My little bit of everything thread - V8 content inside

I put together a quick video of an oil change for my '16 35i as I've been wanting to get into filming a bit more. No clickbait, no flashy captions, no commentary actually. Feel free to leave feedback and let me know what else you want to see - I also have an E92 M3 and an LS turbo vintage Jaguar that I am constantly working on so I will make some content with those once they come out of storage. 

What do you want to see more of? ASMR/no commentary? More POV/headcam gopro stuff? Voiceovers? Driving videos? 

I'm back. Brought home the Jag from storage to start chipping away at the little driveability and old car things before getting into performance/tuning. 

Steering feel was horrible. Vague and loose. Outer tie rods had about 1/8" of play each, and the rack could be moved a bit on its mounts with a prybar. At the recommendation of a Jag IFS swapper I picked up some poly mounts for the rack and got to pulling out the old ones. 

I think the top pinion was leaking, so I ordered the seal for it and will install while the rack's out. This was the easiest rack I've ever removed from a car...took about 15 mins. 

The next project was actually started last fall. Under anything more than moderate acceleration the rear end would wrap up and the driveshaft would contact the tunnel. A well known issue on the Jag IRS, some folks have constructed torque arms of varying designs. I wanted to keep it simple and came up with a couple of 1.25" square bars mounted to the bottom of the diff. The bumpers are from a late model Silverado application. 

The bumpers are preloaded against the body slightly, but they're still a bit squishy. Driveshaft still contacts the body under hard acceleration. I have an idea to fix that with a harder bushing/mount system - more to come. 

While waiting on parts for the steering rack, I removed the trailing arms and set about getting rid of the bushings. Most likely original, and ready for replacement. The rears (small) were far worse than the fronts.







Although the car is remarkably rust free for living in WNY its whole life, as the previous owners were considerate enough to store it during the harsh winters, there were some small areas on the exhaust to attend to.

The sheet metal was very thin, so I took my time building up the weld pool. I'm not a welder, but that should hold fine







And off we go








 

Took the car out for a 50 mile spin around the city, probably the longest single trip I've taken in it since finishing the swap. No major issues, mechanically the car is really solid and ran well with no leaks and without getting hot. The car cruises nicely now that the exhaust leaks are fixed, although I did still get those whiffs of oil smell coming to a stop. That should be fixed with the new PCV system. Top things to attack next: 

Slight vibration under decel - thinking pinion angle is moving (down) due to worn subframe mounts. I'm also still getting driveshaft rub despite the traction bar setup, so I think adding some stiffness to the traction bars will help both issues by reducing pinion movement in both directions. Thinking of notching the bars at the front of the reinforcement plate and angling them upwards, then bolting them to some poly bushings that are hard mounted to the floor. 

Figure out HVAC - on high, the fan blows warm air, but the feet vents blow COLD (ambient) air. Makes for a fairly uncomfortable experience on the highway. This might just be a vintage Jag thing...

Get rid of the boring Kent wheels and install the mesh T/A 16s. 

In the meantime, some glamour shots. 











 

The bump stops actually didn't work out. Way too soft, and the arms were bending a bit too. Driveshaft still hitting the tunnel. So, I spent some time yesterday on my day off modifying the arms. I notched the arms in a few locations to angle them upwards and intersect some plates bolted to the center support bearing mount holes. Painted over the scrape marks on the driveshaft, welded it up, took it out, and....

Where I'm pointing is where the contact was, and the paint is still intact indicating no contact. The bending force has been partially converted into compression where the square tubing is much stronger. I beat the thing up pretty hard especially in the lower gears where the torque applied to the subframe is highest, and it's locked down.

Great success! Time to turn the boost up!

Revised the fuel system slightly. Headed in the right direction I think. I removed the C5 FPR and cut it open to see what was going on inside and if there was a restriction. 

The smallest orifice is the supply hole in the end cap. My calipers measured it at about .200", and a 3/16" drill bit fits freely. So the all the fuel was being shoved through a hole smaller than 1/4"...combine that with no boost reference it's no wonder my fuel pressure was dropping before.

Anyhow, the new adjustable FPR was easy to install, I didn't even have to modify the lines. Everything is still a -6AN throughout. The regulator is mounted inline with the feed in the trunk, and there is still the flex sensor mounted inline with the feed right by the fuel rail, so there is technically still room for improvement in removing restrictions. 58psi with engine running and no vacuum applied. Gauge pressure matches rail pressure. 

Given how cheap these adjustable regulators are they really need to become the golden standard for the LS swap. I'll never use another C5 FPR again...they might have their place on stock motor swaps but for anything with any semblance of performance would benefit from one of these. 

