Been a few years since I was on here. I used to have a 1998 black/tan XJR I really liked. Been through a few AMGs, couple Audi RS and S cars and other rides but always loved my XJR. Was the only car I ever owned that everyone loved. There were various haters for my other cars. I would get the Ferrari spit on, the AMGs just seemed to make people mad, my Cobras pissed off Chevy guys, my Vettes pissed off Ford guys etc etc. The Jag though, everyone smiles, waves, gives a thumbs up or comes over to give a compliment.
I wasnt out to buy one. At noon I had no intention of buying any car that day. I ran across an ad for a 2002 in Onyx Gray Pearl with only 54k miles and looked great and was a stupid low price. Still I wasnt trying to buy it but called the guy anyway. He was about an hour away so I said I would try and make time to see it. He offered to bring it to me at my shop so I said okay. Got it in the air and was amazed at its condition. I could see it needed new CATS shocks and some sway links but thats it. 2 owner car, always garage kept and AMAZING service history. In the last 800 miles it had: New batter, tune up, tires, brakes, trans service, brake flush, coolant flush, rear end fluid service, PS fluid service, fuel injection service, valve cover gaskets and oil pan gasket and all new filters plus an oil change (that he did again just 50 miles ago). Car had all manuals and window sticker. I still wasnt trying to really buy it so shot a stupid offer. He accepted and by 3PM I was once again a Jag owner. lol
Of course the next day the CATS failed and the car couldnt be driven without the nose falling on its face. So I ordered new OEM Sports CATS shocks, mounts, bump stops and sway links. Since over the last 3 years the car only saw 800 miles I also treated the tank and did another fuel filter. While I was in there I replaced the HVAC screen bulbs and ordered a new J gate bezel since mine is really cracked. I also removed the rear mufflers because I liked the tone from my last one. I ceramic tinted the windows and tomorrow it gets a full detail with a ceramic coating. I also had my PDR guy come out and remove every last ding. Car does not have a single chip, scratch or ding now. I will be ordering the Mina intake, filter and pulley soon.
I am simply in love with the car. I was already offered double what I paid but wife said to keep it so I will. Love to drive it and its the best condition one I have ever seen in person and I have probably 12 customers with X308s.

So without further adu, here are some shots of my new toy.

 

Absolutely gorgeous...what a find...and welcome back.

....are those Goodyear Eagles? I just took mine off about a year ago, ... ....they just didn't work like the Michelin Pilot Super Sports I went back to. Had her sideways a couple times

I do believe that beautiful lady needs to be posted here... https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ictures-52060/

 

Thanks and they are Goodyears. I hate them. Terrible tires. They are 3 years old but only have 1000 miles on them. I will be yanking them off soon though and replace with Michelin PS4s. Driving in the rain is a joke. After I bump another 50hp they will be utterly useless. lol
Thank you though!

 

Sharp ! I too am a Michelin X308 club member lol.

 

Extremely nice LaserSVT !!!

 

great colour clean interior 👍

 

Paint is fantastic. Looks like a brand new car!

 

Ugh, went to re-balance the tires today and found 3 of the center caps were broken and glued in place. No big deal, only was $35 for a 4 pack of them. But one wheel has a very slight bend. Since they all have an inch or so of curb rash guess I will send them off to be blasted, straightened and powder-coated again.
Kinda thinking Anthracite.

 

Got the new center caps in so thats all good. I also went ahead and replaced the HVAC bulbs and Sport button bulb. Was sick of that cracked j gate and ugly knob so i swapped them out too.

 

Oh and fresh detail and ceramic treatment.

 

Sploosh!

 

[QUOTE=LaserSVT;2074643]Got the new center caps in so thats all good. I also went ahead and replaced the HVAC bulbs and Sport button bulb. Was sick of that cracked j gate and ugly knob so i swapped them out too.

How did the bulb change out go? Did you do the grain o wheat with blue cap?

ltd

 

Bulb change was easy. I had a Lincoln Mark VIII cluster on the shelf and the bulbs are nearly identical. Just swapped the blue boots over and all was good.

