Jaguar XJ-S. Manual - part 121

 
 

479

 

COLOR COORDINATION OF WHEELS:  Coordinating the color of the wheels with the body color of the car -- via 
some accents in the pattern or the like -- can make a dramatic improvement in the appearance of any car.  This is almost 
never done at the factory, presumably because tracking different colored wheels to make sure they end up on the correct 
color cars on the assembly line would require too much extra cost and effort.  If you have to have your wheels repainted 
or powder coated anyway, consider asking the shop to apply an accent color that matches the color of the car. 

If your car happens to be red, green, black, or grey, this color coordination of the wheels might be easy!  Just replace 
the little growler emblems with ones that match!  Richard Mansell points out that Jaguar offers wheel emblems “in the 
following 5 colours:  Silver/Green, Gold/Ruby, Silver/Ruby, Black/Gold, Grey/Silver (Jaguar), Gold/Ruby, 
Grey/Silver, Black/Gold (Daimler).”  Available at the dealer.  The Silver/Ruby part number is MNA 6249EA. 

Apparently Jaguar’s intent was not color coordination, which may explain the limited selection of colors.  David 
Buchner says, “each year model has its own color.  '94 uses red...”  Maybe more colors will be available in future years! 
 The early H.E. domed starfish wheels came with a two-piece emblem (growler and retainer) while the 90’s Jaguars use 
a single-piece emblem, but the single-piece item fits the domed starfish wheels just fine. 

 

WHEEL ARCHES:  These are bright metal trim pieces that fit around the edges of the wheel wells; they are available 
in either chrome or gold.  They are another item about which opinions vary, with many owners finding them gaudy and 
tasteless while others love them.  Of course, if the edges of the wheel wells are where your car is rusting, you might 
suddenly decide they look good! 

John Dyson says, “I have the chrome wheel arches on my ’91 "Classic Collection."  It is my impression that they are 
part of the limited edition trim which includes chrome wheels, gold bonnet badge, leather interior with contrasting 
piping, and "Classic Collection" badge on right rear.” 

 

CONVERTIBLE RIGIDITY:  In the old days, cars had a rigid frame and the body merely went along for the ride; 
chopping, removing, or otherwise screwing around with the bodywork did not functionally affect the car.  However, a 
frame is now considered a waste of steel, space, and money, and the body of the car is usually the stress-carrying 
structure. 

About the same time this change was taking place -- early 70’s or so -- convertibles also disappeared, largely in 
anticipation of safety regulations that never actually materialized. 

In the 90’s, the convertible made a comeback -- including the lovely XJ-S version.  Unfortunately, the stressed-body 
concept doesn’t take well to a convertible; removing the roof removes a great deal of the structural rigidity, and such 
cars often end up weighing considerably more than the hardtop versions due to added structural reinforcement needed 
elsewhere to compensate. 

Early XJ-S convertibles were structurally good but not great.  With the bodywork revisions in mid-1991, mounting 
points were added under the car for a system of front and rear cross-bracing to add rigidity.  This renders the structure 
truly excellent.  Unfortunately, the 1988-1991 convertibles lack the mounts for installing the bracing. 

The cross-bracing can be added to earlier cars.  A kit including all the parts is available from Classic Engineering (see 
page 712), but installation involves some welding.  They are reportedly working on a similar kit for the rear bracing, 
but the front is the more important. 

According to Julian Mullaney, the rear brace is very similar to the front, but fashioning mounting points is harder.  
“This brace mounts on the chassis in front of each rear wheel and crosses to attach on the opposite side, behind the rear 
end cage on the bottom of the trunk (boot).  This is where the problem is.  In the new cars, the trunk well is stamped 
with two downward pointing depressions to which a brace can be bolted.  In the early convertibles some sort of 
stand-off (about 2-1/2 inches deep) must be mounted to the bottom of the trunk-well in order to attach the brace.” 

Meanwhile, similar cross-brace kits are available from Harvey Bailey Engineering, page 711, but theirs apparently 
require no welding.  Chris Carley installed both front and rear cross-bracing:  “Heck knows why it works but it really 

 
 

480

does make the car feel so much more solid.  When you hit a bump you just get a normal tire thump - no rattles or 
shakes.  It also improves the handling, which surprised me; feels like much less roll and more firmly planted.  Fitting:  
front was dead easy; need 1-1/8" socket for subframe mounts.  The rear fitting is just fiddly to get the thread started in a 
blind hole (took hours and lots of 4-letter words).” 

 

MAKING YOUR OWN CONVERTIBLE:  Discussing chopping the top off a coupe, Scot D. Abbott says “I’ve seen 
several XJ-S coupes made into convertibles.  I also saw several XJ-S bodies cut apart just for examination and have 
experience evaluating convertible conversions.  IMHO, changing the XJ-S unibody to open configuration must be done 
with some care to minimize strength loss, and reasonable stiffening elements can be added back to make a sound car.  
This must be done properly and can be done in many ways. 

