Hello

I'm new to the forum and to these cars but back in August this year I bought myself an X350 (more recently being told its actually and X356, Ill get into that later)

I think first a bit of history. I am a petrol head, and have been for some time. My whole life I've messed with cars and I'm lucky enough to have got into automotive engineering and currently work in the Jaguar Landrover SVO powertrain division and the lead integration engineer (feel very lucky to be here). Been in this department almost 3 years but in JLR for now 6.5years.

Since joining the company I've fallen more in love with the brand and so for the last year I have been on the casual look out for an XJ with the older shape design ie X300/X308. My search criteria was that it should be black but must be a supercharged V8 version and ideally with all black leather but cream would be considered. My budget was small as I only wanted a fun run around but the more I looked the more I realized that I wanted to get an X350 and so budget increased to the point that I just had to find the "right one" so my budget grew significantly.

That brings us up to August, where I found the below beauty. An X350/X356 XJR Portfolio with Black paintwork, ivory leather inter and bells and whistles.

The car was found on ebay and was only an hour or so from my house so I threw my girlfriend in the car and we went to go check it out.

She (the car) was at the very top of my budget but I had fallen in love and knew that she had to come home with me no matter what. However what will become apparent, love is blind so I did miss a few/many things throughout the inspection and test drive.

So I am now a proud owner of the car and learnt afterwards that she is more special than I knew, being shes a portfolio. For those not in the know (like me back then). The portfolio is the jaguar last "swan song", essentially a car with all the good stuff from the model thrown at it and then some to celebrate the car as is was to be phased out....only to then be replaced by the X358 which is pretty much the same car with some minor tweaks, anyway I digress.

So the portfolio came with premium stereo, hands free phone, touch screen HMI, heated front seats, aluminium dash insert, cruise control, xenon main lights, auto wiper and lights, auto dim mirrors, larger exhaust tips, specific calisto 20" 5 spoke wheels (I believe originally chromed), unique wing vents (functional too I may add!). And most importantly to me, the 4.2 SC engine...mmmm

Mine is witht he metallic midnight black paint ( I think the only colour offering for portfolios?) and ivory leather interiors (black was also on offer from the dealer), but I find the colour combo I have to be perfect for me.

There are probably a number of other features Ive missed but you get the idea. In the uk, only 104 were ever registered on the UK road and only only 69 registered on the road (other sorn or scrapped) so truly "rare" .

Here are some snaps from the advert

 

Powerful, sexy, and fast, she's a beauty!

I'm pretty sure that's a painted/clearcoat finish on the wheels.

 

So just like any rose tinted activity, the next few hours I had the sobering realization that I had an expensive car to maintain on my drive that needed to have some minor attention before I could do what I had planned to do for so long. Here she is when I got her home




Shortly followed by a short trip to Caffeine and Machine to show off, I mean get out of the house.





Initial work was to repair the washer pump, a straightforward job and allowed me to also route the lines per JLR vs the previous poor work carried out. Whilst at it I also replaced a damaged bumper reflector only then to wrap them all in chrome vinyl.






Once the service parts arrived I gave her a full service just for good measure, including, oil,, oil filter, pollen and fuel filter, spark plugs, coolant.

I also replaced the cracked/damaged passenger wing mirror that also didn't fold in for another used but good condition version so now have both mirrors folding in.

Again, another simple job was to fix the intermittent key remote which was down to gunk building up in the micro switch. A liberal spray with electrical cleaner and some regular pressing of the switch soon fixed that. So I now have two fully functional remotes as well as the valet key. Yippee

The sharp eyed of you may have noticed that the reg on the car had changed, The seller had his own private plate on and wanted extra for it. I saw no benefit for having that reg so decided to take the cars original number and get my own private plate. So now she's Y80 XJR, why? Well, I was born in the Year 80, and its an XJR.



A simple but relatively effective job was to replace all the bulbs with bright white leds and a re-colour of the boot carpet to bring the car up to a more modern feel. Along with a compulsory R badge



Things from here on get a little more extreme and expensive...

 

Yes, mine at some point were re-furbished and are more the typical aluminium wheel colour. I am contemplating a redo in chrome, but will see.

 

Beautiful car

 

Thanks Wingrider

This is how it looked when the missus picked me up from the airport. Two beautiful ladies, I'm so lucky

Plan before ever getting the car was to really take advantage of the V8 SC engine, ie all the noise. So out with the old, in with the not as old.



I couldn't figure out how to upload a video so here's the link on
Some of you may notice that the exhaust has two additional outlets just under the car. I was lucky enough to obtain a used "Caldoofy" exhaust with outlets ready for electronic butterfly valves to be fitted. The above was before I fitted these and it sounds great but isn't good for daily use, however with the valves fitted and closed the car is much more sedate with a slightly more notable tone vs the original system.

Don't worry, the original exhaust is being store as they are Portfolio specific and also obsolete. When it comes to selling on, I will refit the original or offer this as part of the sale.

On the continuation of performance and sound I also obtained a new "Caldoofy" intake pipe. A more notable whine from the SC as well as a slight throttle response improvement. Am also looking into a Range Rover rear intake upgrade.



Slightly embarrassed about the engine bay being dirty.

