So, I've never introduced myself here and think it's time I should.
My name is Andrew and I'm a sicko who likes, no enjoys, working on cars (it seems, British cars in particular) and as I've gotten older, my skills and ability to bite off more than I should have increased to the level that I decided to attempt a full restoration/ build the car I want.
I've been a big fan of Jags since I was a teenager and had driven a few, but about 15 years ago I had a series 3 Daimler Soverign as a daily driver for a couple of years. It blew away any Jaguar unreliability rumours I'd heard and was a thoroughly well made, enjoyable car to own.
I've been really, really slack and busy with a job that required far too much of my attention to really try and start a build thread for this car, so my apologies!
This project started with a shell in a paddock and too much spare time, as I was between jobs and had plenty of spare time. I saved the shell from the last of the pickers removing bits- it was scheduled to go to scrap metal in a few days after I bought it.
Anyway, I have an early '77 XJS I am restoring/ improving/ modifying.
It's taken longer than I expected as my perfectionist streak has come out and I've realized that I want to own this car for a very long time, so things are being done right and modifications are being made where I deem them necessary.
Yes, the car has a V8 and transmission swap. I deliberately bought a car like this so I didn't hack up an otherwise original car:
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It had pretty much nothing except a wiring harness, doors and factory rust.
Floors, a lower door skin and various small rust and dent repairs were made along the way.
There was a LOT of work in preparing the body for paint, and I have a lot of respect for the strength of the XJS body shell now that I have seen every nook & crannie!




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After hundreds of hours of welding, sanding and fairing, I ended up with paint on the car.

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Front and rear suspensions from my hacked V8 swap donor car (again a car with no intrinsic value to a Jaguar enthusiast) have been completely rebuilt and installed.
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And various custom bits made up for the engine swap.
My reason for putting a V8 and 4 speed auto in the car are several. The main reasons are that I like V8 engines, Jaguar should never have killed off the Daimler V8 when they bought Daimler (Jaguar should've built a Daimler version of the XJS) and of course performance. Most stock V8 swaps perform much better than the stock V12, are much lighter on the front suspension and are much, much cheaper to get more power out of in the future.
The engine I have chosen is a fuel injected Holden 5 litre and it is backed with the T700 gearbox. I'm actually surprised how easily the engine and gearbox have fitted in and it is obvious that Jaguar used a lot of GM parts for their drivetrain back in the day.
Anyway, I'm not going to start or entertain a lump argument, V12's have their place in Jaguars and are fine engines when well maintained and working properly, I just didn't want one.
So, hello all and ask any questions you may have!

 

Hi


great pictures, and a great project

V8....hmmm, lol

colour choice is brave, not seen one in that hue before, should look good

keep the pics and progress coming

BB

 

The colour is actually Jaguar Azure blue. A few late E Types were painted this colour and I've seen it on a few 1977/1978 Jaguar colour chip brochures, so it was at least possible to order an XJS in the colour.
Beats hell out of old leather lounge burgundy, which was the original colour!

 

Wow. Beautiful progress. If I make one suggestion, when you are done, I think. It would look much better without the side body mouldings. Best of luck

 

Great project. Keep us posted

 

The body mouldings aren't going back on. I want the car to look like it did as it came out of the factory in '77. Not many early XJS's around and they have a purity and simplicity of styling the later cars lost (except for the dodgem car bumpers of course!).
Thought I would show some of the work needed for the drivetrain swap. As I said before, it was pretty straightforward in most respects, with more than enough room for the T700 and new engine.
Fortunately for me, the engine I chose has been manufactured with 3 different sump layouts, so I picked up an earlier sump and welded in late sump oil baffles:

Unfortunately, the stock cast iron exhaust manifolds wouldn't work for me, although LH side was OK, RH side was a no go. So after plenty of thinking I decided to fabricate some headers. There were block huggers available, but they pointed at the steering rack. I've never made headers before, so I bought a shorty header kit from Summit and some flanges and had a go. I really enjoyed it:
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And engine mounts:

Transmission crossmember:


Changing speedo drive gear for speedo accuracy:

Beefing up the rear cage, which was out of the V8 swap donor car and bent:

And the new engine wiring in a partially assembled, test stage. The wiring is nearly 100% complete now, the GM ECU will be controlling cooling fans and A/C compressor as well, with a low/high speed fan setting. The wiring looks a mess but it all confined to the LH rear of the engine bay:

New driveshaft (only thing I've subcontracted out so far):

Plus I made up a new lower plate for the rear cage with provisions for a torque link off the front:

I also replaced the horrible, stock Jaguar heat shielding with something that takes up much less space, allows more airflow and is not flammable like Masonite. This is a product called Zero Clearance, self adhesive but I have put some fasteners at strategic locations as well. It is embossed aluminium sheet with a layer of ceramic and fibreglass mat behind it. It is rated for brief direct flame contact as well!:

Mechanically, the car is almost complete. The shims for the rear hub have just turned up so now they can be final assembled and put into the car. The exhaust is about 75% complete as well.
The car has never sat on it's own wheels since I have owned it and probably for several years before that, so I'm getting a bit excited by that prospect!

