Vintage Apple Photography...

A wee while back I was contacted by a former colleague who was interested in taking pictures of the Jag. Natasha Yates is a passionate, talented photographer with experience in themes such as lifestyle & weddings, who wanted to get a few shots of the Jag with the aim of pushing her photography & camera skills by trying out new subjects. Her business is called Vintage Apple Photography and the website is http://vintageapplephotography.com/. There you can see examples of her work and have the chance to collaborate through the 'Top Tip Tuesday' section on her blog - see here http://vintageapplephotography.com/toptiptuesday/.

The 'fabulous' Scottish Summer we've had put a delay on our plans but we finally hooked up last weekend to take a few pictures of the Jag in a couple of contrasting environments. We had a grand old morning setting up shots & trying out ideas. Natasha will be manipulating a few of the results in Photoshop to experiment with dynamic ranges, monochrome and so on. I'm looking forward to seeing them and hope to work with her again soon. In the meantime, please visit her website, enjoy her pictures, suggest projects or even commission your own! :)

Here are a couple of my efforts from the day to keep you all going...

Natasha getting a good angle against a suitably industrial background...

A bit of posing in front of an interesting wee building - just ignore the scuffed bumper! :)

Fleet drama, a drinking problem & a new arrival...

It has been a hard month for the Jag as she was forced into daily driver duties following the wee Ka's awful MOT performance. It failed on corrosion in the sills, a-pillars and elsewhere, plus the cracked windscreen, dodgy brakes (imbalanced) and a leaking power steering rack plus a burst gaiter. The latter two issues were ones I hadn't been aware of so came as a bit of a surprise and add to the already sizeable list of work needing done to the Ka. The failed MOT, along with lapsed insurance and end of the Road Tax have put it off the road, hence the need for the Jag's call-up.

All the problems with the Ka have brought me to decision time regarding its future. Whether they mean 'putting it down' so to speak, or stashing it away as a restoration project (and by that I mean a complete strip down to bare shell, followed by a weldathon, engine rebuild/replace & gearbox change), I haven't determined yet. Part of me doesn't want to let it go. It has been a great wee car and huge fun over the last 8 years. I really enjoy the way it drives, how it handles, and how it looks, slammed on the 15-inch alloys that used to adorn my first Ka. However, if I'm being honest with myself it's gubbed. The cost of repairs just to keep it on the road is far too much. I mean, the rack problem itself might necessitate a swap out, which would put the Ka on its FIFTH one, and they aren't cheap. So, unfortunately, scrapping SN02 FVT may be the only option. If I find the space though, I could maybe put the whole lot away to work on in my spare time so that I can practice and hone the skills I am going to need if I want to be a classic car restorer...

On a positive note, the drama with the Ka meant that I got to use the Jag a lot more this month. It has majestically taken me everywhere without complaint. The daily use has reinforced at least two things, the first of which is that she is an awesome car (sport mode FTW), and secondly she is not suitable for use as a daily driver if you are on a small budget. Why? Well, lets put it this way, she has a serious drinking problem!!

Over the course of a week or two I must have sank about £100 worth of fuel into her, only to see it gobbled up thanks to an average MPG of around 14 to the gallon thanks to the stop-start city driving & short journeys normally handled admirably by the Ka. H9 WAP's prodigious thirst for unleaded plus the sheer cost of fuel nowadays really limit the amount I can enjoy driving her. Enjoy it though I have and there has been no bother at all with the Jag while she was doing the rounds. The rattle from the timing chain tensioner is louder mind you, or maybe I'm just more conscious of it, and I've noticed a nail or something in the nearside rear tyre which explains why it needs pumped up every week. College is due to start again next Wednesday so I will hopefully finally be able to get the oil changed, swap out the knackered tensioner for a 2nd hand one, fix the puncture, and then apply Tetraseal to her bottom. I also need to order replacement pads & discs as well as bump up the mileage on the insurance but need to generate more income before I can do either. As ever, work in progress.

One of the duties undertaken by H9 WAP was ferrying me around the region as I chased a new car to buy as a replacement daily runabout. The poor economy of the Jag reinforced the need for something more 'sensible' and to be fair I had been thinking about getting a bigger car to use as a daily for some time. My stepson, William, isn't getting smaller and had been finding things a bit cramped in the rear of the Ka. I set my budget to less than £1000 & began looking about. I am afraid to say that most of the cars available in the price range are shoddy, rusty, battle scarred shitboxes. Either that, they are too small for my needs, have intergalactic mileages or are large, thirsty saloons like the Jag. I actually saw a decently presented Jaguar S-Type V6 for a measly £800 but I would've ended up living in it had I bought her. In the end I plumped for a 2002 Nissan Almera 5-door in blue with part history through a reliable local garage, receipts showing lots of recent work (that I don't have to do, hurrah!), proven reliability, proven economy, CD player, central locking, A/C plus Tax and MOT through 'till May 2013. Ladies & Gentlemen, I present 'The Nameless Nissan'... Some monikers have been suggested, such as 'Thor', 'Malaria', 'Hyjinx' and even 'Norman', but I've yet to decide on a name. It might not ever get one!

