This weekend I replaced my shock absorbers and springs. I bought the R-performance CATS shocks and the 25 mm lowering springs from Adamesh. This was the perfect time to see what 7 months and 2,811 miles of terrible puertorican roads have done to those mounts; also, two of my shock absorbers were blown (rear right, and front left). The other two shocks were weak but not blown.
Initial mileage when I installed the mounts: 79,989 miles
Current mileage: 82,800

As you can see from the pictures, Wayne's mounts are intact. They look good as new, just a little bit dirty.


Shock is perfectly centered on the mount.


The two doughnut halves that Wayne cut have retained their thickness.


Old front Springs vs New front Springs. I didn't take a picture of the comparison of the rears.


Rear shock and spring assembly


New shock absorber with new spring and Wayne's mounts


Now installed in the car


I nicked the red paint with the spring compressor. I'm sad about that.

I am impressed with the durability of Wayne's shock mounts. They will probably outlive the new shocks and springs. I am also astounded by how much better my car rides with the new shocks and springs. Tomorrow I will take the a side profile picture of the Jag on level ground to see what the new ride height is like. I had no scraping during today's test drive. I also had no odd noises, no clunks, no bangs, rattles or anything of the sort. One of my blown shocks was apparently the source of my mystery rattle. The Silver Bullet feels like a brand new car!

 

Thanks for the update Gian!!! Don't forget an alignment and the rear will most likely need the factory halfshaft spacer changed to 7 or 7.5mm to bring it back in spec

https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#...assembly/29985

 

Yeah, I was thinking about that. I will get it aligned soon enough. I saw the prices of those spacers, yowza… I was wondering if I can’t just have them fabricated. There’s an alignment shop nearby that also does exhaust systems among other things. Maybe they could determine how off-spec I am and fabricate a spacer of the necessary thickness?

 

Gian, what a wonderful write up and thanks for taking the time to show how well all is holding up.
Looks like you did the right thing by replacing everything and now can enjoy the car for many years to come.
Again, thank you for all you do.

 

Sure glad to see Wayne's design holding up so well after all the torture it receives in Puerto Rico. No question that it is the best system available now to solve these upper shock mount issues ....

 

Great to hear from you. The mounts are certainly well designed and extremely durable. My Centers look similar to yours, centered after a few more miles but our roads are much better. Probably some Off Road vehicles down there have tough time surviving the potholes.
Everyone have a Great Holiday Season. Merry Christmas to all

 

Upper shock mounts is something I have been meaning to get done for some time now. The car was always somewhat low in the front when I bought it back in 2008 and has gotten lower over time but I just put up with it. However it is in the plan for the immediate future. The couple of local shops I have talked with always start out by figuring the URO replacement mount but I did notice the bunch of posts about the mounts that Wayne came up with. Are these readily available somewhere? Also, not sure how happy a local shop would be if I brought in my own parts but that is another issue. I should mention I only put on maybe 2,000 to 3,000 miles a year and drive the car very gently so extreme durability is not a critical issue. Still would be worth looking into alternatives to the usual aftermarket mounts.

 

Wayne has to custom-create each pair depending upon the type of bell housing each particular car has installed (there are at least four different versions out there so far). You remove your cores, send them to Wayne, he custom-builds your pair based upon its bell housing design, then sends your completed pair back to you....

 

Thanks Jon, that is really the best way, but if someone else is doing the job, other than the owner, my system can be sent from another members core. Most do send the old ones back and I can work with someone that needs a set in place before they start. Just has to be understood, their old set must be returned or a core charge will need to be added, A garage is not going to be happy about installing it until they see the results.
I will say, it's as good a product as we have out there right now, but lots of miles to go before I feel it's the best on the market. Baxtor has made the assembly even better and a bit quicker to put together, we need to also applaud his input and design. Just can't always have his system on hand, but we try. In fact he has worked on a new rubber for the top inner bell and should be on the way as we speak. Not idle on either one of us, looking for the better mouse trap.
Your choice and grateful for the .members that have tried our efforts and pleased enough to tell everyone.

 

I definitely need to get that rear camber corrected. Can those spacers be changed DIY on jack and jackstands?

 

Yes, they can. I changed mine last year, floor jack and jackstands work fine, went with 7.5s on mine. let me ask you a question while we're on this topic. I was fortunate to secure a pair of Wayne's mounts last week. They look fantastic, and I'm looking forward to getting them on the car. 'I'm also running a set of H&R lowering springs, and a full set of Powerflex bushings. What has me perplexed, is I noticed my CATS shocks are rock hard rigid here on the bench. Is this a normal condition while they are off the vehicle? I didn't notice this a few years ago when I initially refurbed the suspension, it just kinda caught me offguard when I tried to compress the shock, as the piston doesn't move at all! It's great, to hear your having such a positive experience with Wayne's mounts, as I understand others are having the same results, thanks for the update Gian, and thank you Wayne!

 

The natural state of the CATS shocks is in the hard setting. Yea they will be rock solid. Test it when it's on the car and disconect the lead that connects to the top of them. You will get an error message on the dash and the suspension will be rock hard.

 

don't see why we couldn't have them fabricated - just need the specs and I'm sure a machine shop can make them

 

This may be the way to go if I want to have this done fast. SNG has the spacers for special order. My shocks were special order and it took them 4 weeks to ship them because they had to wait for the shocks to arrive from Germany. I don't have that much more patience at this time.

 

Thanks for the info, although I was aware the default to the hard setting, I didn't expect it to be that stiff, now I know!

 

l would think the resistance you have is due more to the gas pressure than a valve setting. The cats system only alters the rebound stroke, not the compression stroke.
I have a vague memory from when l changed my top mount that there was quite a bit of resistance to compressing the shock by hand.

 

I tried compressing the new shocks by hand to compare them to the old ones. The new shocks gave me bruises in my palms.

 

Puerto Rico.....

How are the new Headlights holding up? Did you finally get them set the way you wanted or do you still have problems? I wanted to hear more about the final system and if you would do something differently if you did them over! If you will remember, I decided to install a shorter LED Bulb so the Light Source would be in the same spot as the Halogen Bulb's....That has helped the Brights not scatter the Light as much as it did with the longer Bulb, but although it helped, it still looks a little off!.. I don't think our Reflectors are as good as those that you can buy through the Lighting Companies that advertise all the time......Please let me know as I might want to make the same changes you did....

When I was 11 or 12, the Lone Ranger came to Town and I got to meet him! Guess what he gave me....Your right...a "Silver Bullet"! If I still had it, I would send it to you...

Billy Clyde @ Cinco Ranch

 

My headlights are fantastic. I did update the thread with some changes which basically amounted to moving the position of the high beam projector inwards by eliminating the reflector and bolting it in place instead. That allowed me to achieve perfect aim of the headlights. Check post #117: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...6/#post2427635

 

I'm also on wayne mounts with H&R springs. For the rear camber shims, I took 1 shim out from my donor car and went to a machine shop and asked him to make me a 7mm and a 9mm shim.

Went back to the alignment shop and helped them install it. Even with the 9mm shim, you still have a good amount of thread left