XJ12 IRS Restoration

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Part of the first years restoration became the Independent Rear Suspension (IRS), see :the main page for more details. Originally I thought it could wait till the second year of restoration (winter 2005/6), but corrosion of the brake pipes, wheel bearings, outer hub carrier bearings and general lack of confidence in the road holding and brakes made me decide to do a major restoration. All the wheel bearings, bushes, shocks, disks and pads were replaced most of the nuts and bolts were also replaced. The bushes were replaced with the modern Nylon type (from Kugal Components California, USofA). The whole assembly was blasted to remove rust thus making the assembly when finished look like new.

Special thanks to Philip Melville who helped me in the dismantling and reassembly.

The IRS was originally designed by Jaguar in the 1960's and was first used in cars like the E Type, S Type and 420 series. It weighs greater than 2 hwt and has change little in design over ~30 years being fitted in this car in 1987. Even the XJ40 replacement was not a lot changed in design. The rear chassis itself is fairly light but add the remainder of the components and it becomes a very heavy assembly indeed requiring some great respect when moving it.

I think this assembly has a certain beauty when freshly renovated and should really take pride of place in my house living room as a discussion piece but Morag would not approve, so I guess I will have to return it to the car.