Last weekend, I started the car for the first time in two months.



I had been waiting on replacement air intake pipes and they came in late last week. With them in hand, it was time to tackle the air filters. I've had the filters since I started the project, I just hadn't bothered to do them until now. Oh my, this is probably the worst air box design ever conceived. Given the form factor of the car, I'll forgive the location -- at least somewhat. Why couldn't they just make a nice clip together air box? Thin, deep thread screws, into plastic, in a location guaranteed to pick of road gunk... well, three of the screws broke off when I attempted to loosen them. Two on the right side and one on the left. I was able to convince the two on the right side to come out when vice grips and penetrating oil. The left hand side was a lost cause. The little bit of the shaft, remaining, sheared off almost level with the top side and was too close and fragile to pliers on.




The air filters themselves were not horrible. The random collection of flotsam and jetsam in the bottom of the airbox was interesting, to say the least. This is the "cleaner" of the two.


I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the left side air box, when I noticed that its mounting bracket is cracked. Not the whole way through, but enough that replacing it would probably be good. The left side bumper is where the car had an impact in its past. This is hopefully the last remnants of that damage.



Now, about replacing the airbox. Oh my.... The airbox costs nearly as much as a damn headlight. (ok maybe not that bad) Left side air box assembly is $1,850 on SNG Barratt. I started looking around and the cheapest I found, for a used assembly, was about $800. So maybe I won't replace it. I decided to leave the problem of getting the rest of the screw shaft out and repairing the mount for future me. My goal for the weekend was to get the car running. Not driving, just running.

The left side still sealed up with one screw missing and it's just on the rubber grommets for now. Right side, I ran zip ties through the two holes with missing screws and tightened everything down.


With the air boxes in place, the final item to address was to put the vacuum control lines on the exhaust valves. I put some longer tubes on the end of both lines, and made sure nothing would flop around too much.

 

The moment of truth and what everyone has been waiting for -- first start after all the work:

Some things to note -- I cleaned the intake valves when I had it apart. Nothing major, but certainly enough to get some extra carbon in some of the cylinders. Even though I plugged the valves, I'm almost positive some small amount of coolant probably made it in. Then we get to the lubricants used in the exhaust pipes, random penetrating oil floating around, and general fluids in places fluid don't normally get, the smoking is what I would consider "normal". It cleared within about five minutes.

The good news -- it starts, it runs, it sounds good, the check engine light isn't on, it's not dumping coolant on the floor.
The bad news -- it's squeaking. You can hear it starting in the above video.

So now we get to chase the squeak. Go follow that effort in my supercharger pulley thread.

One other video, that hints at how good it's going to sound (unfortunately ruined by the squeak right now):

You Tube

One thing I noted -- the exhaust valves stay closed at idle, regardless of the setting of the switch. @Scott_VelocityAP is that expected behavior with the new exhaust and the ECU tune for the pulleys? The valves do open and close properly -- you can hear the change as it drops to idle in the video above.

Overall though, the thing sounds stellar. The sound, at idle, with valves closed is slightly louder, but not at all problematic. It is also a slightly lower note that stock. It definitely hints a bit more at what is waiting to be unleashed when you get on the pedal. I wouldn't describe it as raspy when the valves open. I'd describe it as angry. Now, I've obviously not had the chance to see how it sounds, on the road, under load. Just neutral revs in the garage, but that's enough to bring a smile.

 

Certainly in the 21 and greater model year cars that is stock behaviour to start up with the valves fully open, and then a few seconds into the startup they close. The only way in my case to have them remain open throughout a cold startup is to tell my aftermarket ASR valve controller to keep them open.

I have to admit I’m not super familiar with the nuances of how things are working on some of the older F-types, but perhaps it’s just the same/similar stock behaviour? Maybe in your case you can tell it to stay open using something available in those older f-types that the new one don’t have. Not entirely sure.

Regardless, watched your video…Seems to me like there is a beast waiting to be unleashed ;-0

 

The valves should operate similar to when you had the OEM exhaust, so turning the dynamics switch on, should open the valves back up again. I would double check that the small vacuum lines you added are secure. I had a similar issue when doing my own exhaust and the line was leaking. I just had to put a couple of small zip ties on the line to make sure they didn't slip off. After that it worked just fine. I am more concerned on the squeaking sound. Sounds like a belt squeak. If it is your supercharger belt that is squeaking like that, most likely an alignment issue with the belt and a recipe for issues. If the pulley center hub was not installed flush to the bearing on the snout and the upper pulley is misaligned at all, it will cause premature wear on that belt and cause it to snap. So check those things closely. I don't recall everything you replaced. I will look at the other post as well, but I will send you an email versus back and forth on the forums.

