Was going to go your unique route by removing the PS pump but that was more reading and study I had to do lol!
Being a pre production car it does have some unique bits like 'sample' on various internal parts and 'Visteron Sample' stickers on various engine bay parts but it strangely missed out on some bits of the 'Jaguar Voice' pre wire. It does certainly have the additional brace on the subframe, unfortunately!
Followed your advice on the plywood and well read your previous thread but had to bloody well remove a few of the engine intake bits to ensure the engine lifting didn't foul bits in the engine bay.
May look in to that provider (O'Reilly's) you mentioned and import one. You blokes are lucky in the States, everything is there for you and is designed for your market in mind, we're just an overtaxed backwater here standing upside down on the planet with deadly spiders and snakes, the kangaroos, koalas, wombats and even the Tasmanian devils are very cuddly though!

 

Finally got the reco compressor back in. All the work (except for the compressor reconditioning, re-gassing and new oil) was done in my garage on car stands... So not out of the question for the home mechanic to tackle this job; It helped to take my time and spread it out over a week or so.
Helps also to became friendly with an AC specialist workshop; which I did when I took the compressor in for reconditioning. Took the car back there for the re-gas as well.
After I installed the compressor, I could have reconnected the system back up myself but I thought I would let the workshop just double check things and oversee the very basic reconnecting of the AC lines. The O rings I required: two for the desiccant bag/condenser plug, and a single O ring for the AC line join in the LH wheel arch, the workshop had already placed two new O rings on the compressor at its reco.

Once at the workshop I installed a new desiccant bag. I let them bolt up the compressor pad and tighten the line under the wheel arch.
As they were re-gassing everything up my heart jumped into my mouth when they told me 'something was wrong'. On closer inspection they had not bolted the compressor pad back properly and as a consequence refrigerant oil and gas were spewing everywhere... All over my nice clean compressor and the surrounding cleaned area... This oil is very slimy and doesn't smell the best either.
Anyhow, we got there in the end and it kept good pressure. Haven't put a temperature probe in the vents but it was 105 degrees here on Monday and the vent temperature felt freezing to the touch, the cabin quickly became very cold as well. Only one side of the cabin cooled at first while the system was charging up, when it had enough gas all vents started to blow cold.

Hope it all lasts another 18 years!

A few great posts on this topic from the above lads but I have yet to find a RHD vehicle home garage attempt. Not that there’s much difference to the LHD vehicle, the main advantage being you obviously don't have the steering box in front of the LH engine mount which needs to first be removed, therefore no requirement to drop the steering column on the RHD STR’s.


A few words of advice for the keen amateur:
-Degrease the area off first. It was harder for me to remove the slimy compressor covered in PAG and engine oil (from the previously leaking cam covers).
-I had to disconnect the join in the wheel arch AC line. To be able to give this line more movement so you can get it out of the compressors way.
-On my RHD vehicle I had to remove the windscreen finisher plastic base, strut brace, air intake system including throttle body intake pipe and loosen the PS reservoir as the engine raising would have fouled all these.
-Needed plywood at least 1 1/2" thick I cut to size slightly larger and following the sump’s complete perimeter. Also, felt more comfortable placing a bit of 3 mm or so aluminium sheet under the plywood before I started jacking the engine up. Placed the jack close to the compressor side of the sump.
-Released both engine mount nuts. I didn't try just releasing the LH nut (as per Workshop Manual) to see how that may work. Dropping the engine back down the LH engine mount stud went back easily but the RH stud needed a tap with a long thin bit of timber to line back up in its hole. Care needs to be taken that the stud is well aligned to slot back in its hole as you don't want to be dropping the engine and causing damage the RH engine mount. Maybe best to not release the RH engine mount? Not sure.
-As I mentioned, I didn't like the idea of trying to fit a slightly different proportioned 'direct replacement' unit. I know a few have done it but when you’re on the ground in the garage? The smaller pulley and further protruding switch bracket put me off.
-Tightening the bottom LH side engine mount bolt is very difficult. It has a stud on the bolt head which I assume is to hold the deep socket in place whilst tightening but none of my deep 1/2" sockets would fit or stay on to tighten and all my 1/2" short sockets were no good of course. I had to use a deep 3/8" socket with a knuckle adaptor; tightened as best I could. Hasn’t fallen off yet!
- Took about 20-30 patient minutes to manoeuvre the compressor out and about the same to get it back in. A real challenge for a home mechanic but if you’ve got plenty of patience and time you eventually get there. Could at least get one hand in front of the compressor and one hand behind. Most of the overall time spent was preparing things and removing all the bits out of the way!

– Make sure to keep the compressor pad well clear when dropping the engine.

– Definitely much easier to remove the front bumper first up; gives you miles more room if you’re doing this of the floor.

– For extra safety I did place another car stand under the transmission/bell housing ridge.

Raised engine close to parts in bay. Parts needed to move out of the way.

Same again, with engine at its limit moving parts up. You can just see it in this photo that the silver heater line has just fouled the lower windscreen finisher (which bent a bit!).

Reco compressor back in. Photo shows lines in the way that had to be manoeuvred over.

Close up of compressor back in but not yet bolted up.

Wheel arch AC line that runs and blocks the compressor that had to be released for compressor to clear.

