09x07 - Jaguar XK8

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler Dealers.

We buy classic cars that have gone west,
and then we make them great once more.

I buy the motors.

And then I get busy in the workshop
and make sure they're straight.

And then we sell them on
for a profit, but not this time.

We decided to do something
just a little bit different.

We asked our Wheeler Dealer viewers to
send in details of their troubled motors.

Me and Ed, we had to select
one to bring back to the workshop

to fix up so we could give it
away in our very own competition.

We had a massive response.

Hundreds of people got in touch
and asked us to buy their motors.

So it was really difficult
to come up with a short list.

But these are the ones
that tickled our fancy.

They're easy to own, classic
cars which look like keen value.

Hi, I'm David.

This is my TR4, called Acacia.

She was born in 1963.

She's my second car and
I've had her a couple of years.

She's a great little car,
great fun in the summer.

Bad bits are, at some
point, she had a fairly

rough paint job on
this near-side ring.

And then if we move back
to the bottom of the doors,

you'll see it's got the old typical TR4
problem with a bit of rust coming through.

And then if we look inside
the car, it's very original,

but the car pits all really
need replacing now.

So all I'm asking for this car is 8,750.

I thought, Mike and Ed, this is exactly
the sort of iconic British sports car

that you'd love to get your
hands on and do some work with.

And here's another British sportster,
but from a different generation.

Hi there, my name's John.
This is my XK8 convertible.

British Racing Green.

It's a beautiful car. It's a four-litre,
normally aspirated engine.

It's got a brand new
convertible hood fitted to it.

BBS alloys.

It's one of those cars that just puts a
smile on your face every time you drive it.

It's wonderful.

There are a couple of issues, though.

It has a limp home mode problem,
which cuts the power by 50%.

Very annoying at times.

I think this car here,
for £6,500, is a bargain.

It's a lot of car for its money.

And finally, a car that's got
performance on tap and a historic badge.

My name's Andrew Denington.
This is my Lotus Excel SA.

It's quite a rare car because
there are only about 30 made.

Lotus threw all the options at it.

So it had leather interior.
It's got a nice wooden dashboard.

So it's a great car to drive.

But there are a few things
now that need doing to it.

You can see that the trim strip
round here has started to come away.

Unfortunately, the
leather seats here have

started to rip and they
need to be replaced.

Mike, I'm asking £2,900 for this
car, which I think is excellent value.

You just can't go wrong with this vehicle.

But which car is best?
I've got some thinking to do.

Now, I do like the performance
potential of that Lotus.

But the purists out there won't
like the fact that it's automatic.

Plus, the howling 2.2-litre
engine can give trouble.

The next to fall is the Triumph.

It's a beautiful car and
it's at market money.

Sorry, David, but I think yours
needs too much body work.

So that leaves us the green Jag.

That's a fully loaded
convertible for under £10,000.

That's a lot of car for the dough.

But I'm a wiener dealer and
I ain't buying without trying.

John? Hello, mate.

Mike Brewer, nice to see you.
You all right?

Well, it's a windy day, but I've
come to see your Jaguar XK8.

All right, so have a good look around, yes?

I love the colour, British Racing Green.

Gigantic set of wheels, aren't they?

Yeah, BBS always.

Tell us a little bit about the car.
Why are you selling it?

To be honest, I bought it as
a project for my retirement.

But now I'm looking at the
electronics, I think it's a bit beyond me.

Right, well, let's have
a good look round it.

I can see it's nice and
sharp down the sides.

Right, well, let's pull this up
and have a good look underneath.

It's got the spare wheel,
which is the space saver one.

And you can see down at the four corners
and see there's no signs of accident damage.

And also you can see that
that British Racing Green

is the original colour for the car.
It's never been painted.

It's got a new roof on it.

That's put on by Jaguar.

It looks lovely, the roof.
It looks really lovely.

And it makes a difference
to the car, doesn't it?

Well, let's have a look
inside and get a feel for it.

Oh, it's a very good job.

It's got everything, hasn't it?

It's got air conditioning, cruise control.

Yeah, all works.

Wow, look at that.

It's even got a beam-me-up Scotty phone.

That's worth a few, Bob, that is.

I bet that's worth more than the car.

It is.

Is it OK to open the bonnet
and have a look at the engine?

Yeah, of course it is.

OK, right.

And there she is, that
Jaguar four-litre V8.

What an engine.

They are so tightly
packed, it's very difficult

to get yourself down into
the corners to have a look

to see if there's any
signs of accident damage.

Any problems with it recently?

When it gets to temperature,

it goes into this limp-home mode thing.

Right, that's a safety
thing that Jaguar put into

their cars, like BMW, they
put this limp-home mode in.

And that could be for a number of reasons.

That could be because the
car thinks it's been in a crash

or the car thinks there's something
going to go wrong with the engine.

It's a pain, though, isn't it?

Oh, it's... Limp-home mode?

It drives me like the wall.

Horrible.

