The thing'll handle like new once you're finished with all this.

 

 

FYI, this thread details the recent replacement of all front and rear suspension bushings in my 2009 XKR Portfolio Convertible.

 

Yes, I read through that thanks

 

I was hoping to remove the front number plate mount, but it looks like it had the 3 mounting holes as well as 2 more for good luck.
Could probably cover the 3 with a few nice domed stainless screws, but 5 would be too much, or gat a few plastic caps and color match them.
Anyone come up with a better idea?

 

Interesting. This is the second time I've read someone in MN is removing their front plate. I don't live too far from you (Prior Lake) and I've got a couple of cop buddies who assure me they will ticket. Last post I read a couple days ago. Not sure if it was FB or Reddit but the poster said the police don't care. Sorry I have no solution for you for a fix other than bondo and respray.

 

I’ve ran a few cars over 10 years here without a front plate and only been ticketed once and received a $40 fine, but honestly that was a cop waiting at the exit of a cars and coffee and was picking drivers up for anything

 

Utah has had a Front Plate mandate forever, but it stops in 2025. I've never had a front plate on any vehicle living here in 35 years and never even got a warning.

 

New bushes pressed into the lower arms and ready to go


Removal and replacement of the rear
suspension was pretty easy and doesn’t require any special tools, a few points to note if you're thinking about it:
1. You don’t need to remove the shock to strip out the upper and lower arms, I removed it on the first side for ease, but didn’t bother on the 2nd side
2. You will need to disconnect the brake line from the caliper to remove the upper arm, so plan on bleeding the system when finished.
3. Removing the parking brake caliper is a pain unless your rear discs are brand new with no wear lip. To remove take out the caliper pins, then unbolt the caliper and slide it off the pads. To aid refitting bend a nail to a 20mm U shape to enable you to wind the piston back in making refitting simple


Finally, after fitting all the parts you need to torque up the bolts with the suspension loaded (ie at rest on its wheels). Easiest way to do this is to jack up the suspension knuckle before you refit the discs and calipers, I understand the loaded measurement from the center of the hub to the wheel arch is 394mm for a standard car and 384mm for a car with dynamic suspension, again this just gives you more room to work vs trying to tighten them up with the wheels on the ground.

All done now, just need to get some more brake fluid to re-bleed the rear calipers

 

Brakes bled, wheels on and took it for a test drive, can’t wait for spring!

Totaling up it’s cost $241.08 for the following:
Oil and filter
Air filters
Cabin filter
Fuel filter
Spark plugs
Coolant flush
Brake fluid flush
Replace rear suspension bushes in the lower arms
Replaced suspension boots

Which is amazing affordable, all parts were OEM spec/suppliers from FCP, other than the boots which were an assorted bag from Amazon. clearly no labor involved. Having run numerous premium European cars I’m pleasantly suprised by this, I’m guessing the benefit of many consumable parts being Ford carryovers.

 

Was it just listed/sold on BAT?

 

Yes. All you had to do was read this thread from the beginning.

Here's the BaT listing.

 

Little more work on the car today, when I removed the plastic engine cover the foam was disintegrating. Could have refitted the cover without the foam, but decided to replace it, found a sheet of 40x24 inch of heat resistant foam on Amazon for $17. So had an hr of arts and crafts!!

 

Well done 👍, but ...

You lined the entire Engine Appearance Cover. From the factory, the reflective insulated liner covered a portion of that cover, as shown below.


​​​​
Does it make any difference? Fully lined retains more heat, which can cause premature failure of vacuum lines, hoses, and other rubber parts. Above is how the factory did it. That photo is after I cleaned the cover and replaced the insulation. It's a spare that I planned to keep, but recently decided to list for sale on the Forum Marketplace.

Below is the Engine Appearance Cover on my XKR. Enlarge it to see the carbon fiber-look details. The red paint matches the classic Jaguar logo on my wheel center caps, which were unique to the Portfolio models.


For details, see my thread from 2014:
Custom Carbon Fiber-Look Engine Appearance Cover

 

I didn’t remove the OE reflective material, the original foam is just to reduce noise, they use plain foam for cost, what I’ve fitted will do the same for noise and have no effect on radiant heat

 

@D6LC Do you have the dimensions of the various rubber boots you replaced?

 

No, I purchased 4 sets of the following assorted boots and found enough of the right sizes to do the job:

 

Counting down the days till I can enjoy my new car!
Decided to give the interior a clean, nothing makes a car feel your own until you’ve give a car a good clean.

A dash of brake cleaner got all the market off the roof, just take it easy.

All the window stickers removed including the service sticker, this car has hardly turned a wheel in the past few years.


Interior finally clean, and the bucket shows why I have to give every used car a buy a good once over!
Just the the carpets to shampoo/clean but that will definitely wait until it warms up!

 

Gorgeous car. Nice job on the very complete clean up and service. I'll bet it will be a great drive. Glad your BAT experience worked out so well. It's generally pretty easy to get a sense of the car based on location, pictures, Car Fax and owner's answers to questions. Also how many comments and size of initial bids. Have to LOL at the folks that bid 100 then the "bidding war" that gets up to 3,000 or something.

I removed the engine cover on mine. No real difference in sound. Maybe a little less trapped heat when parked after a fast drive? Weather permitting, do open the hood after driving. Used an infrared thermometer to measure temperature at exhaust manifold, front of the engine, cylinder heads, etc. Depending on ambient temp's, it takes a surprisingly long time to fully cool down. Cute tool kit dog

 

Hafren,
Please take a look at this thread - https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...cement-227495/
Looks to be for a 2011 XKR, which I believe is the same car you have listed on your profile.

I did my 2008 XKR rear end last year and bought the Lemforder kit as it was on a big sale and bought the boots of off Ebay. I did buy a couple of Polyboots, but the were a little stiff, so I went back to the rubber ones and got a few spares.

Regards,
Ken

EDIT: My bad..I missed your post where you said you already read the balljoint replacement post...apologies for the redundant info...