After waiting around for a window tint company to carry some work and being messed around I found a local and cheaper company that could tint my car the same day of me calling them. I was a little anxious due to them being cheaper and having a free slot but actually turned out to be a great outcome as they did a fantastic job. If you are in the Warwickshire area, give Pro-tint in Leamington Spa a call.

 

So since getting the car I wanted to add some additional luxury. Oddly, the portfolio didn't come with rear passenger tv screens (not 4 zone climate), maybe due to it being an SWB platform?

Anyway, my plan was to fit some tablets to the headrests, have wireless headphones and hard disk drive. Plus I had to upgrade the main infotainment unit. So upfront I now have the Jagdroid and rears I have 2 10" tablets all of which can access the local hard drive wireless. I am going to see if I can stream the rear tablets of a shared front drive so need to do some experimenting with apps etc



When I bought the car I wasn't a fan of the 5 spoke Calisto's so when on the mooch for some replacements and found I really liked the sepang design. I managed to source a set XKR wheels with tyres but after buying realized that the rears are wider than the fronts and I wanted even set all round, so these quickly went back on for sale and I was fortunate enough to find some already re-furbed XJ Sepangs. Here are the wheels when I just got them


Here they are, fitted to the car with 4 new Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport 255/35 R20 Y, which have great reviews. Still bedding them in but already feel much more planted that the old tyres on the Calisto's (bold and past their best)

Just in time for her first MOT with me


To which she passed with flying colours and came with the compliment that she is the cleanest XJ they have ever worked on.

During lunch, I also swapped out the bulbs in the wing mirror to led versions. So I think that now all the white lights are now LED. Brings a great modern touch.






Sadly, I have a coolant leak, going into a specialist to check but recon its the valley hose. SC off job. As a precaution I've got myself a rebuild and upgraded unit. More details to come.

 

Hey up Sam, think i have seen some of your posts on FB, on a similar trip to you with the mods.
This is me in Yorkshire


I have the RR intake,i did a lot of smoothing of the transitions and reshaped/profiled it to match the throttle body



Not been to the Dyno with it yet but made some gains (9bhp) with some other intake mods and the Caldoofy pipe.

 

Lovely example too. What wheels are they on yours?

Right, so I feel a little bit lost as the Jag is in the garage. Just before it did go it I managed to install a rear view camera but when routing the wiring I found that a small piece of trim was missing from the rear seats. Its an item that likely no one will ever know but my OCD made me get it.

Basically its a piece of plastic to cover the rear seat hook and avoid the slack. Without it the rear seat can move a little leading to a knocking sound if you grab and move....again unlikley noticed by anyone. I think it also avoids you fitting the seat back incorrectly (which I did and took a lot of cursing to sort out). Here is the part (#1)




Whilst the back seat was down I also took out the plate that separates the cabin to the boot. I am wanting to fit a door/hatch but haven't found a suitable solution yet. The correct part for these cars is something like £300+ which I'm not prepare to pay. I may just put some rubber trim around the edge and somehow attach fabric to cover the hole when the arm rest is down.

So yes, shes at the garage. Having spent a fortune on parts shes going in for a lung transplant and coolant fix. Here is her donor..

A low mileage rebuilt, ported and pulley'd (10%) SC



Even with the low mileage ~ 5k miles the oil was pretty nasty so I put some fresh fluid in.


Also fitting new pulley belt, water pump and other pulley/tensioner whilst shes under the knife.

This is her state when I dropped the bits off to the garage..


Looks like the LHS (as seen sat in the car) seal from SC to WCAC is leaking slightly. So all being well with that fixed and along with the upgraded SC I'm thinking this will shift even more (not that its actually needed). Should also cure the annoying squeak the belts have on first start

I'm hoping that is it for a while as my wallet is taking a right pounding.....oooh whats that on google? shiny limited slip diffs, WCAC cooling improvement, RR intake etc etc?? hmm

 

Strong start to ownership going on there, be intrigued to see what the new blower gives you. My wheels are from the newer Xj "Kasuga" gives ma a staggered set up with 10j on the rear, a look i like from years of BMW ownership. Where in the UK are you?

 

I almost did something similar with staggered wheels but wanted to be able to rotate all fours.

Warwickshire, you?

 

Hey man, nice XJR you got there! Also didn't know they made the portfolio edition for the older gen haha (I thought they were only made during the X358 period).
Oh and by the way I'm planning to replace the serpentine belt but there's not much room in the engine bay (lol), how much do you have to remove to access the serpentine belt?

 

The porting on the SC looks suspect. Although many have ported the later model m112 there isnt much if any gain, and the gain is generally by inlet porting. Also having gone through this recently. Change your tensioner pulleys while all apart and id also do a new waterpump (relatively cheap) and the bosche IC pump upgrade. I went with the 010. OH and the dreaded valley hose. And be careful, the plastic bits can be brittle.

 

Well, it all looks very nice, but I hope you still have some money left over to fix the various perennial issues that are bound to come up, like suspension bushes and a few other things. I had two 3 litre petrols, a 2003 Sport and a 2007 Sovereign. The Sovereign was a lot better reflecting the fact it was 4 years into the production so a lot of issues that afflicted early cars had been sorted out. These are lovely cars, and I may go back to one at some point.

 

I really like this color and that shine. Is it ceramic coated? And don't think I have ever seen that color on one here in the states.

 

No ceramic, use a hydro phobic coating from AutoGlym, when its washed it pops.