Since these cars are now in their mid 20s and are priced fairly low, its not surprising that maintenance was a bit light or shoddily done. These projects keep me busy so I don't mind that much.

If you have some experience with cars in general, pulling the blower is really not a big issue. Took me right at 3 hours and its my first time doing it, so with experience, I think I could get it down to 2hr 30 or so. Really no big deal. At minimum you'll likely need the o-rings for the thermostat housing, one or both of the EGR gaskets, and the elbow to TB gasket. I have yet to tackle reinstall as I await some dealer only parts, but I'm not seeing it being that bad. I think making some short M6 studs to hang the gasket and locate the elbow while getting the bypass hoses on should relieve some of that pain.

I am in north jersey yes. I might be the only person who prefers the pentas to the asteroids, but I'm gonna hang on to mine. If I see any for sale, I'll send you a message.

 

I also did the Eurotoys 6% pulley and I had to grind the aluminum snout to accept the smaller pulley. I had my blower off and excluding the center bearings, I replaced all the other bearings and installed a new Eaton oem coupler. I did install a larger XFR crank pulley and with those both, you don’t need to get it tuned. However, in my opinion you shouldn't stay in it a real long time even with 93 octane. It is preferable to have some kind of liquid injection system before the TB. I have one that I snagged off my Buick but I’ve been pretty busy lately and haven’t installed it yet.

 

Never thought about meth/alcohol injection on one of these, but not a bad idea with more boost. I run one on my GN and what a difference. Went from running 18psi on 93 octane to 24-26 psi on 93 & alky. Huge difference. I'm not going to bother modifying the Jag much, but figured if the blower's off anyway why not.

 

Ok all back together, just gotta fill up coolant. Air intake was pretty straight forward.

 

Alright gents, job done. Car runs great actually, the egr cleaning really improved idle. Getting rid of that under supercharger blanket diaper thingie, adding the 3.5" intake, and doing the blower pulley made the whine on my car WAY more pronounced and I really like it. still quiet at cruise but when you're on it, the whine is cool. Power is very nice as well. Car feels great overall, especially after the new front shocks.

 

Awesome, glad the car is working out for you. I always wondered about that fabric under the super charger, is it best to remove when you have it off? If all removing it does is add a little blower whine count me in! Just wondering what the original purpose was? Noise supression?

 

honestly I wasn't sure, but it was so degraded and had some of what I imagine to be supercharger oil soaked into it, that there was no reusing it. From my searching, it sounds like later cars may not have had this and people have chucked it with no ill effects.

 

I feel it was intended as some sort of noise suppression for the more discerning customers.
The forum member I find here are far more discerning, but in a different manner.

 

Next installment! Now, I'm in the midst of a head gasket job on the car which I can't really totally assign to the jabroni prior owner, but one joy I found I sure can.

Guy told me he did the front hoses and the thermostat. Well the housing had some silicone around it, which seemed unnecessary, so while Its all apart, I figured I'd clean that up.

2 bolts come out fine, third bolt head comes off in my hand after barely touching it.

yup, thats right, this guy snapped the bolt, elected to silicone the whole mess together and then, in the real kicker, silicone the broken bolt head into place. WOW.

Now mind you this guy supposedly owns a JAGUAR specialty shop. Don't think I'd send my worst enemy there.

 

Man, that's brutal. You've had a rough run of luck with the car, but sounds like you know what you're doing and car will be 100% by the time you're done. Silicone a bolt head back into place? That's just idiotic. Any idea what his "shop" is called? Google reviews can be very powerful and I think this situation definitely warrants a warning to others.

Hopefully it doesn't put you off and you end up selling the car. That's what happened with my 03 XJR, did tons and tons of work to it in a short amount of time and just got tired of it and sold it. Stupid move, would love to have that car back over my current 98. The 98 is in better starting condition, but like all of these cars I can pretty much tell it's going to need everything rubber replaced by the time I'm done with it.

