I have been away for a few days but I was able to go through the exercise of hunting down my actual engine number (9804091043), which was very difficult to see, and Budd's Jaguar in Oakville was courteous enough to confirm over the telephone that it is the original engine for my VIN, which meant my cam cover and spark plug gaskets had to be the earlier type.

If you look here: SNG Barratt - The Ultimate Jaguar Parts Specialist they have at item 3 superseded gaskets but if you look at item 15, they still have the quoted part numbers for engines up to 9810290000. Those are the ones I needed.

That is the conclusion I came to also, BobRoy. Largely due to your good advice about SNG Barratt being the only ones with the correct primary guides, I have ordered the entire package including gaskets through them. Although their list prices are somewhat higher than some of the other options, they did give about a 7% Jaguar Forum discount and I feel more confident in the quality of their parts than some of the other cheaper after market sellers. If they are the only ones to get the guides right, it is quite possible other sellers miss the mark on more than that.

It will relieve some anxiety after this job is complete.

Andy

 

As a preamble, let me say that once again with our beloved Jaguars, nothing is as simple as it first appears to be. More so, the positive and helpful support given freely by the contributors to this forum is invaluable and essential to the continued enjoyment of these great cars.

On to the topic at hand:


I elected to purchase the complete tensioner kit for my 1998 AJ26 number CA9804091043 engine from SNG Barratt (TCK8MAJ/1)http://www.sngbarratt.com/ProductDet...d-29f360e54702 based on RobRoy's advice about kits from every where else having the incorrect later model, longer primary guides that interfere with the VVT sprocket.


The kit arrived today.


First, the good news. It has the correct early "plump" cam cover gaskets in red and grey and "spectacle" spark plug gaskets.


Now for the bad news, unlike the photo on the web site, linked above, the primary guides shipped were the same longer ones that every one else sells as shown in this kit: SNG Barratt - The Ultimate Jaguar Parts Specialist. According to my searches, these are only correct for later engines, after 0108230000


Looking back through the various threads on the forum about using these particular guides reveals a mix of experiences. Harvest14 inverted his, others just re-installed their existing original guides, we still do not know if jaghag ever succeeded in making that engine work and RobRoy ordered the correct parts at extra expense after the longer ones were found to be unsatisfactory. It is clear that the in the black onyx tutorial that the correct shorter ones were installed.

Although others have reported inverting these longer guides without any initial difficulties, I am concerned that bolting the elongated hole and placing the pin in the round hole that is presumably designed to operate in the elongated slot is not the optimal solution and may have longer term consequences. Thus I want to get the correct parts from the outset.


Frank at SNG Barratt has been very helpful and I have returned the incorrect primary chain guides and tensioner blades to them and he has promised to send these correct parts:


SNG Barratt - The Ultimate Jaguar Parts Specialist and


SNG Barratt - The Ultimate Jaguar Parts Specialist


I will report back at the conclusion of the repair on how it all works out. In the meantime, I am glad that I have been dealing with SNG Barratt as they are, so far, much more responsive in solving difficulties than one would expect from an eBay merchant. Particularly so, since I am in Canada and every returned transaction involves tax, duty and brokerage expenses that our US and British cousins mostly avoid, whenever we seek items for unique automobiles, motorcycles or boats.


If I can offer any advice, so far, it would be:


Understand that not all Jags are the same;


Avoid generic "kits", as they do not seem to be entirely correct;


Find your exact engine number;


Confirm precise part numbers for your specific vehicle, either through Internet searches or with knowledgeable parts staff;


Order the specific parts you need by number; and


Deal with a reputable and responsive merchant who will help solve the inevitable difficulties that will crop up.


Once again, we have not even cracked open the engine yet, but I am hopeful that when we do, we will have everything at hand to complete the job without undue delay.


Andy

 

The job of changing the tensioners guides and chains is now complete. While everything was apart, the water pump was also changed.

The secondary tensioners were deeply grooved where the chain passed over them and some plastic had separated. Worse, the plastic body of the tensioners were splitting open. The primary tensioners, blades and guides all showed cracking and were also deeply grooved from the chains. So at just under 80,000 miles, this was probably a good time to do this job as waiting much longer may have been catastrophic.

The parts kit from SNG Barratt, although a bit more expensive than some others, worked great. The problem I related before where I was shipped the later model primary guides and blades, unlike the correct shorter ones in the photo in their website, was corrected promptly so I am pleased with the customer service and the quality of the parts.

I also got the special tool kit for £39 discovered on e-bay by phanc earlier in this thread. It was invaluable for this job.

So since bringing home the car in April it has received:

the full primary and secondary timing treatment;

a new waterpump, thermostat housing, coolant tank and associated hoses;

double drain and fill of the automatic transmission;

front end bushings and ball joints;

rear bushings, shocks and shock mounts;

smooth riding Michelin Primacy tires to replace the 10 year old hard and imbalanced Assymetricos;

a 7 speaker upgrade of component front speakers in the dash and doors, rear coaxials and a sub-woofer in the parcel shelf powered by a 500 Watt amp; and

all the tinkering items like the throttle play adjustment, instrument light replacement, ground pigtails on the rear lights, radio knob cleaning and so forth.

I think I have spent as much as my purchase price on all these tasks, but I don't really want to add it all up! Most of these items are reported as the things all XK8s of this age need, so with fingers crossed, I hope to have generally smooth sailing next year. The one outstanding thing is to correct the front ride height with springs, mounts and might as well change shocks while it is apart, but that will be next year.

Cheers

Andy

 

I didn't see the main pressure valve in the transmission mentioned. That is important.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...rmation-78132/

 

Hi RJ

What is the story on the main pressure valve? The link you gave is about transmission speed sensors.

Andy

 

Sorry about that, I must have sleeping at the keyboard.

http://jagrepair.com/images/AutoRepa...%20ZF5HP24.pdf

 

Thanks for that. How big and complicated is that to get into the transmission?

Andy

 

When you remove the pan to change the filter, which you may already have done, hopefully, it is about one hour more.

Only the forward valve body has to be removed. There are two different length screws securing it and it's on a locator pin that is very tight. I believe there are several threads, maybe even with pictures, on this or the XJ8 forum.

 

Thanks again. I will do a search.

Andy

 

Hi RobRoy

Thanks for sharing your experiences - I am at the same place you were...a couple of years ago - got the timing kit from SNG Barrat incl guides that are too long and holes upside down. And I am not too fond to install them - so consider to buy these you refer to NCA2025AB/NCA1998AB...my questions are...has the plastic been improved on these new guides or have they otherwise been reinforced? Otherwise they will also be doomed to crack eventually.
Since the old guides are thinner...will new old style guides work with the tensioners which are supplied in the kit...they are intended/designed for the slightly thicker guides?

I hope you find the time to pick up on this old thread.

All the best

Frank