Jaguar Super V8 Project

Jaguar Super V8 Project

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Discussion

DodgeRam Van Man

119 posts

175 months

Sunday 8th January 2017
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Strong money but as you say it's extremely rare. I don't remember ever seeing another Super V8 like that for sale.

But it's another of these where the seller doesn't seem to know whether it's an XJR or a Super V8! I would have thought a Super would have Wooden heated steering wheel and wooden gear shifter, although maybe the original owner specced it that way.

Some interesting (that's debatable I suppose) minor changes from my 2004 Super V8 - I see the boot handle is different and offset from centre, and the washer fluid bottle seems to have completely changed location (mine is near the front of the car not near the windscreen).

The other thing I always wonder about these X350s is that the button panel above the touchscreen had blanks next to the Heated Seat buttons right from first production but was only populated with the cooled seat buttons on the X358. Jaguar clearly had designed it for extra buttons in there right from the start but wonder why it took them so long to make the cooled seats available - something I would have expected to see on a 'Portfolio' version like this.

Yazza54

18,464 posts

180 months

Sunday 8th January 2017
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I love this thing, proper murderers car.

alec.e

Original Poster:

2,149 posts

123 months

Sunday 8th January 2017
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DodgeRam Van Man said:
Strong money but as you say it's extremely rare. I don't remember ever seeing another Super V8 like that for sale.

But it's another of these where the seller doesn't seem to know whether it's an XJR or a Super V8! I would have thought a Super would have Wooden heated steering wheel and wooden gear shifter, although maybe the original owner specced it that way.

Some interesting (that's debatable I suppose) minor changes from my 2004 Super V8 - I see the boot handle is different and offset from centre, and the washer fluid bottle seems to have completely changed location (mine is near the front of the car not near the windscreen).

The other thing I always wonder about these X350s is that the button panel above the touchscreen had blanks next to the Heated Seat buttons right from first production but was only populated with the cooled seat buttons on the X358. Jaguar clearly had designed it for extra buttons in there right from the start but wonder why it took them so long to make the cooled seats available - something I would have expected to see on a 'Portfolio' version like this.
There are only a handful of Super V8 Portfolios in the UK, most went to the US. There is one in the Jaguar section at Gaydon. The Portfolios never had a wooden steering wheel, only leather for some reason...

Yes you are correct on the washer bottle and boot handle, there are actually a ton of very tiny changes for the good (and some for cost-cutting) on the 2005.5 onwards cars. Sadly the cooled seats are x358 onwards only, even the Mondeo had them!

Yazza54 said:
I love this thing, proper murderers car.
Cheers!

alec.e

Original Poster:

2,149 posts

123 months

Sunday 8th January 2017
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Trexthedinosaur said:
No idea how I have not seen this before as I do like a S/C Jaguar, I like what you are doing too, keep It up!

Can we see a few pics of the interior with the new mats etc and suede parts fitted, where else are you planned to suede?
Here you go, parts labeled 1,2,3 have been retrimmed so far, the rest of the grey headliner to do!


Lambswool mats in rear footwells, unfortunately the colour match is so good, you can't see them:


Boot carpet handle repair:

Note the snapped clips, the brown blocks provide a much stronger hold (kindly suggested by Ben on Jaguarforum)



Cleaned the carpet too:

monthefish

20,439 posts

230 months

Thursday 19th January 2017
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alec.e said:
Thank-you both. I will get some pictures of the new interior trim, once fitted. Hoping to find time to re-cover some more pieces this weekend.

Browsing eBay, to keep-updated on values, I spotted this very rare beauty for sale! A Japanese import, only 27k!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaguar-XJR-Super-V8-Port...redfaceOYAAOSwA3dYamMS



the ad said:
plus the peace of mind of 6 months written warranty.

sjc

13,884 posts

269 months

Thursday 19th January 2017
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Very tempted to go have a look at the Daimler majestic v12 that trader's got.Hes also dropped the white xjr 3 grand as he can't find the history to verify the 17k mileage.
Apologies for the slightly off topic .

sjc

13,884 posts

269 months

Thursday 26th January 2017
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sjc said:
Very tempted to go have a look at the Daimler majestic v12 that trader's got.Hes also dropped the white xjr 3 grand as he can't find the history to verify the 17k mileage.
Apologies for the slightly off topic .
Bugga ... Sold...

LeighW

4,362 posts

187 months

Thursday 26th January 2017
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alec.e said:
I finally found a set of lambswool matts in the correct colour, brand new from Creamer Jaguar, sadly closing frown. Only paid for them yesterday and they were here this morning, very swift service! They are from a S-Type, hence slightly different shape, so will need to be trimmed and re-bound at edges. Luckily they are oversized, so enough material to work with.
My Sovereign came with black lambswool mats, but the driver's one was worn so I took them out (I kept them though). I have had a search saved on ebay for a very long time, but nothing has come up so far. Maybe I could get the driver's mat repaired, the rest are like new.

