I pulled the SC off of my 2011 XFR yesterday afternoon. I mention it because I'm used to doing all of my work by myself, so after reading all of the forum threads, I was a little worried about whether I'd need to recruit a friend and/or or create/buy a lifting mechanism, etc. Most of my friends aren't mechanically inclined, so I'd be more worried that they'd hurt more than they helped. I should probably also get around to buying an engine hoist, as it definitely would've come in handy over the years (engine mounts, etc.), but I didn't have time to go get one before taking my son to soccer practice, so I improvised. Luckily, I was able to get the SC off pretty easily by using some leverage up front, and wanted to post the way I did it, in case it helps others.

At first I thought about using one of my reversible clamps as a spreader between the SC and engine, but I didn't have any that would fit in that small of a space. Then, I thought about repurposing a screw or wedge type brake pad spreader or something else like that, but it ultimately made sense to me that I could probably just lever the SC off of the engine with the right combination of simpler tools, which is what I did. Because I didn't want to hurt the engine block or damage the lip on the crankshaft front seal, I found my rubber mallet which fit into the space perfectly, and because it was round, it wouldn't even contact the crank seal. Then, I pulled a small block of wood (pine 2x4 - soft wood, so it wouldn't damage anything, either) from my miter saw table to put on top of the rubber mallet and take up some space. Lastly, I wedged the rubber handle of my 4 lb. mini-sledge between the block of wood and the SC, and put some decent weight on the "bangy-side" of my mini sledge. I had to bounce on it a little, but nothing too crazy, as I didn't want to risk rocking my car off of the jack stands or damaging the SC. I'm sure anything long/strong enough wedged in there would work as a lever, even if you had to put a piece of rubber or thick fabric between the lever and the SC. Same goes for the rubber mallet on the bottom and block of wood.

With my combination of simple tools, the front end of the SC lifted up pretty well (about 1/2" - 1" initially), and I was then able to gently rock & lift the SC enough to get the back end up, as well. All in all, just getting the SC to release from the engine only took about ten minutes.

The REAL (and I mean HUGE) pain in the a$$ for me was disconnecting everything at the back of the SC, so I could completely remove it. I mean what in the absolute hell is wrong with the Jaguar engineers to design it like that???!!! Whatever. I wasn't sure exactly which parts I was supposed to take off prior to SC removal because the workshop manual sucks and most pictures from the forum were a little confusing (at least to me), so I basically removed anything I could get my hands and/or torx bit on. Just that part probably took me almost an hour (keeping in mind that a lot of other stuff had already been removed from that area for various reasons). After the symposer and other wires, tubes, etc. were disconnected, it was pretty easy to just lift the SC straight off and out.

The only things I know I broke for sure were the dinky plastic vacuum tube on the symposer (LR Part #: 12a188, thanks to @bigdhenderson for finding it on another thread - it snapped with hardly any movement/force on it) and the two clips which hold that stupidly-placed hose to the bottom of the SC (each clip broke into multiple pieces when I gently pulled open the release tab with a flat plastic trim remover, as you're meant to). Go figure - more dinky pieces of plastic shattered like glass on my older Jag. There needs to be a meme for this. Regardless, the point is that they didn't break because of my approach to SC removal, they're super cheap, and I'll probably just leave the symposer off permanently.

Anyway, I was so happy that I got it off by myself that I even made my wife come into the garage to take a picture of me. She was so confused and asked why I'd ever want a picture of myself looking like that. She clearly didn't get it. Ha-ha!

Next up will be the SC de-snouting.

Pix of removal technique below:


Above pic: Old rubber mallet head placed on engine block, no pressure contact with crankshaft front seal while levering above it


Above pic: Mallet, wood block, and mini-sledge (lever) underneath where the SC would be


Above pic: SC go bye-bye (ignore the beer can - never drink while working on machinery )


Above pic: Broken vacuum tube on stupid symposer


Above pic: supercharger removal conqueror

 

Good stuff. If i don’t want to put the symposer back I just plug the holes?

 

At a basic level, that's what I understand. Check out TheRock88's post on the symposer on the F-Type board. I think there's also one from BigDHenderson somewhere. I might be getting those names wrong, but a quick Google search will turn them up. When/if I do mine, I'll document it.

 

NICE ! Great lateral thinking and problem solving skills for sure. I'll give this a try when I do mine

 

Great write up. I am considering doing mine and this gives me a little more motivation. Fortunately I have an engine hoist so that should help.

 

I had the same break in my symposer. I added some hose and secured it with worm gear hose clamps.

 

I'm going to secure mine with some trash bags.