The most expensive car I've ever owned.

So, I just bought a 2000 Jaguar XKR.

When it was new it sold for $82,000 in 2000.

Today that's like $138,000.

Im hoping that my statement about it being the most expensive car I've ever owned relates only to the historical MSRP and not to my future financial relation ship with this automotive disaster.

And yes. It's likely a Nikasil engine.

There. That's out there....

Insert foreboding comments here:

It ran well enough to drive it onto the trailer.

Barely.

Dozens of codes. Missing parts under the hood. The only fluids that don't leak are the ones that are dry.

The last automotive event associated with this car is when several months ago, the coolant reservoir bust while driving. 

It has recently suffered a horrible mechanic and has the broken and missing hardware to prove it.

A service invoice that proclaims low compression on #1 and #8.

I probably should not have bought it.

Even at $1200. (The six hour round trip was fun!)

But since that makes it Challenge Budget eligible, well that's just a sound decision, right?

Its a bigger car than I realized. Compare it to the 2500 Suburban... a mere 4k lbs too!

There are a few good things...

It's water tight.

The top is fine.

The 320TW tires are new.

The interior is decent.

The paint and body are basically ok.

It's white.

More to come... :)

I would never be able to say no to a $1200 xkr. What a deal!

If nothing else, its going to look great in the driveway.

Looks like the FB ad hit it on the head "easily LS swapable". That car is very pretty. Depending on how bad the motor is a swap may be a good option???

edit:

added link

http://www.jaguarspecialties.com/xk8-lsx.asp

In reply to NY Nick :

Look up the price of a swap. It's far from cheap even with a junkyard Chevy.  Then check the price of a junkyard Jag motor that will bolt right in and hook right up.  
 The most affordable/ simple way is to watch the insurance auctions for a wrecked car with an undamaged engine. 

In reply to frenchyd :

I did look and there are a half a dozen jag motors on eBay for that car for under 3k. I'm not trying to hate on jags the car is beautiful and I said it. I think they make one of the prettiest cars ever. That said one of my friends does LS swaps in a shop in SC and I have never seen one where it was a better / more fun car to drive before the swap. It's not a bad option. There is a reason they are everywhere.

In reply to a_florida_man :

You're a brave man.

NY Nick said:

In reply to frenchyd :

I did look and there are a half a dozen jag motors on eBay for that car for under 3k. I'm not trying to hate on jags the car is beautiful and I said it. I think they make one of the prettiest cars ever. That said one of my friends does LS swaps in a shop in SC and I have never seen one where it was a better / more fun car to drive before the swap. It's not a bad option. There is a reason they are everywhere.

We agree then too,  I love Jaguars as race cars.   I've always considered EBay as far too expensive for a source for motors.   The insurance auctions are much more reasonable.  Yeh,  it's not the instant gratification of win/lose because you have to be patient to find the great bargains.  
  If you check the Car-Parts site you will frequently find engines at better prices than EBay and those you decide what you are willing to pay without having to be the highest bidder. They even will list them in ascending or  descending order. 
       Time spent  sorting a swap even if you do it yourself. Is many many times greater than simply replacing an engine.  Ask anyone who has actually done it. When finished with a swap (assuming you have it done) where will  it be serviced?   The Chevy dealer won't touch it nor will the Jaguar dealer. 
 

 Fair notice.  I don't have any hands on experience  with  cars built after Ford purchased Jaguar.    Plus all my Jaguar experience  for the street is extremely dated. 

In reply to a_florida_man :

You really bought right! Great price.  Check Car-Parts. Com for Used Jaguar parts or watch the insurance auctions. You can sometimes buy wrecks  with good mechanicals for less than you can buy the needed parts.  Worst case you sell unneeded parts on EBay and minimize your net outlay. 

Stampie said:

In reply to a_florida_man :

You're a brave man.

Ahhh the tempered words of a true friend.

Evidently I like to understand the misunderstood, and repair the un-fixable.

A lot like the Mini Cooper last year and the SLK 230 before that.

Generally I think I buy these cars to experience them with all of their... ahem... character. 

The fun part is digging in and seeing exactly whats wrong.

Like in this case; sure its probably a Nikasil engine (I haven't checked the engine serial yet to see if it is post nikasil production), but since it ran fine before all of this started at 180k+ miles, there is a good chance the classic nikasil failure is not the problem with the compression. Frankly I'm rooting for carbon and fouling of the valves and or rings due to the poor state of affairs with the engine management system. First glance under the hood yesterday, and the map sensor was not connected, and does not look to have been for years... among other things.

In any case the fun part will be hopefully doing all of the things that the $1200 XKR needs to make it respectable again, but keep it challenge eligible.

By the way, for 138k, (XKR MSRP 'value' from new 2000 to new 2022 $$) you can buy two 2lt 2022 Corvettes.

I think that is hilarious.

In reply to a_florida_man :

How will you determine that?   Bore scope?  Or remove heads?   

In reply to a_florida_man :

Sounds like the car found the right owner. 

In reply to frenchyd :

Ill probably pull the plugs to check the plugs, the compression, and take a peek with a scope.

At the same time a basic effort to repair the cooling system and to get the ECM reasonably happy again.

Right now its seeing misfires, bad coils, etc... literally 20+ ECM codes alone. 

