Latetst Copart project - Jag XF Sportsbrake
Discussion
Evening all
Some of you may remember that a couple of years ago, inspired by Mr M Armstrong, I bought my first Copart project - a CAT N Alfa GTV with the V6 Busso
A couple of pics for nostalgia
How is started:
How it ended!
I really enjoyed putting the car back together and felt really at home with what can only be described as a big meccano set!
Fast forward a couple of years.................
My daily driver for the last 12 months is this really lovely Cayenne GTS (957 series) with the 4.8 V8 rated at 405 hp
Amazing car and hugely reliable, comfortable and geniunely quick. The kids love it and it does everything.
One problem - my 80 mile a day round commute at 20 MPG was getting a bit tiredsome.
I decided I needed to give up and get a decent diesel estate. Problem is I didnt want to spend a lot of money and didnt want a 5 series or E class estate. What I wanted was Jag Sportsbrake with the 3.0 v6 S model - 275 hp
I started to look around and a decent one was 7-9K. Was looking to sell the Cayenne and buy something a bit cheaper. Plenty of cheap 2.2 around but i really wanted the S model with the 3.0......
Then I remembered Copart and started to have a look.....low and behold....one came up - CAT S
Here are the pics from Copart
Listed as Cat S with a front end bang and also listed as NON RUNNER!!
It went through very cheaply and before I knew it it was sittting on my drive.......
First thing first was to try to get it running.......I read these are very sensitive to battery issues and mine was pretty flat. Charged it for 2 days and it recovered but still would not not start - just a click when pressing the start button. I started to suspect the engine may be seized.....had I bitten off to much.???
I then started to strip some parts off - the interior airbags hadnt gone off but the passenger protection sytstem (airbags under bonnet) had blown so I replaced these (40 quid from ebay). I then cleared all codes relating to crash data and SHE STARTED!!!!!
Completely elated, I drove up and down the drive a few times and confimed that all was well with engine and gear box.
I then started stripping the front end down - bonnet, wing, bumper, crash bar, all ancilliaries, sensors, rad pack surround and cross member....
It ended up looking much worse!!
I managed to get all parts from one place - a guy breaking an S model .....very lucky boy. Unfortunately the paint colourn my car is quite unique - a black/purple colour called Black Amethyst...... There are lots of black metallic cars out there but none with this paint code.
Upon starting to reassemble, it became clear that one of the chassis legs was very slightly pushed over from the impact on the crash bar......Fortunately my series 3 landrover and a chain came to the rescue and it was back where it needed to be in no time!!
This shows re-assemble and test fit (no headlights)
Undeterred I carried on with my jigsaw and ended up with a test fit :
A little bit of fettling was needed but all in all - no problems. I then send the panels off to be painted in the correct colour.
Whilst I was waiting I went to town, painting the wheels silver (Halfords rattle cans!!) and bringing back some of the shine with my DA.
Finally, day came when I had all the panels and she was back together, complete with new headlights!
MOT came and went last week - failed initially on TPMS sensor (I forgot to plug one in!!), water jets (fixed) and headlight aim (obvs!).
Now with my 12 month ticket, I pushed it into everyday use.....
I quickly became aware of horrendous brake judder and what seemed like knackered front wheel bearing......
Spent all day today replacing the front wheel bearing - it comes as complete hub and was pretty straightforward....and then replacing the discs with uprated drilled/grooved MTEC items....calipers had to go red too!!
Quick test drive revealed everything was sorted!
Treated the Jag to a bit of a dodgy plate (yes officer...)
And there we have it - a really enjoyable 4 weeks of pottering at the weekend....y confidence has definitely grown and no doubt there will be another project..
The Cayenne has sold for the same price as I bought it 12 months ago and from tomorrow the XF will be the daily.....
Only thing left to sort is the electronic handbrake.......urggggghhh - a well know Jag issue.
I am also going to get the cambelt changed later in the month as there is no evidence of it being done (no history) and its on 120K.....
It seems like a great car - 8 speed ZF is awesome and the wave of torque makes it genuinely rapid, especially above 30....
Thanks for reading!
Some of you may remember that a couple of years ago, inspired by Mr M Armstrong, I bought my first Copart project - a CAT N Alfa GTV with the V6 Busso
A couple of pics for nostalgia
How is started:
How it ended!
I really enjoyed putting the car back together and felt really at home with what can only be described as a big meccano set!
Fast forward a couple of years.................
