Given there were a few edges where it was starting to come apart, I wanted to repair this before the original material was damaged.  This was beyond my skill level, so I took the door cards to a trimmer.

If my car had been a regular XJ or Daimler, then new backing boards are available for purchase.  However, the Vanden Plas uses its own hand made backing boards.  They are a unique design, with some sections double for strength.  These can be seen in the photo above, around the thinner section.

Reviewing the options with the trimmer, we agreed that the best course of action was to create new ones in Aluminum.  They could be cut exactly to size and wouldn’t need the additional strengthening sections.  Moisture wouldn’t be an issue either.

I dropped the car off a couple of weeks ago and he created me a couple of sets of backing boards in aluminum, re-fitted my original trim and installed it all back on the car.   While he was there I also asked him to install the grab handles that were still in a box in the boot, and fix the damaged felt in the tray under the gauges. We also didn’t mess with the door pockets as they were still in good condition.

The old backing boards looked very sorry for themselves when I went to pick up the car.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the result.   We also talked about looking the drooping headliner.  I decided to leave it alone for now.   The headlining was changed not long before I purchased the car, so its disappointing that it is already drooping.   I’ll have to see how it goes.

The interior is a big part of what makes these cars special, so I’m glad to have repaired this in a way that preserves it.  While not factory correct, I think its a better solution overall.

The post Vanden Plas Door Cards appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Before I sent the Bluetooth radio back to be tested, I wanted to do more bench testing of my own.  So I figured, why not install the Becker Radio for now.   It would look and work a damn sight better than the old Pioneer and is generally period correct. While not correct for the Vaden Plas, I’ve seen period photos of German market Series 1 XJ’s with Beckers.

I have a couple of Beckers from 1972-1973, but they are two piece Grand Prix and Mexico Cassette models.  There isn’t a lot of room for the two piece units without taking the dash further apart and locating the amplifier up in behind the glovebox somewhere.   Given I ultimately still want to use the Radiomobile, a once piece radio is a much better option.

Therefore, I decided to use the Becker Europa II Stereo I tested with.  This model replaced the Europa Stereo, mid 1972.   Originally they were a two piece unit with five buttons and a separate amplifier.  In 1973, they went to a one piece unit, with an integrated amplifier, and continued with minor changes until 1978 when the six button version came out.   This unit is missing the sticker with the serial number, so I can’t properly date it, but I estimate between 1974-1977.   It is visually very similar to the 1973 model.  It has provision for the external cassette, which I will use for Bluetooth input.

Before Installing it properly, I built a wiring harness to test all four speakers with the Becker.  I started testing two speakers, one on each side.  It sounded pretty good, so I went to all four.   Sounded even better.  Like the Radiomobile Bluetooth, the Becker Europa II Stereo is a two channel radio.  It is 2x7W.

I then did a test fitting in the dash without the faceplate to make sure it would fit.

Given I have Beckers in a few cars, I had all I needed to install it properly.  The chrome surround was a bit pitted and the dial scale had a crack, but I had a much better surround and a new reproduction dial scale.  I had the correct Becker plugs and the mounting hardware. I also had a bluetooth module for the DIN plug on the back.

As well as installing the Becker, I also wired in the USB charging ports I was going to use with the Bluetooth radio.

To install the Becker, I had to go back to the backing plate and faceplate modified for a DIN radio.  That meant moving back the decals for the faceplate and the mounting hardware for the backing plate.  The install is a bit fiddly.  With a shaft radio, you would install the backing plate, then the radio, secure everything in place then add in the faceplate.

With a DIN radio, you can’t do this, so you have to get everything buttoned up including the faceplate, before the radio goes in.  This doesn’t give much room to work, but since the Becker is quite a slim radio, it was possible.

My car is not fitted with an antenna, but there is an antenna cable present.  The Vanden Plas should have been sold new with an electric antenna on the rear wing.  I guess at some point the rear wing was changed to one without the antenna cutout?  In any case, I’m not bothered as I will be using Bluetooth.   The cable probably still goes to the boot.

