The most expensive car I've ever owned.

By the way Stampie, it make perfect sense to fix the seat now. 
This way when I tear the engine apart I can sit in it and make engine noises.

That and the fact that a re assembled seat installed in the car takes up far less room. ;)

To wit:

I don't think I've posted interior pics. It's in good shape and should clean up nicely!

So much rear leg room! A true family car. At least it shouldn't be difficult to keep the kids off the leather. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

They call it a 2+2.

That's generous.

I don't even fit in the front seat... too tall.

But that was the case with the SLK as well.

Seriously considering removing the sunvisor to get a better view.

In reply to a_florida_man :

While you have the drivers seat out it looks like it could take a foamectomy.

In reply to buzzboy :

I love cars like that.  They  depreciate so quickly that with any troubles at all they are worthless on the used market.  
     But chances are the mechanicals are still solid and usable.  So they are perfect race track candidates. 

Well, I'm going in...

I'm still finding evidence of poor quality repairs...

Remember the valve cover gasket bolt with all of the RTV around it? Here is why:

Yep, someone broke it off. Judging by the color of the RTV it was probably the last shop that hacked on this poor car.

Luckliy, it came out easily. But that is a sort of a problem too, in that it shows that the guy that broke it off didn't even try to fix it correctly.

It has been a series of ups and downs... when I pulled the VC, I was treated to 2009 era upgraded timing componenets. Thats awesome!

Then I pull the Thermostat cover and find this:

Yep, that's right a genuine Jaguar Racing thermostat.

Gotta have a sense of humor...right?

Any way I expect to pull the whole engine, but  I thought I would tear it down as far as possible while it's in the car. I'm not in a hurry... yet.

BTW anyone know an undersized supercharger pulley by sight on one of theses? Or have measurements?

This one looks small to me. Most after market sources list 2 pulleys, one that goes on, and one that requires that the snout be machined.

This one does not look like it could be much smaller.

In reply to a_florida_man :

That is the reason Jaguars depreciate so quickly.  People assume Jaguar owners are rich and don't know anything. So maintenance costs are outlandish and often poorly done.  
   Even dealerships can have hack mechanics.  Because Jaguars are relatively rare Monkey see monkey do doesn't work. Plus the factory has no interest in training  new mechanics to work on old cars.  They tend not to stock parts for them and instead often get parts from the same aftermarket sources  the specialist shops use.  
 I'm glad to see it's in good hands with you.  

In reply to frenchyd :

Thanks Frenchy.

That is the difference between a competent mechanic and a "parts changer". When you work on the same car all day every day you can get by pretty far on past repair experience and high percentage guesses.  When it is an all together different car, its a different story.

The 4th dimension, if you will, is that these guys do, at the end of the day, have to make a living. That's not an excuse for doing it this poorly, but at the same time I could never make a living doing this kind of work this way. I guess when it comes down to it a healthy dose of understanding what you are capable of can go a long way in turning away work and preserving your reputation.

"A good musician never blames his instrument."

^ I think many people fail to understand the trashcan that is generally third plus owner luxury car people. You can argue the ethics of doing a bad job but the fact is that's exactly what a large part of the population is willing to pay for. 

In reply to a_florida_man :

The simple truth is poor people tend to make poor decisions.  ( not all ) resulting in buying cars they really can't afford.  
  The poor decision isn't by any means exclusive to poor people. But when they depreciate that quickly they do tend to attract  the person who only thinks about the payment rather than the full cost of ownership.  
 
   There is a hole in Jaguar ownership that drops values really low. And if you can maintain ownership in good operating condition.  The values come back in spades.   
   At one point I was scrapping out Jaguar XKE's  because there was a little rust in the rocker panels.   Or V12 Jaguar sedans because the $35  GM ignition amplifier died.   
    Not just me though. Most Americans.   While some are just starting to come back some are already approaching $200,000 

      10 years from now that car will yield you an impressive return.   If you should choose to keep it a source of pride.  
    I don't know BMW or Mercedes Benz well enough to know if their is a similar return  on their cars.   

In reply to frenchyd :

I don't know how much experience you have working on an x308 XJR but they aren't the easiest to work on and diagnose. And parts can be expensive. Some hoses are $13 some are $78 for just 1 not-so-special hose. And on top of that these things can be a little finicky. They're reliable in the sense of catastrophic events being rare. But, they certainly have coolant leaks that are in areas you cant see or find evidence of a leak until its almost too late (under the supercharger in the valley of the V). I do see why these have depreciated so low. They aren't as bad as some of the other cars from that era but certainly not the best.