Took the car out and made some pulls rolling into it, slowly increasing the boost to make sure fuel pressure and AFR was in check. It was safe at 8, 10.5, and 12.5 psi, so I turned it up some more. During a sustained 30-70mph pull in 2nd the boost peaked at 14.7psi and settled at 14.5psi. I only revved it out to a hair under 5000 so once I throw some new plugs in it I plan on making some longer pulls and reading plugs #5 and #7.

30-70 Roll

Interestingly enough I stabbed it hard from a dig on the way home and it boils the tires easily, this is the result I have been dreaming of - even with the 2.88 gears! Within 1 second of 100% TPS applied the rear wheels are doing 26mph and 2 seconds later they're at 120mph in 3rd gear (with a little pedaling in the middle). Real vehicle speed probably never exceeded 35mph - cheap thrills for sure.

What an absolute riot of a car. 
 

Damn, that Jag looks fantastic!  But it needs to be sitting on one of those other sets of beautiful wheels!

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

I actually spent a few days refinishing the Trans Am wheels and got them bolted it up. Pics to come  

Been driving the car around here and there just melting tires on the street. It developed a slight miss when cold which got worse to the point where it felt like it was on 7 cylinders all the time. I had some worries that the head gaskets were leaking since some coolant was disappearing, but that turned out to be a loose radiator cap that only leaked under high rpm (higher water pressure). Keep in mind, the heads have never been off this motor as far as I know...

Since the Terminator X doesn't have any misfire detection system, I had to diagnose it the old school way...according to an IR temp gun, Cylinder #4 was a couple hundred degrees cooler than the rest. Long story short, I had the injectors cleaned and flowed, replaced the plugs and wires, and still had no cylinder 4. Narrowed it down to a spark issue, and found that the coil harness had some green crusties growing in it.

Terminator side of ignition harness: 

Coil pack side (probably original and 20+ years old). 
 

Cleaned up the terminals with some sandpaper and dielectric grease, and she's back to laying stripes...

I don't plan to change much more on this thing at least this season. Might look into a water/meth injection system to see if it helps with IATs as I really don't want to deal with shoving in an A2A or A2W. 

The warm weather is finally here so I plan on spending as much time as I can doing HPDE's in my other fun car. 

nsogiba said:

While waiting on parts for the steering rack, I removed the trailing arms and set about getting rid of the bushings. Most likely original, and ready for replacement. The rears (small) were far worse than the fronts.







Although the car is remarkably rust free for living in WNY its whole life, as the previous owners were considerate enough to store it during the harsh winters, there were some small areas on the exhaust to attend to.

The sheet metal was very thin, so I took my time building up the weld pool. I'm not a welder, but that should hold fine







And off we go








 

Taking time to actually FIX things instead of just buying new.  This is grassroots and I approve.  

In reply to A 401 CJ :

It helps when a lot of it is actually fixable. I think you can still buy these mufflers (either NOS or aftermarket), but since the corrosion was only in one area due to condensation, it made sense to just welderup. 

Finally got my track season kicked off. Track prep consisted of an oil change, exhaust swap, Power Stop Track Day pads (brand new all around) and mounting up the ancient Federal 275s. I did have to install a new drop hitch as the trailer sat way nose low before. Of course it hit the bumper before it would reach the pin hole, so 20 minutes later on the drill press...

Uneventful 90 minute ride out to Toronto Motorsports Park pulling the trailer. Being a weekday, the track was nearly empty all day - there were maybe 5-6 other cars throughout the day. 

I spent the day mostly knocking off the rust and relearning my motions, lines, etc. Played with tire pressures at bit and found that they were happiest at around 30-31psi hot. The brakes worked well but struggled later in the day especially as I ran longer sessions. The wheels would be coated in brake dust powder and front rotors were measuring 700F+. I also tried out the free Track Addict app, which I liked. 

Great fun day lapping, biggest issue is being somewhat uncomfortable in the car as the stock seat and belt doesn't hold you in place. I really don't want to hack this car up as it's mainly a street car, so I might look into those QuickFit harnesses. 

Forgot to mention, finally got a pic of the Jag with new wheels mounted. 

First Cars and Coffee of the season with the family. Car is very comfortable and quiet cruising around.

A few days after TMP, I had the opportunity to do an HPDE day at my home track, Watkins Glen, with the GVC Chapter of the BMWCCA. This was a one day event open only to Advanced/Solo participants, so traffic was very light, and the folks out there were fast and smart. The car performed really well at TMP so I didn't need to do anything other than adjust tire pressure for the trip out there. Didn't even unhook the trailer :)

Bringing my own fuel to the event was great, it was really nice being able to relax during the lunch hour and not worry about heading into town to refuel. I ran the tank down to about 1/4 and would just keep it around 3/8 by refilling periodically. This car doesn't seem to suffer from fuel starvation, so I figured I wouldn't put unnecessary weight in it. 