Now, I'll tell you what,
I do love the shape.

It's very, very sleek at the front.

They designed this front like that

so they can make the fastest
ever Jaguar convertible.

And talking about fast Jaguar convertibles,

out on the road, any chance I
can take you for a test drive?

Absolutely.

You don't mind?

No, not at all.

All right, top work.

Have fun.

I will have fun.

Oh, trust me, I will.

So what's this Jaguar all about?

Well, the first thing that strikes you
is the wonderful four-litre V8 engine,

the heart of any Jaguar.

And this one feels, oh, just cracking.

The amount of power it's got.

Do you know what?

0-60 in this car will come
up in around seven seconds,

which, for a car with an auto gearbox,
which is designed to slow them down, really,

is really quick.

Whoo-hoo!

And when you're not
revving the bits off of

it, this is actually a
really nice place to be.

It's very serene in here.

And when you're just
sitting back and cruising,

this car will return a
very healthy 20 miles

to the gallon, which,
for a big car, is okay.

If I did have one criticism,

it's just that this Jaguar
is a bit too refined.

It's a bit too quiet in here.

I'd like to hear a bit more of those soulful
pipes chirping away under the bonnet.

Now, the other
problem I've got with this

Jaguar is that although
it's got these massive,

great big alloy wheels and great big
wide tyres, it doesn't feel very sporty.

It feels, actually, very
soft and very compliant.

That's because it's got
Jaguar's wonderful suspension.

And I think, for a car like this,

it wants to have a bit more of a hard edge.

It needs stiffening up.

Oh, this car's just gone
into limp home mode.

It's just gone really slow.

There's no power coming
through the accelerator.

He did say that that might happen.

Let me just pull over safely.

There we go.

It's still running, but
there's just no power.

Let me turn it off.

Do you know what?

Anyone coming to see this car
would be really put off by that.

But my years of expertise,

there's nothing wrong with this engine.

This has got a good engine, this car.

It feels powerful.

And there it goes, system check.

And we're back in business.

But that is good news if you
want to get money off this motor.

I have made my mind up.

This is the car that I want.

It's got everything, hasn't it?

It's a British racing green
Jaguar XK8 Conversable.

Now, he wants six and a half grand for it,
and I should really just bite his arm off.

But I have got those worries.

There is that engine fault, and
there's some other little bits and pieces.

So if I can get this car
for around six grand,

if I can, it'll be happy days.

All right there, John.

Well, that was interesting.

I've got to tell you.

Good, yeah?

Yeah, some of it was
good, but some of it was

awful because it did
jump into limpo mode.

And in a car like this,
that's such a gamble.

It could be worth to repair
more than a car, if you like.

Yeah.

But with that in mind, it's got
everything that I want in a Jaguar.

So I will make you a bid on the car.

This is going to be a
really brave bid from me.

I'll give you five grand for it.

No, I couldn't do it, Mike.

What would you do then?

$6250.

I'll give you five and a half grand.

No, I can't do it, Mike.

Yes, you can.

I can't, honestly.

It's got to be more than that, mate.

How much more?

Six.

Six grand?

Yeah.

This could be the biggest gamble I'm
ever going to make on Wheeler Dealers.

Hold out your hand.

Yes.

Congratulations, you've
just sold me an XK8.

Well done.

If Ed can fix that Limpo mode problem,

I'd bag this a champ for chips.

But you can never be 100% sure how things
are going to turn out with an old car.

I'm really hoping that
I don't find out this cat

has claws and it's going
to turn around and bite me.

I bought a Jaguar XK8.

It's British, it's quick,
and it's six grand.

And it's incredible value for money.

I've got a 10 grand purse to
spend on the car and parts.

And when it's finished, we're going
to give it away as a competition prize.

Well, it's a good day when a
Wheeler dealer gets a crack in doing.

You can't be fairer than this, can you?

Look at me.

I'm in a Jaguar XK8
convertible with all the toys.

But I'm not going to
crack open the champagne

just yet because if Ed
can't fix that Limpo mode,

that could mean danger.

So what are we going to do
with a big cat once it's finished?

Well, for once, I'm
not going to sell it on.

No, actually, I'm going
to give this car away.

So we want to fix it and
add to it and make this

something that somebody
out there really wants to win.

Hey, fella.

Look at that.

What do you think of that then, eh?

XK8 convertible Jaguar in racing green.

And it's pretty tidy as well, mate.

Very good, isn't it?

V8 engine, nearly 300 brake horsepower.

I've loved every minute
of being behind a wheel.

It's fast, it's comfortable.

It's awesome, this motor.

I have to say, I do really prefer
the drop head look of these.

Much better than the coupe.

And those wheels, look at that.

They're 20-inch, aren't they?

They're fantastic.

They wouldn't look out of place anywhere.

This is a champagne motor,

but I actually give lemonade money for it.

Just six grand.

Six grand is quite
cheap, but unfortunately,

that means there's obviously
something catastrophically wrong with it.

