called in to a friendly bloke running a joinery shop and he cut me a one and a half inch oak curved block of wood onto which I Araldited an XJS throttle pedal rubber. The existing accelerator pedal rubber was ripped off and the metal cleaned with meths. Using 3M Dual Lock, the block was stuck to the pedal. Instant comfort with the driver's seat another couple of inches back so I don't have to imitate a contortionist to get in and out of the car. To and from the Midlands, the rear shocks were noticeably picking up every bump in the roads and will need replacing. Best thing is to replace all of them and adjustable shockers can be had for a little bit more than the standard ones. The useless flat wing mirrors have had convex mirrors stuck over them and rearview is much improved. Both fronts have been rebalanced but the car still steers to the left.

Collecting the car from George, he had replaced a suspect front wheel bearing and it seems that the steering rack is causing unequal pressure on both front wheels because of the slight leak. That is why the car steers to the left. Too late to do anything about it now because I'm booked into Dijon, France for an overnight stay to catch the car ferry at Genoa the next day. Loaded the car with a lot of stuff and pumped the tyres to 34 all round. The six new shockers were set by George to 'comfortable cruising' and so it did for the 769 miles to Genoa. Plenty of power in the engine (4 litres unmodified) to keep up with the French and Italian drivers. In fact, the 769 miles were covered in 13 hours 42 minutes of driving and that gives an average speed of just short of 56mph. Bearing in mind stopping for tolls, the slow climb behind trucks up to and down from the Mont Blanc Tunnel, more tolls, etc. etc., that's not too bad. The petrol consumption was a little more than 25 mpg but as I was doing 130 km per hour (80 mph) most of the way and kicking down the auto box for fast overtaking with the air con on part of the way, the mpg was not that bad.

Next thing is the steering rack and once the car is as mechanically sound as it can be for its age and minimal money spent on it, refurbish the wheels and do some internal modifications for an out of sight (until I need it) GPS and other gizmos to be built onto the extraordinarily narrow front shelf. The car would also benefit from the two pre-cats located on the downpipe to be removed and replaced with two stainless steel pipes, if that were legal.

All in all a heavy everyday car, oldish, comfortable, air con that works and certainly not as expensive on parts and labour as the XK8 but with the same torque as the XK8s V8 engine but around 50 bhp less.

My thoughts on increasing the bhp up to that of the XK8 or higher are these. Based on what I did with the previous car, a Mazda MX6, fitting a stainless steel mesh air filter definitely improves engine breathing but does not give you more bhp. Fitting a sports catalytic converter or completely removing the cats, definitely improves the mpg, makes the engine for more responsive and acceleration is instantly improved. But those mods do not give you extra bhp and torque. They merely allow you to more fully use what is already there. The 4 litre XJS engine puts out something like 235/240 bhp and with two pre-cats on the downpipe and a double cat half way along underneath and the stock breathing system, the engine is only allowed to use something like 200/210 bhp. Simple modifications to breathing and cats will let the engine use more of its bhp specifications and those do not involve huge sums of money. If anyone wants bhp and torque to be actually increased, money needs to be spent on modifications to the engine by way of a full rebuild and perhaps a supercharger with different ECUs and other electronic gizmos - and that will cost. Of course, some XJSs had a 5.3 or 6 litre V12 engine and those can be had as a drop in replacement plus a different cooling system etc. Again, real money and more frequent pit stops for petrol.

Having been a few days in Malta, I was introduced to Joey at British Car Specialist at the Mrhiel Industrial Estate, a guy who worked in the UK for 21 years and specialises in Rollers, Jags and Rovers.