Another photo of non identical 'direct replacement' compressor with a far greater protruding switch plate and smaller pulley that troubled me, which I ditched in favour of reconditioning my old unit.

LHS engine mount that has to first be removed. All came off very easily but not that easy to get the tools in there to tighten back!

Similar photo. Shows 3/8" deep socket (I think 15mm) that I could only get to fit.

 

Ya those bolts were a bitch for sure. And so was snaking the greasy compressor out. Now you know why I suggested you clean the area up well. What is the compressor pad you mentioned?

 

Oh I just removed the single nut from the bottom of the rubber part of the engine mount?
I think he means the manifold with the AC hoses on it and plate that bolts to the compressor?

Good work and glad to hear it's working well. I once heard this suggestion on this forum.
"It helps to have the hands of a small Chinese woman" there is just no room to work!
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Seems that could get you in a LOT of trouble once she notifies the authorities. Granted, she would have trouble dialing the phone to call for help, but once she figured that out...

Kinda like when I first met my wife and she swooned a little bit when I told her I had the body of an Olympic athlete, but then I cautioned her not to look in the basement freezer.

 

gotta keep it locked!

 

Quick update:

All was running well for a few weeks. Had about 5-6 days of around 93 humid degrees here and I decided to use the car as much as possible during this time.
Didn't miss a beat for me. Had the Citroen off the road, it needs a new alternator pulley as its making all sorts of noises so the missus borrowed my car.
She drove it all day yesterday without an issue until the very last 10 minute stop. So a hot restart and no cold air..
Hard to see anything in there without removing everything again, who knows but I don't think its lost fluid or gas. Unlikely that the switch has popped off as well. Maybe electrical? Fuse?
Any suggestions where to first look?

 

Just had a closer look under the inner mud guard. PAG oil all over the compressor....
Probably (hopefully) its just leaked out where the compressor pad/manifold lines meet the compressor; as they had 2 goes at securing that properly last time.
See how we go!

 

Bad luck!
Let us know what you find.
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Update:

Had a close look and there was no doubt about it, the reconditioned factory compressor **** itself..
I did go back to the workshop that reconditioned it to let them know and they were quite sympathetic once I reminded them the effort involved in removing and installing a compressor on an Jaguar STR. The offered me to bring the car back and they would help me remove and reinstall it again using their hoist etc. Fair gesture, and I did think about it but decided to get through the winter without AC (trying at times of rain) and re-evaluate the situation in spring time. It's not a hard job for a pro if you know this model car well but doing it yourself means you take more care; not to mention the saving!
Well, it's spring time now. I decided to buy new rather than reco a second time and have it go on me again; considering the crazy amount of work involved doing it yourself. The Chinese made unit had gone up in price by $20, around $500 AUD to buy from the local distributor 'Jayair'.
As I mentioned last time, it does seem like a well made unit. I was concerned it may be difficult to fit or not fit at all considering the small differences; has no protruding sleeves in the bolt mounting legs, the switch plate protrudes much further and the clutch diameter does appear to be slightly smaller. Also, they do only list the part as a "S-Type Jaguar 4.0 litre V8" and nothing for the S-Type 4.2.
Anyhow, second time around and have just fitted it (on the garage floor). Just not a fun experience, but at least this time around I knew what to expect and what to do different. Plus wasn't as hard getting it in and out.
It was a wise move to remove the front bumper (just gives you lot's more access) and wipe as much of the PAG oil off as possible on all surfaces before you start extracting.
After fitment, I don't remember the original Visteon factory unit's clutch being as close to the chassis as this aftermarket unit. I loosened all 4 compressor bolts and the tension of the drive belt did pull it 'up' a bit away from the chassis rail. Having no mounting lugs/sleeves probably accounted for this. The further protruding switch plate didn't foul anything either. I took the plastic inlet/outlet cover off to make getting the thing in there easier and taped the holes up to stop oil leaking out.
All running okay and I'll shoot down to the workshop for a re-gas now.
So the 4.0 litre aftermarket unit will fit (I think it's the same Jaguar part number anyway), same removal and installation procedure as before. I jacked the engine up a bit closer to the sumps LHS edge which didn't raise the RHS engine mount bolt out of its hole as much as last time; even though workshop manual doesn't mention it I still loosened the RHS engine mount nut. I removed the supercharger alloy air inlet without removing the engine bay strut brace or lower windscreen plastic finisher but after I had dropped and secured the engine id didn't seat back far enough in its original position for me to get the air intake back so I had to remove the brace and plastic anyway. What's another half hour when you're not paying anyone?



Clutch pulley a bit closer. Did pull up a bit after loosening and retightening 4 bolts.

Australian aftermarket 'Jayair' brand offering.

Maybe made in China for distribution to various markets and just branded differently.

 

those compressors are like $120 on us ebay. probably can be found somewhere else on aliexpress

 

They may be that price for the USA consumer on fleabay but the postage price here to Australia is around $600 with those same sellers..
For all the Australians on this forum: The cheapest I could find it locally was on 'catch.com.au' for around $420 delivered. About $80 cheaper than what I paid at Jayair.
For me, at least I could drive down the road, pick it up of the counter and fit it the same day.