I know the molds are ridiculous, but I'm pretty sure that you will have plenty of potential market if you can duplicate the trim pieces that Jag sells and offer them in CF at a significant reduction in price.

The engine cover will appeal to a number of folks I'm sure, but I think the larger market will be in the external trim pieces like mirror covers, hood and side vent covers, roll bar covers, front splitters, rocker skirts, rear diffuser, etc. I believe most of those pieces are common across the various model lines too, except the hood vents, which differ on the AWD vs RWD models.

 

Engine cover in CF??? I have yet to open my hood and ive owned the car for over 2 months!!!!!!

 

I think this is probably more important for folks who show their cars or otherwise have reason for people to be looking under the hood more often.

I open my hood at least weekly, but I'm the only one looking in there so I don't need it to be fancy.

 

What are you checking?

 

For me, until the lease is up on my BMW, I'm mainly driving the F-Type on the weekends. So I keep the car on a battery tender during the week to be safe. I generally open the hood on Fridays to remove and on Sundays to reconnect the battery tender.

 

Merlin, you might want to consider hooking your BT up like this:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...harger-140038/

See picture and description in post #3. It's a lot more convenient and takes less than 10 minutes.

 

Yeah, I've been meaning to do that, but it works fine using the charging blocks in the engine bay too (charges both batteries), and doesn't turn the trunk light on.

I'll wire up the charging harness at some point... well once I find where in the garage I put that harness anyway. In the mean time it gives me a good reason to look at the engine now and again.

Oh, I also found a Jag service bulletin showing how to install the old battery charging kit, which uses the same install points, and shows where the recommended point is for the charging lead...

Battery_Charging_Kit.pdf

 

I think you are being paranoid. You can definitely leave the car parked idle for 2-3 weeks no problem.

 

Yes, those were the instructions I (and others) used to install the BT. The CTEK manufacturered unit Jaguar used to sell (no longer available) had a different charging lead, and the BT lead won't reach that location. You just leave the pigtail sticking out between the floor tray seams at the rear-most point in the trunk. It's an easier to reach location, anyway.

BTW, it was more important to wire a 14-15 that way if you wanted to keep the 2nd battery (for eco-mode) charged. The under hood charging point wouldn't do that, but it's my understanding that the 16s no longer have the 2nd battery.

 

True enough. It isn't a big deal to me though, and it gives me a little extra peace of mind. Particularly if I end up not driving it for longer than a week at a time.

 

I hadn't heard that there is no 2nd battery in the 16s. My car still has eco mode so I assumed I did. I used the engine charging posts as according to what I read online, per Jaguar UK, using the engine charging points with a battery tender would charge both batteries as they effectively share the same wiring as the taps in the trunk. However, if my car doesn't have the 2nd battery, it doesn't much matter.

 

I followed up with tooling and seems its sensible to make good quality tools from billet vs tooling board for these parts as there will be this much interest.

I'll start with the covers in photo (possibly engine cover) and then move onto the other external parts as you guys request. Give me a few weeks to design the molds and setup a company for the mill work.

Simultaneously, I'm working on the induction tubing in carbon, both the 4.2 and 5.0. I'm wrapping up the aluminum design for the 4.2 today hopefully, and will gather some data to move forward with a carbon mold.


Regards,
Derek Fricke

 

When you get the point of doing external pieces, I'll be eager to see pricing and how it comes out!

Hopefully, you're looking at 2x2 twill weave carbon fiber in the process you are planning. The generic fiber look doesn't really compare (IMO anyway.) I would also hope you'll be using a gloss coating similar to the OEM look.

Thanks!

 

Foosh, where is your 2nd battery? I'll see if I have one.

 

See the new thread. I don't want to hijack FrickenJag's thread any more than we already have.

 

Just a heads up. Working on getting these molds made asap. I'll be ordering a variety of carbons to try out and see which ones can match the factory weaves. The first samples I will possibly manual mill them, then once fitment is nice I'll follow up with a CNC op.

 

Just a quick update. I met with the engineer lead at NASCAR's Composites (Carbon) Facility yesterday. They have a variety of pre-preg carbon material to work with. I should be able to have the tooling made up for the three-under bonnet pieces rather quickly. For perfectly replicated parts in carbon with high quality molds, ball-park will be around 400-600$ per piece depending on size. In large quantities as package deals, I can get even better pricing. Adding to that, this is top-notch 2K carbon. Hendricks relationship with Dupont has resulted in some amazing work in carbon fiber.

Luckily through engineering with NASCAR seat/safety development with ISP , I've met some great guys that are willing to help us out in the Jag market. If all goes well I plan on reverse engineering a majority of the parts as well as engineering new functional splitter/diffuser options for F-type/XKR.

I'm negotiating the scanning now, so I can design the molds. I will pull the trigger on the scanning by Friday.

Is there a way to have a Poll on who is interested?

Getting a top-notch facility to fit these into their schedule is tough. Getting a feel for how many in a production run to do, would be advantageous.

Certainly, give input on what options you guys would like to see on the carbon side and I can move forward from there as well.


Regards,
Derek Fricke

 

At that price range I would be interested.
I'd be very interested in a Project7 style rear diffuser!!! And probable the Whole Project7 aero kit.

 

I believe there is a way to create a poll when you start a new thread.

In the meantime, you can count me as interested in some of the exterior parts (hood vents, side vents, rollbar covers, and possibly the interior console), depending on price and assuming on how close it looks and fits to the OEM parts. I might also consider some of the other parts (side skirts, front splitter, rear diffuser, and engine parts) if the pricing is good enough. My mod budget is pretty depleted for the next few months given I'm still paying for the lease on my old car right now, but I should be able to start making more purchases later in the year.

However, based on the preliminary pricing you show, it looks like these might be a good deal for the larger parts (engine cover, side skirts, diffuser, etc.) but would be a poor price for the smaller pieces like the mirror covers or hood and side vents. As a point of comparison, I picked up a pair of aftermarket CF mirror caps for my F-Type for $175. Granted they ended up being not really a perfect fit and cover the existing mirrors rather than replace them, but they are the same size and look just like the OEM versions.

If you can meet all the following, I'd be happy to jump in on this deal for some of the pieces.

1. Price (at least 25% less than OEM)
2. OEM look (2x2 twill carbon weave, gloss finish for exterior parts, matte for interior parts)
3. Fit & Finish (needs to be a perfect replacement for OEM with no weird gaps or overhangs, and should snap into the OEM sockets.)

 

Thanks a lot Merlin and Wayne.

I should be able to match the factory weave with the variety that's on hand at the race facility. I'll have to grab a few of the factory parts and match it up. If anyone has any good quality photos of the exterior parts, that would be helpful.

On the price side, smaller components like the mirror covers, those will certainly be lower in price since there is less carbon and smaller molds. I'd like to keep to your point of using factory style clips in order to mount everything, rather than 3m tape. Obviously when comparing a cover vs actual replacement cost has an impact. As we move along with everything, I can get "ballpark" figures depending on how complex the mold process is, prior to moving forward. This way I'm making the parts you guys want at fair prices.
Everything will be CNC'd from a fixture, so fitment will be dead of to factory spec without any concern.

I'll do some investigating on the Project7 diffuser. If I can scan it, I can make it. Just a matter of getting up close to one. Otherwise I'm able to scan the V6/V8 rears and design one that closely resembles the Project7, and possibly functions even better.