Does it look like there's
anything wrong with it?

Well, no, but that's what I mean.

It's going to be underneath or inside.

Won't worry about that.

Go and have a sit inside.

Hand-stitched lever.

Walnut steering wheel, walnut dashboard.

Over mat's got a CD
player, air conditioning.

Electric windows, electric mirrors.

It's even got a telephone built in.

And it is all very tidy.

It all seems to be present and correct,
which makes me even more concerned

because there's got to be
something more serious wrong with it.

Okay, it has got this one
little problem, which is basically

when the car gets hot, it goes in
what they call limp home mode.

No, no, don't fret.

Honestly, it sort of shuts itself down,

but it does give you enough
power to get you home.

Or, in your case, in a workshop.

Well, thank you very much,
yes, but the problem is this

is packed full of computers,
loads of high technology.

It could be very expensive
to fix any of that stuff,

and it's going to be a real
faff to have to do it anyway.

Oh, you're such a worrier, aren't you?

Yeah, it's going to be a 10 pence part, Ed.

I know it is.

Okay, so ignoring our mystery
problem, what else is there to fix?

Not much, really.

Mechanically, I just want you to make
this the best XK8 it could possibly be.

That means add into it, Ed.

It's already a comfortable car.

It's already fast, but
make it more comfortable.

Make it faster.

Make this the best XK8 out
there for sale in the country.

Okay, so we've got suddenly a ton of money?

We have, yeah.

We've got this budget of £10,000.

I bought the car for £6,000.

That means you've got a
whole £4,000 to go mad with.

Okay, well, it is a competition car,

and obviously it's going
to be going to a lovely

winner, so we do need
to do our best, I guess.

Right, let's get it in a workshop.

Yes.

You know what?

I think I rather like this Jaguar,

and I should probably give
Mike a bit of a pat on the back,

because it is a huge
amount of car for the money.

You can't really go wrong with a
British racing green convertible Jag,

and in fact, when Mike bought the car,

he was hard pushed to
find anything wrong with it.

But of course, there's always
something wrong with cars

that find their way to the workshop,

and this time it's the reason the car
was offered for sale in the first place.

The vehicle has a
crippling electronic fault.

After a short drive,
warning lights come on,

and the V8 suddenly feels
only as powerful as a Vespa.

So what happens is
that the car enters a limp

mode, which means that
the ECU takes control,

won't really allow any
proper throttle response,

and the car is allowed
to crawl off the main road

to a safe place where you
can get further assistance.

And it seems to be happening
once the car's up to temperature,

so you get like 20 or 30
minutes of normal running,

then it'll go into limp mode,

leave it for an hour
or so, it'll cool down,

it means you can go again for another 20
minutes or so, and then it shuts down again,

so it's not really a very, very useful way
of driving, so clearly it needs attention.

The dashboard warning
message is unspecific.

There are lots of possible causes
for a car to enter limp home mode,

but modern vehicles like
this have a cache in the

car's electronic brain, or
ECU, which hold fault codes,

so I don't even need
to get dirty to find out

what's wrong, or at least
that's what I'm hoping.

So my code scanner has got a code,

it's PO121, so I'll look that up
in the little book I've got here.

And there we go, so it says generic TPS,

or throttle position sensor,
or pedal position sensor.

Okay.

Well, we're getting warmer,

but my reader still isn't specific enough,

so it's not completely clear
which sensor I need to replace.

I'm going to get my car to a Jaguar dealer

and see whether their hardware
can tell me exactly what's broken.

You must be Keith.

Yeah, hello.

Hello, so good to meet you.

And you.

Keith, our friendly master technician,
charges 39 pounds for a half-hour diagnosis.

Yes, it's not a million miles from
the procedure I've already done,

but the hardware and
software are more advanced,

and it's only available
at an authorized garage.

So it looks like there's a
couple of error messages there.

Yep, got a throttle position sensor A,

and throttle position B.

Okay.

So, yeah, it does look like the
throttle position sensor is faulty.

And not the pedal position sensor.

Yeah.

That's fantastic, so
you've narrowed it down.

Brilliant, thank you very much.

Okay, thank you.

Cheers.

Bye-bye.

The computer has been helpful.

There are two failed sensors,

but here's the blow, you
can't buy them separately.

You have to buy the
whole new throttle body.

Well, that's great news.

We now know the exact part
which is causing the Limpo mode,

but the bad news, unfortunately,

is that a genuine replacement
part is 1,300 pounds.

So before I go any further,

I think I might have to
look for an alternative.

So I'm taking a gamble.

On an Internet auction site,

I found a used but apparently
working throttle body for 100 pounds.

If it works, it's a massive saving I
could put towards something else,

but the new part might
have problems of its own.

It's a punt I'm willing to take.

This is our replacement throttle body.

Now the throttle cable will
go around the outside there

and when you put your
foot down, the butterfly opens

and of course that controls the
amount of air that's going into the engine.

