Thank you Gian, was I glad to hear that.
I thought your mounts were going to get here today, but not so far, 3 days was expecting a bit much.
Keep up the good work and we all are so glad you are taking the time to keep us informed.

 

They are on their way, but I wouldn't expect them to arrive that quickly judging by the experience with the prototypes.

 

I'm not guaranteeing the dropbox link will last forever. Let's try again with a windows zip file instead of mac. Thanks for the tip Michael.

 

Dale, I just tried all kind of ways and got a couple of pictures to come up. Thanks and I will give some thought to what I'm looking for. Sorry.
I talked to Gian on PM and he says there was no movement off center so far. Really good news.
Think I'll call it a night, so glad things are looking good.

 

Got Gian's top mounts in today and I could move the washer around by hand on one of them. The larger donut was crushed to less than 1/2 inch and some cuts in the edges. The inside parts were missing any part of the outside crush area and off center of course.
One thing is consistent with all the Welsh housings, you will cut your fingers on any edge, there in lays the first issue as I see it, cuts the rubbers as described earlier.
Thanks you Gian and hope to put them back in service at some point.
Here's hoping all are having a nice weekend.

 

I’m glad you got them and could confirm that my shock mounts were trash. Hahaha

I had to leave the Jag at home yesterday because I was greeted with a flat tire in the morning. Took care of it today. I picked up a nail at some point on Thursday after the hours of driving I did that day.

The mounts are still perfectly centered.

 

A small update, after little more than a week, here are the top pictures. Because of school work I haven't had the chance to remove the wheels to snap a picture from inside the fender well. I have been driving the car nearly every day except for the day I had the flat tire.

As can be seen, the mounts shifted a very slight amount, only noticeable because of the position of the red lip of the center bush, but the shock absorber still appears to be perfectly centered. Just by observing you wouldn't be able to tell there has been a shift unless you have the before and after pictures. The roads here are terrible and these have already endured through some potholes. Oddly enough, the passenger side mount is still in place whereas the driver's side mount is the one that has seen the most shift, but the passenger side has received more potholes. I wonder if perhaps, the driver's side shock is not fully tightened allowing some slippage? I am not hearing any clunks that would suggest a loose top shock nut.



Driver's side first day


Passenger side first day


Driver's side today


Passenger side today

 

Good to see an update on the prototype mount torture test. Do you have a guesstimate of the miles driven so far?

 

Thank you Gian, possible a not tight nut on stem, just check it when you get the tire off and check the top. Use your buddies vise grips at the top.
Odd the one getting the most banging is intact.
Look forward to seeing some pictures of the top area when you can.

 

The mounts were installed at 79,989 miles and the car currently has 80,216 miles on the odometer, so far it's been 227 miles in about 8 days.

Yeah, I also find it odd, which is why I don't discard the possibility of a not completely tight shock nut. The driver's side is the side that I installed the shock that I had to resort to using the vicegrips with. I will do as you suggest and attempt to tighten it more.

 

Hi folks, here's an update on the front shock top



isolator serviceability. In November 2017 I had the front shocks and bushings in my 2001 XKR replaced with original Jaguar equipment for the CATS system. There was approximately 68,000 miles on the vehicle at that time. I replaced the shock units and bushings because the front end would bottom-out at the end of my driveway or over larger road bumps about St. Pete, Florida. Things were fine for about 2 years when I started to hear modest noises from the front end on rougher road conditions. The noise became excessive about three weeks ago when I chose to stop driving the car and get it inspected. My shop manager called my attention to the tops of the shocks - the electrical connector posts, that showed signs of moving around and on occasion bumping into the support bracket making noise.

This past week I’ve had the upper shock mounts replaced again after about 3 1/2 years and just over 10,000 miles of driving. The total mileage on my XKR now is approx. 78,000 miles. I have implicit trust in the auto service as it has handled a number of serious maintenance issues quite competently and had installed the original replacement parts in 2017.



What we found in the last day was surprising to us both. It appears that the foam rings that isolate road vibration to the car body had completely collapsed on the top of both shocks. The compressed isolators allowed the tops of the shocks to move around loosely and bump the shock mount with a jarring noise much like a ball peen hammer lightly wrapping on the inside of the engine bay. I’ve included a photograph with this note for others to see what’s happened in this case. There’s no telling how long the original replacement parts were sitting on a shelf or what may have led to the degradation of the isolators so that they would basically collapse over the last three and one half years. We are unable to confidently explain why these compression rings have failed and share this event with other XKR owners so that they may be aware of this problem. At this time we also chose to replaced the engine mounts - which had shown signs of leaking, the transmission mount which showed an expected amount of wear, and the sway bar bushings which were well worn. The work cost just under $2800. Hopefully the replacement of these major isolators will contribute to a longer life of the newly replaced front shock isolators.