My daily driver for the last 12 months is this really lovely Cayenne GTS (957 series) with the 4.8 V8 rated at 405 hp
Amazing car and hugely reliable, comfortable and geniunely quick. The kids love it and it does everything.
One problem - my 80 mile a day round commute at 20 MPG was getting a bit tiredsome.
I decided I needed to give up and get a decent diesel estate. Problem is I didnt want to spend a lot of money and didnt want a 5 series or E class estate. What I wanted was Jag Sportsbrake with the 3.0 v6 S model - 275 hp
I started to look around and a decent one was 7-9K. Was looking to sell the Cayenne and buy something a bit cheaper. Plenty of cheap 2.2 around but i really wanted the S model with the 3.0......
Then I remembered Copart and started to have a look.....low and behold....one came up - CAT S
Here are the pics from Copart
Listed as Cat S with a front end bang and also listed as NON RUNNER!!
It went through very cheaply and before I knew it it was sittting on my drive.......
First thing first was to try to get it running.......I read these are very sensitive to battery issues and mine was pretty flat. Charged it for 2 days and it recovered but still would not not start - just a click when pressing the start button. I started to suspect the engine may be seized.....had I bitten off to much.???
I then started to strip some parts off - the interior airbags hadnt gone off but the passenger protection sytstem (airbags under bonnet) had blown so I replaced these (40 quid from ebay). I then cleared all codes relating to crash data and SHE STARTED!!!!!
Completely elated, I drove up and down the drive a few times and confimed that all was well with engine and gear box.
I then started stripping the front end down - bonnet, wing, bumper, crash bar, all ancilliaries, sensors, rad pack surround and cross member....
It ended up looking much worse!!
I managed to get all parts from one place - a guy breaking an S model .....very lucky boy. Unfortunately the paint colourn my car is quite unique - a black/purple colour called Black Amethyst...... There are lots of black metallic cars out there but none with this paint code.
Upon starting to reassemble, it became clear that one of the chassis legs was very slightly pushed over from the impact on the crash bar......Fortunately my series 3 landrover and a chain came to the rescue and it was back where it needed to be in no time!!
This shows re-assemble and test fit (no headlights)
Undeterred I carried on with my jigsaw and ended up with a test fit :
A little bit of fettling was needed but all in all - no problems. I then send the panels off to be painted in the correct colour.
Whilst I was waiting I went to town, painting the wheels silver (Halfords rattle cans!!) and bringing back some of the shine with my DA.
Finally, day came when I had all the panels and she was back together, complete with new headlights!
MOT came and went last week - failed initially on TPMS sensor (I forgot to plug one in!!), water jets (fixed) and headlight aim (obvs!).
Now with my 12 month ticket, I pushed it into everyday use.....
I quickly became aware of horrendous brake judder and what seemed like knackered front wheel bearing......
Spent all day today replacing the front wheel bearing - it comes as complete hub and was pretty straightforward....and then replacing the discs with uprated drilled/grooved MTEC items....calipers had to go red too!!
Quick test drive revealed everything was sorted!
Treated the Jag to a bit of a dodgy plate (yes officer...)
And there we have it - a really enjoyable 4 weeks of pottering at the weekend....y confidence has definitely grown and no doubt there will be another project..
The Cayenne has sold for the same price as I bought it 12 months ago and from tomorrow the XF will be the daily.....
Only thing left to sort is the electronic handbrake.......urggggghhh - a well know Jag issue.
I am also going to get the cambelt changed later in the month as there is no evidence of it being done (no history) and its on 120K.....
It seems like a great car - 8 speed ZF is awesome and the wave of torque makes it genuinely rapid, especially above 30....
Thanks for reading!
Out of interest, when you say
Upon starting to reassemble, it became clear that one of the chassis legs was very slightly pushed over from the impact on the crash bar......Fortunately my series 3 landrover and a chain came to the rescue and it was back where it needed to be in no time!!
How did you assure alignment? Or is there enough wriggle room it just needs to be closed enough?
Upon starting to reassemble, it became clear that one of the chassis legs was very slightly pushed over from the impact on the crash bar......Fortunately my series 3 landrover and a chain came to the rescue and it was back where it needed to be in no time!!
How did you assure alignment? Or is there enough wriggle room it just needs to be closed enough?
Hey guys - thanks for all the comments
I know the plate is very much Marmite......but it makes me smile!