Get it running, with fresh plugs if needed, and see if a few clean running heat cycles help.... 

NY Nick said:

In reply to a_florida_man :

Sounds like the car found the right owner. 

Thanks,

Some might say we deserve each other... lol.

dculberson said:

I would never be able to say no to a $1200 xkr. What a deal!

I'll keep that in mind... :)

I can't unload the car quite yet, as I need to take it to the DMV tomorrow for title work. In Florida, out of state title vins have to verified on the vehicle.

But that of course did not stop me from monkeying around a little.

Took the coil covers off and found all kinds of poor work and degraded wiring. Missing bolts. Wrong bolts. Coils were date coded 6/2011 and the 2 covers were coded 2004.

Oh, and of course 3 brands of plugs. I did not read anything into the specific plugs by location as I know the last thing done to the car was a compression test and therefore there is no way to know that they were still in the original order.

Saw lots of RTV (especially where spark tube seals should be), in every color. Red. Black. Grey. Blue. sigh.....

One main VC bolt has SAE head markings. That's sad..... :)

On the front 2 spark plugs on the driver's side I found a mix of water and oil in the pug well. That was briefly alarming untill I realized the hood louvers are open, and directly above the engine.

Took a second look at the MAP sensor and still did not find a hose to hook it to... lol.

On the good side of things, I found it has drilled and slotted rotors. Don't know if that's stock or not.

Also found that the suspension bushings and front struts still look good too.

There were no names on the aftermarket air pipe. At least its a K&N and I can wash it out....

No more oil mist in the intake pipe from the breather than in any other car with high miles, so I don't think that there is any out of control blow by going on...

The more you look, the more you find.

Luckily this is for the better.

When I got it running and pulled it up on the trailer, I did notice a healthy exhaust note.

To that extent, inspection of the exhaust revealed an aftermarket system with no mid muffler, polished stainless mufflers, and an x pipe.

The tips had this logo:

A company called "Mina Gallery".

Looks like they probably made the intake kit too.

Supercharger pulleys appear stock...

Also found 285/40/18 rear tires, upsized from 255/45/18 stock.

Someone liked to have fun..... a number of years ago... :)

In to follow

I have a personal motto which is that I buy every $1200 xkr I see. 

Good buy!

I feel like one of those people in a pet rescue video.

I have found an egregious wrong in an XKR having come to this pathetic near end,  and now it is time to foster a senior Jag back to health.

I hope.

My wife has long described me as running a home for wayward mechanical things.

SWMBO "Why did you buy that?"

ME "Because its broken"

SWMBO "What are you going to do with it?"

ME "Fix it!"

SWMBO "And then?...........?"

ME "I don't know, I don't need it, I just want to fix it.... ":|

I have also long desired a real XKE. My dad bought a 63 or 64 series I, FHC, brand new. 

He told me many stories about it, growing up.

Im not moving in ANY series I XKE circles, lol, so this will have to do for now.

I still have his factory Jaguar wrenches, and some craftsman whitworth wrenches that I do hope to use on one, one day...... 

Love this generation of Jaguar XK*.  Great drivers, but they can be a pain to work on.  Jaguar didn't exactly make servicability a top priority.  Worst case on this one you could probably make a good chunk of change parting it out, but that would be a tragic end to a fairly clean XKR.  Good luck with the project.  Once running, I suspect SWMBO will take a liking to it.  You might become a Jaguar mechanic supporting HER car.

PS:  rockauto has more parts for these than you'd figure, generally at reasonable prices.

MIna Gallery has a website.  It's not clear if they actually design and build anything themselves, or if they just repackage parts sourced elsewhere.  https://minagallery.com/about-us/

a_florida_man said:

I feel like one of those people in a pet rescue video.

I have found an egregious wrong in an XKR having come to this pathetic near end,  and now it is time to foster a senior Jag back to health.

I hope.

 

 

My wife has long described me as running a home for wayward mechanical things.

SWMBO "Why did you buy that?"

ME "Because its broken"

SWMBO "What are you going to do with it?"

ME "Fix it!"

SWMBO "And then?...........?"

ME "I don't know, I don't need it, I just want to fix it.... ":|

 

I have also long desired a real XKE. My dad bought a 63 or 64 series I, FHC, brand new. 

He told me many stories about it, growing up.

Im not moving in ANY series I XKE circles, lol, so this will have to do for now.

 

I still have his factory Jaguar wrenches, and some craftsman whitworth wrenches that I do hope to use on one, one day...... 

I really appreciate your attitude towards the Jaguar. 
  By the way following my conversion of  the XJS into a Group 44 tribute car  I'll be fabricating a series 1 XKE roadster for vintage racing.  ( with liberties taken ).  If you're interested I can sell you the body parts  I use to fabricate molds.   
 With welding skills you could fabricate  your own XKE without spending anywhere near their cost. 

In reply to a_florida_man :

Hey, I have an XJR from the same year. If you need the vac line diagram let me know. I just redid mine in April. 

Also, just go ahead and remove the supercharger and air coolers down to the valley. Then replace the 2 coolant hose that run front to back between the heads. They're cheap but require a lot to get to. And replace every gasket, hose and vac line that you touched on the way to said hoses.