When I bought my 07 X Type, it came with a folder of maintenance records, from the time the cord was cut, until it transferred to me. The oil could not have been cleaner. The underside of the chassis was immaculate. There were no leaks, even the exhaust looked new. The body and interior were like new. There was no curb rash on the wheels.

I went to prep it for winter today, so there would be no surprises. I went one step further to empty and refill the transfer case, as in putting one side on my lift, and lifted up the passenger side, until my buddy could feel the car starting to go over. We emptied every drop of lube out of that critter, and there was only about half a cup of lube, so we flushed it out, and inserted a borescope, and saw that there was no damage that we could see, even turning the driveshaft. To fill it up we used the same method, except using the driver's side. There are many different amounts to fill the transfer case, so we chose .700 liter, and sealed the plug with teflon tape. The oil change was next, and the oil came out like it was like new, after 3500 miles.

Next came the transmission service...UGH We put the critter up on the lift, after driving it about 5 miles, to get things hot, and in suspension, in the fluid. The trans fluid came out black.

To make a long story short, we did 7 fills, driving for 5 miles, and draining the trans, until it started to look like trans fluid again.

Before the final fill, all I was doing was draining it into my pan, putting the black fluid in a jug, and measuring it with a ruler, so I could put the same amount in.

After $120 of Castrol import trans fluid, I put in the final 3/4 jug of Amsoil, that came highly recommended, and set the level to specs. It was a bit more than I had planned to do with the trans, and the first 5 hour trans fluid service in my entire life. The way it shifts is a great improvement over the original fluid, which was not shifting badly at all. I greased all the CV joints, and moved on to prepping the 99 XK8.

I changed the oil, and was replacing a rebuilt ABS unit, until I found out the ABS unit the rebuilders sent me, was not the one I was sending them. The rebuilders sent me a 5 hole valve block and I just removed my 6 hole block, to swap them out. I got a call into them, and they are sending me a correct one, just in time for the weather to turn crappy.

It is still on the lift, so it looks like tomorrow, I will be removing the wire wheels, painting the calipers, and changing to drilled and slotted rotors, with ceramic pads.

I just hope Brenda doesn't find the new rear view mirror, with a 64GB card and a 3 minute memory forward facing camera for autocrosses, with a rear facing camera, that I haven't figured out where to put yet(maybe at the bottom of the luggage rack). It measures how far you are from the car behind you in inches. I can hardly wait, but it is going to be an EARLY start on that day to install it, so I am not caught with my pants down. It is just so fun to play with these cars. Life is good!......be cool.....Mike