But the car's ECU needs to know.

how much fuel to mix with that air.

And to that end,

there are a couple of sensors either side.

One here is the pedal position sensor

and on this side you've got
the throttle position sensor.

Now when we did the error code check,

our check here said it
was one of those two.

Jaguar managed to confirm
it was actually this one here.

And then you can see, looking at it,

it looks like it's quite easy
just to unbolt and replace,

but apparently not.

So we've had to go for an
entire unit, a secondhand one,

which although it's guaranteed,
let's just hope it works.

I have to disconnect the induction pipe,

the accelerator cable, and when
that's clear, a further rear hose.

And then the throttle body can be unbolted.

The Jag V8 is well laid
out with easy access

and I reckon a DIY mechanic
would have no trouble

with this 15 minute job.

The old throttle body looks identical
to the new one, but that's no surprise.

The electronic fault is invisible.

And remember, it's actually the reason

that Jag was put up
for sale in the first place.

So let's see if my cheap
swap has solved the problem

or whether I've just wasted
non-returnable 100 pounds.

Now Mike said this car gives up
the ghost after about 20 minutes or so,

so I'm going to break
the habit of a lifetime

and actually leave the
workshop for a nice long drive.

If it goes into lit mode again,
well, back to square one.

And did the Jag give up?

Well, it didn't.

It drove perfectly.

China triumphs.

The Jaguar is a great car, but to be
honest with you, for a competition car,

it's a bit rough around the edges.

So I'm off to see a Jaguar specialist

to see if he can supply any
kit that might help it along.

It's Tom around.

Yeah, hello.

Hey up, Tom. How you doing? I'm Mike.

Hello, Mike. It's nice to see you.

And you, mate. I spoke to you on the phone.

Yes, we certainly did, yeah.

Tom runs a busy grassroots garage that's
been catering for Jag owners for 30 years.

I don't want to spend
money on body kits and

stuff that doesn't really
add a lot on the road.

And I reckon he's the kind of fella

who'll know the most
amount of value I can

add to my car for the
lowest possible spend.

If I want to spend somewhere
between, say, 500 quid

and 1,000 pounds, what's
the best way to do that?

Well, cosmetically speaking,

I would probably look
at the front end of the

car to make it a
little bit more striking.

I would go with perhaps
changing the grille.

Okay.

The next thing I'd be doing with my money

is I would be putting a
different exhaust system

on it because it really
releases that V8 burble,

gives you the horns of Jericho sound.

It's great.

They both sound exciting.

Let's have a look at the exhaust.

Got a couple of bits and pieces inside.

All right, lovely.

So this is a nice new
stainless steel back box system.

Oh, that looks amazing.

That's fantastic, isn't it?

This is a full stainless
steel system you

can have or you can
have just the back boxes.

Okay, and as a full system,
how much is that going to cost?

About £1,000.

£1,000 for the whole system?

How much is just a back box?

480.

£480.

Well, that's a little bit more like it.

Okay, yeah, I'll have a set of those.

And this is going to
release that sound, is it?

Makes a world of difference.

They sound great when this is on there.

Fantastic.

And what about this
grille then at the front?

I've got a couple of grilles here for you.

Very nice indeed, yes.

These YMS grilles,
you get rid of the bits and

pieces on the front and
you then slot these in.

Look great in the front of the nose cone.

We've got two types here.

We've got a flat type and a convex type.

I've already got a chrome
grille on the front of my car.

Okay.

Well, would you like one in satin black?

Would that be all right for you?

In matte black?

Yeah.

That's going to look mean, isn't it?

Matte black looks nice.

Fantastic.

On British Racing Green,
yeah, that'll look cracking.

How much is a set of these?

They're £150.

£150.

So for the two items
then, how much is that?

£630 for the pair.

£630.

Will you take £600 cash?

Not really, Mike, no.

No?

No.

So it's £630.

It's £630.

Hold out your end.

You've got yourself a deal.

Thank you very much.

So I've spent a few quid and
bought some bling to the table

and Ed has got the
Jag to drive for just £100.

So we've still got three grand to spend.

But next, Ed's got to look at
ways he'll fulfill in my promise

to make the best XK8 on the road.

Will that kitty be enough?

I like a bargain and a
car that drives like this.

First thing that strikes you is the wonderful
4-litre V8 engine for money like that.

This is a champagne motor,

but I actually give lemonade money for it.

Just six grand.

It's almost silly.

This car is a competition prize
and I've got a 10-gram budget.

I want to make this the
best XK8 on the road.

Ed sorted out the limp home mode and
now he's going to start adding to the car,

making it drive and handle perfectly.

We have an interesting
opportunity with our Jag.

Normally when a car
comes into the workshop,

we spend all of our time
and all of our budget just trying

to get it to work properly
and make it look a bit better.

But on this special
occasion, we actually have a

bit more room to manoeuvre
and slightly more cash.

So we can have a look at
doing some extra improvements.

