I am purchasing an 02 X-Type 3.0 AWD Auto to build into an endurance racer. The car only has 85K miles so i imagine it should be fairly reliable. It runs, drives, and sounds good but heard that it may have been involved in hurricane Sandy. the stock 231 HP is fine and I do not want to increase it, as reliability here is the key factor. My question is what can be done to increase the reliability of the X-Type? Also, what other modifications would you make to build a road race car that can last 14.5 hours at near red line?

Thank you in advance

 

Lemons Racer, motor wise, the motor is probably one of the best motors that you will be able to get as the Duratec line of motors are well know for reliability, even under the most harsh conditions. The suspension and brakes are going to handle things very well too. Where you are going to have your problem is basically in 1 component, the transfer case. This is a known weak point of the car. If you are going to have a problem with the car breaking, it is going to be there.

Now, as for what can be done to improve its ability to survive what you are after, that is a question that we have been asking ourselves and so far no one has come up with an answer that has been proven. Supposedly you can rebuilt the transfer case and put the proper loading on the bearings and this is supposed to make things better (how much better, still awaiting final results). Others have talked about putting more bracing on the outside of the transfer case to resolve some potential case flex/cracking issues that were common with the early cars (like what you are getting). In your case, you might be able to resolve some of this by going with a later 2004 and newer transfer case as the case was redesigned in early 2004. The only "problem" you may have is the newer case is essentially an "open differential" design, so, with your racing going on, if you loose traction on one tire, all the power is going to go there. This kinda defeats the purpose of having AWD. Two ways to over come this: 1) the car you buy has DSC already install in the car, or 2) if you know you are going to break traction on a tire, you ride the brake some to prevent the tire from going "out of control" (this is not too good if you are racing for obvious reasons).

As for other modifications, look up the adjustable upper control arm for the rear. This will give you some adjustability to put some potential camber into the rear tires. I would say that you would probably want to also install some Bilstien heavy duty shocks. These are "stock" items (car was never OEM outfitted with them, but Bilstien uses the same shock that was OEM with some different valving). After these two modifications, stripping the interior to reduce weight is about the only other thing I would say you would want to do.

One last thing. If you are wanting to get rid of all the potential bugs, then I would also look into something to replace the factory fan controller. While at speed it shouldn't be an issue, when you are slowing down for any yellow flags or the like, helping to cool off the engine will be of concern and if you are going to have an issue with the car, the number 2 thing that would fail on you is the fan controller. But, this should be an easy upgrade.

If you need more information about the car and the points I make, let me know. I will go into as much detail as I know.

 

Thank you for the advice Thermo! I have to weld a roll cage in anyhow so adding something to strengthen the transfer case shouldn't be too difficult. Is there a thread on here of someone who has done this in the past?

So I also want to understand the AWD system a little better. Is there a front to rear bias? My understanding is that the X-Type was primarily a FWD car, so even if the rear differential gave out it should still move, maybe just with less power. It sounds like upgrading to an 04 or later rear end would do little to help. We also race a Firebird that I just replaced the rear end on to gain a limited slip differential. Tire spin was a huge issue. The AWD coupled with the reliable and decent HP is what attracted me to the X-Type, plus I always liked Jag style . I need to do a lot of research still to do, but the car's first race won't be until May so there is a little bit of time.

 

Lemons, if I remember right, all the transfer cases had a 60/40 bias towards the front. The question comes how the different wheel speeds were dealt with. On the earlier transfer cases, there was a viscous coupling that would allow the front and rear wheels to spin at slightly different rates. In/after mid 04, Jaguar removed the viscous coupling and installed an open gear setup in its place.

You should not need to install any sort of traction device into the rear end. With the AWD, breaking the rear tires loose is very difficult to do. I am not even sure if someone makes something to do what you are after. I am sure a little bit of welding to lock the spider gears in place would do what you are after, but that might be taking things a little extreme.

As for upgrading the transfer case to something bigger/better/reinforced, there has been some talk, but no one had done anything as the perceived expense and unknowns didn't make it worthwhile for someone to try. So, looks like you are going to be the guinea pig. I am sure there will be lots of people interested in what you come up with. Some members wanted to push the motors and get into the 300+ hp range but decided with the questions relating to the transfer case that it was probably for the better to simply keep the X-Type as a daily driver and get another vehicle for the speed.

As for the X-Type being a primarily FWD car, this all depends on how you look at things. Like i mentioned, the car does have a 60/40 bias towards the front end for power. But, you may also be confusing this with the lineage of the car. Over in England, they do make a FWD only version of the X-type. So, you might be confusing that in with what you are seeing. Also, the X-Type has a lot of shared components with the Ford Mondeo (aka, Ford Fusion). Since the Mondeo is a primarily FWD vehicle, this may also be playing into what you are seeing.

With all this being said, you may have some insider knowledge of what transfer cases may be adaptable to the Duratec line of engines. This may open up the options for you and then you would simply need some custom CV shafts/rear driveshaft to make a much more durable transfer case work in the car. I know there are transfer cases out there that will handle 700+ hp. The question is what it would take to make something like that work in the X-Type. Keep in mind that the X-type also uses a 5 speed ZF transmission. That will probably have more influence on what transfer case may be doable than the actual motor will dictate.