I also think its unfair and reckless to compare these to the XKE/XJS that you often reference in your nostalgia motivated jaguar post. These cars are not put together with same philosophy and essence as the Jaguars of old. These are more like Jaguar designed (aesthetically) and a mismatch of Jaguar, Ford, Mercedes parts with overcomplicated and questionable parts placement and quality.

Guys,

Can we (myself included) get back closer to a discussion of the build?

I don't think our existential discussion of Jaguars and mechanics is going to be particularly fruitful.

Did anyone have a comment on the supercharger pulley size?

After reading some more, I believe it is in the 1.5 to 2 psi range of upgraded pulleys.

Thoughts?

In reply to a_florida_man :

How did you measure your pulley to come to that conclusion? Visually it looks stock. I'll measure my pulley tonight.  

In reply to yupididit :

By just comparison to pictures of stock pulleys, since I did not have a measurement to compare to.

Also noted the lack of higher side edges as compared to stock pictures.

I'll go measure mine across the v-rib peaks.

You look to possibly have the 6% pulley, found info here:

https://www.jaguarforum.com/threads/uprated-supercharger-pulley-diameter.117143/

Stock upper, 2.90"
1.5lb upper, 6% 2.750"

and I found a 10% pulley online advertised as 65mm which would be about 2.56"

In reply to dculberson :

Thanks!

I think that confirms what I thought.

Going in deeper....

Did a cylinder leak check with air pressure applied at TDC with intake and exhaust valves closed.

Valves are fine, LOTS of air pushing back into the crank case.

NOT GOOD.

And yes, that's a swing and a miss. 

Next at bat:

This time I'm going with broken rings from overheat / detonation.

The blow-by results are also consistent with what I found downstream of the throttle body where the other crankcase hose comes in... LOTS of oil.

From the best I can see through the intake port, there is no visible wall damage.

Hey at least the valley water hoses aren't original... also explains a few more pieces of missing and wrong hardware, and additional creative RTV uses.

Then there is this thing, found under the supercharger. I assume its for heat and possibly noise?

It's looking a little rough. 

Thinking about wraping it in alluminum. Thoughts?

In reply to a_florida_man :

Rings don't sound like a good thing.  Was just thinking about Floating Doc's SBC.  His broke ring polished the cylinder wall.  I was wondering if a hone job would fix it.

Stampie said:

In reply to a_florida_man :

Rings don't sound like a good thing.  Was just thinking about Floating Doc's SBC.  His broke ring polished the cylinder wall.  I was wondering if a hone job would fix it.

We will know more when I get the heads off...

And the piston(s) out...

In reply to a_florida_man :

 Something like aluminum foil made into an envelope around it?  Yes. Might work.  
 

In reply to yupididit :

Jaguar and all low volume manufacturers have always parts shopped.  The V12 started with 3 VW EFI units and a GM Ignition module.   Not to mention all the other parts.  The Lucas fuel lines gave way to Porsche fuel lines and BMW helped Jaguar with seam sealer.   We can go back to the very beginning with that.   
 The one constant is Jaguar actually built high quality cars.

In reply to a_florida_man :

If you only have one bad piston?   Don't pull the rest.  Do a really light hone on a taped off cylinder. Then carefully clean the cylinder. Some hone jobs wind up making ring seating fail.  
 When checking ring gap on the new cylinder go to the high  end of allowed gap. Rings on boosted cylinders need extra clearance to begin with and since the engine already has miles on it  you're trying to match what the other rings are already worn to.  
   When racing sprint cars we used that approach on the Offy.  Rather than a complete rebuild we'd repair the damage and continue racing.  

frenchyd said:

In reply to a_florida_man :

If you only have one bad piston?   Don't pull the rest.  Do a really light hone on a taped off cylinder. Then carefully clean the cylinder. Some hone jobs wind up making ring seating fail.  
 When checking ring gap on the new cylinder go to the high  end of allowed gap. Rings on boosted cylinders need extra clearance to begin with and since the engine already has miles on it  you're trying to match what the other rings are already worn to.  
   When racing sprint cars we used that approach on the Offy.  Rather than a complete rebuild we'd repair the damage and continue racing.  

Yep, thats my plan if it is just a broken ring and a salvageable bore.

Read that a 240 grit Aluminum Oxide ball hone will do a good job of deglazing even if it is a nikasil engine.

Fingers crossed!