"I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations." -Bill Clinton

 

Haven't done much of anything to her except machine a fan clutch delete hub. My wife blew the engine in her XK Commander so she's been driving it to get around, while I drive my 07 GT Eclipse. It's fun watching her try to get into it as it's lifted and she's short.

 

Yanked the exhaust system today and the valve cover. I will replace the exhaust system, clean and possibly paint the valve cover, install a new gasket so no more leaks.

I also wire wheeled the left side of the block since it's so accessible to prep it for paint.

 

"I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave."-also Bill Clinton, probably


LOL

 

More cleaning today. Seems it's never ending. Cleaned up the valve cover and transmission crossmember. Neither need to be painted which is nice.

I started to clean underneath and I'm not sure if the black stuff on the body is factory undercoating or 23 years of dirt and oil. It is on the brake & fuel lines so I'm thinking the latter. What do you guys think?

 

Converted the rear foglights so they doubled as 2nd taillights.

Why?
(1) because I could, having stumbled upon some sockets on Fleabay that only had 2 locating lugs but 3 connections, at what I thought was a good price for a bit of nonsense - and the seller accepted my offer of 20% less!

(2) the tail/brakelghts on Euro enclosures are quite small, due to the disproportionate amount of lens that is devoted to the rear fogs - which are only normally switched on for annual inspection, as visibility is so rarely bad enough to legally use them for their intended purpose.

Rear fogs & brakelights are supposed to be different but I couldn't see any difference in the lens pattern, nor did the rear fogs appear to have reflectors - & illuminated they look the same.

I had been waiting for a pair of LED's that matched those in the tail/brakelights (to ensure equal brightness, well colour & intensity really, I suppose) which were eventually delivered yesterday, direct to my XJ! (yes, really: I'd just pulled up outside the homestead when the mailman, delivering on the other side of the street, saw me, crossed over & handed the package in through the driver's window) They were due 19-29 December but were delayed not only because of the Christmas/New Year holidays but disruption to both postal & rail service by dissatisfied employees & militant unions. I got them from a seller in California who, when I message him to say they'd arrived he thanked me for my patience. We had established something of a rapport & I think I can honestly say that, unique in on-line transactions, it really was a pleasure doing business with him. If you're ever in the market for LED's or uprated bulbs give formula-j87 on Fleabay a try.

 

Put some mineral spirits to it. if it is oil it will come right off.
Our was just grime and oil. A pressure wash revealed this much.

 

Looks like the undercoating mine have. It does a pretty good job but unfortunately, the metal is so thin and water leaks rust them out from the inside.

 

Purple stuff loosens it some as well as Brakleen. I think I will try some Dawn dish soap and a brush. If that doesn't remove it, I'll just clean it up and spray the underside with Boeshield.

 

Well the idea was to replace the right front hub (because the bearing cried "enough" yesterday) but the weather meant a late start and the 3 bolts were more difficult to undo than I've previously experienced (except on a certain WJ, the least said about which, the better). Also, I discovered there's some play in the U-joint & about 1" of the reluctor is quite badly damaged (which might explain the random ABS light) so it's back to Plan A: use the whole unit from my parts XJ, which I'd decided against last evening because of a little movement in the U-joint). As I was running out of time, I loosely re-assembled it enough to put the wheel back on & get it off the jack, 'til I can return to it on Thursday (weather permitting), once I've pulled the spare shaft, ready to slip straight in.

So it's Thursday & this morning it was colder than it has any right to be on the English Riviera: there wasn't frost on the windows but (comparatively) thick ice - & I had to go out & play with the XJ's. Just glad it wasn't raining, as it seems to have been continuously since before Christmas. Jack up the '96, remove wheel, pupp out axleshaft (yup, just like that!), stick jackstand under LCA , whizz out jack, & off the driveway into the street, to lift the '98, remove the hub bolts (not much more than finger tight) - but still had to use a screwdriver to lever the hub free. But this is where it starts to get interesting (complicated/confusing?) Sometime since last weekend It had occurred to me that I might've already used the axle shaft from the '96 for the '99 (which had been parked up for rather longer than I'd had the '98) which meant the one I'd pulled from the '96 was actually a '99 which, apart from having it's own problems, of course had a different hub. Appeared, I'd changed it because there was some play in the U-joint, but not as bad as either of the others, so it'd have to do for the moment, & I just needed to find its late, cast, rotor. I found three rotors - all cast, as was the one I'd taken off the '98! Problem was that caught on the knuckle when put on the '99 (I deduced from the longer studs)removed from the '96. Hmmm, better use the rotor off the '99 then, as it was, presumably, the composite one off the '96 - except it wasn't! by now, this has all taken far longer than anticipated & it seems the only solution is to use the shaft that's now on the '99. Fortunately, the bolts undid with the minimum of fuss/effort (despite all those years it's been standing) & it was soon installed in the '98 - with it's own rotor & after a bit of struggle with the brakes (finally realised the front pad was bent! - no, don't ask) it was all back together & usable, hopefully to the Spring, when I can tackle the U-joint & the brakes.
All that remained to do was pop the '98 shaft in the '99 replace the wheels on it & the '96, get them off the stands & put everything away.

Am I happy? Not really - but very relieved (although still puzzled)!

 

Went outside and found a flat tire. Pumped it up and couldn't find a leak. Damn summer air escaping, knew I should have changed over to winter air sooner.

 

As a follow up, I bought just the right size brush and some Dawn Power Wash in a spray bottle. I sprayed it on and scrubbed it with the brush. Took the dirt off but left the undercoating. I then rinsed it with water. It worked really well, was inexpensive, not dangerous and even smelled nice. Next step will be to spray it with Boeshield.

After that I have a few items underneath to remove, clean and paint. Should have it looking pretty good by spring

 

Used my $20 plastic welder to fix my taillight broken tabs. This is WAY stronger than just using JB weld alone. Works great for all sorts of repairs.







Plastic Welder Machine for Car Bumper Repair, Plastic Welder Machine, 50W Handheld Hot Stapler Gun, Plastic Repair Kit, Bumper Crack Repair Kit https://a.co/d/gA5JXA6

 

At least we did not get *** ended. ~30 inches of powder. Leadville, CO
When in doubt; Grind it out

 

started it and ran it for an hour yesterday. just before that christmas blizzard, i put in a new blower motor. she has heat again, yay! but dumazz me reversed my washer hoses, front squirts back, back squirts front. damn!