Hi everyone, so In about a month I plan on tearing down my engine to do my HGs’ and will be using this thread for any help I may need with it when that time comes.
As for now I was wondering if you guys have any advice on things I should get while I still have the time or know of any components I should check while I’m in there.


What I have planned for it as of now

• Full Head Gasket Kit ( MLS Gaskets )
• RaceWare Headstuds
• Resurfacing the Cylinder Heads and having the valves checked for leaks
• Supercharger Rebuild/port and all gaskets replaced (Powerhouse UK)
• Replacing Any coolant hose i can’t reach when the engine is reassembled
• Timing chain kit(guides, tensioners, etc.)
• 2.5lb upper pulley

I was thinking about getting new fuel injectors but all I can find is refurbished so I’ll leave that on hold until I get more info.



For the future I plan on getting a 3.5lb crank pulley. I’ve been told I should only do one or the other, but I’m looking for more low/mid range power. Should I go ahead and do both or heed that warning?



Anthony

To save others from wrecking their brains, what the HG's are...: It's the head gaskets...

Fuel injectors: Have a look at aliexpress.com! It's amazing, what you can find there. I can find fuel injectors there with the keyword "fuel injector Jaguar X308". New ones - obviously.
You would have to have a closer look at what exactly they are listing there - if the injectors LOOK like yours and if the P/N is the same...

Your job sounds massive. Plus it is for a supercharged X308!
I have neither a supercharger, nor VVT, nor did I "dig" that deep, but maybe you can find something useful in my DIY guide reg. timing chain swap:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...e-swap-266724/

One very worthy but time consuming job while you are in there is rewrapping your wiring harnesses if needed. On my 01 the original nasty plastic tape was cracked and flaking off in some areas.

Don't use insulating tape, it won't last. I used Tesa 51036 PV01 cloth tape with excellent results. I also replaced the spiral plastic trunking and a few broken / suspect connectors, all the connectors are available, they have an ID number on them and a little googling will list them from an oem supplier - Jaguar didn't make their own connectors.

While not related to your planned work it adds that finishing touch and durability to your otherwise ugly engine bay wiring.

Yes, re-wrapping the harness/wiring loom is a good idea. I do that on my Jags even without engine removal - most sections are accessible.
And yes; Not insulation tape, but heat-resistant cloth tape, which you can get that very cheap online on aliexpress and temu.

I would get a complete valve job along with new valve springs. 10 years ago when I had 232k miles on my 98’ XJR (still runs great with 285k miles) when I replaced the head gaskets, the springs were so tired and shorter than new ones. I got them from ford at that time because of the thunderbird having an AJ engine.

I personally wouldn’t go any smaller than the 1.5 pound blower pulley. The 2.5 pound pulley is just so small and the bearing that is under that pulley has very little aluminum surrounding it. Not only that, you could more than likely experience belt slippage at some point. I have the 1.5 pound powerhouse stainless steel pulley, upgraded idler and tensioner pulleys for the S/C and I’m running the 4.2 S/C harmonic balancer from an 08’ XFR and I have plenty of power. Of course I have the supporting mods to go with it but, I would just say to really think about that tiny pulley not being the best decision. It’s your car though. ✌🏼

Will definitely look into that website, thank you.
I’ve also looked over your post in the past and I will be using it when I start taking it apart.

Will be adding this to this list of things to do! Thank you.

I suppose I have to test my luck with it as I preemptively bought the 2.5lb pulley. If the bearings do go bad, I’ll have it changed to a 1.5.

As for Belt slippage, what exactly is the “upgraded” tensioner and idler pulley? If I recall I do remember seeing a post about. I’ll try to find it again.

Hi everyone, I’ll use this thread for any further questions I may have about my car while doing this job.

As the title suggest I have a few questions about how my timing looks.

At first I was going in expecting broken tensioners and whatnot, but to my surprise they were all in perfect condition except for one, the Passenger side Main Tensioner.





Driver Side

Not much to say about Driver Side, everything looks and went perfect on this end.


