JAG IRS manual?
 

Anyone have a hard or soft copy of a Jaguar IRS manual? I'm considering building an ERA, and may rebuild a rear differential myself. Just trying to figure out how complicated this effort would be.

Thanks,
Dangerous Doug

The factory Jaguar X.J.6/12 workshop manual has all the details and specs you need.

Cheers muz.

I set up my own jag rearend for my ERA. I used only the instructions posted on the ERA website and a Jag repair manual by Haynes. I picked it up at the local Barnes and Noble bookstore for about $15. I also talked to the mechanics at ERA and they gave me some valuable tips. If you do decide to do it yourself, let me know and I might be able to give you some pointers that will save you a lot of time.

Chris

Jag IRS tips
 

I posted this in Shop Talk/Tech Tips some time back:


Many of us are using Jag based rear suspensions. I found this book on a Jaguar owners website that has some really good tips on rebuilding and maintaining the Jag rear assembly. "Experience in a Book: Help for the Jaguar XJ-S Owner" by Kirby Palm.

http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/

I don't know if you have to log in just to download the book. I have been a member there for a long time scrounging help from Jag owners that apply to Cobras. But if you do have to log in you can create an account and get the passsword emailed to you immediately.

The book is written for the XJ-S but applies generally to all current Jag rearends.

The pertinent pages for us are pp 360-378 for the suspension.
Also see pp 393-408 for brake tips.

It covers many tips on the Jag rear that I totally missed on my first Jag rebuild and won't miss on the next one.

PS: Just ignore the crack on page 378 about driving a go-cart!!

I loved the section at the beginning where he talked about whether it's an XJS, XJ-S or S Type. Sounded like some of the "Is it real or a replica?" discussions around here.

I too am a member of Jag-Lovers. They were pretty helpful and friendly, considering my Jag ownership is just the suspension. After trying to rebuild the half shaft stub axels, I ended up going to a local (Campbell) old British car expert, who has all the rare tools and knowledge of these tricky old Jags. Seals on these Jags have a tendency to leak, especially on inboard brake pads (ugh). If you plan on putting much torque to this suspension, you should consider upgrading some parts. The differential is quite strong (some good info on this site), but there are some weaknesses. Concours West Inc. in Washington has some good parts, like HD control arms, half shafts and U-joints, tie bars, etc. I also purchased their hardened steel tapered seats for the side brackets; the original one-piece screws with tapered seats are weak and tend to break at the most inopportune times, often causing spin-outs. I also installed Watts linkage from Upstate Cobras, but this are designed for the Contemporaries, so I don't know how much trouble it would be installing it on your machine. George Petrus makes an array of special Jag suspension parts at Accurate Machine Products in Torrance (310) 370-4075. Also, XKs Unlimited in San Luis Obispo have great parts catalogs (stock and racing parts) for Jags. They recently became a Shelby dealer, by the way. Nice folks to deal with. Good luck, Rich.

Thanks for the tips. I downloaded the book (all 652 pages, and didn't have to become a member) and I'll print out the relevant pages as noted by jschiller above.

badrich, good info on the parts sources. Sounds like you know these things well. I may be contacting you with questions...

Thanks for the tips, guys. This is going to save me a great deal of research and time.

Cheers,
Dangerous Doug

CJ428CJ: I'll likely be contacting you for some sage advice on building the rear-suspension for an ERA.

Dangerous Doug

For those of you that are interested, I found this site that offers Jaguar workshop manuals on CD:

http://www.motorcarsltd.com/information/jaguar-cds.htm