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Mostly Missing Mecha :'(

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Jul 21, 2009 Dr. Lecter link
Modified Jaguar XJS (this one has more modified lines than mine, which lacks the flared rear fenders).
Jul 21, 2009 LeberMac link
Nice. The new Jags have all the bells & whistles, but the old ones are more fun to drive. :)

The cockpits in jags were always too narrow for me though. And NO not because I'm "wide."... Grrr... I would always bang my elbows against everything while turning.

P.S. I think it's funny that this thread has devolved into a "Hey look Doc got a new jag" thread.
Jul 21, 2009 incarnate link
Wait, you don't do "new" cars because they're "too complex to work on", but you pick a Jaguar of the V12 era when it required a watchmaker to keep the thing running? Those had a scarier maintenance rep than Ferraris.

Very nice though.

We software company geeks love the new cars. Andy wrote a compiler for our Honda ECUs awhile back.
Jul 21, 2009 peytros link
oh jesus inc drives a rice rocket
Jul 21, 2009 break19 link
Cars, Shmars...

I drive a 14yr old Isuzu, with 230k miles on it. Runs great, AC works..

But, I have a screwdriver shoved down the back passenger window to keep it from falling down, and the, once beautiful, custom paint scheme is fading, with missing clearcoat on the hood, making the black, look.. well.. dull.

And she's got more "bounce" than a trampoline full of college coeds..

But hey. It runs, it's paid for, and it'll pull damn near anything i tie off to.
Jul 22, 2009 toshiro link
Shows what you know, peytros...
Jul 22, 2009 Dr. Lecter link
but you pick a Jaguar of the V12 era when it required a watchmaker to keep the thing running? Those had a scarier maintenance rep than Ferraris.

Two things.

First, there are different kinds of complexity: I know and understand mechanical complexity--electrical, much less computer based, not so much. Hence the appeal of the late model Jaguar V12.

Second, they're actually amazingly reliable engines, good for well over 400,000 miles if treated correctly. And that's per rebuild, with the removable sleeved engine being very rebuildable. I expect to be driving an '82 XJS until the day I die or am forcibly de-licensed.

The major headache with my era was limited to overheating, to which they're prone due to poor design by Jaguar, and if overheated they do all sorts of terrible things. If not overheated, pretty much nothing ever goes wrong with them. And with modern radiators, upgraded waterpumps and electric fans, and an understanding of where the flaws in the cooling system are that's based on over 25 years of trial and error... I'm pretty good at keeping my personal V12 cool.

Earlier models, with a less well designed fuel rail and ignition system, would often not start and/or had the top of the engine burst into flames. Later models, with an oh-so advanced Marelli ignition system, would occasionally lose ignition to one whole bank of the V12 while the other bank was running (so driver kept driving, maybe mashing the gas in frustration at the loss of power) and fuel was still being fed into all 12 cylinders...eventually leading to the still red-hot catalytic converter on the non-igniting side of the exhaust system filling with gas and going up like a bomb.

Suffice to say that, while I use the highly reliable LUCAS HEI ignition system (and I understand that Lucas and "reliable" usually only go together as antonyms), my car no longer has any catalytic converters :)

[EDIT]How could one NOT love this monster??![/EDIT]
Jul 22, 2009 LeberMac link
...eventually leading to the still red-hot catalytic converter on the non-igniting side of the exhaust system filling with gas and going up like a bomb.

Heh. I did that on my Ford Contour. There are TWO cats on that car, and both of them were sad, fused blocks of metal. It's actually amazing that the car still ran (limped) to the gas station with all of that backpressure.
Jul 22, 2009 Dr. Lecter link
That's what people deserve for putting such a stupid contraption as a catalytic converter on a car.

Having something (or in the XJS' case, four somethings) that deliberately generates astronomically high temperatures near your oil filter/power steering rack/fuel lines/brake lines? Really? Really?!

The only thing I hate more than catalytic converters are restrictive inserts in the downpipes before catalytic converters. That's just fucking stupid.
Jul 26, 2009 vardonx link
No, plastic (ok polymer) intakes on the Ford 4.6L V8 was fucking stupid -- and still continues to take the stupidity crown.
Jul 28, 2009 Pyroman_Ace link
Im just glad I have the Ford 4.7L V-8 Interceptor engine in mine. All the plastic has been replaced with metal after-market parts too.
Oct 07, 2009 elvis777 link
Guess what?! The Magical Poniez worked!! Mecha has returned!!!

WOOT!!!

That's just goes to show ya what the power of poniez can do!!
Oct 07, 2009 Dr. Lecter link
plastic (ok polymer) intakes on the Ford 4.6L V8 was fucking stupid

I really hope you just mean the air boxes/filter housing, and not something including or closer to the engine than the throttle body.
Oct 10, 2009 Touriaus link
I cannot resist magical ponies