I am impressed with the wee Nissan so far. It does everything I need it to do but I find perhaps that it lacks some of the charisma that the Ka has. Not to worry, what it lacks the Jag more than makes up for.




  

Reflections 2 - The Scottish Car Show...

The 2nd event of the month was The Scottish Car Show on the 15th July. This used to be solely for modified cars but has changed tack this year to include classics, retro and other types. It was loud, lively and packed all day, with something for everyone to do at the Royal Highland Showground site.

I began prepping a day or two beforehand by cleaning some stains off the Jag's interior and carpets, 'feeding' the leather too, as well as giving her bodywork another polish. While I was working on the street where I normally park a resident walked up to ask 'Is this your car?', 'Where do you live?' before giving me grief about having it parked in the street for days at a time. Now, where it was parked is round the corner from where I used to stay, and about a 10 to 15 minute walk from where I stay now. It's a quiet, sleepy neighbourhood in a well to do area with ample, free, unrestricted on street parking. Most of the homes there have a driveway or a garage. Up until this one person had a go at me, no-one had complained about the car being there. In fact a couple of people I had spoke to while cleaning it were quite interested in it. This NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) though didn't like that I had parked within a 20 metre range of his house twice in a row. I was under a streetlight, away from the trees, in miles of space and well away from his Audi. The Jag wasn't even leaking any oil!

He moaned that guests coming to visit could not park directly outside his house because of the Jag, then went on to say that I could park in the street (like it belongs to him) but needed to 'move it about a bit'. Looking at all the empty spaces outside his house, either end of the Jag, across the street and 7 or 8 steps around the corner less than a car length away, I was a bit staggered that his guests had nowhere to park. A point I raised with him, as well as pointing out that the car does get moved and put in different spots. He then went on to complain that the car had been 'abandoned' and that he was going to contact the Police about it. Seriously? I mean, he had seen me cleaning it the week or two before so knew fine well it wasn't abandoned. It is taxed, insured and on a PUBLIC road with no waiting, loading or parking restrictions. There was no driveway blocked and certainly nothing to indicate that special access was required to the front of his home because someone had a disability or something.

His attitude was really patronising and I was getting angrier & increasingly indignant the more he bleated on. After sounding off at me for a while, with me taking on board his comments then countering them, he buggered off. I finished my cleaning then moved the Jag. Not because I agree with his viewpoint, but because I felt the neighbourhood was no longer a safe place to leave it. The impression I got from the chap was that if I didn't move the car from the area, things would happen to it to make me move it.

So anyway, on the day of the car show the Jaguar Enthusiast's Club met up early on the bypass so that we could travel in convoy to the event and all park up together indoors. We were some of the lucky few who were able to do so. Once again, I noticed that the Seagulls had done their business all over the Jag but I didn't have the time to sort it out before we were on our way. On arrival we parked up in the main auditorium right next to a tap though so I was able to wash off the worst of the bird poop then run the polishing cloth over the car, again! Having done that and got settled in I had the chance to wander about a bit and see what was happening. There were a good few classics in the main area along with many. many modified cars, a soundstage, funfair ride, mobile tattoo parlour and myriad of stalls selling things. Outside there were hundreds of other cars, clubs and petrolheads, including my Uncle Bobby & his daughter Rachel who were there showing his modified Mondeo. The smell of burnt rubber and the squeal of tyres drew me to watch the Drift Taxi's ply their trade for a bit. It was spectacular to watch. The £10 cost to be  passenger for just two laps of the (short) drift track was a bit steep right enough. Having said that I did pay nearly a fiver for a burger...

