Yes, part #6 is basically a thin rubber "gasket" for the spring to sit on rather than metal-to-metal. As the spring is held in position by a notch the part doesn't really wear and therefore shouldn't need replacing............. but both Merriam and Barrett do show them as being available.......
https://www.jaguarmerriamparts.com/v...and-components
https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#...20Id%201248197)


.

 

Thx Carnival,

The lower buffers cost 77 dollars and I have to wait until sept 3.

Im going to reuse the old ones

 

Getting the recurring soft brake pedal issue looked @. I checked all I could for leaks to no avail, but this shop's awesome & will make quick work of it I'm sure.

 

Hope they solve it KC. I finished the paint correction. Will get some pics this weekend.

 

KC hope your back to 100% asap. Love the BRG. I think I mentioned that.
Brandon, that paint is so shiny it's like a mirror. Nice!

​​​​​​This morning
. I took my 8 yr old in the 99 XJR to his school to pickup his Chrome book and schedule . He likes to show it off. Lol
. Then off for a brief power run on the freeway and back to bed in the garage.

. It's so amusing. Everytime I get on the on ramp and wait for no traffic so I can do a full power run up to speed limit and merge in. Not a car in sight usually.
. Then I floor it , reveling in that super hard pull from the super charger. It's awesome!
But then.... All of the sudden there is some euro supercar on my tail out of nowhere trying to demonstrate their ability and willingness to excessively speed past me.
. I honestly don't know where they are coming from. Lol.
Last weeks test run it was some super M series BMW . Time before that an AMG Mercedes.
. Today out of thin air an Audi. A8 tried kissing my rear license plate at 75 mph as I tried to move over.

Funny no one tries to prove their auto superiority when I'm driving my Matrix. Of course it's so slow one dare never risk the left lane .

 

Ronn, you're making me want to at least install the 2.5 upper pulley, lol. I've won against a 1st gen Charger srt8 in my R. Most people have no clue the R's can move.

 

Shop called, absolutely no leaks but he asked me who performed the recent brake flush & said the fluid looked bad & was way low ?! So I screamed on the mobile hacks who serviced it last about half-assed work. I might even dispute my card payment, clowns probably drained a portion then topped off w/ new fluid & bled. It'll be ready Monday I went ahead & am going to have them pressure test the cooling system as well. I lose about 3-4 oz of coolant every 500 miles w/ nothing visible & it's due for a state safety inspection.

 

Most people have no clue the R's can move.

That's what I love about them !
And there's not three of them at every stop light.
​​​​​​

 

I find it funny how many people try to challenge my N/A to a stop light drag, these cars even in base form have crazy amounts of torque. I've been challenged by a 996 era 911 , a c5 corvette, a 95-03 camaro a lifted jeep looking thing of the wood works ferrari f355, and before my suspension started acting weird a range rover evoque. Can't wait to get her back from the shop next week. I've noticed in my town that its not just the x308 that gets challenged , sometimes when I'm out in my brothers 04 xc70 it'll also get challenged by the tuner crowd (rx7s, 300zxs, etc) over lane ownership (trying to merge and all of a sudden the spot I wanted is closing). Southwest va needs a driving school.

 

​​​​​​​Car's back from the shop w/ fresh annual inspection,firm brakes w/ the correct fluid, nothing found w/ cooling system. Lost part of my jazzy valve caps so I picked up some growler types off eBay really well made, complete w/ polymer o-ring & the logo is a 2 piece deal not just a decal but a small design underneath a crystal cover, surprisingly intricate for such an inexpensive item.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hex-Leopard...t/193410389210

 

Also my shop is owned by an eccentric ex-Formula one driver, he's a smug ornery type but his work's top notch & I get gems like this lol.

 

What did I do to my x308.......I let my son back it out of the garage.

 

 

 

The ole girl passed annual state inspections w/ flying colors so I treated her to a spa day.

 

Over the weekend, swapped my front two tires and added thin hubcentric shims to try and solve/diagnose the never ending, but always changing slightly, issue of vibration and pull.

Pull followed the tires. Just what I wanted when I bought them at the start of the year.

Vibration got somewhat solved by the shims, but now it's everpresent, but mostly consistent? Where before, it was worse some days than others, with a lot of variability. Somewhat interestingly, with the shims, the worsened shaking under braking is almost gone. Guess they're critical after all, and the front ends on these cars are just insanely sensitive to front wheel balance and concentricity. I guess that's why there was a TSB on it. Ordered some JBweld and aluminum bits so I can bond shims into all 4 wheels, and maybe rebalance fronts, rotate front/rear, and maybe have a smooth riding car.

But because it would be too easy to make progress on anything...
On the way to work this morning, my front right caliper seized up. Car went from pulling slightly under braking, to sounding like the bearing was about to self destruct, in the span of a few minutes of 70mph driving. Managed to pull over to a lot right near the highway, give it some time to cool, and limp home on back roads. Surprisingly the brakes worked okay for that, because when I came off the highway, the rotor was discolored, you could really feel the heat coming off the wheel, and it smelled pretty burnt. Ordered a new FR caliper, pair rotors, and pair pads. Seems I can never just wear through a set of brake pads like a normal person...
On top of that, I had replaced the FR caliper only 2.5 years ago with a reman unit for almost the same issue (piston seal burped some fluid, and got half stuck).

Walked 15 minutes to the nearest rental company, rented the only car they had available for immediate use, and eventually made it to work.

 

Today, yesterday really, I took out my abs module and drilled (2) 3/8" holes above the notorious solder joints. Fed solder in one hole while solder iron was through the other hole on the joint. Stuck two black nylon plugs in the holes afterward with a little black rtv on the lips. Very difficult to see where the holes were now. Whole operation took an hour and no more ABS light!

 

A rite of passage in the 308 clan lol.

Headed out to Lowe's & Harbor Freight to look @ picking up a decent small rotary tool kit as my Dremel's MIA(funny how that works?!). My previous dye/fill job on front passenger seat draws my eye as the texture's off, especially @ the seams/piping. I want to sand it down & recolor.

 

You might want to add replacing both flex hoses to the front. Hoses can restrict fluid flow to a caliper.

 

King Charles, Thats a beautiful car. Im considering having my gold / topaz 2002 painted a new color. What is the paint code for that beautiful color?

jeffxj8