Not having owned a Jaguar nor a supercharged car before, I'm wondering what the performance upgrade possibilities for a V-8 S will be like. I know that owners of cars like the supercharged Cobras and Lightnings have had pretty inexpensive paths to a lot of added horsepower. Will similar mods be available for the F-Type and in general, what kind of mods can be expected?

 

Well, we already know that the same engine in the stock XKR produces 15 more hp and in the XKRS about 60 more hp, so it shouldn't be too difficult to coax that upgraded power out of it. Putting that horsepower to use will be the challenge.

 

Are those increases strictly due to ECU differences or are there physical parts changes involved?

Agree about putting the HP to use - coming from Vipers I definitely understand that!

 

My guess is that the engine was detuned to 495hp because even at that level of performance you can't keep from lighting up the tires in the first 5 gears. More power wouldn't increase performance without more traction. If I had a crystal ball, I'd bet we'll see a 4 wheel drive version within a year or so, and with that feature an increased performance version of the engine. I don't see how you can harness 550-600hp in as small a car as this without AWD underneath.

 

I think it should be do-able. This car is the same size as a Viper with rear tires almost as wide and another couple hundred pounds to gold them down, not to mention the fact that the F-type has traction management and an active diff. The key, as you imply, will be the tires.

An AWD setup on this car would be killer.

 

The differences are not physical, but electronic, at least if the supercharged versions of the 5.0 XK, XJ and XF engines are any indication. I'd be surprised if ECU Tuning Group, for example, didn't soon offer an ECU flash and pulley for this car, as they have for the supercharged 5.0 in the other models.

Using that power to do more than burn rubber is a different question, as noted. Especially right off the line.

 

Bruce,
I just noticed in your sig that your XKR has the ETG mod. Did I miss your post about this?

Mike

 

Nope. I have been diligently noting my observations for a report to the Board.

Right now, I have a pretty good sense of the deltas for everything but sustained high rpm, high speed operation.

I need to hit my track for those, really, and it's not "my" car, it's my wife's. A birthday present.

Don't know whether any members here have ever watched the Simpsons, but there's an episode in which Homer gets his wife, Marge, a birthday present of a bowling ball that says "Homer" on it. It's kinda like that

But not quite. So I'm biding my time a bit before I make that ask. Then, if that goes well, I'll get a dyno done Did NOT get one before the tune/pulley, about which the purists among the membership will take great offense, I know, but that's the way it worked this time. I've dynoed every one of my own cars for years, so I believe mightily in them, but on this one I had, and still have, some limitations....

 

Thanks for the info! Interesting. Looks like they have a $2k package for the 5.0L blown Jaguar engine but I couldn't find details on their site regarding increase in HP and TQ. Any ideas what sort of gains they're seeing?

I think getting the power down on the F-Type's rear 295s is doable considering higher HP/TQ numbers have been able to hook up on slightly wider rears (335s, 345s).

As an aside, I haven't been able to find out what the gear ratio of the diff in the V-8 S is - anyone know?

 

Again, if their claims with respect to the XKR and XFR are any indication, they should be able to add about 100 crank hp and maybe close to the same number of ft. lbs of torque.

The thinking is that the ECU flash basically changes the engine into an XKR-S engine, and the pulley adds more.

Jaggs at ECU Tuning Group claims "595 to 605" crank horsepower, and "550 +" ft. lbs out of a flash and pulley on a blown 5.0 XKR. This is figuring 20% drivetrain loss and extrapolating from wheel dynos done by others.

He says if you want more, you can squeeze maybe 15-20 horse more out of a Quicksilver exhaust (which I have not done).

 

Toying with my old supercharged XF, I did find that the reflashed ECU brought me up to the R HP realm. I'm sure that a reflash F-type with a pulley change would do the trick for power. Again, how would you keep it to the ground? My wife is looking at a F-type and I would like to see what goodies would come of it.

 

I still think hooking up will be do-able. Did it with cars making this much HP, less weight and with no traction management.

 

Wish I had a local hook up - I'd love 100 more HP - my insider told me he thought flash would get me to 550

 

Two different kinds of "hook-ups" in the last two posts .

Skip, I had a local shop do the pulley, but if you want to start with just the flash, you don't need anybody local. What you need is a home address that gets mail and a good internet connection. At least for the flash for the ECU Tuning Group. Home Tuning | ECU Tuning Group.

That gets you to 550, they say. I don't know whether it does or whether it doesn't, as I have not dyno'd the car, and I also did the pulley. But that combo sure as heck doesn't slow the car down on the butt dyno

 

Bruce, are you saying just the tune gets you 550 or is that with the tune and pulley? How did you apply the tune, was it via an SCT programmer or the like?