I got it all installed, and I think it looks pretty good.  I would still prefer the Radiomobile as it is what the car is supposed to have. Since its not working, I think the Becker is a good alternative and looks a lot better than the modern radio.

My next step will be to properly bench test the Radiomobile.   But for now I have a great working radio in the Daimler.   Since the Bluetooth setup for the Becker doesn’t have any buttons, I used the same solution I have in the 250SE.  I bought a couple of cheap external controllers and will use one here.   It works pretty well.

A Becker probably isn’t the first solution for a British car, but I’m happy with it for now.

The post Daimler Becker Radio appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Replacing the radio wasn’t so simple.   The Daimler Double-Six Vanden Plas came as standard with a Radiomobile 8 Track.  However, this is an older style type radio that uses a smaller opening and the radio is held in place through the shafts for the knobs.

When I purchased the car a while back, I purchased a Radiomobile 8 Track from the UK that had been converted to Bluetooth.  Generally I prefer original radios in my car, but the Radiomobile is AM only, and I don’t own any 8 track cartridges.   I figured this would be a good option to make the car look the part, but be able to play music from my phone.

When the Pioneer was fitted, the opening in the dash was enlarged to DIN size.  This involved cutting the metal backing plate as well as the finishing plate that sits in front it.  Last year when I was in the UK, I bought a second hand finishing plate, and a new backing plate.  The Backing plate wasn’t quite the right part number – It was for other Series 1 XJ models that were optioned with the regular Radiomobile.   From the pictures it looked very close.

My first attempt was a fail.  My workshop manual was only for the Series 2 cars, and it didn’t describe how to remove the trim.  Being sensitive about breaking it, I ordered the correct Series 1 manual.  Shockingly a brand new one was cheaper than a dog eared second hand copy.   The trim removal wasn’t difficult, but there was a specific order to it.    Since the old radio was a DIN, it came out before the trim.

As well as the radio, this panel covers the HVAC controls.  They were all intact, but two of the vacuum fittings were broken.   That may be a factor in time when I attempt to get the A/C working.   One was for the heat, and one was for the recirculation.   The V12 makes so much heat, that I don’t really need the actual heater to work in this car.

With the bracket out of the car, the most time consuming part of this was getting the radio to fit. I realized what the difference between the two part numbers is. The Radiomobile 108 ST is a physically narrower radio. I had to use a dremel to carefully cut material from the new bracket. This was mostly from the sides, but a little at the top, and even a little where the shafts go through to allow the radio to sit lower and line up with the face plate.   I also had to transfer over all the hardware from the old backing plate to the new one.  This was primarily the little fittings to allow the silders to go on, and the heater control levers.

I also had to do the same thing, transferring over the decals from the old faceplate to the new one.

From there I created a wiring harness for the radio – to connect the speakers and to add in bluetooth charging. Not much good playing music from my phone if the battery runs out.

I did a test connection before putting it back into the dash. It sounded absolutely terrible. Even at moderate volume, it distorted like crazy. I figured I had done something wrong, so set about eliminating possible issues. First was power supply to the radio. I used a power probe to check voltage to the radio and ground. I then applied 12v directly to the radio from the battery, and the distortion was the same.

Next thing to eliminate was Bluetooth. The way the radio worked is that a small bluetooth box connected to a headphone jack that went into the radio. I used a lightening to headphone adaptor to plug my phone directly into the the phone, bypassing bluetooth. Still distorted.

Final thing was speakers. The radio has two channels, apparently 50W each. I assume that is peak, not RMS. For my setup I had two speakers connected to each channel. I tried a few different combinations. First one speaker per channel. Then just one speaker total. I used a few combinations, e.g. front left and rear right. Distorted every time.

Being perplexed, I messaged the seller of the radio for any advice. It is out of warranty, but I hoped he would have a few tips. He was good enough to reply and asked to see the specs of my speakers, which I sent him. His view was that my speakers were undersized, and that they should be at least 50W RMS.