And the one I have in
mind is going to effectively

give the internals of our
lusty V8 a spring clean,

which will have far-reaching benefits.

And I'm pretty confident this is not
something you'll have seen before.

Now we know this car runs on petrol,

but unfortunately petrol isn't
quite as pure as we'd like it to be.

So when you burn it, you
end up with carbon deposits.

Now this car is over 10
years old, which means there's

quite an opportunity for those
carbon deposits to build up.

So why is that bad?

Well, it compromises
the efficiency of an engine.

So you end up with higher emissions,

lower fuel consumption,

and of course, worst
of all on a sports car,

lower performance because
of a lack of horsepower.

Now wouldn't it be lovely if you could
spring clean the inside of an engine

just like you would
on the outside of a car?

Well, there is a way, but first
of all, I want to do a little test.

What I have to do using
my spectrum analyser

is Gauge the current condition of the engine
before I start making any improvements,

because otherwise I won't be
able to measure my progress.

This gas analyser measures
the contents of the exhaust,

the emissions from our car.

And the two things we're really interested
in are the top one here, carbon monoxide,

and this one down here,
which is the hydrocarbons.

Now, the carbon monoxide,

you're looking at a little
bit under 1%, which is

great because an MOT
failure would be just over 2.5%.

So that's pretty good.

Looking at hydrocarbons,
not looking quite so good.

We've got, what, 540 parts per million.

And actually, the failure is 200.

So actually, that's a bit of a fail.

Not good, but we can definitely make a
vast improvement with our next process.

So I whip out the fuse for the petrol
pump, which stops fuel entering the engine.

You'll see why in a second.

Then I wheel out this special machine,

which looks like one of those portable air
conditioners, but is way cooler than that.

So what I'm going to do is connect this
engine to this magical box of tricks here,

which is going to
decarbonise the fuel system,

just with this little valve here.

And the idea is then the machine
with a little bit of compressed air

is actually going to force
some highly refined fuel.

into the fuel injection rail.

So basically, the engine's
going to be running off that fuel.

rather than the fuel from the fuel tank.

I'm also just going to
disable the return valve

so it doesn't go back to the tank,

and that way the fuel stays
in the fuel injection system.

So what makes this fuel very special
is that when it's actually running,

the car's running off this fuel,
it's actually going to strip out

all of the carbon in the
system right from here.

all the way down to the very back
and to the end of the exhaust system.

It's kind of like a colonic
irrigation for an engine.

The highly refined fuel
is actually two elements

that clean different
parts of the engine.

One side is for pre-combustion,

that's all the mechanical elements
up to the combustion chamber,

and the other cleans
everything from the

injectors through to the
very tip of the exhaust,

including the cap.

This stuff is so much more
thorough than a 20-pound

engine-plus chemical
from your local motor factor.

The engine needs to be warm and
I'll fix the throttle at about 1,200 RPM,

which is faster than tick-over
and will help suck the fuel in.

Next, I wind up the air
pressure in the system

to just under 40 PSI,

which matches what would be
coming from the fuel injection pump.

Basically, what this machine does

is it uses what sometimes
sounds really, really very cool,

a nano-reactor.

And what that nano-reactor
does is atomizes the fuel droplets.

So imagine they're
already really, really tiny,

but if they were about
the size of a football,

it kind of smashes
them up into a tiny thing

that looks more like a golf ball.

So these smaller droplets
have a much bigger surface area,

which means the burn is
a lot hotter and a lot leaner,

which, of course, means it
does help with the cleaning.

But also, before the fuel
droplets leave this little

box, they've also been
given a negative charge.

Now, as it happens,

the carbon that's actually in the fuel
system is going to have a positive charge.

So when those two meet,

they end up causing a bit of
a gas and they end up leaving

the system altogether, which
is how it does its cleaning.

It's very cool stuff.

And then I wait.

It's not a rapid process
and takes about an hour.

With jobs like this, when
the engine is running,

you need plenty of
ventilation in your workshop.

This service costs around £70 depending
on engine size, but there's no better way

of getting the coked-up
carbon out of the engine

other than taking everything
apart and cleaning it.

The moment of truth.

Let's see how clean our engine is now.

Okay, well, here goes.

We've pretty much halved the
carbon monoxide content of these gases

and almost totally
eradicated the hydrocarbons.

That is amazing.

Your local garage might
not offer this service just yet.

It is brand-new technology after all,
but it's been rolled out as we speak.

When Mike first turned up with our Jag,

from the outside, at least, it
seemed like a pretty clean car.

And now, thanks to some clever science,

it's just as clean
from the inside of the

engine all the way to
the tip of the exhaust,

and that means the
emissions are better for the

environment, you get
better miles to the gallon,

and best of all, you get really
good performance as well.

But there's still more I can do.

Ed, how you doing, buddy? You all right?

I'm doing very well.

Actually, it's all going to plan.

I managed to get the big
cat to run for more than

five minutes without
cutting out, which is great.