To answer some of the questions:
Paint is awesome - apparently its quite an unusual colour. Most of the time it is black but in sunlight, you get a lovely purple hue to it! The painter did a great job considering he didnt have the car - I just took him the bumper, wing and bonnet for him to paint. He got the match pretty good!
The chassis leg was a b
h to get right! Basically it needs to be in the right place so that he crash bar bolts up in the right place. I needed to extend the leg with some iron section to provide more leverage to my poor old S3 Land Rover. It was spinning all wheels on my drive! But in the end, it all aligned perfectly.
My fear was whether it would track up ok on the alignment machine but no issues and it drives dead straight. Nothing was bend suspension wize nor the the subframe.
Wondering whether to go for the 325 hp remap.........
Thanks for looking!
I know the plate is very much Marmite......but it makes me smile!
To answer some of the questions:
Paint is awesome - apparently its quite an unusual colour. Most of the time it is black but in sunlight, you get a lovely purple hue to it! The painter did a great job considering he didnt have the car - I just took him the bumper, wing and bonnet for him to paint. He got the match pretty good!
The chassis leg was a b
h to get right! Basically it needs to be in the right place so that he crash bar bolts up in the right place. I needed to extend the leg with some iron section to provide more leverage to my poor old S3 Land Rover. It was spinning all wheels on my drive! But in the end, it all aligned perfectly.My fear was whether it would track up ok on the alignment machine but no issues and it drives dead straight. Nothing was bend suspension wize nor the the subframe.
Wondering whether to go for the 325 hp remap.........
Thanks for looking!
Got to agree with the plate I'm afraid, there's a Mustang that goes past me with similar most days on the way to work and it devalues the car so much 
But alas, awesome project, bet you're mega chuffed. The colour is lovely. Have you thought about filming the work? I know you mentioned MA and not saying you'd get to his dizzy heights but might be fun for yourself to do/look back on, and others to watch!
But alas, awesome project, bet you're mega chuffed. The colour is lovely. Have you thought about filming the work? I know you mentioned MA and not saying you'd get to his dizzy heights but might be fun for yourself to do/look back on, and others to watch!
Check if the washer bottle mod has been done.
The washer pump can fail and wick water through capillary action up the wires into the main body control module. Potentially expensive to put right. The fix is to chop the wires and reattach with bullet connectors. It's in the drivers side front wing.
Plenty of info on the various XF forums.
The washer pump can fail and wick water through capillary action up the wires into the main body control module. Potentially expensive to put right. The fix is to chop the wires and reattach with bullet connectors. It's in the drivers side front wing.
Plenty of info on the various XF forums.
sshenton1975 said:
Then I remembered Copart....
What are they like at handling cars these days? They used to move them around with fork lifts and do damage to the underside.One of our cars,with superficially light rear-end damage but the C posts had kinked, ended up there and I saw they'd left the windows open so it would have been a mess inside.
I had a disco 4 of same vintage. The electronic hand brake is as you say, a known problem.
The module can be refurbished. Change the rear discs and pads and fit new hand brake shoes at the same and then follow the bodsy brake bible to adjust the shoes and you’ll be golden. I think I spent a kit £600 all in when I sorted mine.
PM me if you want any details of where I had the hand brake serviced and I’ll see if I can find some
The module can be refurbished. Change the rear discs and pads and fit new hand brake shoes at the same and then follow the bodsy brake bible to adjust the shoes and you’ll be golden. I think I spent a kit £600 all in when I sorted mine.
PM me if you want any details of where I had the hand brake serviced and I’ll see if I can find some
Sad times......
Pressed the XF into daily action and its been mega. Loads of torque, quite sprightly and 38mpg!
Went to have the expensive cambelt replaced. On way home - disaster......
The bonnet catch has been a bit iffy since i realigned it all - was on my list to check
Alas driving home the bonnet flew open, smashing the screen, damaging my newly painted bonnet and worst of all wrecking bottom A pillars
Insurance reckons a write off.....hoping to buy back for buttons amd fix by my local panel beater.....
Gutted
Pressed the XF into daily action and its been mega. Loads of torque, quite sprightly and 38mpg!
Went to have the expensive cambelt replaced. On way home - disaster......
The bonnet catch has been a bit iffy since i realigned it all - was on my list to check
Alas driving home the bonnet flew open, smashing the screen, damaging my newly painted bonnet and worst of all wrecking bottom A pillars
Insurance reckons a write off.....hoping to buy back for buttons amd fix by my local panel beater.....
Gutted
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff