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I finished installing new leather on the front seats of my 2008 xk convert A few wrinkles that I'm pretty sure will lessen with a bit of sunshine, steam gun and if need be a heat gun. I added almost 70 linear inches of 1" foam to build up the cushions and bolsters. For the price ($400.00 for both front - leather) I really can't complain too loud but if I was to do it again I would go with the more accurate ones from Richmond (@$1500) and be done with it,
Now onto the pinpoint testing of my tpms, even though it has been working without issue for the past 3~4 weeks.
Happy New everyone!
wj
I'm coming back on Sunday (18th) around late morning. Taking 192 over to 95 and then south to PSL, If you are going to be around maybe we can meet up somewhere for a coffee?
Today was another Jaguar adventure…I’ve had a slow leak in my left rear tire for a couple of weeks, finally had time to check it out…it seems that I hit a pothole that cracked and bent the wheel. After doing some research, there’s mixed views about repair vs. replace. Since availability of Takoba wheels is slim and expensive I opted for repair. Went to Vibrant Finish in West Chester, PA. The owner, AJ, was very professional, knowledgeable and extremely helpful…highly recommend. Now need to avoid potholes in Pennsylvania…tough to do!
Several months ago I became curious about motor heat soak on my 2012 naturally aspirated X150.
By heat soak, I mean the rise in intake air temperature that occurs when under-bonnet airflow stops.
What I discovered first was that during normal driving — traffic lights, brief stops, and slowdowns — intake air temperature would rise modestly and often stay elevated. Meaningful recovery didn’t really begin until the car reached sustained open-road speeds, where airflow was sufficient for intake temperatures to begin trending down again.
What prompted me to look a little deeper was a failure of one of the factory PA12 plastic coolant tubes — not catastrophic, but enough to make me more attentive to what was happening under the bonnet during heat soak and recovery.
Around the same time, I also noticed that the rubber gasket on the underside of the bonnet does an exceptional job of sealing the perimeter — and contributes to that reassuring thunk when it’s properly closed — which made me think more carefully about where heat can, and can’t, escape after shutdown.
While inspecting the various tubes and pipes with the cosmetic engine cover removed, I began to wonder whether there might be room to install a small fan to help move heat out of the engine compartment. One step led to another, and after a few iterations I ended up designing a simple aluminum plate carrying a squirrel-cage fan (the type commonly used for computer rack cooling) to evacuate hot air downward toward the transmission tunnel.
The fan moves roughly 40 CFM through the engine compartment, drawing air directly from the hot air pocket above the intake manifold.
From there, I focused on testing and tuning rather than adding complexity. Using OBD Fusion, I logged intake air temperature, ambient air temperature, and coolant temperature during ordinary driving — stops, restarts, traffic, and longer open-road runs — and made small adjustments to placement and airflow to see how the system behaved under repeatable conditions. The goal wasn’t peak cooling, but understanding how post-stop heat dissipated and whether the behavior was consistent from drive to drive.
The results so far have been encouraging. In ordinary driving, post-stop intake temperatures recover more consistently once sustained airflow is established. After longer stops, intake air temperature still rises — as expected — but clears more predictably once back on open road.
For context, here’s a photo of the system installed above the intake manifold, onto the mounting posts for the cosmetic cover..
This is very much a work in progress, so questions and comments are welcome.
I think it’s making an already cool cat just a little cooler.
The fan moves roughly 40 CFM through the engine compartment, drawing air directly from the hot air pocket above the intake manifold.
For context, here’s a photo of the system installed above the intake manifold, onto the mounting posts for the cosmetic cover..
This is very much a work in progress, so questions and comments are welcome.
I think it’s making an already cool cat just a little cooler.
Interesting project. Can you create a separate thread on this and include the data from OBD fusion? That's my first input. My second would be to use a Y shaped intake at the firewall, keeping the vanity cover on, followed by the fan then the exit tube. Same concept but with a little more OEM appearance, but still would want to see data, hence the request for a separate thread. Time at idle, ambient temp, coolant temp vs street driving vs hwy driving that sort of thing. My request for a separate thread is so people can find it. Cool idea.
Thanks — I appreciate the thoughtful feedback.I agree that if this grows beyond an owner’s field report, it probably deserves a dedicated thread so the information is easier to find. For the moment, I wanted to start by describing baseline behavior and the motivation behind the experiment before getting too far into charts and comparisons.I have been logging IAT, OAT, and coolant temperature using OBD Fusion across ordinary driving — idle, stop-and-go, and open-road — and I’m continuing to build a consistent set of runs so the data is comparable rather than anecdotal. Once that’s in a state I’m comfortable sharing, I’m happy to post it in a separate thread.I also appreciate the suggestion about a Y-shaped intake and keeping the vanity cover in place. That’s very much in line with the direction I’ve been thinking — OEM appearance, reversible, and minimal intervention — but I wanted to understand the airflow behavior first before locking in packaging.For now this remains a work in progress, but I’ll update once there’s enough repeatable data to make it useful to others. BTW - The centrifugal fan inlet is under the center of the mounting plate, so the exhaust goes to the rear.
Thanks again for the input.
Last edited by DeeDoubleYou; Jan 7, 2026 at 11:31 AM.
Couple week ago now, but finally got around to swapping out the perished boots on the front end, using the Bulgarian boots from one of the threads here. Did the rear years ago and they've held up perfectly, but it was time to do the front. Had a little audience this time around too:
Transmission Pan/Filter Replacement and Fluid Drain & Refill
Today, I serviced the transmission by extracting the fluid, replacing the pan/filter, and then refilling with fresh fluid. As shown in the picture below, at 48,618 miles there was some metallic sludge on the magnets inside the pan. Glad that's now eliminated.
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The old fluid was caramel colored.
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Used a pneumatic extractor/filler which made the job easier. The extractor likely made it less messy since I was able to remove all but about one-half liter of fluid before opening the drain plug. Regardless, it's still a messy endeavor. The picture below is of the pneumatic refill.
X150 Heat Soak Recovery