That left me perplexed. Most classic cars have tiny speakers, so finding a 50W RMS speaker in 4″ seems unobtanium. If that scenario was correct, I would have expected it to distort only at high volumes. He offered to bench test it for me, if I sent it back, which was kind of him to do. Given the cost of shipping, I wanted to do more tests myself.

The final test before finishing up for the day was to use a different radio.  I figured a pinstripe Becker would be a good test.  A Becker Europa II has two 7W channels, so if it could play the speakers then anything should.

I took out a Becker Europa II from my Becker collection and ran a simple test, one speaker.   It sounded really good.   That gave me a good avenue for further testing.

The post Daimler Bluetooth Radio appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

However, only one and a half of them is working, and the Pioneer is on its last legs.  While the car would have been fitted with a power antenna when new, that is long gone and there is no antenna at all.  That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if I could play music through my phone, but the Pioneer only plays CDs, and the mechanism doesn’t work properly as it takes many attempts to get it to load or eject a CD.   At least the one CD that is stuck in there is a David Bowie CD.  It could have been a lot worse.

I don’t like how the Pioneer looks in the dash, so I have a Radiomobile 8 track, converted to Bluetooth to put in its place.   The Radiomobile 8 Track was standard on the Vanden Plas.

Changing the speakers first will allow me to verify they are working correctly before doing the radio.

The car has four door speakers, each integrated into the door pocket.  The door pocket is actually separate from the main door card, and is screwed on separately.  It was quite easy to remove them, and see the speaker.  Turns out it was a regular 4″ speaker, with a standard mounting.   To remove the old one, a 1/4″ deep socket was required.  I didn’t have one, and neither did my local bunnings so I had to order one online.

I had a set of focal 4″ speakers that I had ordered for my 450SLC.  They turned out to be too deep for the application and were still sitting on the shelf.   The fit perfectly, so I ordered another set.  I had a set of the Auditor RCX-100.  Those had been replaced with the ACX-100, but the specs were pretty much identical.   I used the newer ones in the front.   The original ones were ELAC and made in the UK, so almost certainly original.

The fronts went on quickly as I already had the door cards off.  The rears didn’t take a whole lot longer, and given those backing boards were also not great, it made sense to have all four repaired.

With four new speakers installed, David Bowie sounded pretty good in the car.

The post Daimler Door Speakers appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Most series 1 XJ’s had a regular mirror.  However, the Vanden Plas has the type of mirror that can be adjusted from inside the car with a little joystick.  These became more common on the Series 2 cars.

The original drivers mirror on my car worked ok, but had lost most of its chrome.  Looking up the part numbers, SNG Barratt sold reproduction mirrors.   They had a few options, that included curved glass or flat glass (I prefer flat) plus one with extra movement.  I went with the one with extra movement, being tall I find sometimes mirrors don’t have the full adjustment I need.

I had no desire to drill into the door of my car, so I had that done when the car was in the workshop in May.   The new mirrors looked great, but I had a small problem.  I couldn’t see out of them.   The drivers mirror gave me a great view of the car door.   The passengers gave me a view of what was going on a long way from the car.  These mirrors were quite expensive, so it was rather frustrating.

I tried various things to see if I could adjust them, but they were so far out it wasn’t possible.   I contacted the supplier and was told that the one with extra movement was for USA Spec vehicles only.   There is a small note to this effect one particular screen, but not the page where it lists the options for that part number.   USA Spec only means left hand drive.

After a bit of back and forward they agreed I could send them back for the right ones even though it was past the return date.  I ordered the correct mirrors and had them shipped.   Since the door was already drilled, I fitted them myself.

To fit them properly, the door card had to be removed.  The Vanden Plas has unique door cards that are nothing like what is shown in the workshop manual.   I checked both the Series 1 manual and the Series 2 manual which has the same design of door card.

Luckily, I found a video of a guy in America with a series 3 Vanden Plas, and the basic procedure was the same.

