Im posting in the F-Type forums because it appears that the most performance oriented owners of the 5.0 SC motor are the F-Type guys.

I've been reading around for a while and obviously between the models there's a lot of missed info. It seems to go F-Type ~> XF ~> XJ when it comes to people doing performance mods. If you spend time in any of the forums you see the same questions being asked and a lot of repeated info since it appears people don't venture out of their models sub forum.

There's also VERY little modding being done to these cars. I guess maybe the jaguar average consumer isn't going to mod their cars and the low production works against aftermarket support.

I'll list a few things I've come across doing research and also cross researching components our cars share with other cars that have more active modding bases.


First it would seem there's a lot of debate on the tuning of these cars. Now from my understanding the computer can do a lot of drivability changes on its own but there seems to be no distinction between people pimping regurgitated canned tunes and real tuners who know the files and can make real changes based upon your actual car and mods on a dyno.
That's totally unacceptable and as a community we need to weed these people out.

Second is exhaust. People seem to think it's some magical system. Cats are cats. Mufflers are mufflers. And pipes are pipes. Sound may change but that's very subjective person to person. Why hasn't someone made a master thread of exhaust sounds? How many people are running the same 10 setups and I see the same conversations in threads with people discussing what a sound sounds like over text to each other?

Third is intakes. This is like exhaust. It's not magic. The intake system on these cars is just like any other car. It's a pipe with a bend or two and some holes for sensors that links the TB to filter. Right now it seems one or two companies make CAI but like exhaust I see the same questions being posted. What's power gains. What's the blower noise increase. Blah blah. Why doesn't anyone dyno this stuff before and after with video for sound? Can we get a gofundme account going or something for dyno runs on this stuff so we can actually have real data?

Fourth is pulleys for the supercharger. Why are we spinning these supercharges so slow? Why isn't anyone making a lower pulley for more boost? How much is the stock boost? How much is the maximum boost before heat soak and intake temps become an issue? Why hasn't this been documented more?

Fifth is supercharger porting. There are numerous companies that can do intake, supercharger, and throttle body porting. Why hasn't anyone done this? Why isn't it recommended or discussed more? The power gains are insane for minimal investment. Wtf guys?

Sixth is engine mods. Some companies are just starting to make headers and cams. Why aren't more people pulling these engines apart and going for 700,800,1500 hp? Where are the turbo kits? Where are the blower swaps?

I'd love to see some vendors chime in to this thread and also some people who wouldn't mind spending the coin to do some more serious mods besides k&n filters, exhaust, and a weak upper pulley.
Where's the outcry for some serious street monsters guys? The obsession over street tires and which ointment to use to keep our seats plush is killing me to read when Mercedes and GM and Bmw and the other sport luxury cars are out there killin it with performance mods.

 

So I'll say you probably haven't spent much time in the F-type forum, because alot of this has been documented already:

1. We've pretty much discussed to death canned tunes vs. custom tunes, and in my opinion canned tunes on a stock motor or with just a pulley added (canned for the pulley) are totally safe and a custom tune doesnt net much improvement. Outside of this the tune must obviously be custom, but that becomes very difficult since not just anyone can do it.

2. Not many people here really care or talk about this.

3. Not many people here really care or talk about this. Stock intake has proven sufficient.

4. A lower pulley is made by at least two companies, with APVelocity working on one of their own in the future from what i'm told. However you must keep in mind you can't spin these blowers too much faster or else there is a massive drop off in efficiency. Spinning it faster isn't always the answer.

5. At least one F-Type forum member is currently doing this. I don't think the gains are as crazy as you make it seem.

6. Headers and cams are great, i haven't really seen either available for the F Type at least... But you must keep in mind with all of these things, this platform is newer, the entry price is very high, and jaguar doesn't sell many cars. Its hard to convince anyone to make aftermarket parts for us when the sales would be so low. Jaguar isn't like the Nissian GTR where 50% (exaggeration) of them are modded to 1000+ horsepower. I think only 1-2% of all F Types sold would be modded this way, so the incentive to make parts that support that just isn't there.

 

+1. Stohlen, your other comments are equally valid. The F-Type community is really not much more than a year into investigating the possibilities with this car. The issue of limited numbers makes it difficult to get vendors to seriously focus on developing aftermarket products for us. For example, what's inhibiting the development of a short-shifter for the F-Type is the limited production of less than 300 6 speed F-Types. Of the owners of of those cars, probably less than 10 percent of them would be interested in a short shifter. For developing tunes and pulleys, there aren't enough people to offer up their F-Types for development for fear of losing their warranties, none of which have yet expired. However, the work is getting done. At least one alternative upper pulley size is available and 2 alternative crank pulley sizes. Very slowly, more and more before and after results are being posted.

Digital, were is the data on the work you are having done to your car?

 

Good comments here on the issues at hand. As the others have said, an expensive car with a limited sales volume doesn't get the aftermarket vendors very excited, so most of the owners that are "unhinged" enough to experiment with a $100K car are having to fund the R&D process personally with $$$, risk sharing, and time testing early products.

For the vendors, the risk is high, because this is a small market and a brand with a limited mod-crazy following.

I am one of the few owners with "mod sickness" and I plan to do most of what is on your list to the tune of perhaps 700 hp max....why? Because a 4000lb AWD car needs more than 550 hp and I'm just a bit sick in the head.

 

One missing piece of information - which Jaguar(s) you have.

