hainkm

Last post of 2022

(12/29/2022)

2022 will be remembered as the year I decided to finally tear into this pig. Now to keep the momentum going in 2023!

I finished the LEDs for the red part of the tail light and started working on the animation for the turn signals.

It’s time to pull coolant out of the car. I need to remove the heater core and I don’t have a good way to drain everything in the tight space I’m in. So, I decided to use an old garden hose and a small pump and suck all the coolant out of the engine. And it’s gross looking.

I finally won the battle with this HVAC box. I’m certain someone will email me and tell me that I’m ruining something special. That’s fine. The new setup will be under the hood and I can service it in an afternoon, not a month of afternoons.

Looks like the heater core was leaking anyway. Go figure.

So much more room for activities!

Wipers

(12/28/2022)

I’ve worked on many wiper motors in the past. All of them have had some sort of crankshaft like bar attached to a cam like gear on a motor. I have never seen anything cable driven.

I have to admit, I don’t think I hate this. Yes, I hate the electrical connector, but something about being able to remove an entire wiper assembly from the car in one piece is kind of refreshing.

I’ll give this one to Jaguar.

And here’s the terrible electrical connection:

I started playing with the instrument cluster. The four gauges in the middle will be replaced with a small LCD screen, but the speedometer and tachometer will remain. The tachometer will be changed to become a KWH meter. Looks like I can easily put a pulse in and control both gauges. Maybe someday I’ll change them to steppers? For now they work like this and still has the old-car charm of bouncing gauges.

And then there’s this. This is just part of the incredibly over-complex HVAC this car has (had)

And if my dryer at home has it’s thermostat go out, I can just grab this spare off a nearby Jag.

Dash work

(12/27/2022)

I managed to spend the entire day after Christmas super sick. I was feeling better on the 27th, but not 100%, but managed to get some more work done on the car.

Nothing like looking at something behind the dash with your camera and seeing the phrase “Do NOT remove 2 screws” stamped in the steel.

This was a challenge. This is a security screw for the ignition lock assembly, and the way they make it is that the screw is torqued from the factory and the head is snapped off. Makes removing it nearly impossible.

The “What have I got myself into” look…

I need to remove the vacuum booster, which is apparently attached to the brake pedal box, so that has to be removed, too.

And it’s out!

Christmas Afternoon…

(12/25/2022)

On Christmas afternoon while the rest of the family was asleep from Christmas morning festivities I worked more on the Jaaaaaaaaaaag

I found this under the headliner. I thought maybe it was a VIN tag – nope, just a random piece of metal half painted.

I started looking at these interior switches. The silkscreening is peeling and they are poorly backlit. I have a plan for replacing these with something a little more modern, but looks authenticish.

HVAC

(12/18/2022)

As this is being converted to electric, the heating will change from water to electric. Also, I need to make the AC electric as well. There will be challenges here…so where do I start? The display of course!

So in the Jaguar there is a trip computer that shows a clock, fuel used, etc. That isn’t really going to be necessary in it’s original form for the electric rebuild. Additionally I plan to completely use a different HVAC air box setup as the factory one is a bit more complicated than needed.

So, I started looking at gutting the trip computer to repurpose it to be a climate control computer. I plan to make it look stock, but function very different.

Lucas – We use wooden beads for PCB standoffs.

I really like these illuminated buttons, but I was quite shocked to find they were illuminated with an incandescent lamp! On the plus side, LED conversion is simple since the button is hollow up the middle!

I plan to use a 7-segment LED display, in green, to have the look and feel of 1986 electronics. Also something I like? No tail on the top of the 6. It’s a hold over from TTL 7-segment drivers and I’ve always liked it.

A full day of wire cutting

(12/16/2022)

I spent today cutting and gutting.

Lucas – we can’t make our voltage regulators work properly, but we CAN alert you when the voltage goes too high!

I uncovered this on the driver side kick panel:

This is the brake light switch. It looks like something out of the 1950s.

As I began to remove the harnesses tucked up inside that cavern in the kick panel:

Poured in epoxy. Zero markings. Inline fuse.

Here we have power resistors, covered in tape, behind the instrument cluster.

More grounds. Everywhere you look there are grounds.

Insulation all comes out in chunks. This will all be replaced with Dynamat

I’ve never seen a vehicle that had a complete electrical schematic included in the owner’s manual…

Every connector I found, I put in this bucket:

So much electrical nonsense

(12/12/2022)

I’m just going to let these pictures speak for themselves.

More interior

(12/11/2022)

I’m working my way around to the passenger side of the car now:

It appears someone has been in the passenger door before and left the vapor barrier in a pile. Also check out how everything has 42 adjustments.

This is in the passenger foot area. Modules, fuses everywhere. Wherever there was a place to mount something, they did.

This is all going away in favor of a much simpler unit.

Random in-line diode. It’s fine.

Passenger seat handle in the dishwasher 😀

More interior nonsense

(12/10/2022)

This piece of wood is used as a filler to achieve a radius in the rear quarter head lining. Sure.

In the backseat there are side armrests that double as speaker pods. This is the grill they use to vent that pod. This is factory. It’s gobs of silicone holding steel mesh that was attached to thick cardboard.

One positive I can say is that nearly everything comes apart. This is that same rear speaker pod. I can remove all the pieces with tabs and give it a good cleaning. While I’m at it I’m going to expand the hole for the new speaker in the rear and apply new velvet fabric as this stuff is rotting from age and the glue has dried up.

Here’s something else I don’t get about this car. This is a seat mounting point. It’s not the best picture, but it’s a little embossing above the floor. Jaguar uses a nut under it to hold the seat. Not a caged nut or a welded nut – a loose nut. Why? So we can lose it?

Oh cool, all the carpet is glued down.

This vehicle is not in short supply of ash trays.

Nothing to see here. Just washing a seat lever in the dishwasher (shhhh)

Interior Removal

(12/09/2022)

I continue to remove the interior of the Jag. The process is pretty simple: Remove a part, bag/box the bolts and label them so I’m less confused upon reassembly months later, spray with the anti-fungal, wipe down, spray with the cleaner, wipe down and let dry a day. Once dry, use the Chemical Guys leather treatment.

If you look closely here you can see mildew spots.