Since it is a coachbuilt interior, it was done in a way to hide screw heads where possible.  Thus, there is one screw underneath the armrest that is not visible.  If you remove that, you can slide back the top of the armrest and lift it off.

With the top of the armrest removed, the three main screws that hold the armrest to the door are visible.   With those removed, the door card should be held in with plastic studs, as the armrest is the main thing holding it on.  In my case, the wooden backing was so disintegrated, the studs were not really doing anything.   Since the material is in great shape, I’m going to have a trimmer put new backing boards on my door cards.

It was a pretty simple matter to swap out the mirrors once the door card was removed.  Threading in the joystick attachment isn’t that big a deal.   The new ones are much better.  The adjustment isn’t perfect – I would like the drivers on in particular to be a bit higher.   But I can now use them and the look pretty good on the car.   I’ve taken it for a couple of test drives without the front door cards and it is much more relaxing to drive with proper mirrors.

The passengers door card was better than the drivers, but not a lot.  So I will remove all four and have new boards put on.   I will also replace the door speakers while the doors are apart.   The drivers door is missing it’s moisture barrier entirely, so will see if I can improve on that.

I’ve sent the old ones back but right now they don’t seem to be able to find the return even though I have delivery confirmation that it arrived.  Even though it was a return I had to pay the Trump tariffs for some reason.

Update 16/7/26:  The package was eventually located and I got my refund. I still had to pay three shipping fees, one each for the two shipments and the return shipment, and the Trump tarriffs.

The post Daimler Door Mirrors appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

That was quite concerning.  Being an all-alloy engine, the Jaguar V12 does not respond well to being overheated.   When I brought the car to the workshop, it was quite apparent that it was coming from the water pump.  The Jaguar V12 holds a lot of coolant (~20 litres), but its still better not to loose it like that.

It looked like the seal had failed and after shutting down the car, without circulation, the coolant was being ejected through the water pump seal.

When I first got the car, the water pump was one of the items replaced, so I was a bit puzzled why it could fail like it did.  On the other hand I was pleased it wasn’t a more serious problem like a head gasket.

Doing some more research, it looks like it is due to water pump availability.   For the Series 1 XJ12, most of the parts manufacturers list a rebuilt pump or a repair kit.   So this is what my car got.  Unfortunately the rebuilt pump didn’t last long.  Apparently you can get new aftermarket pumps for later cars, I presume for the HE.   From what I can tell, these normally had a double row pully, but you can order a single row, which is what my car has.

Based on all that, we put on a new aftermarket pump.   My mechanic tells me that he rarely needs to replace them, so the new one should last a lot longer.   To do the job, a fair amount of stuff needs to come off the engine, but the job can be done with the radiator in situ.

At the same time they replaced one of the tensioners with a second hand unit as the bearing in the pully was a bit noisy.   The electric fan was also rubbing the shroud so they adjusted the bracket.

The result is no more pools of coolant underneath the car when I drive it.   The engine runs pretty cool.   I verified this with an infrared thermometer.

The post Jaguar V12 water pump appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

• Voltage
• Oil Pressure
• Water Temperature
• Fuel

They had all stopped working and I wanted to get them to work again, especially the water temperature one.   I quickly ruled out a blown fuse, as many other things in the car that share a fuse with these gauges were working.

My next suspicion was that the voltage stabilizer had stopped working.  Most of these smiths gauges run off 10 volts instead of 12, and voltage stabilizer converts from 12 to 10.  I’m not exactly sure the reason for this, but If I had to guess its because they require the voltage to be consistent and normally voltage levels in a car range from 12-14 volts.  I ordered one.

I also purchased the Jaguar XJ wiring diagram book and on examining the diagrams, it quickly became apparent that it probably wasn’t the voltage stabilizer.   The voltage gauge needs the raw voltage in order to work, and it was also dead.

Illumination was working when the headlights were switched on, so it also seemed unlikely a problem with a bad ground.   This made me suspect a problem with the power feed into this gauge pod.