I had noticed that the front brake discs were blue and no rust had been worn off the rear brake discs. That means binding front brakes and non-working rears. Joey has ordered a seal kit for each calliper (better than big bucks to replace them and he will check the sliders) and new discs all round. On inspecting, he pointed out, as did George, that the radiator had lost fins and is rusty at the bottom. The choice was for him to have it cleaned (the rusty metal would promptly disintegrate), order another or have a local company make an aluminium radiator to specifications. Trouble is, the aluminium sets up a chemical reaction that eventually causes a lot of engine wear, so there was no choice. Joey said "in England you can run around with any old rad. or not much of a rad. at all and you will never get overheated, especially in January. Come to Malta and every fault on a car shows up in the heat".  I asked Joey about the car steering to the left and he measured back to front wheel distances on both sides of the car. He found that the front wheels were out by 6 millimetres, meaning that one wheel was forward of the other. "There's your problem. They're adjustable and likely some birk has left out a shim when working on the steering. Not a problem. It'll be done when it's back on the ramp".

More to the point, when I checked the oil, because the oil gauge was flickering so much, the level was below the bottom of the dipstick. My first thought was that George had forgotten to change the oil. Then, I remembered that he told me he had used good synthetic oil. It took four and a half litres to bring it to the 'F' mark on the dipstick. Not a tragedy because that engine takes 2 gallons of oil to fill from empty. That is why they should last such a long time.

Joey ordered a rad. from the UK and having given them all the numbers, sure enough they sent one for a manual box, not an automatic. "But the factory is out of stock of the one you want and we don't know when they will be in stock". Right. Take off the side of the existing rad that is for the auto box and if in good condition, take it to a local firm that makes rads. Get them to take off the side of the new rad and press on the side that is needed.

When Joey took out the rad., it promptly fell to bits on the underside, but the part he wanted was OK. That was removed by the specialist firm, fixed to the new UK rad. and I'm told it pressure tested fine. All the brakes are fitted with four new brake pipes, discs and calliper seals and Joey has put in some additive to block any leak in the steering rack. Also, he mixes up his own formula he keeps secret to spray rubber bits and he assures me it stops all creeks, 'mouse-like' noises and groans from underneath because it softens hard rubber.

He has now test driven the car and it steered to the left. Back in the garage, he swopped both front wheels from side to side and then it steered to the right. Putting the rear tyres on the front and front tyres on the rear, the car steers a straight line. So, one tyre 'squared off ' in that period when it stood for a long time.

Having now driven the car, the 'feel' of it is much different - a lot better, and it stops a lot better as would be expected. The temperature gauge goes to half way and stays there. Driving back from Joey, the outside temperature was around 31 degrees (a hot day for September) and the needle was like it was nailed to 'normal' temperature. Also, most sqeeking and groaning is gone except for one little mouse somewhere. It can get another spray in due course.

XJ 40s and XJSs suffer from almost the same rot spots. One of these on the 40 is the one you do not see. Take off the grill panel that the wiper arms go through and at the opposite edges, you will likely see paint lifting or a hole. That is why most 40s get wet, musty smelling carpets. The XJSs do the same. Mine has paint lifting and the rust is a little more than surface rust that has not yet gone through. Both wings will need to be removed and the suspect rusty pieces will need to be cut out and a plate cut to shape welded into the hole. Also, the windscreen needs to come out for a line of bubbled paint on the roof at the top edge of the screen. Leave things like this another year and the carpets will be wet and water will be soaking the headlining.

Within 30 miles of use, the water pump (the original by the looks of it) is noisy and by 40 miles, the bearing noise has got worse. You guessed it.

Having bought the car, I was fortunate because it came with a registration number 'N60 XJS' that I sold on Ebay and cleared 1000 GBP that went mostly on buying the twin headlamp conversion and to George for the shock absorbers and other bits and pieces.

For the radiator and brakes, around 1000 euros and the water pump will be around 170 euros in all. That means just to get the car functioning properly the way I wanted it to has cost around 2000 GBP and remember, it is one of the latest produced.

The front wings off, windscreen out and rust treatment as required is likely to cost about another 250 euros. That means anyone buying a late XJS is going to need to budget for about 3500GBP extra (using GB labour costs) and a lot more for earlier models.

Like George said, "you buy it with your heart, not your head".

