For shame! Last weekend I officially lost the neighborly bet, as he got his XJS running and made it to the All British Car Show nearby...and took home 3rd place in his category. Now he's got a fancy plaque and I have a hunk of junk still up on stands.
I was in the lead in August having dropped the engine back in and it was running better than ever (I did have to bypass the IAC, but that's another story). New Brake hoses and rebuilt MC and BPVs in place; no leaks. New Samcos in and no leaks. New fuel pump and injectors, at pressure and no leaks. The front suspension was in, with the right clearance and no more rubbing on the cv boot. Short shift kit was installed with the new cables too. New coils, leads and plugs. New oil cooler hoses installed; no leaks. I'd even gotten brand new tires mounted on the wheels, ready to be put on and finally go on its (re)maiden run...
And then, clunk.
First it was just one wheel (really disk at this point since it's up on stands waiting for the wheels). Engine gets up to idle and I put the gear lever in what should be neutral and let out the clutch and I hear something (can't remember exact details). Thinking it's fine I put it through some gears, which seem to engage ok??, (I think I was more focused on rpms because of the IAC problem) and then back into neutral. From outside the car one wheel is spinning a bit and the other is dead stopped.
Long story short after a few more test fires of the engine.trying to chase down the IAC problem, now neither wheel spins at neutral, and when I put it in gear there is a clunk (forward gear or reverse). With the engine off if I go to the wheels and try to spin them manually, the cars left side, I can rotate it about 5-10 degrees with immovable "clunks" at either end. The otherside (with the jackshaft) rotates a bit more with maybe 10-15 degrees of play, but that same , solid, immovable "clunk" at the ends.
After some internet searches making me feel stupid for leaving the transmission drained and sitting unwrapped in my garage, collecting condensation, and then all the other possible scenarios of what it could be leading to the procedure of taking off the transmission to check it out, I conceded defeat and promptly started the engine removal process again.
Now work, weather, family, and friends have conspired against me since then and I haven't had time to do the final parts of the process to actually lift it out of the car. Should have a good block of time open up in a couple weeks. Then it's off to the transmission shop for this problem diagnosis and fix (hopefully) as I really don't want to invest another year in learning about how to tear down and rebuild another critical piece just right now
So the upshot is I'll have to wear the big cat of shame while I toil away on this next part, but I'm betting third time's the charm on this.
But honestly I've done most of the jobs left already once before, so I think I'm better prepared to actually execute this time round.
. I went back to the brake disk and it still wouldn't turn 
How is that possible, it's not attached to anything?!? The brakes aren't binding, but...oh I have those wheel studs screwed in all the way down to the disk. And when I back them out a bit, viola, now it spins. Same thing on the other side. The studs were just catching on the hub carrier. That's why it would spin for a few degrees, but not more. 