Looking at what is going on is quite easy on a series 1.  The panel with the gauges is hinged and folds down to reveal the fuse boxes.   This was a design used on the Mark 2, The E-Types, S-Type, Series 1 XJ and probably the Mark X.

Instead of using wires for each gauge like in a series 1 E-Type, there is a flexible printed circuit board behind all four gauges and the clock.  This was quite an advanced design in 1968.  I doubt the people who designed it were thinking about it being in service 50 years later.   The gauges are not especially complex and simple wires would be easier!

My next theory was that there was an issue with this circuit board.   That proved to be the case.  Inspecting it carefully, the track that takes the main power feed had burned up and so therefore power was not getting to the gauge set.   The photo below shows the burned track in the mirror.

The fuse that controls the gauges plus many other things is a 35A fuse, so the tracks on this board are more sensitive than the fuse is.  I suspect I caused the problem as I had been using a multimeter to see where the aftermarket radio was wired into the fuse box the day before. At the time, I probably touched something and cause a small short, and since the fuse is so large, burned on the tracks in the circuit board.

I thought quite a bit about options.  I don’t have the skill level to repair the circuit board.   However, I realized I could inject 12v to the line that came from the circuit board to the voltage stabilizer.  This would be completely reversable if I ever got another board, and quite simple.  They way the plug to the board worked, I could push a spade connector into the back of the plug where the main power feed was, and piggyback it to the line to the stabilizer.  This would both power the 12v circuit before the stabilizer and bypass the burned track.

This fix seems to have worked quite well, and my gauges are back to how they were before.   That is, Temperature and Oil Pressure seemingly working well.  Voltage working but reading a bit low, and petrol reading very low.

I’m not too worried about the voltage gauge, but I would like to get the petrol gauge to work properly.

The post Daimler gauge repair appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I drove up to the blue mountains via Bells Line of Road and then took the road from Oberon to Goulburn before heading back home on the motorway.

Overall the car did really well, and I found it to be very comfortable on a much longer drive.   The drive was a good mix of suburban streets, back roads and motorways.  This drive took me over 1,000km with the car, which is probably the most its has driven in less than a year since going from Melbourne to Adelaide back in 2005 as a new purchase by a previous owner.

The driving experience really is very good.  The power is effortless and I think the 3.31 rear end ratio really suits the nature of the car.   I’ve never driven one of the later HE V12s, but they had much taller ratios for fuel consumption.   The ride quality is excellent and it handles both back roads and the motorway equally well.   It started to rain, so I took it very easy around corners.

When driving the car, its easy to forget it’s well over 50 years old.  Comfort and ride are superior to a newer car.  Handling isn’t, but that’s not what this sort of car is about.  There are only a few areas that showcase the age of the car.   The first is wind noise.  The drag coefficient of the series 1 XJ isn’t all that good and there is a lot of wind noise a freeway speeds.  This doesn’t bother me a great deal, but its quite noticeable against an 80s car, and especially something modern.   I am curious if a series 3 is much different.

The next is the windscreen wipers, which are a bit average.  Glass coverage is a bit mediocre, and there are only two speeds.   The final one is the presence of quarterlight windows.  Since the A/C isn’t working, I see this as a big positive.  On a rainy day, I was able to have the quarterlight open, and get plenty of airflow with minimal water ingress.  Its a shame they died out.

The drive also identified a few things I need to sort out on the car over time:

• There is a really annoying rattle from behind the dash somewhere.  I fixed one of the a/c vents being lose, so its something else.
• I lost my gauges (volt meter, fuel, temperature, oil pressure).
• My Tachometer sometimes stops working
• I can’t get my newly installed rear view mirrors to aim correctly.
• The 2000’s era CD player is terrible and seems to work only through one speaker.
• There is no way to charge a phone on a longer trip.  I used a power bank.
• At the last fuel stop close to home, The car ejected some coolant after sitting for about 3-5 minutes.
• My wiper blades won’t wipe all that well, and while the fast speed works well, the slower speed is a bit hit and miss.  Sometimes I have to got fast speed first before going to slow.   They also don’t park perfectly.
• The kickdown doesn’t seem to work.
• I had a slightly soft brake pedal down a long steep section.