 

Wow! Thank you very much for the info. Racers tend to be guinea pigs, especially in endurance racing. My key goal is reliability, you can't win a race you don't finish. Really the most extreme modificatiin to the engjne I would consider is reprogramming the computer to get a better air fuel mixture and a modest hp bump. I'll do some additional research on the contour as well. Do you know if they had an AWD version of the SVT? That was also a decent car that Ford put a few decent parts into.

 

Small point of correction - the drive bias is 60 rear, 40 front, (Actually 611/39 by gear tooth count) This was deliberately used to give the X Type a traditional Jaguar rear wheel drive feel.

 

Astro, thanks, I remembered the 60/40 split, but I wasn't 100% sure on the drive bias. I thought it was towards the front, but there was also that little guy on my shoulder going "you are not saying it right". C'est la vie.

 

The svt contour never came awd, and other than the engine it doesn't share much of anything with the X type. The focus and fusion have more in common with the X type, but there isn't anything specific on the SVT focus that you'd be able to use as an upgrade to the X type. If you are set on getting an auto x type over a 5 speed, I would add a bigger trans cooler to it. My idea for the transfer case for my car is to get an early model viscous case, have it rebuilt with new bearings and proper preload and see how long it lasts. It seems they may not have been properly preloaded from the factory, causing the problems. You can also look into how the EVO guys built cages around their transfer cases and try that.

 

Our first race I likely won't do too many modifications as most of our funds will go into a roll cage and tires. I will take your suggestion into a larger transmission cooler and exploring what Evo guys do. I didn't even think of Subaru, maybe Audi has similar issues as well. I noticed the car has a stability control button. Can this be fully disabled? Stability control keeps you on track but kinda ruins the fun.

 

Lemons, just push the button and it will turn off the DSC. Tada, done.

 

Lol, I was hoping it was that easy. I had a Passat that even after you turned it off it would still save you're butt. Hated that part of the car. I'll have to be careful when I remove the interior to keep that connected. Maybe turn it on for newbie drivers.

 

Lemons, if you press the button, you should see a red light come on. Start the car and see what the status of the light is, press it once and that will turn off the DSC. Unfortunately, you have to turn off the DSC every time you start the car if you want it off. The car automatically enables the DSC when you start it. You can't simply turn it off and it will remain off forever.

 

I wanted to share some before and after pictures of the car. Also, if anyone needs any parts let me know. Anything interior is out of the car.
Before

 

And now after

 

I was actually impressed by how well build this car is. The dash bar is connected on both ends, which is rare, and there was structural reinforcement behind the rear seat. It seems like a very strong sturdy chassis.

Here is a picture of some of our other cars, but we plan on keeping this one in it's British green and looking as stock as possible from the outside.

 

It's not ZF, X-Type uses Jatco JF506E for automatic and Ford MTX-75 for manual. Jatco handles about 280 hp, manual takes 400+ hp.

As for the transfer case, it handles power well. There was an X-Type with 350 hp, transfer case worked fine but it was converted to manual because automatic gearbox didn't handle it very well. Most problems with transfer cases are because people just don't change oil in them. They get quite hot and oil should be changed regularly. I would install an electric pump and oil radiator for transfer box and it should be fine as long as it has been serviced properly before.
I would recommend using Motul 75W140 Gear Competition in TC and rear diff, Motul 300V 15W50 Competition or 20W50 Le Mans in engine.

TC with viscous coupling would be better for track, mine is also 3.0 automatic with VC and on track it puts power down quite nicely, you can get it to slide a little but nothing too dramatic. In wet it depends on tires a lot and car gets quite tail happy and with crappy tires even with half throttle it's very easy to end up facing the track the wrong way. With good tires there is still a lot of oversteer but it is easily controllable.

EDIT: Also almost forgot, when you get on the track you will notice that brake pedal will get harder when you start picking up some speed, it is because when you get off the throttle and car starts to engine brake at higher rpm's, ECU will keep throttle body open for a little while and there is no vacuum in the intake so brake booster won't work. You have to push harder but you will get more feeling in the pedal.

 

Is this the factory recommended oil for both the TC and engine or what you recommend? In other race cars if the factory calls for 30 I use 40, to try to limit some of the wear on our older motors.

 

Factory recommends 75W140 in TC and rear diff, Motul recommends Gear Competition which is a fully synthetic race oil even for street use in X-Type. 300V is also racing engine oil series. You usually cannot take factory oil for a reference as street usage and 14 hours of racing is totally different. I'm using 15W50 even for street as I have quite a heavy foot.

 

Thank you for the advice. I've been torn between 40 & 50. I want the coverage but nervous the 50 would increase my pressure too much and have difficulty getting around the bearings and all. Used 40 in my Firebird but sounds like 50 will be a good choice. We change it after every weekend. Thanks!

 

Made a typo before, not 20W50 but 20W60 is Le Mans oil. We use it in old chevy 5.7 V8 rebuilt for racing and LS3 based race engines. Never been a problem with oil pressure, it is a bit higher at cold starts but not by much. Of course we let them warm up before they go onto the track but that is not because of the oil we use but to keep any unnecessary wear to minimal.