Passenger Side (concerning side)

Passenger Side Main Chain felt a bit loose(can see the slack where the top chain guide is)

When taking off Both intake and exhaust timing sprockets on passenger side (10mm hex bolts) the cams would move a few millimeters when I applied torque. This was WITH the cam locks in place.
I decided to ignore the movement and proceeded to take them off, while I was doing that it seemed like the sprockets were jumping?? The camshafts stayed in place but the sprockets had definitely moved a few teeth. (The driver side did not have any of these problems)

Passenger Side Main Tensioner

You do have the locking tool for the crankshaft in place also?
I would highly recommend the lower bigger pulley, instead of the upper smaller.
Both will often just give you high intake temperature and not so much more power
I bought mine from Powehouse in UK and machined the dampener my self. Its made of stainless steel and comes with a new and longer belt
It gave my XKR a very strong midrange

That passenger side hydraulic tensioner has definitely failed. No matter as you’re replacing all that anyways.

Guides That Have Tensioner:
In the first picture, the collar of the new guide (red) is about double the size of the old one (blue).
In the second picture with both of them stacked, you can see the new one is also about an inch longer.


Guides Without Tensioner:
I noticed that the holes are reversed on the new one compared to the old ones.
Aswell with them being longer approximately 1-2inches.



Are these normal things to have on the new ones?

Do the guides have a certain side they need to be on? As far as I can tell they don’t have a Left or Right mark.

I noticed that the head gasket I had taken off the blocks were blocking what seem to be coolant passages. So I checked the new MLS gasket and it also blocks these passages.

Is this normal or do I have/had the wrong gaskets?

the guides look wrong because they are, most of us slap them together like that because it’s cheaper. don’t think too much about it

the roller chain cars have metal reinforced plastic guides the silent chain cars have metal guides with plastic slippers

Ah ok, so I’d be fine using these guides?

I might have missed this if it was mentioned above, but you need to remove the oil pan so you can clean it out. In one of your pictures you show that the old guide is about an inch shorter than the new guide. The missing chunk is likely down in your oil pan. There might be other pieces in there too. When I replaced my timing chains, tensioners, and guides, chunks and pieces were missing from the tensioners and guides, and all of the pieces were in the oil pan. I got very lucky that I did the job when I did. My point is that there are probably chunks of plastic in your oil pan that you'll want to clean out.

Just a thought.

And very possible that there’s some up inside the oil pickup.

Forgot to ask this when I took it off but, this was the only gasket(i don’t know name)that had any bad oil intrusion.

Should I replace it or just clean it up and re use it?

Info for you.

You should find and read EVERY TSB Jaguar issued and you would be amazed at the things that were done (or not done) to your car in the past.

I would definitely replace those. Since you mentioned “oil intrusion”, I’m going to highly suggest getting an oil catch can setup. It will help minimize further oil intrusion. I think every internal combustion engine on the planet should be mandatory to have a fully functioning one on it.

My catch can has been in for about 3 yrs, I prefer a clean finish so I used Gates power grip clamps, but you can use screw clamps if your good with it. This is the one I have... ....it says unavailable, but there are many that are similar just check the size measurements. Mine also came with (2) sets of hose mount sizes for the can (I used the larger) and I got the hose from Autozone.

This is my second cleaning, the first time I only emptied the can there wasn't much residue after about 7-8 months. After about the next 18-20 months this is what I had. Now you can clean the wool if you want, but why when a 3 pack of no soap (key note) Scotch-Brite steel wool ***** from Amazon is $1.81. Anyways, anyone wanting to know how much residue is prevented from getting into our 4.0L SC motors, here ya go. It is a water vapor oil mix and this won't be ruining the rotors in the SC or getting the the valves. I guess you could say it won't be coating the catalytic converters either.







I forgot to add, mounting it low and using gravity was to also let the hose drain more efficiently and not create any build up.

Thank you I’ll definitely be buying these.

As for the catch can, I have decided to purchase one and it should be here within the week.