 

Beautiful car!
Congratulations on the purchase.

 

Now that the first coating of ceramic didnt heal well I had the whole car redone and used a higher end ceramic coating. Car seems to love it! Also loving the Michelin tires.

 

I recently bought a one owner, 80K, California version of this exact Jag except with chrome wheels. Love it so far and it gets a lot of eyeballs from all ages.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is this ceramic coating you speak of? I have not heard of that for tinting or exterior coating.

I'm also interested in some performance upgrades such as the Mina offerings mentioned. Haven't been able to track down any brake system upgrades though. Anyone know of any?

 

Did you buy that one that was like 14K? As for ceramic coating, look up youtube videos. Cant explain it better than they can.

 

For the Hokie and somewhat of a thread highjack, for the brakes, the standard upgrade is to find a rare set of Silverstone ones usually found on XKR's....they are a direct bolt on, but some dust pan modification is required. There are other ways, do a search, top right of every page here.

For power performance, there are some select members who have paid the cost for creating and finding these. Again, do a search, most of those thread mods are from around 2011-16, folks like Waterdragon, avos (especially avos and JgaXkr), JgaXkr XJR-99 just to name a few. You won't exactly find a direct thread saying how to do things, they keep stuff somewhat under hat in their little click unless you know exactly what your doing. But the threads are there for you to check out their results.

 

I am aware of what mods there are and how to do them. Also aware of the brakes but the only set I see currently are $1500 for some beat up fronts. I probably wouldnt do that since I just dropped a grand on new Michelins and would need the Silverstone/X100 wheels to make them fit.
Already did exhaust, just going to do pulley 9upper) intake and larger heat exchanger and Benz pump. Call it a day. Should be good for 360ish RWHP

 

I am just going to use this as my car progression thread since I love the car and plan on keeping it and making it better.

Car gave my alignment guy an odd code a few weeks back for both banks rich. Few days latter it did it to me as well. Only common issue to make it happen was the car sitting at idle for 10+ minutes with the AC on. I checked the voltage and sure enough at idle the car was only making 11.9X volts. It would creep to 12.8 if I turned off the AC. I knew that wasnt going to do and figured that would make the injectors not atomize properly nor give me full spark hence the rich code. I had stopped letting it idle for any period and havent seen the code in 2 weeks so was 90% sure that was my issue. I also decided to test the battery and even though its only 1.5 years old its resting voltage would be anywhere from 12.02-12.2 volts. Again, knew it wasnt proper voltage. So today I installed a new Continental Platinum series battery and a new OEM Denso alternator. Now with lights and AC on the idle voltage is 14.05 and goes to 14.4 with everything off or if at 1000+ RPMs. Car seems happier now.
Alas when I removed the blower belt and tensioner I saw its time for a new belt (little fray on the edge) and the tensioner pulley makes noise. No slop and spins forever but you can hear it so I know thats going out. I have a new belt and tensioner on the way from Continental and figured i will swap them next week when i install the smaller supercharger pulley and the Mina intake kit.

I have also removed the terrible headlights and fog lights for some nice CREE lights. Now i can see at night and it kinda updates the car a tad.

Oh yeah, also had some insomnia and ended up doing sleep walk online shopping and scored a new 3 point rear brace for stupid cheap. I figured for $125 I would see if it actually does anything. I was looking at them before but didnt wanna gamble on a $280 part not doing anything.

So really all I have left to do is get a new interior mirror so the auto lights work again, replace the door speakers with some killer Stereo integrity TM65s and find a couple wood trim parts (driver door, passenger front window switch bezel and passenger airbag). Also gotta replace the driver door speaker grill and find a good driver side floor mat since my anchor point is torn and I always push it under the dang gas pedal. I am also really debating on getting the Benz IC pump and the larger intercooler heat exchanger.

So nothing too much to do. Shes performing excellent on the new Michelin tires and just been a great car.