You Only Live Thrice - James Bondo pt. 3

Seems like the right thread title - I'm the third GRM owner of an XK8 that's on it's third life (been totaled twice), and this is the third thread on the car. 

Toward the end of his James Bondo project thread, @glueguy mentioned that he would soon be out of space and would need to part with the car.  I've been haphazardly looking at XK8s for almost a year waiting for the "right" car - I don't want a garage queen that I'll feel guilty about actually driving.  This one popped up on GRM and it's perfect - a driver and project car that doesn't require a huge up front investment and will take some TLC.  I've heard that the most expensive Jaguar (also Mercedes) is the cheapest Jaguar, but as a dedicated GRM DIY'er I think I can deal with pretty much anything that's likely to come up.

I'll be flying into Tampa next Weds and pick the car up at the airport.  Ron dropped it off on his way out.  Then we'll head to the gulf coast for a couple of days of warmth and sunshine.  (We had frost last night here)  Got a text from him that the car is at the airport waiting. 

The plan is to pack a checked bag with basic tools, shorts, and a swimsuit.  3/8" metric sockets and a ratchet, a set of metric open end wrenches, a couple of clamps, coolant dye and a UV flashlight (apparently it has a slow coolant leak), screwdrivers, wire ties, duck tape, and anything else that comes to mind.  (What am I missing?)

I'll have a chance to drive it for a couple of days before heading back north.  There are enough moving parts in this plan that there's lots of opportunity for something to to awry, but I've got my fingers crossed.

I'm on the outskirts of Tampa, if you get into any significant trouble or need a driveway to work on it give me a yell!

You will be fine, that car is indestructible.

I'm in Gainesville so I can offer help if you need something at that point in the trip. 

Thanks for the offers of support (and moral support).

Being an engineer, I need to have a contingency plan(s).  If there's an issue on the highway, I have AAA which will get me off the road.  I'll be googling long distance towing/flatbeds to get some names and numbers before we leave, but any suggestions are appreciated.  I have relatives near Bowling Green, Indy, and Chicago and can come back to retrieve the car with my brother in law's Yukon and a UHaul trailer if things really go south.  Then there's the gas shortage thing - hope that gets sorted out in the next week.

That said, we're looking forward to a ROAD TRIP!  It's been a long time -

The title of this thread is excellent. Strong work.  

I'd like to see this cat get more than 9 lives. 

Arrived in Florida, picked the car up at the airport and headed to the hotel.  Dinner at Palm Pavilion in Clearwater beach.  All is good and not contingency plan needed.  Until...

I lost the key on the beach yesterday.  Jaguar keys are "special" and the dealer told me that they would be happy to sell me a key but they're made in the UK and shipped over.  Called a bunch of locksmiths and they can't help.  And I left the car on the street with the top down.  Argh. 

glueguy and another forum member came to the rescue and after many hours of discussion with AAA and waiting for a tow, the car was stashed safely for the night.  We'll have the second key tonight and head north tomorrow for Wisconsin.  Crossing my fingers that the gas situation is resolved and that the Gods of Lucas will smile on us.  Aside from the key fiasco, it's been a great trip.

There's an autozone pretty much in the hotel parking lot.

Gratuitous shot of the view on Clearwater Beach.

There's going to be a lot more to this story once we're sure it ends well but suffice to say that Hobiercr cemented (again) his status as GRM Rockstar with his help last night. 

Could be worse.  I took a trip with my brother to pick up a Fairlane in Indiana.  We stopped at an AutoZone a few miles from the POs house to see if we could get it to turn over.  It did.  Then immediately caught fire.  Turns out the carb base gasket was mostly made of air and leaked a nice big puddle of Indiana's finest 87 octane all over the intake.  Luckily an AutoZone employee was watching and came running with a fire extinguisher.  Which he then gave us in case we decided to try again.

Update:  Short version of a long story - Idiot (me) loses key on beach, has car dragged onto a flatbed by AAA with wheels turned about 30 degrees, picks up car next day, now car appears to have a whole lot of toe out on the left side.  Steering wheel is at a serious angle to drive straight.  Like this:

And there appears to be a lot of toe out on the front left wheel.  Pic below of left wheel shot from top with steering wheel straight.  Right wheel appears to be aimed straight forward by eye.

Was planning on hitting the road first thing tomorrow morning, not sure now.  I'll take a look at it with daylight and see if there's anything obviously bent.  In any case I have a feeling that driving 1300 miles with that much toe out won't be good for the front tires.

Did the tow truck driver hook up to something on the left front side to drag it on to the rollback? My guess is he hooked on to a tie rod or something like that and it bent causing the toe out issue.

Since the wheels were cocked, it did need to be dragged back a couple of times, which ended up bending the tie rod.

