Maybe I'm overreacting but I placed an order 5 days ago and there's no evidence that they have processed my order. They have not responded to my inquiry about the status of my order even though PayPal already pulled the money out of my account. Are they notoriously bad at communicating with customers or is this a one-off situation I'm dealing with?

 

They've went downhill hard & swift as of late.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/o...orders-205211/

 

 

I got a response this morning. Yes, I tried to call as well but only got voicemail. They say it should ship tomorrow. It’s not that big a deal that it will have taken 6 days to ship, I just didn’t like not knowing and not getting responses. Things happen, businesses are subject to the same life interruptions as the rest of us. Now that I know the status all is well.

 

I was gung-ho on getting their jazzy exhaust system upgrade but after waiting 3+ weeks for a response I opted to look elsewhere.

 

It seems they jumped into gear and got my order confirmed and shipped FAST. I don't know if maybe my second message brought to their attention that they hadn't acknowledged my order or if perhaps they monitor this forum and saw my concerns posted on here. Either way they shipped the intake from California Wednesday night and I received it today (Friday) in North Carolina. Not bad.

One end of the intake was bent a little, but it's not in a visible area and it didn't affect my ability to get a good seal during installation so it's not a big deal. Getting it installed so that the hood doesn't hit it is a little challenging, but overall it's a quick and easy installation.

 

I'm a little jealous that you have a black elbow for the throttle body. They used to be (mine was, at least) a bright blue color which really doesn't go well in the engine bay. I just haven't gotten around to order a black replacement elsewhere. Looks good!

 

CharlzO, what has your overall experience been with the intake? I noticed today that it gets quite hot. It soaks up engine bay heat seemingly more than the plastic intake but, it's definitely a more direct and unfettered airflow path than the plastic one, so that's good. Is there a significant temperature difference between aluminum and plastic? Does the better airflow path make up for the possibly warmer intake tube surface temperature?

 

Yup. They are great at ignoring people. Wont shop with them ever again and would not recommend them to anyone. Intake is nice though.

 

Originally, I paired the tube with a K&N filter behind a self-fabricated heat shield that was gasket-sealed to the hood, similar to the Mina shroud. Definitely a noticeable sound increase under load, and a little peppier low-end. After some random lean issues (traced out to broken lines), I had removed the cone filter and went back to the stock air-box with the tube still. I haven't really noticed any soaking issues, even in really hot summer days. I had thought about wrapping it at some point, or even possibly recreating the shape with a carbon fiber sleeve, but haven't gotten around to that yet. Now that I've gotten around to getting my TB replaced, I'm going to swap out a high flow filter into the airbox, and possibly add another routing from the front of the car, to introduce more air in than just from the fender cutout. I just figure that the minimal gain of a cone filter over the airbox with a high flow, is outweighed by the uncertainty of the seal and heat in the engine bay. I know mine puts out an awful lot of heat, and I much rather would have more fresh air.

 

 

I like that, JTsmks,

is that the 3in ID one, model 90CB30?

 

Maybe I'm the outlier here but I installed a Mina cold air intake tube and filter on my 1999 XJR, huge mistake. I decided since I was going to change the timing chains and tensioners and rebuild the supercharger a few performance upgrades would be nice (I also put a 6% pulley on the SC). The car ran great at speed with the new intake and definitely sounded meaner but idled like it was missing a beat. I drove it about 100 miles hoping the ECU would adjust. Even though it threw no codes I ran a more sensitive code reader and got P0107 which I previously got with a leaky full load breather hose. I made sure all the clamps and connections were snug, all vacuum hoses secure and fresh o ring on the dipstick and still rough. The car has 67K and I have made sure their are no vacuum leaks and no oil in the air intake or elbow. The throttle body and butterfly valve were also wiped clean during disassembly.

I ended up re-installing the original air intake and filter and it is much smoother with no noticeable drop in power. It seems like this was a waste of money. Also the fit into the filter box/metal guard was too small for the MAF to comfortably slide through,the full load breather hose is half the diameter of the original and it clearly hits the hood liner when closed. Overall it seems like a poorly engineered kit with minimal gains that the engine does not seem to like. Like I said I could just be the outlier.

 

The ECU can throw a fit when you do upgrades sometimes. Just drive it smooth for a few more days and it should adjust adequately. If it isn't idling correctly, then I would assume that it is not running optimally, even though it seems like it runs alright at higher rpms; thus, the lack in performance you're seeing.

I made my own 3.5" intake and noticed an increase supercharger whine, and a little performance gain.

 

I had no interest in the intake I just wanted the tube. Three reasons:
1) Seemed less prone to vacuum leaks than the stock tube.
2) The stock tube doesn’t seem to have as smooth an air path as the aluminum one.
3) Looks cool!

The stock filter box seems to draw air from the coolest location possible; not sure how the cone filter would draw cooler air.

It idles perfect and drives good since installation, so far. Fuel trims are unchanged which is fine, they were very good.

 

Thank you for the tips. The engine has been thoroughly refreshed with new spark plugs, new hoses and belts, timing chains and tensioners and any accompanying gaskets. There is zero gunk or oil in the intake tubes, throttle body, EGR or supercharger/intercooler. It has no blowby and the compression test was normal. Also has a new intercooler pump. It idled perfectly smooth before the intake and now idles perfectly smooth afterwards, has plenty of power, no hesitation. This is my fourth Jaguar X308 so I would be very surprised if it isn't running optimally. Maybe I didn't give the kit enough time to adjust.

 

Yeah, that code for the MAP that you saw may have something to do with the rough idle. I believe the fuel trims are governed by the MAP sensor in some way, along with the MAF sensor and IAT sensors.

 

The idea is that in the shroud that you would couple it with, it would seal against the closed hood, effectively turning into a replacement "box" that the hole in the fender would still direct cooler air into. It's certain to do a better job that way than without any shroud at all, but I do believe it's inherent nature would still introduce slightly warmer temperatures than the stock sealed airbox. That's part of why I took the cone filter off mine (I do miss the look though) and went back to the factory airbox. A high flow filter is in next, which should be a nice bridge between factory and an open cone.

 

If anyone can tell me the correct part number for the Cobra Head elbow that will connect my throttle body to the Mina intake tube I would be very appreciative. I guess the inner diameter to fit the Mina tube would be 3" but I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know what size end I need for the throttle body.

 

I measured the spare throttle body unit I have on the shelf and ordered the correct size Cobra Head intake elbow. Thanks for the idea. It should arrive next week sometime.

Driving impressions now that I've put about 80 to 100 miles on it with the aluminum intake tube. No large discernible difference in power, it was always very fast anyway. The most noticeable difference to me is the sound of the supercharger. I never used sport mode on the transmission in the past because it sounded like the engine revved too much and I just didn't like it. I noticed with the new intake the supercharger sounds much more prominent, and it doesn't sound "whiny" like before but well.....more cool. Its more of a power sound; an aggressive whirring. Hard to explain. It sounds meaner.

Anyway, with the nicer sound of the supercharger I decided to try sport mode. Much better than before! The engine doesn't sound like it's over-revving now, it sounds more like a sports car engine. The supercharger sounds great and the car is fun to drive now in sport mode. It doesn't sound like I'm "hurting" the car by revving it too much; which was the impression I got before.

I guess it could be breathing better or simply that the acoustics are different with the aluminum and it "sounds" like it's running smoother.