...and the nominations are...
(I confess, I'm going to copy the upgrades that held up the best)

 

Getting an old XK8 not to feel like a death trap has been hard enough, so getting it to be rated as good would be a challenge.


Our old TT felt infinitely better than the XK8, and it was considered to be crap by the auto sport magazines, so I have no aspiration to get it to be good, luckily I get sufficient satisfaction just out of its fabulous looks.

 

+1

Admittedly I don't have the "R", however I look at the XK8 as a touring car made for consuming miles in comfort in an aesthetically pleasant environment....better suited for the freeway than the track or winding roads.

 

Takes a brave man to drive an XK hard, especially one that is approaching 20 years of age, I have driven my own plus the chance to drive a brand new XKR coupe on a track back in 2005, you need confidence and they handle reasonably well, however my own XKR was a 2000 car and this was about 4 years ago it handled like a wallowie ole bus! Terrible roll in the corners, however I did have fun which then made me develop my track XK.......

When everything is working as it should, they are Ok, but if it's a sports car feel you are after prepare to be disappointed or have very deep pockets

 

Agreed. These cars are grand tourers, not true sports cars. Avos and his clients have proven that the twin screw kit can make them significantly faster, but significantly improving the handling will likely remain an elusive challenge given the excessive weight and its distribution....

 

Funny that no one who installed an LSD chimed in. Didn't anyone pursue the factory one-off XKR-R to some degree?

Ok, so no one is going to regale us with tales or pics of drifting or opposite lock (wimper..)?

Camaro SS with LLE package gets rid of staggered wheels and tires and matches the fronts to the big rears to improve the handling. No one intrigued?
Ford Mustang v6 "Mayhem" package achieves strong handling by keeping softer springs but going with better shocks?

Ok, how about this. The last and best handling package for the XKR coupes had a larger anti-roll bar BUT a smaller rear one? What about the other bits they adjusted? Hint taken, I'll take the handling in small doses and let the supercharger thrust be the muscle behind the beauty.

 

There have been lots of posts about handling, and I have given on most of them also my comments, ranging from tires, suspension and of course what the best LSD is imo. If you have never changed all your rubbers, it might be time as well after 11 years, that alone will make your car feel tighter, you could opt for polybushes, but I stick to original rubber. I also don't want a track car/go-kart, I want it to be a GT (just a bit more powerfull, and tighter)

 

I thought I'd post this as it may help compare some handling aspects of the X100 to other cars. This was from a JCNA sanctioned event, open to all cars. It was their standard "slalom", a three lap timed course. Lap 1 is the "hourglass" style lap, 2 is a figure 8 and 3 is an oval the timing starts from a dead stop and ends when stopped in the finish "box".

I have had zero driving instruction and this was my first and only experience. Additionally the car was shod with Yokohama S-drive tires, I would love to try it again with the Michelin Pilot SuperSports (and some professional advice). Anyway From the timing board my best time was a bit over 49 sec. where a Lotus Exige did it around 42 seconds. Other XK100-Rs ran in the 48-54 second range. Note: the gentlemen driving the XK120 (and others) were experienced Bob Bondurant graduates and some cars, like the Sunbeam Alpine and the "D"-type replica were set up for this type of event. For a good comparison check out the 2nd 06 Exige and the 04 XK8 - they were driven by the same person, so it would be the best comparison. It also shows an XK8 in the hands of a very capable driver can be faster that an XKR driven by me.


As stated by many before, these are grand touring cars and even with a lowered stance and poly bushings the body roll is significant, the flex in the convertible chassis didn't help either. I did not pursue further suspension modifications because, I can still take it on a 12 hour drive and have a "sporty" and very comfortable ride. This works for me.


I am posting a few images, at the risk of being criticized (again) for running a timed event on a tarmac. I wanted to show some body roll (which I am sure most all of us experience) and the timing board, where DNFs were given for missing or hitting a cone. The last image was thrown in to show a few of the other cars at the event

 

Looking at the top gear lap times is also dissapointing http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006...ures/powerlaps

 

Times? I don't care about time! :-)
Notice that an XKR did better than a Ferrari 575M or Aston Martin Vanquish.
Even so, its the grace by which a car does the lapping that is more important to most of us. XKR-S consistently gets a black eye from trade press for "trying to kill you". New C7 corvette lauded as first to actually behave well while putting up good numbers (and not sounding like a rattle trap over broken pavement).

