[Ashanti]

So here is my ownership thread, one that I'll add to as the journey progresses, it began on 2nd June 2015.

I'd had an itch for many years, one that only a special cat could scratch, 15 months of searching later and the cat doing the scratching?

A 2005 Super V8, Midnight Black (PEF) with Ivory Leather(NED LX) - 1st owner Jaguar, then 1 private owner since.

Full main dealer set of stamps and a file full of receipts for everything it's had spent on it, old MOT's and a V5C indicating the cars previous home was in Central London.

My 1st Jaguar after 36 years of driving, what a muppet, should have bought one years ago instead of playing it safe.

Here's a few pictures the day after I got it home,

 

[Ashanti]

New Registration

We all want to add our own touches, first for me was the recently purchased private plate,

bargain at £249 from the DVLA.

NVH was a nod to my much missed Dad, his first car after I'd arrived being an old 3 wheeler with the same suffix letters.

In the dim and distant past, VH was also one of the signifiers of a vehicle registered in my home town, Huddersfield.

The registration plate is attached with Halfords super strong Velcro, can't be doing with screws and caps spoiling the aesthetics and no matter what you attach a plate with, if someone wants to nick it, they'll nick it.

 

[Ashanti]

I've always liked coachlines on a car so I had one done at my local graphics shop, £20.

And to add to the upper chrome environment the car came with I added chrome wing mirror covers, a quick upgrade and fix for the scratches the black covers had picked up in its travels.

Covers £43.49, purchased from Adamesh.

 

[Ashanti]

1st Issue

The novelty will never wear, but after the first flush of adoration had worn off I noticed my lights were always on when set to Auto.

As this was in July I thought it odd, read the owners handbook, searched on the forum, still none the wiser.

It turned out to be the light sensor had fallen into the dash, devil of a job to get the housing out.

The sensor on the right of the photo was the culprit, plastic degrades and goes brittle with age and temperature changes and one of the lugs had broken.

Superglued it back into the housing and refitted into the dash, even more of a PITA to do.

For those of you who're interested the sensor has Dominican Republic stamped on it.

 

[Ashanti]

A few other bits and bobs over the summer

The car came with some ill fitting mats the dealer had thrown in, being beige they didn't go either.

The Lambswool Overmats it left the factory with are MIA so I bought a set of black Prestige mats from,

http://www.carmats.co.uk/jaguar-car-mats/xj/jaguar-xj-2003-2009-lwb-mats.html

At £60 delivered they are nice and deep piled, fit perfectly and will do until I'm lucky enough to source a set of originals.

The hub caps were looking a bit shabby so a set of these were bought,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?...id=321760279353&&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2658

I paid a tenner, they're not the quality of OEM, but as they are on the wheels and get covered in grime quickly, they'll do.

The car came with smoked wing indicators, as the bumper reflectors are amber I changed them to match. Not coming in amber for the X350 I took a chance and bought those fitted to the S Type, what a surprise, they fit. Probably 95% the same fitment, but they're on, work and have not fallen off/out as yet.

A £5.95 chrome and black Union Flag has been put on the boot lid to the righthand side.

 

[Ashanti]

1st Expensive Fix - For what they are

So come the end of July my OCD is starting to set in,

First real interior clean had me notice that 2 of the 3 parcel shelf Isofix anchor points had missing covers and the 3rd fell off as I fettled around it,

£53.32 spent to replace, a lot of money for 3 pieces of coloured plastic.

New/Old stock dated 2009, they looked as if the "hinges" had started to degrade so now I've fitted them, they'll not be being opened.

Part No for an Ivory interior, C2C22456NED

 

[Ashanti]

Less preening, time for preventing

I purchased the car with 85450 miles on the clock and a file full of historic receipts, service schedules and MOT's.

Nothing within indicated it's gearbox fluid had been changed.

There are many topics on the forum about the sealed for life gearbox of these cars, but one thing is common to all, getting the fluid changed is a cost worth spending.

At the end of July my local independent, http://www.westridingjaguar.co.uk/Home.asp undertook the task and checked the car over from top to bottom.