Ghost town in the garage

Despite the weather being in the mid 70s all week, it only reached a high of 50F on the day of the event. It was cold and very windy which seemed great for power production in the morning but made for an uncomfortable time when not in the car/on track. The tires and brakes didn't seem to mind the cold and by noon the sun was peeking out a bit. Oil temp never went over 220-230ish no matter how long I stayed out or how hard I beat on it.

I continued to play with tire pressures trying to sneak up on the arrow on the sidewall but went a bit low, so I ended up settling at 34psi hot which was a happy medium. These are 2017 date code tires so they're well past their useful life - just wanted to get the last bit out of them. Overall I liked the 595-RSRRs, they wore very well and despite being loud on the street were predictable in the dry. Never tried them in the rain. 

As I refamiliarized myself with the track I realized I was leaving a lot of time on the table by overbraking, especially on the front and back straights. I would find myself braking firmly but overslowing, then releasing the brakes slowly (but not fully) as I realized I could have gone faster. Each session I got more comfortable braking later and also much more firmly - definitely engaging ABS hard, and not lingering on the brakes during turn in as much. Lap times came way down, but the front brakes were starting to struggle as a result...

The brakes would be great at first (hard bite initially) but after 4-5 laps definitely felt softer and more inconsistent in deceleration rate despite a firm pedal and consistent pressure applied by me. 

Front: 

Rear:

Front rotors starting to form grooves and cracking around the cross drilled holes. The rotors ended up looking way worse by the end of the event. 

The fronts were just puking brake dust powder (not the residue that forms a coating on wheels, but actual black metallic powder) and a quick inspection showed that I was down to about 3/16" material. I pulled the pads just to get a better idea of their condition and found that the friction material was separating from the backing plate. 

While pulling one of the front wheels off, I also found this...

Wouldn't come out no matter how hard I yanked with pliers, my guess is one of the steel belts inside broke after hundreds of track miles and slamming over curbing. Between this and the pads, I took it as a sign to call it a day, so I slapped the OEM pads back in and installed the 220Ms for the ride back home. 

Despite the day being cut a bit short I was overall happy with my progression. Last year on the same tires and brakes, in 80F weather, I got myself down to a 2:21 and was ecstatic about it. Now with more worn tires and way more seat time, PR was a 2:15.504

Fun fact - Once I got home and pulled everything apart to put the street pads back in and assess rotor damage, I found that the OEM rotors and pads are exactly that....OEM. As in, original to the car from September 2008. I'd say I got my money's worth. I need to remind myself to take a pic of the front rotors in their current state...

Plan going forward:

New OEM rotors and DTC-60 pads through FCP lifetime program
More fresh RBF660 
Porsche GT3 brake cooling scoops on the control arms up front
Bimmerworld stainless lines 6x
Mount new 595 RS-RR's that are sitting in my shed 

Awesome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0vuNFy-MoI

Been fighting an annoying oil leak on the Jag motor. I thought I had this fixed when I had this motor in my Crown Vic but apparently not. 

Up on the lift, use 4 cans of brake clean to get everything nice again


After 10 mins of running on the lift, saw some evidence




I have an oil cooler gasket and galley plug kit on the way, hopefully that's all it is. 

I also found the rack was pissing a bit after sitting for a while, but that's just old car stuff.



If anyone can offer insight into replacing the o-ring under that lock nut it would be appreciated. Really hoping I don't have to drop the rack. 

Been fighting an annoying oil leak on the Jag motor. I thought I had this fixed when I had this motor in my Crown Vic but apparently not. 

Up on the lift, use 4 cans of brake clean to get everything nice again

After 10 mins of running on the lift, saw some evidence

I have an oil cooler gasket and galley plug kit on the way, hopefully that's all it is. 

I also found the rack was pissing a bit after sitting for a while, but that's just old car stuff.

Don't think I posted a pic of the engine bay...

Oh and more Cars and Coffee. I'm not really a car show guy, I prefer to be driving or wrenching, but it's a great way to spend time with the kids and expose them to the hobby. Made a friend while there...blown SBC '85

I love the pcv setup hahaha

Oh and more Cars and Coffee. I'm not really a car show guy, I prefer to be driving or wrenching, but it's a great way to spend time with the kids and expose them to the hobby. Made a friend while there...blown SBC '85

In reply to nsogiba :

i think the jag needs drag radials, go hurt some feelings with it!

The XJ Series 3 is one of the most beautiful stately cars ever. And they drive so nice. I could never justify the purchase but thankfully have been able to enjoy one on track a few times.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Not a bad idea but I am a little wary of breaking something in the rear end. The Dana 44 is strong enough but it seems the stub axles are always what go first. Besides it's way more fun to roast the tires on demand...

Shavarsh said:

I love the pcv setup hahaha

shhhhhhhhhhhh it works