Drastic reduction of heat soak and engine block is cooler by at least 10 degrees on the surface (used laser probe to measure).

 

Sure, I too like free stuff. You are looking for a PO that didn't use the car so you can have it all to yourself without paying new car premium.

Picking between two cars - one that was heavily raced and one that was heavily modded, I would pick car that was raced. First, I haven't yet met anyone on the track who wasn't a car's guy/gal, these people know how cars work and know how to take care of them. Second, with raced car that kept stock I can fairly accurately determine if there are any issues - oil analysis, compression, and scope will tell you nearly complete picture.

With modded cars the downside is unlimited and if the PO knew about some of them, it is quite possible to mask non-catastrophic damage. Is there internal engine damage? Were limits on other components exceeded due to mods? Very hard to tell without both knowing specific tune and a lot about the car.

For example, lets say you have a tune that leads to lean-out condition under load that caused detonations when it was pushed on 100F day. It didn't burn through anything and still runs. PO changed oil, change spark plugs, and removed the tune after realizing what happened. Now as a buyer I have no way to know that such tune just cut 75% off crankshaft bearing life and that low-miles engine maybe has another 20K left before needing complete rebuild. Situations like that is why people don't want to buy tuned cars and why sellers more often than not hide the fact that the car was tuned when selling.

 

LOL, that is the dream scenario for buying a used car where the other person takes the initial depreciation hit, uses the car for a little bit and then realizes that this car wasn't for them. The dealers absolutely love this scenario too

As for your race vs tuned scenario, I think that it's a bit of a red herring. I don't think that the mythical car that is stock but heavily raced exists. Maybe a GT3 or another "stock" car that is designed for the track but definitely not for the F Type. And even those who heavily race a GT3, I would find it highly unusual for the owner to leave it 100% stock.

That means that your well-cared for "race" car most likely will be modded. Which kind of is the point that I was trying to make: the previous owner matters much more whether the car was tuned or tracked. I would buy Unhinged's highly modded F-Type that was driven hard over some stranger's car who abused the hell out of it but kept it stock. If I saw a stock F Type that I knew was heavily tracked, it would be a huge red flag. My first thought would be what happened to all the mods and why is the owner trying to hide the fact that this car was tracked. In the end, there is no doubt that for resale value saying the car was heavily tracked will hurt it as will any modifications. Which one hurts resale value more I am not sure but I think at that point the "story" of the car and the previous owner matter more than anything else.

 

 

I suspected the reason the SVR has the cover removed was for more than cosmetic reasons

 

Indeed the case, for improved cooling that is.

On Project 7 by someone working for SVR as advisor (5:40):

 

Here's how to dress up what's left after removing the cover:

 

Pour loads of water over it, how does that make it look better

 

 

A transmission tune usually targets one of the more following parameters within TCU:

Adjusting torque limits
Adjustment in shift points
Adjustment in shift speed
Adjustment in Torque Converter Locking Feature
Adjustment in RPM Limits

The primary danger in such tunes would induced slip causing wear of clutch packs, conceptually similar to riding a clutch in a manual transmission. Secondary danger is too-rapid shifting causing mechanical damage, conceptually similar to dropping a clutch in a manual transmission.

Most car manufacturers go to one of the a few transmission suppliers, ZF in case of F-type, and select transmission from a catalog based on a few parameters. Unlike engine tuning, there isn't generic 'fuel economy and emissions' considerations that are relevant to OEM transmission tunes, consequently there are less possible 'free' gains in TCU tune. Generally speaking, transmission tuning only makes sense if engine modification requires one. For example, adjusting shift points to fully benefit from increased max RPM.

Needless to say, any transmission tune will void drivetrain warranty.

 

I think it comes down to balance. I have been modding for 30 plus years and realized on one of my Nissan 300ZX twin turbo's I personally exceeded my balance. I had about 15k in upgrades and to the point it was difficult to make it run as strong as it could or should. And at a point it gets to diminishing returns for what is upgraded. Any way we want to look at this they are big boy toys and many of us want to play with them in the form of upgrading. If we didn't throw our money at this we would be throwing it at something else.

 

Insurance claim denied over mods:

 

Does the sun shine in any corner of your universe?

 

Its known fact that tuning your car causes blindness and hair to grow on your palms.

 

Why do you think it is acceptable to personally attack me in completely off-topic post simply because you irritated by my factual message?

Lets talk about your engine failure instead, as that would be on-topic.

You tuned you car, your engine blew up then warranty mistakenly paid out for replacing your heavily modified engine. What was the mileage at the time of failure? How did the engine fail, were you pushing it or driving normally? Did you see anything unusual in the oil analysis? Was exploratory disassembly on the failed engine performed by the dealer? Was corp tech sent out for investigation? Did they check contents of your ECU? Did you reflash back to stock tune and remove your pulleys prior to getting it towed to the dealer?

 

Sorry.. didn’t intend a personal attack. Just pointing out a recurring theme.
To sum up what was previously reported: Engine failed at 38k miles under moderate acceleration. A piece broke off the crown of a piston, much like that of another forum member who had not tuned his car. No evidence of detonation or ring failure. The shop judged it to be a casting flaw with the bore scope. Towed to dealer with both aftermarket pulleys, VAP tune and all other mods. Dealer is fully aware of all mods. I don’t play those games. Blackstone showed oil in perfect condition.

 

It does sound like a random failure and they do happen, however unlikely. Bathtub curve tells us that your engine at its mileage and age is about the least likely engine to fail of all possible engines out there - it is too late to be an early failure and too soon to be a wear-out failure.

Now, with that in mind, do you think JLR would have authorized your engine replacement under the warranty if they knew about your mods? Hypothetically speaking, say your broken car ended up at a random dealer's shop. What do you think the nearly-certain result would have been?

 

I haven't a clue how Jaguar investigates warranty claims, but I do know how the "big 3" American companies. All claimable failures in any brand and model are kept in a bank of computer failure data. As dealer calls are made and claims are filed, the computer software sorts out what the failure was, what part(s) failed and what was deemed the cause of failure by the servicing dealer...if the dealer shades or lies about the cause of failure they do risk having their license pulled and some long term consequences if they continue to keep their dealership license. In many cases severe failure parts are required to be returned for examination. If the info provided by the dealer doesn't make sense, it is handed off to a claims rep and he/she will probably make a phone call to quiz the dealer or possibly a personal visit. The manufacturer keeps close attention to known, failure prone items and when there's a failure on a proven reliable item, the attention is immediate and penetrating.
I sort of envy the owners that make modifications especially to the pwertrain, while the car (especially an expensive car) is still in warranty....I love HP and performance as much as anyone, maybe more that most. But I must admit, I'm a chickenshit...I'd hate to be handed a big repair bill while my car was under warranty because my lust for horsepower got in the way of my thinking. But that's just me, I do envy you folks who make them run better than the factory engineering design!

 

As a general comment: For some, the glass is half full. For others, it's half empty. Life would be boring without the variety.

Unhingd - I abandoned the 'vanity cover' ages ago. Please let us know (or link) how you got this excellent finish. Thanks in advance.