At the same time I had the inoperative rear parking assist fixed, 3 new sensors required, I doubt it had ever worked from the day of purchase, but being a tad over protective when parking I'd not noticed. I'll never know if the dealer knew of the issue or would have fixed FOC, but a 600 mile round trip to have rectified wouldn't have been cost effective.

They gave me a detailed honest appraisal which concurred I'd not bought a lemon and recommendations on what will need doing over the next 18 months to keep in a mechanically top condition.

 

[Ashanti]

OCD relapse, Aesthetics

Having Bi-Xenon fitted, the pathetic yellow glow of the sidelight bulbs finally got the better of me.

Time for LED's and knowing the risk that they may throw up a warning I thought I'd try a cheap Halfords one I had throwing about before purchasing a new pair of bulbs.

Now I've got short fat fingered hands, not ideal to access the W5W bulb holder in the light housing.

30 minutes of struggle and expletive ranting later I had one out. On looking how it fits and secures into place, it took all of 30 seconds to get the other out. Tried the bulb, no warning on the dash so bought some of these,

http://www.powerbulbs.com/product/x-treme-vision-t10-6000k-360-twin

£12.95 with the 20% discount and came with a free pair of Osram standard bulbs that I fitted into the rear number plate lights.

The bulb holders have a sprung part that is on the underneath when fitted within the unit, when feeling to remove this can be identified, slightly depressed and gently teased out. Refitting is made easier with the light on to help guide into the holder whilst looking at the front of the lens as you do. Once within it's guide a gentle push will have the sprung plastic catch clip into place, no pressure required.

Here's some photos of my struggle, what you'll find, what I bought and the finished look.

 

[Ashanti]

October's plans

For this month I had planned to do the following,

• Have the spare wheel rim refurbished and ditch the poor condition tyre that comes off, bulge to inner sidewall and only 2mm tread left.
• 2 new tyres for the rear wheels, putting the best that comes off onto the spare.
• Replace the boot lid gas struts with new from SGS Engineering.
• Surface refurbish all four brake callipers.
• Treat myself, sorry the car, to an early Christmas present.
• Detail the plastics in the engine bay and highlight Supercharged on the engine cover in red.

Most of the above has been completed and I've begun preparing to undertake the calliper refurb, details to follow.

On Saturday I had 2 new Pirelli P Zero's fitted and the spare wheel shod in the best that came off, 255/40/R19/100Y, £287 all in at Kwik Fit. I have a receipt the previous owner paid for 2 of the same fitting that totals £445 in 2008.
My local branch matched their online price, which beat the likes of Black Circles, ATS and Tyres on the Drive, etc, so it pays to shop around.

£50 had the rim refurbished.

£34 had the gas struts for the boot lid replaced, SGS part No GSC1503, (JLR part No 2W93-F406A10)

Mine and the cars early Christmas presents arrived from the US today, a new knob and 2 key fobs from British Autowood, absolute quality items and workmanship.

http://www.britishautowood.com/ is owned by an expat Welshman, Saul. Visit his website and peruse the skill this man can bring to your pride and joy.

 

[Ashanti]

Caliper refurb Part 1

New car, new tools required

Purchased the following,

• A low profile trolley jack and 2 axle stands from SGS Engineering
• A 120 piece Advanced Professional Halfords socket set, currently 50% off all sets

For the refurb,

• Brake cleaner
• Hammerite Smooth Black paint
• Half inch brush
• Clear VHT lacquer

Come May next year I'll be having the discs and pads replaced/upgraded to all 4 hubs and I have already been investigating options available.

I have identified that my front discs are 355mm diameter part No C2C25337 and the callipers are made by ATE. The caliper springs are part No C2P17596 and the Jaguar logo's on mine are just about unreadable. New are nearly £80 each at DMG so a quick search found a second hand pair for £20 delivered.

The rear discs are 326mm diameter and have calipers with a logo plate held on by 2 M5 x 12mm Torx screws, easy to remove and leave off.

So I have refurbished the four logo plates/springs using high temperature paint and high temperature vinyl logo's, overcoating them with high temperature lacquer.

