An imbalance in the engine will be felt vehicle wide. A vibration in the shifter has to originate somewhere between the engine and the rear axle.

 

Since the vibration "developed" and then got even more noticeable, I'm still suspecting clutch. Those are symptoms I had with the failing (disintegrating) clutch.

 

I had these vibrations with both 2nd gen and 4th gen (but not 1st gen) clutch. It is possible tech fubared something, but I would think it would have exploded on track by now. I have been living with 4th gen clutch for a few years and at least 10K very hard miles.

I spoke with my indy about the possibility of misalignment between input shaft, he told me that F-type transmission has brackets/rails and installed in a way that makes it exceedingly unlikely. In his opinion there was less than 5% chance that was the issue. He is master mechanic and Jaguar-trained, including F-type specific training when he worked at the Jaguar dealership.

I also was very concerned about these vibrations, but everyone I talked to reassured me this is normal.

 

Just literally got off the phone a few moments ago and the official Jaguar position is, based upon service manager with ZERO manual transmission experience but is what corporate will rely upon, that this is 'normal.' They are offering a whopping $300 certificate for the 'inconvenience' of me having been without my car since roughly the 20th of last month.

They STILL offer no explanation as to why it did not do this when the Gen 1 clutch was replaced and the Gen 4 clutch installed, albeit with the Gen 1 flywheel remaining in place but with a resurfacing. A condition that DID NOT exist with a NEW clutch and that gradually becomes discernible and is getting worse is NOT a normal condition!

Guess it is just as well that Jaguar has no interest in offering new models with a manual...they are doing everything in their power to convince me never to buy from them again.

 

Concur...and while it wasn't a Jaguar product, I have been through a similar situation before where my '91 Miata had the grenade effect that left me with ONLY fourth gear until the box was dropped and replaced. Ive got seat-time experience with catastrophic failure at speed and it wasn't fun...

Making matters worse is that they didn't even bother to speak with my service writer who is perhaps the only person they have left who HAS meaningful seat-time in anything with three pedals...

 

They have a financial interest in trying to persuade people it is normal since they don't have to pay when the failure occurred outside of the warranty period.

 

What you say makes sense in general terms. However, I think you are talking about serious mechanical issues. Difference between blueprinted and stock engine at 2000 RPM isn't significant. Plus, there are engine mounts. I speculate that you put the engine on solid mounts you will also feel it through the body.

In my car, it only makes this vibration in gear. Clutching it instantly stops it. More so, it is more likely to happen when engine braking than when accelerating. I speculate the issue is some weird harmonic off crank, if I ever get around blueprining the engine, I will make sure to come back and post here about this issue.

 

In case of dealerships - absolutely. My indy mechanic, that knows I am "Shut up and take my money" about my F-type has exactly the same opinion. He knows I wouldn't blink at the bill for dropping transmission to investigate this. My old theory was that dealership didn't properly align input shaft when they had transmission out, but my indy thinks that due to the way transmission is installed, it has some kind of guiding rails from what I recall about our conversation, it is very hard to mess it up.

All of this does not mean there isn't an issue, but it did not yet explode on me at the track... so there is a good chance it is fine.

When I had 4th gen clutch put in, my car already had 2nd gen flywheel. I paid for a second flywheel so I had both 4th gen clutch and 2nd gen flywheel as brand new parts. Vibrations were there with 2nd gen clutch and 2nd gen flywheel. Vibrations were there with 4th gen clutch and 2nd gen flywheel. Since then I had many hours on the track, if that was a fatal issue, I think parts would go flying at high rpm downshifting. I do rev-match, but I am by no means perfect with it.

 

I'm like that, but my indy takes some persuading to make me part with my money. The craftsman is worthy of his hire, and I'm happy to pay to keep him in business, since I don't know where else I'd get such good service.