1991 Jaguar XJ-S

[MostMint]

While we're voting, if you hadn't shown the before pic I probably wouldn't notice.

Everything you touch in the interior is black so now the shifter joins the group.

Why did the factory make the shifter handle beige?

[Basement Paul]

I'm with the "fix the beige one" group. You can do it!

-BP

[AKROVER]

Thanks to the input and thanks to the fact that I was finding the new shift knob too tall, I did some research and ordered a beige leather refinishing kit. It came with three shades. The medium one was pretty close. I poured a small amount on a piece of cardboard and then poured a smaller amount of the lighter shade next to it. The size of the puddles was probably 3:1 or 4:1, but as I started blending, it lightened up pretty quickly. I only used a small amount of the lighter color, maybe a quarter of what I poured, so maybe closer to 12:1 (medium to light).



I only added the refinishing compound on the top above the chrome ring so it looks like I got the shade matched nicely. It now needs to sit for 48 hours before I can put some typical leather treatment on it. I hadn't thought about changing this to a black knob before the discussion here, but that is my backup plan if I find color matching to be problematic. I still am not a huge fan of this original shift knob, but the "Classic Collection" cars all had these leather knobs matched to the seat color. The other cars had wood knobs.

[Basement Paul]

It looks dead-on-balls accurate. It's an industry term...

Nice job!

-BP

[GMJohnny]

Looks mint! I’d be tempted to purchase a wood one also, so you can
refinish it and then be able to switch them back and forth depending on
your mood!

GM

[AKROVER]

You will, of course, recognize this license plate frame. It wasn't exactly an easy installation. The Jaguar does not have a rear bracket; the plate is literally bolted to the sheet metal, but only on the top. That leaves the bottom flopping which does mean that the paint underneath can take a beating, thus a good reason to use one of these rubber covers. Unfortunately, South Dakota plates are really flimsy and tend to curl outward, but luckily, I figured out to simply slip a second older plate in underneath facing the opposite direction. The two bolts at the top now hold the plate tight against the sheet metal, but that left two holes at the bottom that I wanted to finish with the black screw covers, so I found a couple of really short screws that I could put in from the back and screw into a piece of plastic on the front in a makeshift nut/bolt arrangement that holds the covers in place. I did not use the rubber frame on the front, at least not yet. The top of the front plate is held on with two stainless cap nuts that screw over studs sticking out of the bumper. I did use a couple of the black covers for the screws on the bottom of the front plate. It looks OK with stainless on top and black on the bottom, but I might revisit that later.

I have begun to understand that owning a classic simply means that there will always be one prominent annoyance. When the previous annoyance is fixed, the next annoyance elevates in prominence, at least in my mind. Since getting the suspension really tightened up with new shocks up front and new struts, springs, and bushings in the rear, I have begun noticing a slight vibration between 55 and 65 and then returns at about 80. Since it seems most prominent in the steering wheel, I am pretty sure the problem is up front. The most likely cause was an out of balance tire/wheel, but the logistics of getting a balance check, particularly since no one local is really reputable, has delayed action. This week, I took a chance on just buying a bubble balancer, expecting (hoping) to find a wheel that had lost a weight. Unfortunately, both the fronts and rears look to be perfect, at least according to my cheap balancer. While putting the passenger front back on, I discovered a disturbing amount of play in the bearing. It was a quick and easy adjustment to take the play out, but a test drive still had the vibration. I think I have a failing bearing up front so I think I need to do the front bearings.

[MostMint]

did you inspect the wheels to make sure they are round? a slow spin on the front hub should tell the tale. the ATS had several that were out of round this way. It's not too likely that yours has this problem but it doesn't cost anything to check.