13/11/2002

3 hrs.

XJ6 Dismantle

Wiring

“Owing to the wind and rain” and decorating the dining room nothing has been done.  Since the weather was good today I decided to recover as much of the wiring as I could. There is nothing too technical in this it is just time consuming. Stripped the interior of seats and unloaded all of the discarded items that were hiding in the boot. Withdrew the wiring loom for the ECU and the main wiring loom in to the car. The looms are held in with “P” clips and cable ties and tucked away behind carpets and insulation / sound proofing down either side of the tunnel.  It was then a simple matter of disconnecting any leads still attached to accessories like heated rear window and seat belt stalks as well as numerous earth points, withdrawing the ECU loom in to the engine compartment, followed by removal of the main wiring loom.  The ECU loom is definitely needed on the classic 120. the main loom is not needed if you use the purpose build 120 loom, but it seemed a shame to leave it in the car to be scrapped.  Having removed the ECU loom I took the opportunity to remove the brake servo and pedal. This enabled the removal of the steering column main bracket.  This enabled me to start to remove the RHS wiring loom from the engine compartment.  Unfortunately one of the connectors got stuck in wing valance. Whilst struggling with this the “heavens opened”, I got soaked clearing up the seats and trim I had removed earlier, and thus play ended for the day.
 

16/11/2002

6 hrs

XJ6 Dismantle Wiring

Since it was dry today I decided to get on with stripping some more of the car outside rather than work on the engine / automatic transmission or suspension in the garage.    It didn’t take long to finish getting the engine compartment wiring out, and whilst there I removed the dual circuit brake manifold. I took the handbrake mechanism, the lower steering column and bulkhead grommet off.  Then I turned my attention to removing the front main wiring harness. Again I probably won’t use it but it has all the instrument wiring, fuses, and relays on it, which will be a useful reference.  I had undone most of it when I removed the instrument panel. It was a case of disconnecting the wiring to the doors and working it out from across the top the heater and from behind the frame, which holds the dash. I also did lots of small jobs, which are time consuming, and you don’t have a lot to show for it. Dismantled the door trim panels and removed the locks, striker plates and control handles. Removed the windscreen wiper wheel boxes. Removed the seat belts.

As far as stripping the body shell is concerned I think I can see an end. The interior is now completely wrecked will all the seat removed and much of the trim either removed or destroyed to gain access to various bits,   The doors are now  locked with string . It really is a sorry looking site, devoid of engine wheels and suspension.
 

17/11/2002

7 hrs

XJ6

Dismantle

Removed the last of the door locks and the boot lock. Removed the rear fog lights and associated wiring. Spent some time removing the fresh air vents for the heater and some of the heater ducting controls, and interior lights, as well as looking around the car to make sure I had not left anything important behind. Removed some brake pipes from the engine bay (for the unions really). Removed the VIN plate and other labels from the engine compartment. I think the body shell is now stripped of all that is useful.  I’ll take a last look around before disposing of it.  Stated to dismantle the rear suspension.  Removed and discarded the two rear left shocks and road springs.  Well on  the way to removing the lower  left rear wishbone.
 

18/11/2002

2 hrs

XJ6 Dismantle

Suspension

Continued where I left off yesterday. Removed the lower left wishbone and the rear upright and hub carrier. In order to remove the drive shaft by separating it from the brake disk it was necessary to remove the rear brake pads. These were well seized up and it took a little persuasion to remove them.  Once they were out the diff rotated freely, so it was necessary to lock the drive shaft with a metal bar through the UJ to undo the drive shaft lock nuts.   Left side rear suspension is removed.
 

19/11/2002

3 hrs

XJ6 Dismantle Suspension

Removed the Right rear suspension, lower wishbone. Hub carrier, upright. Drive shaft and radius arm. Removed the shocks and road springs. These were discarded but the upper shock mounting tubes were retained. Started work on removing the rear callipers and brake discs. To facilitate this work it was necessary to remove the tie plate mounting bars which form the lower mounting for the diff.
 