I had wanted to take a load of photos of what I was seeing but forgot to charge my phone the night before the show. I formulated a cunning plan though and ducked out for a while to nip away to Tesco's Corstorphine so that I could buy a mini USB cigarette lighter charger. When I got back to the show though I discovered that H9 WAP's cigarette lighter didn't actually work... Now, here's a tip. If anything electrical on a Jag stops working, check the fuses. They often blow. In X300's there is usually a fuse map, showing you where they all are and what they're for, under the flap of the storage/toolkit compartment in the engine bay on the right hand side. In most cases there are spare fuses there too. Some Jags even have a wee toolkit. I quickly discovered that the fuse for the cigarette lighter was blown. A quick swap later & I could charge my phone, but only with the ignition on. Seeing as I couldn't go anywhere for a while I left it on charge and began cleaning.
With the ignition on there was a nice cooling breeze coming from the fans as I set about the engine bay. I got right into the nooks & crannies, cleared out dead leaves, cleaned parts that have probably never been cleaned, dressed the tyres, and then worked some more on the glass, interior & exterior to bring out a shine. I noticed people taking photos & video but didn't think much of it at the time. Happily though I've since found out that I made it to the official video of the event and there is also a picture of the Jag on the StrathyCruise website! Screengrabs below...

Pic from the Strathy Cruise website - accessible from http://www.scottishcarshow.com/

Video screengrab 1 - whole vid can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIcUblXpYTc

Video screengrab 2

I was feeling quite chuffed with the work that had gone into making the Jag nice & shiny so sat down in her for a bit to rest & check Facebook etc. on the phone while it was charging. While doing that I happened to look up at the dash & saw the battery gauge well down from where it should normally be. At this point the ignition was still on. I realised that I had drained the battery by having the ignition on. A twist of the key to start the Jag was met with a click and nothing more. D'oh! I asked about the other JEC members on site for jump leads or a starter pack but no one had any. The Police had a stand nearby so I asked them and thankfully was able to borrow a booster pack so that I could fire up the Jag & run it for a bit to put some juice back into the battery. Cue lots of photos being taken of the situation and talk of me being 'charged' by the Police... The battery in the car really is too small so I will be purchasing the correct part in the future. Of course, I should have remembered that before I drained it! :)

Embarrassing moments aside, at least my phone was charged. I wandered back around the show & took a few snaps...

Edinburgh & South East JEC tucked away in a corner.

Main auditorium.

Beautiful Jaguar Mk IV.

Cadillac.

Uncle Bobby's Mondeo, 'Rosie'.

Porsches.

As the show drew to a close I hung about for the awards. One of the JEC members won for best classic of the even with his immaculate Mk 2. I didn't win anything but my time will come! H9 WAP started first time, even though the battery power level still appeared to be low, and we headed home. Once again, she was running smoothly. Even the lumbar support on the seat seems to have resumed working.

Post-show chill...

I enjoyed the show but it had a totally different atmosphere to the month's earlier one. The Scottish Jaguar Day seemed to be much more chilled out and more relaxed, whereas the Scottish Car Show felt a wee bit 'edgy' at times. It was still good though. There are more shows coming up but I need to watch what I'm doing with the car and address some of the wee things that are really needing done, like the chain tensioner, the minor corrosion, oil change, brake discs & pads, plus transmission/diff fluid renewal. I also need to drive it less. She's on a 3000 mile limited mileage policy and I've done probably 2600 so far since March. It's more use than the Jag has been used to seeing over the last few years, but she's all the better for it!

Reflections 1 - Scottish Jag Day...

It has been almost a month since the last update so I thought it was about time I put a few thoughts down relating to the two shows I've been to (so far), as well as the ongoing progress with H9 WAP.

As mentioned in the last post she was due for a service. This was only partially completed due to a lack of ramp space at the garage, but at least the plugs and air filter were changed and all the fluids were checked. The oil and its filter are still in the garage just waiting for a time when they'll be used. Sooner rather than later I hope. Needless to say, I forgot to take pictures of the procedure for replacing the plugs and air filter but it is simple enough. The payoff for such an easy task has been smoother running, better idling and a wee increase in economy. I've also been able to keep the old plugs as spares since they seemed to be in good condition.

The price for 6 plugs, filters and 10 litres of oil was only around £60 so anyone who says running a Jag is expensive must be shopping in the wrong places!

With the partial service done my boss took the car for a spin and remarked on how good it was. There are a few wee things that could be done with being sorted, chief among them is the upper timing chain tensioner. A new part direct from Jag will come in at about £50. Fitting costs would not be cheap however. I'm on a budget so will source a good 2nd hand spare for much less and fit it easy enough on the roadside myself.

So, with the partial service done and a full tank of fuel, I geared up for the Scottish Jaguar Day on the 1st July. On the morning of the show I discovered that a flock of Seagulls had 'painted' the car. I don't know what they feed on in Edinburgh, but judging by the amount of, and appearance, of what comes out, it's probably best not to know! On route to Doune I stopped in Dunipace to pick up my Dad and cleaned the car as best as possible. I got most of the stuff off and we made the show in good time, helping to set up the Gazebo before the rest of the Edinburgh & South East JEC members arrived. Once that was done I set about polishing and cleaning while Dad chilled out. Here are a few pics of the event...