“Roof removal is not necessarily the main thing that can take away body integrity/strength in a conversion.  I cut the 
roof off an XJ-S, towed it on a dolly 2000 miles, and still the door gaps remained the same. I could raise the car with a 
jack and not twist or deform it significantly differently from an XJ-S with its roof intact.  Please note that I kept the 
sundeck/rearward bulkhead intact. 

“Compromise of the rear sundeck/rear bulkhead system or removal of the rearward bulkhead (i.e. the sheetmetal wall 
behind the rear seats and between the rear wheel wells) from the XJ-S makes the car very flimsy, especially to torsion 
stress, and it permits undue flexure during motoring which will likely fatigue the sill/floor joints with time. 

“Removing the rearward bulkhead is done to make room for a large power top to fold down. An alternative to this is to 
use a compact folding top and thus avoid creating the basic problem. 

“A commercial version of this conversion design strategy is available locally (Driver’s Seat of Delaware, Inc., Box 542, 
Montchannin, DE 19710, 302-998-7889).” 

 

STATION WAGON:  See Lynx Motors International Ltd., page 716. 

 

XJSS:  A radical kit car based on the XJ-S offered by Autostyle (page 711).  Pat O'Keeffe got the literature, and reports 
that the blurb says: 

PREPARATION:  The bonnet (hood), boot (trunk), bumpers, lights, front wings and doors are unbolted.  The 
rear wings and roof are removed.  Note that the windscreen pillars and glass are not disturbed.  The tubular sill 
reinforcer, which is supplied, is fitted.  The fuel tank is adapted.  The rear boot lid support assembly, which we 
supply, is fitted. 

ASSEMBLY: The one-piece front body section is fitted.  The bonnet is fitted.  The one-piece rear body section 
and sill covers are fitted.  The boot lid is fitted.  The XJSS door skins are fitted and the doors returned to their 
original locations.  The lights and number plates are fitted.

 

 

PAW PRINTS:  Cats love cats; those flea-bitten varmits just love to stroll around on your freshly-washed Jaguar with 
their filthy paws and leave little prints all over it.  Aside from solutions involving firearms, the following suggestions 
have been made: 

Peter Cohen says, “There is a product called a ScatMat.  You place it on the car, plug it into the mains and it 
administers (chuckle) a mild electric shock to the little bugger.  I actually own one of these devices.  The bad news is:  
1. The cat figured it out and just doesn't step on it.  2. My wife drove off with it still on the car.  I found it 2 weeks later 
in the bushes, 3 streets away.  My only workable solution is: the Jag goes in the garage, the cats may not go in the 
garage.” 

Chuck Wood says, “I know some of you will laugh, but it really works if you have cats that know they should not be on 
the car and get off when you come out or you yell at them.  I took a motion detector which had two lights.  I took one 
light out and put a receptacle in it.  I then recorded my voice on tape very sternly telling the cats to get down using the 

 
 

481

word No and whatever other words that they are used to hearing when they are doing something they should not be 
doing.  The recording was about 5 minutes long.  Set the motion detector for about the shortest time on and position the 
sensor to pick up anything moving on top of the car.  It should not go off when the cat walks on the floor any where.  
When this is set correctly, the cat gets on the car which activates the sensor which turns on the light and activates the 
recording telling the cat to get down or off..  It shuts off in about 5 seconds.  The recorder is in the play mode all of the 
time.  It really works well if the cat is conditioned to knowing it should not be up on the car.” 

David Danvers says, “I have sprinkled red cayenne pepper around my carport to keep them away...it is a great deterrent 
and cheap...go lightly so you don't track it in the house or car and re-apply after it rains....they'll get the point pretty 
quick...”  Apparently, the reason this works is because the first thing the cats do when they get settled on the car is to 
start licking their paws. 

Stefan Schulz suggests, “Dihydrogen Monoxide, the colder the better, and lots of it.  Apply by slinging it with a bucket. 
 They will get the message.  It also goes some way to remove the paw prints.” 

 

Hess & Eisenhardt Convertible 

 

VIBRATION:  The Hess & Eisenhardt convertibles have chunks of lead mounted behind the headlights, probably to 
address a resonance problem.  Julian Mullaney says, “Actually, one of them had come loose and was rattling around in 
the headlight cavity.  This is a problem with a ~15 lb. lump of lead.  It beat the sheetmetal in the cavity until it cracked 
open, and the lead almost dropped out into the wheel well.  I patched it up and bolted it back in place.  I think the 
vibration may have been slightly less afterwards, but not a huge difference.” 

 

CONVERTIBLE TOP REPAIR:  Steve Wilke reports:  “Had problems when one of the hydraulic lines chafed its way 
to oblivion.  Resulted in a good bit of hydraulic fluid in the boot.  I found that our local auto parts store carries a hard 
black emissions control tubing, which looked very much like the original tubing.  A couple of trips to Home Depot's 
plumbing department got me the fittings I needed to splice the tube, and Home Depot also had hydraulic jack oil in 
gallon jugs.  After splicing the tube and purging the lines by raising/lowering the top several times, each time refilling 
the pump with hydraulic oil utilizing a turkey baster, the top worked better than ever.”