Although in my reply to your Intro I asked you to add this information to your forum Signature, it doesn't appear there or in your profile.

Graham

 

"Mercedes and GM and Bmw and the other sport luxury cars", I don't think many under 3 year old 100k+ cars in those categories get tuned either....

 

With much respect to the folks who have posted a follow up to Digital's original post, let me help set the stage from a different view.

My F-Type is probably the most expensive car I will ever own. I have no intent of buying another one, nor do I think there will be another car that better fits what I want from an automobile.

As such, I intend to hold on to this thing for a decade or more, and based on my engineering career, I think I can keep her running and in good shape until I am ready for the grave.

I turned plenty of wrenches on cars as a young man, and I learned that (at least for those old junkers), the more you "modded" it, the shorter it lived. That is probably no longer the case, but it's a factoid that is buried deep in my automotive psyche.

Given that - I personally won't be doing much in the way of modification to the power plant, intakes or exhaust unless there is a very compelling reason. And to me 20-40 more HP are not compelling. I drive on mostly urban / suburban motorways, and I am only ever able to tap a fraction of what this car can do.

I am guessing there are a host of folks who think along these lines, and that limits the market that mod-producers can sell into. The car is already nuts, and over-powered for every situation short of the track, and she's too heavy for the track.

That being said, I live vicariously through folks like Unhinged who are pushing their machines ever higher towards excellence.

Orkney

 

Still waiting for some of the vendors to chime in on bigger plans they have for expanding power and possibly more documentation on the gains.

Also I'm sure there has to be someone who lurks and has gone a more extreme route for power than the basic bolt ons.


Thx for the title fix, tried to edit it and couldn't (perils of typing on the phone)
I also edited my signature. Sorry about that.

 

I believe that is still true today. The only edit would be that it is only certain components of the car that will experience shorter lives. And when they do, I will install stronger components. I too expect to have this car 'til I'm pushing up daisies. The only difference is that I expect to replace the engine and tranny once or twice over that time. One year of not absorbing the depreciation on a new car will more than cover that engine I need to buy in 8 to 10 years (or less maybe).

 

Don't hold your breath waiting. I'd be surprised if any vendor want to talk to you in this thread. You come across as a customer nobody would want to deal with.

Maybe there is, but you "calling them out" isn't going to help, is it?

There are literally hundreds of threads on this forum, many from vendors, outlining performance modifications, tunes, other modifications, dyno charts, 1/4 mile times, Vbox reports, etc. etc.

Maybe you could spend a little more time time researching?

There are several tuning companies who are vendors on this forum

(in no particular order)

VelocityAP
Eurocharged
Eurotoys
ECU Tuning Group
RSC Tuning

They all offer tunes and performance upgrades. Start by looking them up.

 

How invisible are these tunes if reverted back to stock before a dealer trip?

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...dealer-156909/

 

You need to look at the type of people who buy these cars on average. For myself I got the 15 F type R. I wanted something semi fast that was a daily driver. It will maybe see the track a few times. Most of the buyers did not buy this car to do modifications minus some people in the forum. Most people don't even want to tune because it voids warranty. If people wanted to do tons of mods I take they would of bought a different car. Most are happy with what they have and don't want the risk of damaging the car or making it less reliable then stock.

I would love to get it over the 600hp mark only if it doesn't mess anything up or void warranty. If I had the desire to be a mod guy I would of bought something that actually has tons of mod options not a F Type R.

 

Yes, but none of those cars looks anywhere near as good as an F-Type. However, if the the MT F-Type came with a V8, I personally would have no compulsion to modify the engine, just the shifter.

 

Something tells me that the OP doesn't, and further, has no intention of ever owning an F, modded or not.

 

I'd rather he spend the $100k on a load bearing dyno than spending it on a test mule. I'd be up there working with his team right now if he had a dedicated dyno.

 

I have been there and done that so, so many times. In reality I have found out the hard way (and the very expensive way), that to really do it right you need to take the thing apart. Yup it is crazy but in my more insane days (and just to prove it could be done) I have. What I got was 101K car + 130K + in mods = worthless car. I have spent more money doing modifications on cars over the years than most people spend on their houses (or two or three houses), and in the end mostly you end up with bragging rights and little else. Every change you make to a car effects the whole car, sometimes not in a positive way. When I made the first RWD Gallardo in 04 It took a while to rebalance the suspension so it would not kill you. You put 800-1500 HP on this chassis and not rebuild the parts on the car that keep it on the road, you might want to make sure you have your affairs in order. There is a lot more to making a car better than just making it faster or more powerful. I guess at my age I am no longer the fearless idiot I once was nor do care whether I have the fastest car. Sort of like the story of the old bull and the young bull. I still get where I'm going and if takes me 30 seconds longer than it used to, I can live with that.

 

Now excuse me I need to go drink my ensure, and my prune juice, before my 5 mile run!

 

You're far better off becoming wise later in your years than not at all. :-)

 

I do not plan on doing mods to this car for many of reasons stated, but my son and I do have a 71 charger with a rebuilt 440 (replaced383), with 30 over bore, 3 inch x pipe exhaust, etc. that is likely pushing 500 hp so I can get the jollies there. I do appreciate and love to follow those that love to mod mechanically and aesthetically. It shows the passion and (mental instability) that makes the forums so much fun to follow. Thanks to all that allow the vicarious living and keep up the good work!