I was out on an errand after work tonight…I took a couple of bay photos with my nearly dead phone.
Dusty Kitty
The air flow meter shows what could be the source of the supposed unreliability - a mating of Lucas and the Japanese?
Dusty Kitty
2 Likes
Same Jag from last month.
Had a delivery there after work - took a quick look under the bonnet - needs lid supports which are less than $27 each delivered to the space…
1 Like
Is it for sale? How mucho.
World needs more inline sixes and metal valve covers I say.
4 Likes
Tonight was art related - however I am going over one evening next week to see about getting it started and moving… (ugh-not sure how i let myself get involved in these things) granted it may only end up moving onto my car trailer…
Metal valve covers - that is a a sign of good times gone by - and parts that were never replaced during routine gasket replacement. Not the case today. Get a valve cover leak from many manufacturers and WHOA - you need a new plastic valve cover to remedy that problem…
In the case of a recent infinity V6 it was $700 for a pair of those plastic valve covers(just the parts not including the other parts and labor) - because the “engineering wizards” at Nissan only offer the spark plug tube seals as part of the valve cover - not as a valve cover gasket set. (Gotta love that plan for the consumer!)
1 Like
Yeah… almost certainly only happenings most unholy can come of a partnership of The Prince of Darkness with The Land of the Rising Sun…
Seems like a gigantic rift the OEM could easily fill, if not reputable aftermarketers. Surely a set of $300 seals could be attractive AND reliable…
You know why Brits like warm beer. Lucas makes refrigerators too.
Russell
4 Likes
Nissan gave up on reliability and quality engineering when Renault took over. Part of that deal was cutting ties with their various contract parts manufacturers in favor of a handful of lowest-bidder producers. OEM Nissan is fukt m8.
And the aftermarket hasn’t expressed any interest in unfucking Nissan’s engineering and supply line issues. The money just isn’t there. Nissan owners are nothing if not cheap.
1 Like
Damn. I should pay more attention. I knew the V6 in the z cars are Renault (and what carfan from the 80s doesn’t think Renault is the best thing ever coughDeloreancoughLeCarcoughvolvo260cough?). Didn’t realise they’d actually teamed up in 1999. And recently expanded that empire to includedrumrollMitsubishi! Yikes!
depends on the Renault, I’d take an R5 from the 80s over many turbo buckets today
2 Likes
The “VQ is a Renault engine” thing is a myth. Nissan developed the VQ30DE in the early 90s to replace the VG30DE, and it was first released in the 1995 Maxima.
Following Nissan’s bankruptcy in 1999, Renault bought 50% of the company and placed their CEO, Carlos Ghosn, in the lead role for Nissan. By 2002 they were profitable again, thanks to cutting costs massively in their supply line and engineering departments, and restructuring their model lifecycles from 4-5 years to 7-10 years. They also relocated almost their entire design team to California, which is why their cars don’t look Japanese anymore. But that probably doesn’t have anything to do with money.
Nissan’s bankruptcy is really a case of bad luck. They sunk enormous development costs into their tech program in the late 80s, designing the first fully-CAD-drawn car (300ZX) as well as numerous high-tech developments, such as multilink suspension, torque-splitting AWD, 4-wheel steering, and significant investments in JATCO to develop advanced automatic transmissions. These costs were largely intended to be recovered through US market sales, and their sales and marketing projections had initially showed all of this being recouped by the mid-90s.
So imagine their abject horror when the Japanese housing bubble burst in 1990, the economy went into recession, and the yen-to-dollar ratio got jacked up by the government in response. Importing cars in the US became much more costly as a result. They just could not make enough money from their main market to stay solvent. By 1996, they discontinued US sales of their flagship 300ZX due to shrinking demand related to the growing cost of the car, and by 1999 they were $11 billion in debt.
1 Like
They (Renault) are not without their bright spots, but the 80s were NOT kind to European cars in the USA, and Renault was one of the… less shiny spots, in general, particularly the PVR V6 debacle, coupled to the unfortunate rides it (barely) powered.
I knew Nissan has some hard times (like all Japanese brands, see suchsojasco’s post) but had no idea HOW bad, nor how the downward spiral had continued (though I guess it was even worse for Mitsubishi, since they’ve now been assimilated, too).
1 Like
Andrew,
I cannot think of ANY American car at all from the 1980’s that I’d “want” can you?
The 80’s were very good for many German & Swedish & British models models, (not BMW diesels tho).
All the other Euro auto companies that sold cars in the USA either dropped out in the 80s or shortly after in the 90s but two of them have returned.
Sure will this would stay with the old jag topic but like Lucas - it wanders off into the darkness…
1 Like
Which country is this one made in? I count five countries. 
I mean who wouldn’t want an American icon made in Beijing. 
1 Like
Chinese production was for the Chinese market only, because they have enormous tariffs on imported vehicles there. (Still impressive that they built XJs for 30 years there though)
But then, I don’t particularly care for the early XJ anyway. They really did a lot to make the vehicle remain livable by today’s standards with the 1996 refresh. Prior to that, they’re a nightmare with too many year-to-year changes.
I think I’m with Tom on this one. The 1980s was a bad time for US automakers, even if it was pretty kind to the Europeans and Japanese. I wouldn’t buy an American car built prior to 1992, I think.
1 Like
Really? It was a joke, note wink?
Lol. I’d take a CJ from the 80’s.
1 Like
Luke,
The straight 6 in that bucket was good…but still not worthy of being close to any “want list” of normal people.
David,
This is a US model thread - thanks for the info tho…
P.S. The Jag’s interior looks new - a tub of Hyde Food and some elbow grease and you might be good to go.
1 Like
Did they still call it “Quadra-Trac” in the 80’s?