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I changed the spark plugs, a set of Iridium NGK's which were a Fathers Day gift from my daughter. It wouldn't run after fitting them, kept stalling and refused to rev then all of a sudden it was fine. I'm guessing the adaptations were a long way off as the old plugs must have 50k miles on them and had huge gaps. I'm letting it cool down then I'll see if it starts fine or plays up again.
I drove my 99 XJR like it was stolen . ( after a full and proper warm up and pre flight check, lol)
Sunroof open, windows down , sun shining in, stereo turned up, kids in the back with hair flying straight back.
We took our favorite express freeway to visit Grampa for fathers day brunch.
I slowly lag behind at the beginning of the on ramp to clear traffic then ....
Down goes the pedal like I'm stomping out a fire and whooooosh! There is really nothing like the pull of a forced induction car.
After reaching the full legal limit I of course let off and blended in safely.
After a few more " on ramp" WOT launches we retired the black beast to the garage under cover .
After a fun day of driving the 99 XJR
I retired to the garage to work on the 98 XJR. ( 120k)
Buying it with all original water pump and plastic tensioners , I was NOT happy just fixing the obvious.
I am re working both heads, valves, etc and all new factory gaskets. ( tiny keepers , BIG fingers , lol)
All new Eurospare complete chain kit as well as cooling hoses, supercharger service. water pump, etc.......ad absurdum.
One head already done and torqued on ( new bolts of course)
As if not already a glutton for excessive laborious detail, I decided to machine and hand polish all engine parts from stat housing to front cover to supercharger.
All high gloss smooth polished aluminum , blast and re-coat ex manifolds with cast iron coating.
Tomorrow we start on the other head work.
I had hoped to be driving by now already but.....
I would buy from UK Powerhouse. They offer a 1.5 psi or 2.5psi pulley. You can install a larger crank pulley as well. But with both, I believe we need head studs not head bolts.
I took miss Kitty to an abandoned airport with a 11,000ft runway that is still in good shape. After a proper warm up I started in the overrun and turned her loose I got to the 5th gear rev limiter before I had to engage the retarders(brakes). The speedometer indicated 156MPH. My son said the rotors were glowing when I got down to U turn speed. What a thrill, who would believe a 22 YO 244CI (4.0L)engine could perform like that.
I took miss Kitty to an abandoned airport with a 11,000ft runway that is still in good shape. After a proper warm up I started in the overrun and turned her loose I got to the 5th gear rev limiter before I had to engage the retarders(brakes). The speedometer indicated 156MPH. My son said the rotors were glowing when I got down to U turn speed. What a thrill, who would believe a 22 YO 244CI (4.0L)engine could perform like that.
Got sidetracked running my son's pet to the spa & forgot to unplug my damn maintainer again lol ?! Thankfully the extension cords fail before it tugs on the battery. Second time in 3 months I've done this lol.
Last edited by King Charles; 06-24-2020 at 10:18 AM.
Gave another shot to the DAVINA2 VCM that I've been attempting to get to talk to my XJR, on and off the past half year. Followed all the steps to the tee this time:
-got a laptop running a FRESH install of XP SP2 (no VM this time)
-installed only minimal drivers, IDS125, DAVINA drivers
-managed to get IDS125 to switch to using the DAVINA instead of the standard VCM (must be done right after boot, before the davina is plugged even once, otherwise it won't detect it and PC needs restarted)
-managed to get tabman.exe/classic diagnostic tools program to start(!!!)
Got all the way to the step where you actually pull codes from the car, and right as I hit "read codes" a background program related to testing crashed, and tabman.exe hard froze. Restarting the PC and going over the process resulted in the same failure. Well...
Had a couple ideas on what to try next (newer DAVINA drivers, win7 32bit, SDD141 that came with the DAVINA, etc.), and waste a TON more free time that I don't have much of nowadays... but then had a thought, and checked ebay for legitimate VCM's. Found a cheap set with legit looking VCM and laptop in the UK, immediately ordered it at the price it was. Will get to play with that in a month or so, maybe I can finally read my ABS codes and program a key
As we know our 308s have limited vent space so having to use up a portion of it for a phone mount is detrimental in my hot & humid location. It absolutely detracts from an otherwise stellar driving experience.
I found this unit that mounts in a HUD like fashion on the dash. It's cheap & well reviewed so we shall see if it works in my situation.
I'll report back w/ my findings.
Last edited by King Charles; 06-27-2020 at 04:31 AM.
I found this unit that mounts in a HUD like fashion on the dash. It's cheap & well reviewed so we shall see if it works in my situation.
I'll report back w/ my findings.
I've been wondering if we couldn't fashion a simar fixing to the top of the ski slope area. Been toying with this idea myself of late. Magnetic fixing for a phone etc would be good?
Pro-clip makes an excellent mount that installs in the side of the ski slope. Doesn't affect the controls, doesn't interfere with vents, and isn't intrusive or distracting like a mount that goes to the windshield GPS-style. Some people don't mind it, but I can't stand things in view of the windshield, even a small dashcam bugs me.
They make a bunch of the phone holders too, with integrated charge ports, shaped to your phone model, etc. but those get pricey. I got a proclip base, and sticky taped an amazon adjustable holder on, and it works great.
Pro-clip makes an excellent mount that installs in the side of the ski slope. Doesn't affect the controls, doesn't interfere with vents, and isn't intrusive or distracting like a mount that goes to the windshield GPS-style. Some people don't mind it, but I can't stand things in view of the windshield, even a small dashcam bugs me.
They make a bunch of the phone holders too, with integrated charge ports, shaped to your phone model, etc. but those get pricey. I got a proclip base, and sticky taped an amazon adjustable holder on, and it works great.
Do you have a part # for that, thanks.
Last edited by King Charles; 06-27-2020 at 04:08 PM.
As we know our 308s have limited vent space so having to use up a portion of it for a phone mount is detrimental in my hot & humid location. It absolutely detracts from an otherwise stellar driving experience.
I found this unit that mounts in a HUD like fashion on the dash. It's cheap & well reviewed so we shall see if it works in my situation.
I'll report back w/ my findings.
Tried it out today & it's sturdy enough including bumps,curves etc. But it does draw me eye, so I don't think it's for me. Depending on driving style,seat position etc. this may be the answer for some of you out there. $5 it was worth a shot.
06-21-2020, 07:18 AM
I of course let off and blended in safely. 
