Little known outside of Australia, mainly due to Ford Aust inept attempts to market the motor internationally. The XR6 Turbo remains the pinnacle of Ford Australia's creative output, & one of the best engines ever deigned & built in this country. & that's coming from a lifelong Holden Man. So I'm wondering how it would go slotted into the snout of my S-Type. The dimensions look similar, & I'd swap the entire drive train, which lets me fit a manual box too. Has anybody done anything similar to this? & can anybody point me to the right person here in Oz to get such a job done professionally & cost effectively?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Barra_engine

 

List of madmen to ask here is :-

Primaz
Licksahotskillet
Doug Doreen

Primaz is S Type man, so you could PM him , he can probably point you in the right direction.

 

What - and miss out on the joy of having to shim the XK's valve clearances?

 

Not sure about Madmen but dam stubborn. That 6 cylinder is a unique engine as the horsepower is not bad as the later years were around 320 HP not shabby considering if you took the Jaguar 6 and built a high performance one like Team CJ stage one engine specs and pricing you will only get 290 HP for $19K and stock rebuilds are still around 12K


I think you need to search locally and look for custom hot rod shops in Australia as you need someone with good fabrication skills to do an engine swap. As long as you can get a local person to tune the computer I think it would be cool setup. One other option for a straight 6 that I think is even better than that and the Jaguar 6 is the Nissan Skyline RB engines as they will put out easily 450-550 with very minor mods and bone stock they will be 350+ HP. Also in Australia and New Zealand you have some of the most famous Skyline builders in the world!


I am going to get a Rotura Import Pro Shop (aka RIPS Racing) 750-850 HP RB engine for my Z car as they have built the fastest Skylines in the world!


FYI, as many of us said in other postings, an engine swap is never easy so I personally would want big horsepower so after all the grief you have the power to make it worth the journey. I think your Ford 6 could be good and maybe you might also look into some performance shops to see if they can crank it up to 400+ horsepower and see if that is within your budget. To me these early Jaguar saloons really become great performance cars with 400 HP or more.

 

I'm not sure I've got the dedication, or the budget, to chase those kind of numbers. & to be honest, I really don't know what I'd do with 400+hp. There's nowhere in this country I could use it legally, outside of a racetrack. & I'd only end up doing my licence. Coming from Ducati sportsbikes, as I do. I'm quite enjoying having full points on my licence, for the first time in decades! & I'm not sure I want to take up battle with the boys in blue again. At my age, it's severely frowned upon. No, I just want a few extra herbs for easy overtaking & effortless cruising, which I think that XR6 Turbo would do nicely. But it's just a thought. & with the amount of work required I'll probably just do up the old 3.8. I think the car will be back on the road much quicker that way. Thanks for your input Primaz. Yours is a most intriguing build. I just don't think my pockets are deep enough to join the party.

 

You should look into more about the XR6 as whom knows maybe it will fit in easier as it is an inline 6? Most likely the main custom things would be motor and trans mounts but that really might not be that hard and whom knows maybe you would get lucky and the stock Jag mounts might even work? It is worth some investigation as those motors can get 300 HP in stock form versus doing that with the Jag 6 would set you back a lot of money.

 

Primaz, these BARRA motors laugh at a stock RB, I've built both, and with stock everything apart from injectors, exhaust and FMIC, the stock GT3540 turbo can make upwards of 350-400rwkws if pushed to their limits, on an unopened motor, granted so can an RB26. Even the motor just needs a flash tune, very rarely any point in running an aftermarket ECU, which in itself can be a great expense, there are some really good tuners now who can work wonders with these motors in Aus.

The Barra motor would be a much more suitable option than the RB purely for the low down torque it produces, allowing the heavier Jaguar to not struggle around town, however the taller block and slim engine bay might make fitting the barra motor a tight squeeze.

The other issue with the barra motor compared to the RB motor would be the positioning of the turbo in relation to the steering box/steering column in a RHD vehicle.

I think a quick measure of a barra motor along with a tape measure of the engine bay would give you a quick idea.
Even the sump would be an easy solution, the BA/BF falcon has a rear of subframe rack, and the FG has a front of subframe rack, so you have options there.

I'm going to swap in a 2JZ into my MK2 when I get the time, but the 2JZ is 150mm shorter in length, and 200mm shorter in height (or the other way around?) and roughly 80-100kgs lighter, yet still having a cast iron block. I went this path as I picked up the motor for next to nothing off a friend, with full wiring loom and auto, dash cluster etc. Sump options with the 2JZ are also available.