Dateline - 11/16/2013 – Not much work done on the car this
weekend because my other Jaguar broke down on the freeway coming home on
Monday! Total electrical failure. Fortunately, I was able to get across three
lanes of rush hour traffic with no lights, brake lights, turn signals or
headlights, get off on the shoulder and call AAA.
I found out when the tow truck guy showed up that I don’t have the tow
hooks that should be in the emergency kit in the trunk. When the car is brought into the country, the tow hooks are supposed to be put in the trunk, but often get thrown away or misplaced. Without the tow hooks, they could not pull my
car onto the flatbed! Well, they could,
but they would have to hook to the cast aluminum suspension members, running a
high risk of bending something badly. So
I had to wait for a regular tow truck to show up. Overall though, the response was fast and courteous.
Of course, when I got the car home, it started right
up! So I was able to back it into the
garage. After trolling the JaguarForum
site, I got advice that I should replace the alternator. I also decided to replace the battery. $250 for the alternator and $150
for the battery! These things aren’t
cheap!
The alternator took me about two hours to change. I took my time and did it right. It’s a tight fit, but it does come off from
the top if you remove the air box and air box bracket. So I didn’t have to do a lot of crawling
under the car. So, we shall see if this
really was the problem.
As for the project car, I have been working on interior
parts. I’m getting real close to having
the center console fascia ready for the final carbon fiber. I now have the radio, cup holder, climate controls
and switches ready to mount. I have to
do a little more fiber glassing for the shift level cover to fit
correctly. I also decided to move the
cigar lighter so I had to cut a new hole and fiberglass that. But it’s moving along.
I have also completed the left and right hand window switch
consoles for the doors. I’m going to do
a feature on this as a blog post soon, so stay tuned.