Fantastic. Nice and simple?

It's never easy in the workshop,

but I did manage to fix it for a lot
less money than it should have cost us.

Well, that's music to
my ears and to my wallet.

Well done.

Well, also, you remember,

you kind of gave me carburettors
to get this car totally sorted,

and I managed to find a way of
cleaning the entire fuel system

from the injectors all the way
to the tip of the exhaust pipe,

and now this thing is so clean
when it runs, it's wonderful.

Well, I know you work really hard,

but I work hard too, you
know, out there on the road

looking for parts, and
I've been shopping for us,

and look what I've got for you.

Some bubble wrap.

I've got you a stainless
steel exhaust pipe for the rear,

and I've also got the two end caps as well.

Just have a look at that.

That is going to make the
back end look very tidy, isn't it?

That's fantastic.

It certainly is.

I've also got a new grille
for the front of the car.

It's in the motor.

Well, that ties in really well with a
few mechanical tweaks I've got in mind.

They're going to make this
car drive and look superb.

Fantastic. Great job so far.

Keep it up.

As it stands, the Jaguar is
a pretty decent car to drive,

but Mike has charged me with
giving our XK8 a bit more X-Factor,

and one of the areas
where it doesn't quite score

highly enough is the
ride and handling setup.

These massive 20-inch rims,
which cost 400 pounds each,

aren't working perfectly
on the car at the moment.

They're designed for sporty driving,
but the ride is set up for luxury,

two completely different things.

So I'm going to install lowered
Springs and new shocks.

This isn't a cheap job at 1,000
pounds in parts, but I've got the money,

and I intend to spend
it on improving the XK8.

Let's strip out the old Springs first.

This is the bolt that holds the bottom of
the shock absorber to the suspension arm.

What I've done is supported the weight
of the arm with this transmission Jack.

Now, ideally what would happen, I
could now then lower the whole lock down.

and the spring would just fall out,

but of course there's at least
two things that are wrong with that.

First of all, unfortunately the
bottom arm won't move low enough

because of the restrictions
within the structure itself,

but then also this
spring is a little bit too

long, so what I need
to do is compress it first,

and hopefully then it'll be a
bit more easy to shoehorn out.

The spring compressors only need
to wind up around 10 centimetres

to give me enough space
to remove the spring.

This pair are only about 30 quid, so
they're well worth having in the tool chest.

So the spring is now loose, but it's
been held hostage by the shock absorber

because it's expanded
because it's gas filled,

so I need to compress that, I
need to undo the top mount,

and also I think I might as
well just undo the upright as well

to get rid of that to give me
enough room to get the whole lot out.

Lowering the suspension
is a time-consuming job,

but it adds oodles of
driving pleasure to the car,

with a much more controlled
ride and sharper handling.

I can release the spring now
and take a look at its condition.

Well, this is our original spring.

It's not in too bad a condition,

although there are
bits of corrosion all over

the place, and that does mean, ultimately,
it could soften the spring rate,

which is going to add to that
kind of comfortable feel of our Jag.

If you compare it to our
brand new uprated spring,

you can see there's a marked difference
in height, and that's going to translate

to about a 25 millimetre drop
in the suspension ride height,

which is going to make
the car look a bit more

aggressive, but also you
can see there are more coils

and each of those
coils is slightly thicker,

and that's because it's going to
be a slightly stiffer spring as well,

so it's going to have a slightly
more sporty feel about it as well.

Now, for changing the Springs, it
makes sense to change the shocks.

We've got some standard ones here,
and you can see if you compare them

that the old ones are looking a
little bit rusty, a little bit corroded,

and that might actually end up
being an MOT advisory, at least,

and perhaps if they start leaking,
it's obviously going to be a failure.

So, with the top mount
fitted to the new strut,

I add the spring and
recompress it so it'll fit back in.

Well, the spring is now compressed,

but before I put it into position, you may
remember when I took this out of the car,

of course I had to compress
the shock absorber as well,

but rather than struggling with that
again, what I might do is a little trick,

top tip, shall we say,
from the good old days.

When you used to buy
shock absorbers and kind of

rubber donuts for drive
shafts, that kind of stuff,

they used to come
supplied with a kind of a bit

of strapping or banding
to keep things compressed,

so I'm just going to do exactly
the same thing with a bit of string.

I'm just going to wrap it around a
couple of times the top of the shock.

just to make sure it doesn't
slip off as I'm manhandling it.

And then the idea is I'm just then going
to compress the shock on the bench,

then tie the string in place,

and then once I've
got it actually in position

on the car, I can then
cut the string, remove it,

and then it saves an awful lot of hassle.

And then it's back on the car.

My string strut compressor holds perfectly,

and then it's just a matter of reconnecting
everything up, and one corner is done.

I do the other corner
and then the front

suspension, which is
not exactly the same deal.

The upright can be
lowered without the need for

compressing the Springs
once the top nut is undone.