Having just got back from Joey, the water pump has not been replaced. It is a little noisy and so is the belt, but Joey reckons that the pump has around 1000 miles left in it. More to the point, the car has used 1 litre of oil in the 71 miles since Joey changed the oil and topped it to the 'F' mark on the dip stick. Starting up three consecutive times, white smoke came from the exhausts on each start up and then subsided, a sure indication that oil is being burned.

Jag engines are not Japanese and with Jap cars, you will probably go 10,000 miles between oil changes using none. On the other hand with English engines, 1 litre per 1000 miles is a rough norm.

"Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to get a used 4 litre from the UK?"

Joey replied, "Are you $£!(+&)-well trying to wind me up? How do you know it'll be any good. They wanna sell 'em. Unless it's an engine from a car I've driven, leave 'em alone."

The work Joey has in mind is head off and change the valve seals. With some luck, that will be it with an additional valve regrind and piston heads clean up. If not, new piston rings and if that doesn't effect a cure, go downwards to the big ends.

"Then you know you got a hand-built recon. engine you know will work properly, not some lump of rubbish that some scrap yard merchant says is good because he wants to sell it."

That is all scheduled for the late part of December/early January plus the water pump, and we will see.

The last thing to mention in this Part is the leather seats. Because leather hardens with age, it will eventually crack. Also, a common place for wear or even a hole to appear is on the driver's seat backrest, offside and low. That is usual on Jags, especially resulting from rubbing belts on men's trousers and scuffing it with your clothes when you get in and out.

My driver's seat has small cracks that didn't look very deep so when last in the UK, I bought some leather/plastic spray paint in a can (a bit more than £16) from a place specialising in car paints at Harold Hill, Romford.

After cleaning just one panel of the driver's seat with soap and water, then white spirit and finally the cleaning thinners (about £12 for 500 ml), I sprayed that panel every 5 minutes four times. The car was purposely not used for 5 days to let the leather paint dry properly. It looked great. After 300 miles sitting in the seat, not only do the cracks show, they look worse than before and you can also see the smallest cracking that shows like crazy paving with each pave about 6mm across. Totally useless. Of course, you can also buy some putty like material to fill these cracks that needs gently sanding down before spraying.

Alfred Abela at Msida is one of Malta's finest car upholsterers. In almost perfect English he told me, "spray the seats before the car goes into the showroom or you want to sell it privately, but do not drive it very far otherwise the cracks will come again." I then showed him my effort. Looking at me with a grin, all I got was "see what I mean". Anyway, it is either live with cracks that will not get better or pay Alfred 950 euros to recover both front seats with their red piping in Connolly hide, all inclusive.

There is a huge difference between UK garages and people in Malta like Joey. UK garages repair your car. Joey repairs your hobby. In the UK, there are some like George, who will also repair your hobby but they are few and far between. That's why in Malta you sometimes see Austin A35s, Triumph Heralds, Morris Minors, Mark One Cortinas and Escorts, Austin A40s and other cars from the 50s and 60s still being driven.

There is one thing that I have known for years and because of  now having this particular car, knowledge has turned into practicalities.

With the Mazda MX6, a previous Mazda 626, a previous Citroen XM and a yet still previous Scorpio, the Jap cars did not often need parts. When they did, the cost made me wince, especially for glass. The Ford Scorpio did not often need parts but when it did, the cost of those parts were eyebrow raising. When the steering column bolts on the XM sheered and the column plunged through pipes beneath - and when the the hydro-pneumatic self-raising thingy suspension needed a new set of balls, it would have been better to scrap the car, but I didn't.

In comparison, the Jag parts have proven to be the cheapest. A lot cheaper than Jap parts, very often cheaper than Ford parts and certainly a lot cheaper than XM parts. Ignoring everything else, that by itself makes a Jag better buy than a Ford and much better than a Mazda or Citroen. A sweeping genarlisation maybe, but true in my experience.

In the meanwhile, I'm working on the dash unit for the gizmos that will be featured in Part Two. 

An early Happy Christmas to all Jag lovers everywhere.

1alienx  November 2009.