 

Thanks @Scott_VelocityAP . For everyone else, I'll update in the supercharger thread as I chase the squeak.

For the valves, I did put zip ties on the vehicle end of the lines, but not the valve end as those we a more snug fit. I shall add them there we I get back from travel.

Normal behavior:
Valves open at start.
Valves close 5-10 seconds after start.
Valves open when dynamics switch enabled.
Valves open over ~3000RPM regardless of dynamics switch.

Worth noting that the car currently has at least two of the adjustable dampers disconnected and does complain about a dynamic drive control fault on the dash. So I probably won't do any more investigating here until I finish the suspension work and have all the dampers plugged in. No point in spinning my wheels chasing a problem that turns out to be a computer behaving strangely due to strange inputs.

 

Wrong thread... sorry

 

Same behaviour in my MY18 - roaring snarl initially, then the valves close, though it's not quiet until the revs drop after about a minute.

 

A little update on this as I was thinking about it over lunch. First, I plugged the adjustable dampers back in, to clear the fault there. No change in valve behavior -- valves stay closed, regardless of switch setting, until you give it some gas. This is not the "keep valves closed until 3500 rpm" thing. They about around 1500 rpm.

Sounds like a vacuum leak. Once you rev the car a bit, the vacuum pump gets a little more oomph and can beat the leak. I've got a vacuum gauge and picked on some "T" fittings on my way to lunch, figuring I could T into the lines at the exhaust valves and watch in real time. Like I said, I was thinking about this over lunch.

The valves are closed by vacuum, not opened. With the car off, the default state is valves open. This is the mechanical reason the car starts with valves open on cold start, for the vacuum operated valves. So now I'm back to scratching my head here.

 

Correct. Once the vacuum pressure builds up they close, which takes about 5-6 seconds on a cold start. The electronic ones were designed to mimic the same behavior even though they don't need to.

 

In mine, the valves open at 3500 rpm with dynamic off and the swiitch off. With dynamic off and the switch on they open at 1500 rpm (they used to open at tickover before the first "noise quieten" software update). WIth dynamic on they open from tickover unless the switch is off (it switches on by default when dynamic is selected).

 

Interesting, and helpful. Next time I start it, I'll put it in dynamic mode and see what I get. Otherwise, what you describe is the behavior I see as well.

 

@scm I did confirm that hitting the dynamic switch opened the valves at idle.

The primary change in behavior is in normal mode. In normal mode, if I hit the active exhaust button, the valves stay closed until about 1500 RPM, then open. Prior to the tuning update, hitting the exhaust button, in normal mode, opened the valves even at idle. This isn't really problematic, as I rarely drive around in normal mode with the valves open. I try not to annoy the neighborhood too much.

It sounds awfully good...

 

That's how mine behaves after Jaguar's first "quietening" update. Before that, the valves used to open at tickover on the switch in non-dynamic mode.

As you say, try not to annoy the neighbours, and it does sound awfully good!

 

@scm Another question for you. I have now had the opportunity to drive the car, with the new exhaust -- more on that in a bit. In normal mode, with the valves closed, there seems to be a burble as I come off idle... sometimes. As revs tick up past 1000, or so, it almost sounds like the valves start to open as they would in normal mode with the active exhaust button enable. Only, at somewhere around 1300-1400 RPM the burble goes away, like the car figured out "oh, yeah. I'm not supposed to open the valves in this mode" and closes them again. It doesn't do it every time, but most. I haven't figured out what impacts whether it does or not yet. Do you get this same behavior? I'm trying to figure out what is the "new normal" and what isn't.

The car is off the lift and out of the garage.


The black tips look so much better. The car has had the rest of the chrome blacked out, so the original tips were the only shiny bits left -- other than the lug nuts (now black) and the wheel center caps. Anyone have a source for black wheel center caps -- mine a red w/ chrome and red w/ black would be wonderful.

Some notes about the finished install, from discussions with others. If you look at the above picture, you'll note that the tips aren't vertically centered. Here's the thing -- the tips extend well past the fascia and are at an angle, so... what is centered? I had to be looking at the car from the position I took that picture, for it to look like that. I went back and looked at old pictures of the stock exhaust. It actually looks the same, just not quite as prominent because the tips didn't come out as quite as far. If you scroll back up and look at some of the other pictures I posted, of the new tips, from different angles, they don't look off at all. Mainly just noting this so that anyone who does the swap has a point of comparison. I know others have shimmed the rear exhaust hangars to lower the tips a bit. I'm not going to mess with it at this point. Also note that the outer left tip sits just a bit lower than the outer right tip. It's subtle, but once you see it... My stock exhaust was the same way. The outer left tip was just a hair lower. No idea why, or whether its some optical trick -- I haven't gotten out a measuring tape or anything. Again, just pointing it out for people doing this in the future. Of course now, all of you are headed outside to stare at your exhaust tips for a bit....

