My car was in pieces for the last 6 months while I was busy with work projects and during that time I was waiting for a set of heads and other parts that never quite arrived. (Long story, don't want to bore you people)

I also had some HUGE vacuum leak ever since I sent my injectors to be cleaned, which is now finally solved, it was a cracked injector, probably happened when I sent them for cleaning. Our local mechanic (Joes Foreign in Walnut Creek, CA) identified and fixed the source of the problem as I was completely unable to. These guys have always done right by me.

My suggestion---use a few gallons of chevron pro-guard injector cleaner rather than remove your injectors-- "If it ain't broke"

SOoooo my 2002 XJR is now sporting:
a rebuilt 5th gen Eaton that is slightly ported, just a tiny bit
it is sporting a slightly smaller pulley, seems maybe a +1.2 lb pulley.
Maxbored TB from 75 to 82mm
Ported and polished elbow and intake manifolds
Stock "tune" for the fuel trims (removed dangerous tune that was running 13.7:1)
I'm going to install the 3.5" intake I got from "he who shall not be named" and a modified air box (additional inlet with a 2 inch "ram air tube") from the fog light hole sometime in the next week or so when I can make some time.

My first dyno showed some previous owner had installed some ridiculously lean tune, so that has now been put back to stock to give me some safety margin. It was running as lean as 13.7 at WOT, which is just asking to melt something. After my next dyno (not yet scheduled) I'll report back what these changes ended up adding. I've removed and sold the water/alcohol injection as I've heard from reliable sources that the NOS can make the water condense and then ruin the piston rings. So the water injection is good as long as it stays vapor, but mighty bad if it condenses.

With the California smog laws being what they are I needed to remove everything that was even a visual modification in order to pass the visual inspection. The sometimes stupid laws are not my favorite part about living in California, but the weather and good food makes it worth it...


I can say that it is very nice to be able to drive my XJR again.

I have a complete NX NOS kit sitting here in a box that I might install sometime this summer when I get brave enough to try big modifications again. 10 lb bottle, progressive boost referencing controller, dual nozzles. Since I would be using two nozzles injecting where I was previously injecting water/alcohol (after the blower) my +HP steps are +60 and +110 hp pills. The matching added fuel can be tuned richer or leaner as I wish. This would then allow me to add as much HP as the car can handle and still be able to quickly and easily remove the system when I need to smog the car.

 

Congratulations. It's been a long haul.

Graham

 

I had taken the engine down to removing the intake manifolds 3 times thinking I was having some leaking gaskets somewhere (very LOUD vacuum leak) before I enlisted much more experienced help at my local mechanic, who found it in just a few hours of parts removal and smoke testing.

I was really frustrated and was thinking if I couldn't even get gaskets to seal, then I have NO business being under the hood. Glad to have learned it was a rather well hidden broken part (cracked injector) and not my epic incompetence.

 

I cant wait to see it!!

 

Glad to hear you are backon the road. I do relate to your issue with the vac leak as I have gone down that road myself.

 

You are welcome to take it for a spin at the next meet

 

Out of curiosity, where was your leak? Mine had me doing some serious "WTF head scratching."

I first replaced the fuel rails, which, surprisingly, were less than $200 (for both sides) at the dealer.

 

My leak was human error, one of the injector seals was not sitting properly.

 

I really hope it's ok now

 

It is ok now

Part of my two part air leak was also human error, I must have forced my fuel rail into the manifold and it was hanging up just a bit, which caused one of the air leaks, the other, then more persistent and frustratingly hidden cause was a cracked injector.

At one point it actually filled the cylinder with fuel which caused a brief hydrolock while turning it over with the starter motor only( eekks! ) so far it does not seem to have bent any rod or thrown anything else out of whack, but I am still going to put a magnet on the bottom of my oil pan so when I change my oil again in about 1000 miles (just changed it now because of fuel exposure) I can see if there are any hints of shavings as evidence of a slightly bent rod or such. As it is it runs very smooth, very quiet at start up (before oil pressure is up), etc. So....keeping fingers crossed.