Regarding values, even the Sovereigns seem to have crept up in value. The starting point for 2005 onwards (facelift) petrol engined examples with under 90k on the clock seems to be about £8000. Mine, with one owner, FJSH and loads of options cost me just under £7000 almost four years ago with 72k (now 84k). confused

alec.e

Original Poster:

2,149 posts

123 months

Thursday 9th February 2017
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Time for an update. The car went to the Jag Specialist Monday 9th last month for valley pipe replacement and coolant flush. Chris set to work stripping the car down, only to find that he could not access the bits he needed to remove the Supercharger, due to the LPG system. That settled that, the LPG kit had to go, seemed like a terrible waste, but really the only way in the long run. The car was loaded onto a truck and sent to a LPG specialist Chris works with. Apparently it was a real pain to remove, wires and pipes everywhere! They had to MIG weld up old injector tap-ins on manifolds.

Had a S-Type 3.0 as the courtesy car, could not resist giving it a small going over.
The yellowed headlights needed sorting, before:


After:


Also cleaned the exhuast tips from sooty black to shiny stainless.

Very impressive fuel economy, my old XJ never got these figures, note 90s sytle dash...


My initial impression of this S-Type was that is was a bit of an old mans car, light blue exterior with brown/beige interior. Surprisingly seemed very different to my X350, much more American Ford. However, the engine was great in that car, I had so much fun with kick-down and using the full rev-band, it loves to rev. People often criticized the 3.0 as being underpowered as it does not have the low-down torque of the diesel and V8s, but gets moving nicely after about 4k.

Collected the car friday late afternoon and Chris commented that the car drove fast and was definitely faster than a regular 4.2 S/C, which was nice to hear.

Edited by alec.e on Thursday 9th February 22:49

alec.e

Original Poster:

2,149 posts

123 months

Thursday 9th February 2017
quotequote all
Gave some parts a refresh while they were off the car
kmc86-bpzz9SjVDnuJadpC=w540-h720-no?.jpg'>kmc86-bpzz9SjVDnuJadpC=w540-h720-no?.jpg'/>



After scrubbing and paint:




I fitted my new polished intake and new S/C duct seals also:


Supercharger teflon coat still looks great after 100k:


Done!


A big contrast to as bought:




A improvement I think smile

Edited by alec.e on Thursday 9th February 23:00

CharlesdeGaulle

26,099 posts

179 months

Friday 10th February 2017
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I love the way that you improved the loan car! Brilliant.

Your engine bay is looking terrific - nice work.

Mark Benson

7,498 posts

268 months

Friday 10th February 2017
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alec.e said:
However, the engine was great in that car, I had so much fun with kick-down and using the full rev-band, it loves to rev. People often criticized the 3.0 as being underpowered as it does not have the low-down torque of the diesel and V8s, but gets moving nicely after about 4k.
I have an X350 V6 and although it's clearly not a V8 low down, when you 'press on' the car never feels particularly underpowered. There's no great shove in the back though, so If you'd come from a Super V8 I imagine you'd be disappointed.

Mines used mostly on the motorway, I'd describe it as adequate.

LeighW

4,362 posts

187 months

Friday 10th February 2017
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Mark Benson said:
I have an X350 V6 and although it's clearly not a V8 low down, when you 'press on' the car never feels particularly underpowered. There's no great shove in the back though, so If you'd come from a Super V8 I imagine you'd be disappointed.

Mines used mostly on the motorway, I'd describe it as adequate.
I think they go pretty well too. I use my wife's Punto 1.4 as a daily driver (we work together), and the Jag feels positively rapid compared to that. hehe

OP, nice work cleaning up the loaner - not many people would do that!

Stedman

7,213 posts

191 months

Friday 10th February 2017
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Mark Benson said:
I have an X350 V6 and although it's clearly not a V8 low down, when you 'press on' the car never feels particularly underpowered. There's no great shove in the back though, so If you'd come from a Super V8 I imagine you'd be disappointed.

Mines used mostly on the motorway, I'd describe it as adequate.
The V6 is a nice car and a really good steer!

Stedman

7,213 posts

191 months

Friday 10th February 2017
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alec.e said:


A improvement I think smile
What are your thoughts on the intake? I've seen mixed comments about any breathing benefits.

The upper pulley's are tempting on these cars cloud9

alec.e

Original Poster:

2,149 posts

123 months

Sunday 12th February 2017
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Stedman said:
What are your thoughts on the intake? I've seen mixed comments about any breathing benefits.

The upper pulley's are tempting on these cars cloud9
Yes it is worth it, the only negative comments I have heard about the tube it from people who have not tried them. On the US forum someone did a before / after dyno and it picked up 10 wheel horsepower. The increased supercharger whine is worth it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO0ISWGPz-o

The chap who makes them John (Caldoofy), is great guy to deal with.

alec.e

Original Poster:

2,149 posts

123 months

Sunday 12th March 2017
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More re-trimming done, the third brake light interior cover:




The challenge was to make the visible edge neat, I used thin masking to follow the edge and trimmed with a scalpel.
View from outside:


Headliner roof handles now black, leather re-coloured with Furniture Clinic products in Jaguar Warm Charcoal.
Handle disassembled:


All done:

LeighW

4,362 posts

187 months

Monday 13th March 2017
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Loving your work there. Are you replacing the headlining, I was under the impression it was a windscreen out job to remove it?

alec.e

Original Poster:

2,149 posts

123 months

Saturday 8th April 2017
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Ta-da!





The headlining is in a what a real PITA it was, but got there eventually. It is not a perfect result, quite a few things to learn from in the future, but I am loving the contrast look against the ivory leather.


tobinen

9,184 posts

144 months

Sunday 9th April 2017
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That looks very good