20/11/2002

8 hrs

XJ6 Dismantle

Suspension

Removed the “3 Way Tee piece” and associated brake pipes. Removed the handbrake springs and mechanism. Undid the retaining bolts and removed the rear brake callipers. The suspension cradle was beginning to look a bit empty as I remove the rear brake discs.  Finally undid the 4 bolts holding the diff in place and it was done.   Time to turn my attention to the front suspension assembly.   I began by removing the steering rack. This is not needed as the 120 uses a modified Peugeot 206 steering rack.    I next removed the front brake callipers followed by the discs and hub carriers.   I managed to remove one of the suspension coil springs but this was a pretty dodgy operation without a spring compressor.   Undid the ball joints on the upright but can’t separate them.
 

22/11/2002

3 hrs

XJ6 Dismantle

Suspesnion

Yesterday afternoon I spent preparing for today. I got a new ball joint splitter and called in on Peter Sharp to borrow some coil spring compressors.  I was concerned the coil spring compressor would not  fit.  The recommended jaguar tool (according to Haynes) is a threaded rod which passes through the centre of the spring and anchors on to each end, you can then undo the spring and unscrew the rod slowly to release the pressure.   With this in mind. I got some M12 x 1m, threaded rod from B&Q. Today, I quickly determined I could only fit one spring compressor and not both.  So it was down to the threaded rod.  I used the steering iron as a spreader passed the rod through the suspension and used the other steering iron as a clamp.  As a precaution I also used one of the spring compressors to help clamp the spring.  With all this iron mongery in place I cautiously undid the mounting bolts.

All went very well and uneventfully. Once the bolts were out I undid the threaded screw and released the pressure.   The additional clamp proved unnecessary and though the rod was bent slightly the operation was successful.   Removed  the upper right wishbone. To be continued tomorrow.
 

23/11/2002

3 hrs

XJ6 Dismantle Suspesnion

Removed the right lower wishbone. Unfortunately it was seized into its mounting and the thread was damaged driving it out. It will have to be replaced.  Split the ball joints on the left side and removed the upright.  Removed the upper wishbone. Having learned from the previous experience I managed to remove the left lower wishbone without damaging it.  With this the car is stripped and lies in pieces on the garage floor.  The front and back suspension carriers are in the boot of the XJ6 with many of the redundant bits inside the car.  Now to get rid of it.  I spent a little time cleaning up the garage floor and labelling some parts.  I now need to have a good tidy up and creates some working space.
 

25/11/2002

1 hr

XJ6 Disposal

I called the car disposal guy’s advertising in the local paper yesterday. Upshot of the conversation was they will pick up the car but can’t guarantee not to damage the drive. The suggested putting the car on some scaffold planks so that it can be dragged on to the flat bed with a winch. So today’s task was to get the car off of the axle stand and on to some scaffold planks.  I have some scaffold planks, though one is a bit short. With some trial and error to get the height right and to be able to remove the trolley jack, the car was jacked up, the axle stands removed (front and then back) and lowered on to the scaffold planks supported on garden walling blocks.  The end result was the car was pretty precariously balanced on the planks but it should suffice.  The remaining items of exhaust and front bumper were put inside the car.   I re-contacted the disposal company and they will collect the car ,mid morning tomorrow for a cost of  £35.00
 

26/11/2002

XJ6 Disposal

The XJ6 body shell expired.  The collector started by smashing the rear window to get the chain and hook over the boot lid in to the boot. Attaching this to the winch to the chain, the boot lid buckled as the strain was taken up then slowly the car was dragged across the planks, up the ramp and on to the back of the vehicle.  The body was last seen disappearing down the road on the back of the truck. I cleared up the plastic sheets, the blocks and the planks. Swept up the debris and the broken glass. You would never know it had ever been there.  The Jaguar lives on, in spirit, as witnessed by the pile of bits in the garage. To be borne again, one day, as Classic 120
 

Total hours to date =  127.5 hrs