I had the logo's made at http://www.ccdecals.com/

Here they are ready to go on the car when the calipers have been done,

 

[L80OUS]

Excellent thread and attention to detail, you and Jim will get on just fine. I can't think of having anything better than a top end XJ in showroom condition, turns heads and people appreciate it, there's a lot of rough Jags out there, not in here though

 

[Alec Escolme]

Great job, I want your picnic trays lol

 

[Ashanti]

It's one thing living in area that has dognappers at every corner, quite another to now have to worry about wood coveter's:|

Thanks gents, Alec and ?

Been meaning to get this ownership thread started for weeks, by putting it off I gave myself a large piece of work instead of short sharp updates.

The cars not showroom, but it does turn heads, even had it happen as I pulled up at a pelican crossing right outside the local dealership.

For the first month or so the stone chips and other blemishes bothered me, it's fading now as I realise that it appears to be very mechanically sound, let's face it driving them is far better than not being able to.

It's been a very long time since I've fettled and pampered a car.

Rich

 

[Ashanti]

Caliper refurb Part 2

Last week the plan was to use my brothers level drive to park the Super up and get the calipers done a side at a time, his 7.5 ton truck parked up having its tail lift replaced kiboshed that plan.

So on Tuesday I set to and began doing a corner at a time on my not so level drive, I used wheel chocks that come with the Discovery tool kit.



Here's a photo of one of the calipers, clearly showing the need for doing them,



My only intention was to smarten them up so I opted for painting them black and use a paint brush.

I managed to get the 2 rears and 1 front done before the light faded on me and then had to wait whilst Friday afternoon before the rains departed and I could complete the job.

I'm very pleased with the outcome and it wasn't too hard a job to do :-D





120 miles covered over the weekend, washed Monday and they look as if they'll survive awhile.

Rich

 

[Ashanti]

Sunday 1st November - A milestone

On the way to work reached this milestone,

88888

I like palindromes, this one's just a few weeks shy of the cars 10th birthday.

 

[Ashanti]

More Bits and Bobs

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd highlighted the impressed Supercharged logos on the engine cover.

here's a photo,



Further small upgrades this month have seen a K&N Air Filter fitted part no 33-2273, £39 from LK Performance in Cleckheaton.

And a pair of Bosch AeroTwin Wipers part no AR 608 S, £19.14 from Eurocarparts. They come ready for installing on LHD cars, but it is an easy job to move the washer pipe connection to the other side for our RHD cars.



Now all I need is some rain to see how these new fangled wipers perform, keeping the OEM's just in case.

That's it for now until next week when the cars having it's next big dose of preventative medicine.

Rich

 

[toyotaman]

Hi Ashanti great thread lovely motor

 

[Ashanti]

Hi Ashanti great thread lovely motor

Thank you very much

Got to keep the car looking good and not let the side down

Jags of every other persuasion are a common site round my home town, not so the X350 or X308 for that matter.

F-types are not quite two a penny, but there are a noticeable few. One lives somewhere up the hill from me, I hear it just about every day and that's sat in my lounge some 200 yards distant from the road it's hoofed up

 

[Ashanti]

5 Months into Ownership - The Fuel Stats

The 157th day to be precise and having just filled up I thought I'd share my fuel statistics to date.

I use the Road Trip App on my iphone, a straightforward tool that does the job without being flashy.

3469 Miles covered at an average of 25.20mpg and 22 miles per day,

The current average costs are £1.112 per litre, 19.9p per mile and £4.95 a day.

Back on day one in June I filled the car for the journey home at £1.179 per litre (still the dearest), todays fill up was at £1.039.

Grace, Pace and a on my face every single time I drive it.

 

[benwillcox]

Great thread Rich, some good upgrades there. I've just fitted some Aerotwins myself, an improvement over the oem ones as mine were a bit worn out and leaving streaks.
I'm on the lookout for some new mats, my drivers mat has a big hole in it! But I've been struggling to find some in Mocha to match the existing carpet, it seems impossible! Beige is too light, so I might have to just get black ones, not sure how that will look though with the Mocha interior.

I agree about the sidelight bulbs, the tungsten lamps don't really look right compared to the Xenons of the main headlights, might have to get some of those LEDs too!

The wooden shifter knob looks great, got any photos of it in situ?

Ben