My Dad and 'The Beastie' as he calls her! 

Some of the Edinburgh & South East JEC cars

See the wheels on the burgundy Jag? Thinking about a set of them for mine...

It was a really relaxed, chilled out day. Productive too in that I got a lot of detailed cleaning done, bought a complete set of handbooks plus the correct folder, as well as a replacement keyfob (which I really need to programme at some point...). The Jag ran really well for the whole trip, a wee bit noisy though when revved thanks to the tensioner and blown exhaust backbox, but other than that there was no drama. There was plenty of automotive eye candy from E-Types to an SS100, XKR's S-Types, plus a random Mustang, and the company was excellent. Roll on next year!

Polishing up...

I'll be going to the Scottish Jaguar Day this weekend so thought it was about time I gave the Jag a bit of special attention. It had been away out at the Grangemouth Gala Day last weekend and was used for commuting on the following two days - which it needed to be fair. Seems to generally 'work' a lot better when it is being used - so as a result it was pretty filthy. I discovered that the Tesco near the college has a really good pay-as-you-go jetwash with a foam brush so I made full use of that before driving home and breaking out the Autoglym polish. After about 2 hours work, the results are below...

Near mirror finish on the paintwork - not bad for an old motor!

Stainless Steel flashes out front still good...

Rear 3/4 view. Roof and bootlid all straight. Bumper to be fixed...

Right hand profile showing the small but deep 'battle scar' on the wing, and the very slightly wonky rear bumper...

All glasswork polished too. 

I'm really pleased with how it polished up! Compared to how the car looked both inside and out when I bought it there is a huge, positive difference.

Although she looks great, mechanically I want to address a few things as noted before. A service is planned for Saturday (tomorrow) where I'll change the oil, filter, plugs and air filter as well as checking the diff and gearbox levels. My boss will also get the chance to have a look underneath to point out any areas for attention I've missed, as well as road test it to give me his opinion on what else is needed to make her 100%. If I'm lucky I may be able to get ny A/C recharged for free and have the Jag Waxoyled to protect her bahookie from the salty, Scottish roads. 

A couple of things have sorted themselves out, again. My seats adjust fully now (apart from lumbar support though I can hear the motor going) and the erratic tailights seem to have settled down to working condition. Fluid leakage is still minimal. 

On the other hand though, while driving about with the A/C off and windows down, I noticed a horrible rattle when accelerating. I know the upper timing chain tensioner perhaps isn't in the best of health, but the rattle only happens under load, not when the engine is revved at idle, so I wonder if it's something to do with the drivetrain? Having said that the big Jag still goes like a scalded cat, with no untoward noises from the gearbox. A look online seems to indicate that what I might have is a loose Catalytic Converter which is bouncing about as the exhaust gasses pass over it. If that's the case, and bearing in mind there's a hole in it already, then it may be time to put aside some money for a new exhaust. I don't suppose another tranny fluid and filter change will do any harm either. Rosco's years of experience should help me pin down the noise - which is oddly intermittent too - and set up a plan for dealing with it. Spares shouldn't be an issue as Rob Jenner has just bought another X300 to break. :)  

Going in the right direction...

Apologies for the lack of recent updates. Things have been happening to the Jag, but as the college course has drawn to a close that's been my main focus.

The Motorcycle and Small Engines Maintenance & Repair experience (actually with a heavy bias towards general automotive maintenance & repair) has been great fun. I have completed all the outcomes and done so well that the college presented me with a 'Student of the Year' award! My application for next year has been accepted so I'll be moving onto City & Guilds Automotive Level 2, skipping the Level 1 course. I can't wait to get stuck in!

As the course came to an end, and even though all the assignments and assessments were taking priority, I managed to get the Jag into the workshop to sort out her wheel alignment, check for leaks, and wire brush some of the underside in preparation for undersealing it at a later date. I'd been putting up with an off-centre steering wheel and odd cornering behaviour for a bit (easier to turn left than right) so it was time to sort things. I used a 4-post ramp to get the Jag airborne, wire brushed and WD40'd the track rod ends, then walked away for a cup of tea to let the WD40 do its stuff. Once back I got out the 4-wheel laser alignment gear, set the steering wheel to straight ahead, and sprayed the track rod ends again before starting any adjustments. The initial readings on the alignment gear confirmed that the alignment was well out. It was a quick fix though and within minutes the front wheels were both pointing in the right direction. The rears were within 1mm of each other. I really should have checked them first to make sure the thrust line of the car was dead on, but the 1mm difference is OK.