On the bench, I compress
the spring mechanically,

reassemble, and install.

The XK8 is going to have a
much lower and sportier ride,

and these funky-looking
Springs are giving me an idea.

There's money in the kitty, and for once
I don't have to worry about spending it.

How about adding
sporty brakes into the mix?

Now this is what I've been talking about.

They're proper performance
brakes for our Jaguar.

Now they come off an XKR,

which is the sporty version of an XK8.

And as you can see, they're much bigger,

they're still vented, but
they're also cross-drilled as well,

which is really going to help improve
the braking distance of our Jag.

But also, they're going to look
great through our 20-inch alloys.

But unfortunately, even
though they come off a Jaguar,

it's going to take a little bit of
fettening to get them to fit onto our car.

The problem is this backplate.

Its edges hug the
contours of the original disc,

and the new one is
much larger, so it won't fit.

So my low-tech, but effective
solution is to cut the edges off

and make sure they're not
dangerously sharp with a flat disc.

Bit of a top tip here.
Before you fit a brand new disc,

make sure that this surface on
the hub here is perfectly clean,

because only lumps and bumps
here are only going to be exaggerated

by kind of offsetting the disc and
making it wobble when you try and brake.

Very unpleasant.

Believe it or not, these are second-hand.

A Jaguar contact charged me
£2,000 for discs and calipers

when they actually
retailed at about £5,000.

I even get new pads onto
which I dab a spot of copper

grease to reduce noise
and ensure a smooth action.

Oh, look at that. They are fantastic.

They are so huge.
I reckon they'd even stop a train.

With performance braking systems,
it's not just the all-out stopping power.

It's also the increased braking feel

and greater confidence they give
you when the car's been driven fast.

Well, that was certainly
a huge amount of work.

And we spent a fair few quid, too,

but it's all gone to giving our Jag
a much sharper driving experience.

But on top of that, it's
also made it look better, too.

It's now got more purpose and more poise.

But while I was working along the car,

I noticed a few things that
need further improvement.

But once all they're done, our
Jaguar is going to be fantastic.

This Jag isn't in your face.
It's a subtle performance motor,

and the refinements
we've added are subtle, too.

But there is no doubt in there
transforming the way the car feels.

And there's more to go before
this car is ready for a new owner.

We're working on a sublime Jaguar XK8.

This is actually a really nice place to be.
It's very serene in here.

But it's had its problems.

Oh, this car's just gone
into limp home mode.

However, Ed's fixed the engine fault,

blasted the carbon
out of the V8's internals,

and has completely replaced the
suspension and braking system.

Now Ed's got to improve
the curb appeal of the big cat,

and the exhaust system
is well overdue an upgrade.

When you have a close look at
this exhaust, it is pretty corroded.

Now, it's mild steel which has been plated,

but of course the heat
and the moisture has

meant that that plating
hasn't lasted very long.

And in fact, the exhaust hasn't
got much longer on the road anyway.

So changing it at this
stage is no bad thing.

How do you quickly
remove rusty rear sections?

Well, this is the fastest way I know.
You cut the clips off.

Now, it doesn't matter if I damage the
exhaust, as it's destined for recycling.

Mike has only supplied
the pipes and silencers,

and so I need to make
sure that the midsection

I'm connecting onto is not
damaged and nice and clean.

Now, a good top tip
when fitting an exhaust,

especially an aftermarket one,

is to fit it first before you get any
of your exhaust sealer everywhere,

because of course, sometimes they don't
quite fit the way they're supposed to.

But actually, looking at this,

there's a bit of tweaking,
but that's pretty good.

This sealing paste will
expand and harden with

the heat from the exhaust
and give a better seal.

And now for the finishing touch.

And now I need to find out if these
two pipes play sweet soul music.

Well, that definitely sounds a lot better,

but I think the real test is
going to be on the open road.

Now, as part of trying
to sort out all the little

details on this car, I need
to look at this front grille.

It's been bothering me for quite a while.

It's a bit too bling for a start, but
also it's been really badly botched.

Now, Mike has managed to get hold
of this rather nice black front grille,

and it's much more in keeping
with the kind of lower, meaner stance

of the car that we're going for.

How has it been botched?

Well, once I've got the
number plate out of the way,

I can see the grille I'm
taking out is aftermarket.

It replaced the solid H-shaped
chrome bumper that came as standard,

but it's been crudely
attached to the inner

bumper, and it's literally
rough around the edges.

Now, this is what I mean
about this being botched.

What used to be here with
these sort of two upright bars

with a horizontal one, that was
a classic kind of jag face there,

but what somebody's done
is actually hacked off the top

bit of fibreglass just to
get this grille into position.

Now, it kind of helps us
out because the replacement

grille we've got here
obviously is going to sit like so,

and as you can see, the
bottom ones are now in the way.

But as we could never, ever go
back to this H-shaped bit of chrome,

then it doesn't really matter
so much if I actually cut this off,

which is actually what
I'm going to have to do.