The above seems like a long list, but only a couple of them are urgent.  I filled up three times to be safe, and the consumption wasn’t too bad.   The first tank was probably a bit off from having the fuel tank replaced.  I got 16l/100km out of the second and 14.5l/100km out of the third.  Not bad given the reputation of these cars for thirst.

Ultimately I want to keep any of my cars in the condition that I could get in them and drive to Melbourne and back with no issue.  I am getting much closer to that with the Daimler, but still have work to do.

The post First long drive in the Daimler appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

One of the things that became apparent in starting to use the car regularly, was that the differential had a fairly major leak.  This is obviously bad for the longevity of the limited slip diff, but on the XJ series cars, the rear brakes are inboard so major leaks can impact the rear brakes.

The independent rear suspension used on the XJ and Daimler derivatives is the same independent rear suspension unit introduced on the E-Type in 1961.  It was still far ahead of everyone else when the X was introduced in 1968, and continued to be throughout the 70s and early 80s.  It was only when the competition introduced multi-link rear suspension systems in the mid 80s was it surpassed.  The original version was used until the end of XJ Series 3 production, and evolutions of the system were used until the mid 2000s.

The reason the independent rear suspension for the XJ is related to the differential is the design of system has the entire rear suspension, differential and brakes in a removable rear subframe.   Therefore to fix my differential leak, the rear suspension had to come out of the car.

On my car the exhaust system wasn’t in great condition and had to be cut before the rear suspension could come down. This will need to be replaced later. The good news is that the underside of the car is in good condition. With the rear suspension removed, the differential could then be serviced. A clunk in the rear suspension was traced to be due to bent trailing arm mount brackets.

While the car was in having the differential leak fixed, a few other things needed sorting out, including:

• Leak from transmission pan gasket
• A couple of small coolant leaks from coolant hoses
• The fan clutch was not engaging properly when the engine was hot

In addition to those things, when changing a fuel sender on the left hand tank, it was clear that the cleaning the tank a few months ago hadn’t worked very well.  The tank was still very dirty.  New fuel tanks are still available, so I was able to purchase one and have it sent directly to the workshop to be fitted.   I had feedback it looked like it was very good quality and had some kind of internal ceramic coating.

The front brakes were leaking and so the calipers removed to be rebuilt.  In doing so, it was clear that it was necessary as the pistons were in pretty rough shape.

I also had some new external rear view mirrors fitted, including one on the passengers side.  This wasn’t optioned when the car was new, but I park very close to a wall in my storage area and I don’t want to damage the side of the car.

It as a lot of work on the car, but none of these things are all that unusual for a car that was laid up for a while.

The post Daimler differential leaks, front brakes and fuel tank appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

• Soft brake pedal
• Dirty passengers side fuel tank and pitted chrome on fuel cap
• Dented rear bumper
• Tachometer not working after my attempted repair
• Fuel gauges not working properly

The soft brake pedal seemed to be resolved by cleaning up the calipers and getting the pistons moving a bit better, and then re-bleeding the brakes.    The passengers side fuel tank was a bigger job.  It had to be removed from the car, and it was clear it had been out before and been re-sealed in some way.  It was a bit rusty inside and some of that sealer was flaking off.   The tank was cleaned in acid and then put back in the car.

The drivers side was in much better shape.  Since the rear bumper comes off to get to the petrol tank, the dented section was replaced with a better one.   I also had a better chrome filler cap to replace the pitted one with.

It turned out I had done the tachometer wiring correctly.  However, there were some issues with the wiring at the back of the Tachometer which once fixed had it working properly.

During this service, it was also identified that I would need to bring the car back in the new year to address a major leak from the differential, and that one of my fuel pumps was not working properly.   I planned to replace that myself.

While the car was in, it also had an oil and filter change and other checks.

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