We are recruiting for further classic car technicians. Experience in old car repairs and maintenance desirable, especially with electrics knowledge and skills.

This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to join the foremost Jaguar XJ and XJS restoration and upgrade company. Happy, family atmosphere, where everybody gets stuck-in to do the best possible job for our clients. Competitive wages.

Please contact Theresa on 01635 622433

With hot weather slowly arriving, don’t forget that KWE is the foremost XJS aircon specialist. We fully understand and can repair all parts of the system including the early electro-mechanical systems.

No cold air – call us!

KWE is ready to take advance orders for XJS conversions so that we can get the XJS-specific design areas completed. Pricing for top of the range conversions will be under £100k.

We are also ready to convert E Types with very little delay, and other Jaguars such as Mk1/2 and XJ saloons with a bit more design time required. An electric Mk10 anyone? Or even a DS420?

KWE offers the ultimate upgrade for the V12: A six-speed modern automatic transmission conversion! Most 5.3 V12 XJSs had the GM400 3 speed auto transmission fitted as standard. While undoubtedly smooth-shifting and very rugged, this old 70’s ‘box was slow, inefficient and of course was limited to three forward ratios. The later Jaguar 6 litre used the slightly better GM4L80E with electronic shifting, but it was still the GM400 in new clothes.

As warmer weather approaches now is a good time to bring your cooling system back up to top condition. This is especially true for the V12 engines.

The Jaguar V12 engine is not known for its frugality, and lugging around an 1800kg car makes it worse. Absolute best case (50mph on a motorway) might just tip over 20mpg. Around country roads one might expect 16mpg and in town rather less than that.

The 3.6 & 4.0 litre 6 cylinder engines are quite a lot better, especially the manual gearbox cars, and getting over 35mpg on a motorway is not a big feat, and in town 20mpg is normal.

The V12 suffers from inherently poor consumption, and this is mostly due to the friction of 12 cylinders rubbing up and down the bores, and all the extra cam gear, though note that with 4 valves per cylinder, the 6 cylinder engines have the same number of valves as the V12.

In addition, the V12 is a 1960’s design and does not benefit from modern design and manufacturing improvements such as variable valve timing

With record temperatures expected here are some tips about running your XJS in super hot weather:
The V12 cooling system, while adequate when new, has little headroom for dealing with high temperatures, along with probably a partially clogged radiator, as is usually the case. Once the dash gauge goes over ‘N’ then one can be sure of some problems.

A common symptom is coolant being blown out of the catch tank located in the left front wing just ahead of the door. This can sometimes be rectified by replacing both radiator caps since they weaken with age and allow coolant to be vented to the catch tank too soon.

Another problem is that the steep pipe portion of the vent hose from reservoir tank to catch tank usually rusts solid and doesn’t allow coolant to expand naturally. This can cause substantial over-pressure which can cause the reservoir tank to balloon, and puts stresses on all the

In remarkably good condition it just needed some brake, suspension and rust protection work.

XJS EV project which was delayed through Covid and the premises move. See here for further detail. We have a continuous survey in place and have had plenty of positive input. We know electric motors cannot replace the visceral pleasure of a V12 thundering along for everyone, but at least we can offer a choice. Please feel free to do our survey and leave your thoughts and comments – the more the merrier!

Starting from their house near Waterlooville, Hants, Chris & Theresa have built up the company to be known world-wide for restoration works on classic Jaguars, especially the XJS. We are especially grateful for our customers’ support and continued business through so many UK and World economic and health problems. Let’s look forward to another twenty years!