Avos, my car is running on newer Michelin Pilot Sport A/S (not super sport, yet), my bushings all replaced in last 12 months, and prior owner replaced front CATS shocks with new CATS shocks 24 months ago.
Your advice re the LSD by OS Giken is well noted.

Anyone track their coupe and find helpful things to upgrade or change?

Will the rear wheels we have fit in the front?

Anyone know about larger front anti-roll bar? (larger rear avail via UltraRacing).

 

I have installed a Quaife LSD w/ a 3.27 rear axle ratio and after going with a larger s/c lower pulley (from EuroToys) I'm glad I did. I have also installed PowerFlex bushings and am pleased with the handling. However, I do not push the car to it's limit. My former business partner drives a Maserati 4200 coupe and it corners like it's on rails!


Mark

 

I do know that the 9" rear wheel (18 & 19" size) will indeed fit in the front.

 

I think my 06 XK8-s handles better than the 68 XKE I had back in the 70's. The XK8 only has 34K miles though and is still really tight. Jags are high speed touring cars and are best suited for wider high speed curves. I like to really drive it hard sometimes but have never had the feeling it was trying to kill me.

 

After some perusing of the parts catalog, this is what I could find that makes up the Handling Package that was available as an option for the 2003+ coupes. Prices are from Gaudin in Las Vegas.

Anti-Roll Bars
Front bar (x1): MXD2100AA $256
Front Bush (x2): MXD2102AA $13
Rear bar (x1): MNA3500DA $237
Rear Bush (x2): CBC4901 $4

The front seems to be specific to the XK, but the rear is rather interesting as it's a cross listed part with the 98-03 S-type and XJ. Near as I can tell, it is the standard part for those cars, and nothing special.

What I can't find is anything that actually says what the diameters are. Powerflex does sell bushes for the S-type, which the call out as 17.5mm, so it may not be very much larger than the stock 17mm one.

Springs
Front (x2): JLM21276 $?
Rear (x2): JLM21278 $?

The handling pack springs don't seem to be available, but the standard spring is around $450, so one costs as much as a whole set from Mina.

Dampers
The part numbers are different from the standard CATS shocks, but the prices are almost identical. It is not clear what the difference in the valving actually is.

Front (x2): MXD2140AB $414
Rear (x2): MXD3540AC $385

Stearing
There is a different steering control listed but the part doesn't come up. The supercharged isn't available either, only the N/A part, which is $230.

There are different steering rack mounting bushes too, which I'd guess are a little stiffer and taken form the Silverstone and XKR100 models.

Finally, there is a different steering rack listed. No idea what the difference really is, but it's about half the price of the "regular". Not sure why that would be unless they are just sitting on the shelf because there weren't many handling pack cars sold.

Controller (x1): LXD2100AA $?
Rack Mount Bush (L): MXD3953AA $13
Rack Mount Bush (R): MXD3953BA $13
Rack (x1): MXD3901ABE $952

Conclusion
It would cost a small (or not so small) fortune to upgrade to the handling pack.

The steering differences probably aren't worth it except maybe the stiffer bushings.

The sway bars might be worthwhile, depending on how large they really are, but the UltraRacing 20mm rear is probably the best performer.

OEM springs are silly expensive and an aftermarket source would probably be a better option.

If you were faced with replacing the CATS shocks with new, then it might be a nice upgrade since the prices are basically the same. I am pretty sure the CATS shocks are rebuildable though, so another option might be a used set and then having them re-valved. Not sure of the pricing, and they are closed till after the first but the Bilstein service center is in Poway CA, so for us in the US it might be a reasonable option.

All that in mind, one could always go the Spires route. They quoted me $3200 for a full set of coil overs, which are height adjustable and you can choose your spring rates and damper settings.