 

Wayne, I just had the upper mounts on my 2001 xkr replaced this week - w/oem parts unfortunately, but I have the upper supports that I can send to you if this would be helpful to get this project moving further along. The mounts were installed in late 2017 and collapsed after 3 years of use (approx 10k miles). My full notes were submitted today to this thread under 'samson2'. I recognize that the newly installed isolators will probably not last any longer than the last ones so I expect I will be replacing these in the future also. Thanks for all your work, I'll be following this link more closely -

 

Thank you Samson and I'll take you up on the mounts if we get some glowing reports on the ones going through the torture chamber right now.
A few more days, we'll give Gian time, he's a busy young man right now with his degree. Let's all wish him well.
He is driving a exotic car in a very unfriendly environment.

 

OK Wayne. Very best, Samson2

 

I lifted the front end today to take a look at the shock mounts from within the fender well. The outer donuts look pristine and are still in their original position. Under the weight of the car and compression, the material feels solid to the touch. The spring pads Wayne provided also seem to be intact and in their original position. All looks good from inside the wheel-wells. I took some pictures as best I could. I couldn't get the camera to focus from a higher position closer to the donuts.

From the top, everything is the same as last time. There has been no movement from the passenger side center bush, and the driver's side center bush is in the same position as last time with no further movement. Its current position does not concern me much. The shock rod is still centered on both. It seems it just settled in that position. Ride height has remained unchanged from my previous measurement at 14 1/2 inches on the driver's side and 14 3/4 inches on the passenger side.

From inside the cabin, the suspension still feels perfect. No clunks, no squeaks, and no other odd behavior. The handling is tight, and the ride strikes a nice balance between firm and supple. Only on the largest potholes at higher speeds does it feel a little jarring. In short, just about what you would expect from a full poly suspension on these cars. I do not think the mounts affected ride comfort much at all.


Driver's side: Spring pad and outer donut



Driver's side below the bell



Passenger side spring pad and outer donut



Passenger side spring pad



Passenger side spring pad



Passenger side top



Driver's side top


Overall I am really happy with how they are holding up. They survived last night's pothole that I was unable to avoid because of being boxed in my lane. I took that bad boy at 80 mph on the passenger side. I was afraid that if the mounts hadn't failed, I would have bent a control arm with it. Thank goodness nothing broke. There seems to be no damage at all.

P.S. I also checked the shock top bolt. They are as tight as could be. I could not tighten either one further.

 

What a great report and well done on the pictures. It does show I can't cut a round gasket. LOL
I like the looks of everything in the system and so glad it held up on the 80 MPH pothole, that's saying something.
Looks like I need to hit the button on a couple of Carts I have.
Keep us up to date on any or something odd over the next few weeks. It will take that long to get the parts in and get a few kits ready. I do hate it, but if we end up with issues, need to know.

Thank you so much for taking the time from all of us.
Take care and stay safe.

 

To all concerned viewing this thread.
These parts are all hand made to fit and I had a learning curve on a couple of parts, so it's not pretty and did not try to be. Just trying to get it done for checking.
Lets hope the next ones will be better, never did find anyone that made a close fit for the top spring seat.
Thanks, Wayne

 

Wayne,

Thanks for all your hard work on this project during the past few months. I believe your carefully-engineered prototype design will serve as the best possible choice for future XK8/XKR front shock mount replacement. If / when Jan's January 2016-installed Welsh shock mounts begin to show signs of failing, I will opt to purchase a set of yours to replace them....

 

Food for thought in this never ending saga of the flatten shock mount. Gian, you didn't replace your springs did you? I used Lesjofors spring to replace my weak and droopy originals. I measure 16.5" from the fender to the center of the wheel and it looks a little gappy. Thinking back, maybe I should have left out the 2 black spacer rings under the white spring retainer and maybe it might have been better. Not sure if those are necessary. However, under hard braking I don't have the nose dive it used to so that's a good thing. The ride seems to be good and under control. TM

 

Nobody is worried about the aesthetics of the parts Wayne, real world performance is the key. If Gian can get another month or two beating the snot out of your prototypes with no adverse effects, I think you've got a winner, a very viable alternative to the inferior after market parts currently on offer. Put me down for a set....I'm sure my recently installed URO parts will be crying 'Uncle' in short order.