Now, for the big payoff. How does it sound? Glorious would be my description. In a chat with friends about the change, this is how I described it:

One the way back from getting it aligned, I took it out on the freeway for the first time.

This is the full dashcam video of the drive: Since its like 16 minutes long, here are links to some of the most interesting points in the drive.

As a reminder, I did the full setup -- 200 cell downpipes w/ resonators and the rear exhaust. Some things to note -- I have much less need to open the valves now. With the stock exhaust, I would normally open the valves as soon as I cleared our subdivision. I wasn't driving hard or anything, I just needed that extra little oomph in the sound. The car was just too civilized with the valves closed. Now, even with the valves closed, there is just enough grumble in the sound to fill that void that existed before. It's still pretty civilized, but it now carries the obvious undertone of power. With the valves open... well... its a whole different sounding car. It's loud, zero question about it. If you live in an area where the police are sensitive about loud exhausts (sorry California), it would get you in trouble. Even with the valves open though, it's quite "liveable". At freeway cruise, where engine is sitting in the 1700-1900 range and not working hard, it goes almost silent. There is still a slight rumble, but you have to listen for it amongst the other road noise. Obviously, if you go to accelerate, or rapidly decelerate, the exhaust comes alive again. Pretty sure I could put cruise control on 80 on the interstate, with the valves open, and be just fine for full day of driving. Kudos to the VelocityAP crew for the setup.

Not exactly related to the exhaust -- The supercharger is more noticeable now. Not loud, whiny, or annoying, but you can hear it doing its job. I attribute that to the removal of the symposer, combined with the pulley upgrades. Prior to the work, hearing any whine from the supercharger was hard in the cabin. Now, it's there in the background when you step on the gas. When you rev it in neutral, you can here the bypass open as you let off the gas too. It seems to strike a good balance of hearing the sounds of the engine making power while not getting annoying.

But... there is always a "but", right? I picked up a rattle, low in the rev range. On city streets, with the valves open, I get a rattle when the revs are low and the exhaust note is very low and throaty -- up to around 1500 RPM. I suspect its probably on of the heat shields I remove when I was doing the downpipes. I was very careful to make sure the exhaust had plenty of clearance, but it wouldn't surprise me if the super light aluminum shield is vibrating against a frame piece. The car will be back on the lift soon and I'll check it then. Otherwise, I'm closing out this chapter of work as done.

 

Ya did an awesome job man. To state the obvious, you’re sharing lots of invaluable info for the forum, this included.

Thanks for confirming that your tips mounted not aligned vertically in the rear valence opening just like they did for Thunderdump. Clearly consistent, and now I know more what to likely expect when I go to mount my VAP back box this month, consider whether I will try and shim like Thunderdump, etc…I think maybe in our case where we don’t have black tips that it might be more noticeable if not addressed in some way…That’s my feeling anyway.

And sorry for pointing out the difference in the tip locations bit ;-o Perhaps you would have been better off not knowing…lol…

For everyone else: I had noticed this tip location discrepancy stuff when inspecting my recently received VAP axel back exhaust. I was really scrutinizing things because I had received a couple damaged shipments previously and just happened to notice it while inspecting thoroughly. I reached out to GerbilEngineer and Thunderdump and they confirmed their VAP back box units were the same for the tip location weirdness. That’s when we realized that even the stock back box tips were like that. Kinda weird, but it’s not really a big deal at the end of the day.

Final thing I would mention: I took a look at some pictures of the stock setup, and my car in the flesh, and to me the stock tips look pretty aligned vertically in the rear valance opening. At least in my case.

Cheers

 

I haven't noticed that "normal mode low revs" behaviour, so I'd say no, but I'll check it more carefully next time I get an opportunity (Tuesday) and report back.

 

Thanks. Since I did the symposer delete and had all the vacuum lines of the engine and exhaust, I'm paranoid about a small leak somewhere. Doubly so since the car went into restricted performance mode on the way home from Easter lunch -- after about 80 miles of driving.

 

@scm This evening I confirmed that the valves are opening somewhere right around 1000RPM, even in normal mode with dynamic exhaust off. I also confirmed that the PCM is what is opening the valves. I was charting data, looking into lean condition codes I'm getting, but I thought to include the PID for the exhaust control and sure enough, you could see it open up for short bursts. So, for now, I'll chalk that up to new behavior of the new code running on my car. Mainly the confirmation that it isn't a vacuum leak is what I was after.