I'm going to see if I can find someone to pull the tie rod end and adjust the toe out as much as possible or to hit the rod with a torch and bend it back a bit to put the car on the road to get it home.  An eyball "both wheels in the same direction" alignment is good enough for now.  This isn't a big deal to fix, I just don't imagine I'm going to find a new Jaguar tie rod and a shop to install it on a Saturday morning.

I feel your pain.  I bought a XJ8 3 weeks ago.  I'm stuck in la la land, waiting for a duplicate title from the previous owner.  The car is legit, but it needs a new title, as the PO screwed up the original somehow.  Maybe some GRM'er in the area can help out with a vice and some heat.  Good luck, and safe journeys.

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

Since the wheels were cocked, it did need to be dragged back a couple of times, which ended up bending the tie rod.

I'm going to see if I can find someone to pull the tie rod end and adjust the toe out as much as possible or to hit the rod with a torch and bend it back a bit to put the car on the road to get it home.  An eyball "both wheels in the same direction" alignment is good enough for now.  This isn't a big deal to fix, I just don't imagine I'm going to find a new Jaguar tie rod and a shop to install it on a Saturday morning.

 

Grrrrr.  File a claim with the tow truck company. 

Edit:   Local junk yard is your best bet to find a replacement for a same day repair.

Indy "Nub" Guy said:

Grrrrr.  File a claim with the tow truck company. 

 

Edit:   Local junk yard is your best bet to find a replacement for a same day repair.

We tried. The one I took parts from a few months ago was gone. Got it fixed enough and he's rollin north. Hopefully uneventful from here. 
 

We tried to heat and straighten it but to no avail. Jim got the tie rod adjusted and got the toe set (twice). They are on the road!

Picts don't seem to be uploading.

When he mounted the tire the last time the wheel weights all fell off. A little brake clean and some duct tape and you can't even tell!

Huge thanks again to hobie and the whole Floride GRM family.  We're north of Gainesville now.  The car eats up the miles with the grace you expect from a Jaguar.

We tried to bend the tie rod back with head and a BFH, no go.  Wasn't exactly a good angle for hammering.  So I dropped the end link and put about a quarter inch of length in it, and after backing it off a bit, the car tracks pretty well.  Looks like this now:

Was great to meet glueguy and hobie and we had a fine dinner last night at a place on the water with great beer and good food.

Man losing the only key on the beach is a huge dick punch.  Glad to see you're rolling again

Oh boy that is quite the unfortunate series of events. Hoping it holds together to get you home. Safe travels.

Yes it is.  I checked it twice.

Made it to near Nashville - no drama.  The Pilot south of Macon only had regular gas.

LOL - it's a delightful British car

bonnet - hood

boot - trunk

hood - top

it thinks the roof isn't latched  likely related to manual operation. I only got this once when I picked it up and we had been operating the top manually.  Once I had it fixed and only using the switch I didn't get that message again.

Yep, the hood (top) wasn't all the way down and the error went away the next time we put the top down.

Got back tonight from a memorable (in a lot of ways...) trip.  We drove 1,324 miles from Dunedin FL  to Delafield WI with the top down all the way and the air conditioning on most of the time.  Aside from the road noise in traffic, it was pretty comfortable at 75mph. Got 23.5 mpg over the first 927 miles of the trip and we weren't exactly hypermiling. 

Had a lot of time to mentally tally the things I want to do on the car.  The UPS guy will be here often.  First task is to clear the check engine light so I can get it past an emissions check in the next week or so.  P1646 is supposed to be the bank 1 upstream O2 sensor which should be an easy fix but I hear is a royal pain to get at.  Then there's the bent tie rod, brake error messages, etc.  Will keep us busy for a while.

Vanity shot on a Kentucky farm:

Overnighted in Louisville at the grand old Seelbach Hotel, had a bourbon in their bar and dinner on Bardstown Road.  Stopped at Buc EEs (my first time there) and the place is a tourist attraction disguised as a truck stop.  And the brisket sandwiches are pretty good too.

Got back and it was time for the celebratory "Hold my beer while I take your picture to prove we made it" shot:

Looking back at this adventure, I sent a check to an address in Florida to buy a twice totalled car, sight unseen, then flew to Florida to drive it back.  My faith in the GRM guys was rewarded.  Thanks glueguy and hobie for bailing me out of the self induced key stupidity, and Mr Asa for the offer of assistance too.  This is the start of a new project and I'm still in the delusional optimism phase of this project.  More to come...

Glad to hear that you made it back safe.  That was quite a long trip.  You certainly uphold the GRM mentality with the adversity you faced and not freaking out about it.  

It was a pleasure to meet you and K. 

There was too much going on at the time, but now that you are home I can pass on the sage words that pimpM3 left me with as I was leaving his driveway:  "It's your problem now!"  

Glad you made it home OK.  Hope your ownership doesn't leave you shoe less.