I'm not really in favour of
hacking into a part like this,

but as it's already damaged,
effectively I'm just helping to tidy it up.

And being fibre-reinforced plastic,

there won't be any issues
of corrosion in years to come.

Let's just try fitting this
up, make sure it looks OK.

And by attaching the
number plate from the back,

I don't have to cut an
ugly hole in the grille.

It's a 100% improvement.

One personal plate, and the job is done.

Now, this car might not look too different
to when it first came into the workshop,

but all the transformations we've done
have been under the skin of our Jaguar.

It's now certainly a car
that anyone, including

myself, would be proud
to have on their drive.

And it could be said
that our big cat is perfect.

The XK8 has always been a complete package,

a great blend of performance,
luxury, image and value.

But our XK8 is the most
complete one out there.

The only shame is that soon
this car will be leaving us.

Out of the hundreds of
motors offered to us online,

we selected a Jaguar
that was great on paper.

Yes.

Congratulations, you just sold me an XK8.

But somewhat lacking in the metal.

There's no power coming
through the accelerator.

But it was still a steal at six grand.

I bought the car for six grand,

that means you've got a
whole four grand to go mad with.

Ed discovered the engine fault
was caused by a failed sensor

and bought a used throttle
body to get it running once more.

Clever old China found a new
way to decarbonise the engine,

making it cleaner and meaner.

We had four grand to spend on bits

and a large share went on
suspension and braking upgrades,

which put poise into the
pose of this rag top GT.

And I spent the rest of the money
on a sportier grille and a new exhaust,

which gave the V8 a
chance to sing that bit louder.

What have we spent?

The car was six grand, but we
didn't hold back on the upgrades

and we spent every penny of our
10 grand budget and a little bit more.

Ed, all right, buddy?

Wow, the Jaguar is finally finished.

Have I ever told you
how much I love this car?

Well, you have mentioned
it on the odd occasion,

but I have to say I
really love this car too,

it's going to get a double
thumbs up from me.

Double thumbs up? You really do like it.

Any nasty surprises?

Well, the thing is, most of the
stuff I've been doing to this car

is bolting things on, so I
haven't really had a chance

to kind of test everything
out and make sure it's

working properly, so I'm
hoping for no surprises to come.

I see what you've done
there, I just read between

the lines and I reckon
what you're trying to say is

you want to get out of
the workshop, get out

on the open road and
test the fantastic XK8.

Absolutely, it seems you
can read me like a book, sir.

Our Jaguar is magical

and somebody is going to
win this car in our competition,

but before it leaves our hands,

we need to find out what
we've added to the XK8.

and which of the Wheeler
dealers is truly master of the beast?

The fastest lap will decide.

Ed, we've got no choice, we have to
rag the big cat, we have to Max this motor.

Are you sure that's our only option?

Could we just go for a nice country drive,

maybe take an afternoon
tea, maybe even go shopping?

That just sounds dull and boring.

Come and get your stopwatch
out, guess who's going to go first?

Come on, guess.

I'm guessing it's going to be you.

Of course it's going to be me.

Don't break it.

I'm not going to break
it, I'm just going to rip it.

Come on, Ed, drop the
flag, come on, here we go.

Straight away, you can
hear that V8 Jaguar engine.

I hope he looks after it, I really do.

I'm already doing 110, hit the brakes.

The eyes nearly came out of his socket.

Wow, that's fantastic.

You can hear those corners even from here.

This great big Jag really does handle well.

You can feel this
engine's got some zing to it.

Here she goes, and I
can see Ed standing there.

Come on, come on, Ed.

Wow, 148, that is awesome.

That was a quick time, a very quick time.

What's a car?

Ed's got oil in his veins, but he'll
need nerves of steel to beat me.

Three, two, one, go.

Put your foot down, Ed.

Let's face it, I need to
drive like a gentleman,

because of course the Jaguar
has always been a gentleman's car.

Bit like driving Miss
Daisy, that, wasn't it?

Mike's tactic is to have his
foot on the floor all the time.

I'm just going to go with the Jag,
enjoy that lovely smooth suspension.

Even though it's now lower,
it's still really rather comfortable.

This is what this thing's all about.

I could be driving down
to the south of France.

I think the winner is going to
be a very, very happy bunny.

Last little bit here, I don't know
how I've done with the time.

I think I'm definitely being
a little bit slower than Mike.

Here we go.

Oh, those brakes are good, aren't they?

The end.

Where have you been?

I could have had a calendar
on that, not a stopwatch.

No, come on, this car is for
touring about, not tearing about.

It's a really lovely, comfortable drive.

And that's the beauty of this Jaguar XK8.

It can be an animal when it wants to be,

or it can be a nice sedate
cruiser like it was on

your lap, which took you,
well, about two minutes.

Tell you what, I'm really
proud of our achievement.

And if you want to see more
cars turned around by me and Ed,

join us again soon on Wheel of Dealers.

Tala!