 

thanks man, yeah, has been a bit of a rough start to owning a Jag, but i don't think its the cars fault. I think its just years of deferred maintenance and shoddy repairs.

shop is called Jagpros in bellmore. i'm not sure if the shop is awful, but this guy terri bater was awful. jag drivers beware.

I'm honestly a bit bummed about it and was considering selling it just to avoid other issues, but really there is not much left to go wrong. Bottom end seems fine, so if it behaves upon reassembly, I'll probably keep it.

Thanks for the support!

 

Yea, that's what I was thinking. After this not much else to go wrong, right? I hope you end up keeping it and enjoying it. I really regret selling my old one. I bought it cheap and knew it was neglected, but after all of the engine work, suspension work, etc. I was just tired of it. Shame, it was a really nice 2003 R1 with the BBS wheels and Brembos, very cool car.

I guess you're right on the shop also, hard to pin this on them since it was probably all the seller who is 100% at fault here and the shop probably didn't know a thing about it or have anything to do with it.

Looking forward to you getting her running and enjoying her again.

 

It looks as if the worst is behind you. It will probably get better from here as sorting out shoddy
workmanship is a real problem in early car ownership.

 

bloody hell. Car drove great around my neighborhood, so i figured I'd take it on an errand trip around town. as I'm leaving the pharmacy...low coolant warning. sigh...this was after replacing octopus hose, all the water valve hoses, etc. Turns out one of the hoses going to the charge cooler has a little nick or split that was dripping.

I swear, this car is testing my patience (and willingness to deal with coolant), but on the upside, it ran really nice, so hopefully, finally, this will be the end!

 

Sometimes, even the best mechanics can kink or nick a hose.

 

Well, i identified the leak and given it was right by the charge cooler outlet, i just trimmed the hose a bit to remove the damaged section.

To recap, i did the primary guides and tensioners, all 4 chains, head gaskets, thermostat, octopus and other hoses and fresh gaskets all around.

Ive since taken it out for three ever increasing drives. The latest was a combo of in town, highway, heavy throttle, and bumper to bumper traffic. About 100 miles total.

Car ran great, no smoke, no temp issues, no codes, great power, etc so im callling it fixed.

Thanks for all the help thus far gents. Now to just drive it for a while.

 

Very nice! Hopefully it stays trouble free for a while. I mean, what else could go wrong at this point

I'll need to pull the blower at some point. No active leaks and car runs great but there is some wetness down there and everything should probably be replaced at this stage in its life. I believe there's some seepage from the charge cooler gaskets but not 100% sure.

 

I found a lot of the grime on my car was from leaking supercharger oil. There were only maybe 3oz left in it. This job and the past ones gabe me plenty of opportunity to clean, including getting the oil residue out of the coolers.

Id plan for pulling the blower. With some skills, the right tools (generally 10mm of all varieties), its a pretty easy job. Only real pain is the elbow and draining the damn coolant. Ok, the coolant crossover is kind of a pain (hint, remove the water pump pulley for access to hose clamps). I have not slotted the blower and dont find a need to. You'll get it.

With the new/used x100 steering wheel i installed and all the work done, its a lovely car to drive

 

Thanks for the encouragement. You know, it may be supercharger oil now that you mention it, looks a bit "thicker" than coolant. Job doesnt seem too bad, I think its more trouble finding all of the parts/hoses to do the job right than actually doing the work. I'll probably remove everything first and then see what I need so I have a decent visual. Debating on a 6% pulley while I have it off but not sure on that yet. Did you put a pulley on?

Where did you find an XJR-100 steering wheel? Those are pretty rare and also very cool. I would absolutely love a 100 some day, but the prices they're going for lately are a bit nuts.

 

It is true that having all the parts you need to complete a job is very necessary. In my personal
experience, however, there always some little hose or clamp that I have missed. With most of
my cars it is just a quick jaunt to the AutoZone and back, but with these cars...not so much.