Long story short, this car has been in my family since new. It was my mom's originally, it lost reverse at 67k in 2016, I paid my mom the trade in value for it ($500), put a 33k mile trans in it and it's been my wife's daily since.

At 109k, we would like to get another 30-40k out of it but the suspension was getting pretty tired. Everything was still tight when you test at the wheels for play. It was just starting to get some rattles and that hollow blown strut sound. For the mileage we're looking to get, it made sense to refresh nearly everything. Well, it made sense to me at least.

The only suspension components that weren't replaced were the springs, rear trailing arms/bushings, sway bars and some of the rubber spring protectors. The struts/shocks were replaced with standard option Bilsteins. The remainder of the replaced parts were mostly Moog with some Monroe, Delphi, Dorman and OEM parts. The list is strut top mounts, strut bellows, all sway bar bushings, all end links, front and rear LCAs, tie rode ends, all 4 rear links, rear lower spring protectors, driveshaft center support bearing, front rotors/pads and the brake fluid was flushed. The springs and rear sway bar were sanded to remove rust and coated with VHT black epoxy paint.

I didn't get front bump stops hoping I could reuse them but they were toasted. I was unaware that the bump stops hold the bellow to the top hat also.. I was actually able to press the rear bump stop into the top of the front strut bellow then press the bump stop onto the strut shaft. It's an interference fit on the shaft, so it stays in place up top and the bellow presses up from the strut. I'll need to get another set of rear bump stops to actually use in the rear. I also didn't get the rubbers for the front spring but used epoxy lined shrink tubing instead. R&Ring the rear trailing arms to do the bushings was possible but I wasn't up for the additional work. I've owned 2 cars with stock trailing arm bushings that had over 220k and I'm just shooting for 150k. The good news is the rear bushings appeared to be in good shape.

I did have to torch a few bolts with the worst being the eccentric LCA bolts. The bolts fused to the center collar of the bushings and the bushings easily tore when rotating the bolts. I torched the bushing out to heat up the collar and to get more room for vice grips to hold the collar.

The driveshaft center support bearing starts to complain as it gets colder. I'm sure most know It's not sold separate from the driveshaft from the factory but you can get an aftermarket part. One stub off the one driveshaft end needs to come off then the bearing comes off in that direction. I ended up cutting the assembly down to the inner race with the intent of grinding a slit and cracking the inner race but ultimately ended tapping it off.

The front brakes were about due. I found that out when I started the suspension refresh and was able to get them from Rock Auto in 2 days. I replaced the old Powerstop Z23 kit with the same kit. I've been eyeballing the fluid for a while and was happy to get that flushed at the same time.






























It needs a headlight polish but not too bad for a 20 year old car.

 

Just any update for anyone interested.

One Moog rear endlink separated after about 30 miles. This could have been a defect or an issue from the sway bar missing the factory collars that center the sway bar. I broke one thinking they were removable then removed the other. I didn't think much of it since none of my other cars had collars on the sway before. I ordered Delphi endlinks just in case there was an issue with the Moogs and I also spec'd 2 pc collars from McMaster to install back in the stock locations. While I was in there I got the rear bump stops installed.

The front strut top mounts seem to have some intermittent bearing noise at hard stops and take off. I know I torqued the top nut prior to installation but when I checked today they were barely snugged. We'll see if that fixes the noise or if the bearings are damaged.

Other than what's mentioned above the car rides really nice, like it's brand new.



My full parts list is as follows. Note some of the Cxxxxx part numbers are aftermarket companies using Jag numbers.
MONROE 908967 Strut Mount x2
BILSTEIN 22053619 (22-053619) Strut x2
BILSTEIN 24062275 (24-062275) Shock Absorber x2
DELPHI TD1099W Stabilizer Bar Bushing Front x2
DELPHI TC6822 Control Arm (Rear Upper link) x2
DORMAN 522794 (522-794) (Rear LCA) Control Arm x2
MEVOTECH MK80486 Stabilizer Bar End Link Front x2
MOOG K90460 Strut Bellow x2
URO Rear Bump Stop used on the front - C2S9225 x2 - Would recommend C2S14666 instead, see 1st post for more info
MOOG K80860 Stabilizer Bar End Link Rear x2 (broke at 30 miles)
MOOG RK621692 Control Arm Lt
MOOG RK621691 Control Arm Rt
MOOG K201806 Stabilizer Bar Bushing Rear x2
MOOG ES801260 Tie Rod End x2
MOOG RK642135 Control Arm (Rear lower fwd link) x2
Jaguar OE Isolator-Spring C2S8586
POWER STOP K1373 Rotor & Brake Pad Kit
Hamburg Technic Driveshaft Center Support Bearing Drive Shaft Mount for C2S38967E
Jaguar drive shaft to diff Yoke gaskets - C2S22210 x2
URO Rear Bump Stop - C2S9225 x2
Delphi stabilizer end link rear - TC1520 x2
McMaster Clamping Two-Piece Shaft Collar for rear sway bar - 9731N12 x2

 

Beautiful work!

When are you free to help me put my clutch in?

 

Thanks!

Haha. When I did the trans on this car it wasn't super bad following the FSM but I did have a lift.

 

Ya I have the lift, trans jack, and Ox/Ac torches ready...but still not looking forward to doing this job.