Here are a few pics of the job in progress...

Laser alignment gear all set...

Offside track-rod end. The spring you see is probably the wrong one for the car. It doesn't match the nearside! That wire dangling down is the earth for the ABS. Before clean up everything you see here was caked in mud, dirt, grime, oil, coolant and transmission fluid from all the various leaks. No major leaks to report now though!

Rear A-frame and under car view. What lies beneath, eh? Well, a fair bit of surface corrosion, but no holes! Overall it's in really good condition for a 15 year old car with nearly 120,000 miles. The rust has been brushed off and I'll give it another going over before the whole of the underside is coated in Tetraseal or something similar. The exhaust has seen better days though. More on that later!

Pointing in the right direction...

Now, as it's prudent to do when underneath the car, I had a poke about at any rusty bits. The chassis is good, including the sills and arches, but one of my silencers for the exhaust now has a hole in it. Makes the car sound a bit bad-boy, but it has to go. 

Poke, poke... D'oh!

A quick bit of welding after the area has been cut back a bit and dressed will maybe sort this out for the meantime. Ideally though I'd like a new exhaust for peace of mind and because I want to bring the Jag back to excellent condition. On almost every XJ I've seen, the rear silencers rot out here. I couldn't see a drain coming down onto them, but there must be some reason for such localised corrosion? Answers on a postcard please!

After the alignment had been done I can report that the Jag drove much better. The steering wheel wasn't canted over and the cornering had improved. I decided to use it for a couple of days and took the opportunity to go to my first Jaguar Enthusiast's Regional Meeting at the Craig House near Dalkeith. It was a rand night out with like-minded people and I was able to begin the process of sorting out new wheels etc. thanks to Rob Jenner. H9 WAP's current ones are too far gone to reasonably restore so I'm thinking about a set of XJR rims. 

So, now that college is over for the summer I'm a bit stuck for workshop space. Having said that though I hope that Ross at Mulsanne Motors will be able to let me on a ramp long enough to do a service, the underseal and re-charge the air con at some point. Maybe the minor welding too! 

History Mystery...

As you'll know, H9 WAP was bought without a scrap of history or paperwork. None. Not a jot. I broke one of the golden rules of buying any car and took one hell of a chance on it. Still glad I did mind!

Anyway, there was at least one wee tiny bit of information with the car, namely its last MOT and a V5 registration certificate. On the day of the sale, using those documents, I did some online digging and managed to source the Jag's previous MOT history back to 2006 (she was on 105,000 miles at that point - only 119,900 now... ). This information was useful because it let me see all the passes, the fails, and the advisories against her over the last few years. I was therefore able to make an educated guess as to what sort of maintenance had been done to the car over that period of time. For example, the advisories in 2006 were:

• All Coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
• Nearside Rear Tyre worn close to the legal limit (4.1.E.1)
• Both Front wheel bearing has slight play (2.5.A.3c)
• Both Rear wheel bearing has slight play (2.6.2)
• All Brake hose slightly deteriorated (3.6.B.4d)

Since then the coil spring corrosion has been noted on all the MOT's, but none of the other issues have which indicates they were fixed. Looking under the car at the visible pipes and testing for play in the bearings confirms this. Other stuff sorted over the years around MOT time have included blows in the exhaust, faulty Lambda Sensors and dodgy lights. 

It bugs me that I don't have a history though with details on what else was done and where. So I set about getting some. 

Armed with the advice from the Jaguar Enthusiast's guru Rob Jenner, I nipped into the Jag dealer in Edinburgh to ask for information from their DDW (Direct Dealer Warranty) system. Stratstone couldn't give me much but did point me in the direction of where H9 WAP came from - which is Cheltenham in England and a dealership called 'H.A. Fox' on Rutherford Way. I decided to give them a phone to see what information they have and to my surprise found that they had carried out all the servicing and any warranty related repairs needed on H9 WAP for the first few years of its life. The last record they had was around late 1999 where the recorded mileage was around 40,000. 

In an example of going beyond the call of duty, the chap I spoke to at Fox's offered to trawl their archives, pull all the original paperwork, photocopy it, then send it to me free of charge!

My next step once I receive the info from Fox's is to contact the DVLA to request the registration history, which will give me a list of former keepers. Once I have that I can write to them and ask for any paperwork they have, or tales relating to the car. If I get a response it will help me further add to this Jaguar's Tale.