 

Interesting project. I like the color.
Is the Holden 5.0 basically a small block Chevy motor? I do like the V12, but it does not have the low cost and easy modifications of the GM V8. The overdrive transmission is a nice addition for highway cruising.

 

As I am an Aussie I will.chime in hear, the 5.0litre is a unique motor to Australia being made by gmh but is owned by Chevrolet.

BTW, awesome project typhoon.

 

Possibly related to the high revving 305 CI of yore ?


I do enjoy seeing craftsmanship at it's best. And, that is what I see here.


The end result will be something to behold.


Kudos ++++


Carl

 

I believe the Holden V8 has it's roots in a Pontiac design, but the design evolved to be nothing like a Pontiac V8 in the end. The engine itself is a bit larger than an SBC in all dimensions, but not big block size.
The reasons I chose the Holden V8 are availability of both engines and parts, the fact they came with Delco EFI and the EFI engines are backed by the TH700 transmission. It all makes for a reliable, well fiting package.
Plus, stroker cranks and supercharging setups are available for the engine as well.
Carl, my primary objectives with the conversion have been to build it as a car manufacturer would with regards reliability, ensure easy future maintenence when building the custom pieces and to make it as neat and simple as possible in every respect. It takes longer doing it properly, but I intend to own the car a long time and some extra time now is well worth it for the future.

 

I checked out your blog-nice work. We are on parallel paths!

 

Thanks. You've still got me thinking about a shooting brake though!
I managed to finalize the front part of the exhaust from cats back on my car yesterday, I'd been putting it off, but now the H pipe and centre mufflers are in their final position. I'm not going through the cage like the original pipes now, even the OEM stock axle pipe I bought was a terrible fit.
Considering going under the cage with the pipes, but it also looks like between the lower arm and driveshaft will be possible, and almost a direct line from the muffler.

 

So I managed to start the engine a few days ago. Was quite a nervous time running around, filling the fuel tank, hoping for no fuel leaks, pressurising the fuel system and finding a couple of unions I didn't tighten properly on assembly etc, but it started.
The first attempt was a lot of cranking attempts with a few more firing cylinders each time as oil cleared, injectors bled etc and lots of smoke from preserving oil in cylinders, off the inside of the headers etc.
Also worked on the rear mufflers. I picked up a pair of stainless hotdogs for $100 that fit quite nicely. Had to fabricate a couple of hangers though. I wanted stainless rear mufflers because rear mufflers always corrode first due to condensation. I would've been happy with unpolished, but these came along and well, bling :

My welding is finally getting better, only taken 20 years!:

And the mufflers fitted. They look decent, I may slide them back into the car a little, but they do help to fill the large exhaust cutouts. I could've mounted them a little higher, but was conscious of radiant heat and wanted a bit of air flow around them:


Of course, now I have the hard bit of linking up the centre mufflers to the rear. That will be.....interesting.
I also sorted out a new brake light switch. The TH700 transmission needs a 12v supply that is on when brakes off, but cuts out when brakes depressed. So I bought a Mitsubishi dual contact switch which will provide this and also serve normal brake functions. I bought a new switch because I have two XJS switches that are both flakey. They are a poor design and cost a fortune. This switch was $20. The only drawback is you lose the recirculation flap on the RH side blower motor, but that's not really an issue considering how superior the switch is:

And had to take this photo as it shows how nicely the engine accessories have worked with the engine bay:

 

I *Like* those mufflers! A LOT!! Nice welding too!
I'm putting them on the list for next winter.
(';')

 

Thanks! They're just generic Ebay cheapies, 304 stainless (which is fine for the rear of an exhaust system). Even the internal baffles are stainless and they are quite thick wall material too.
They're available in a few different lengths as well.

 

Progress looks great! Re: brake light switch-its a thousand little things...

Re: Mufflers, I've been trying to figure out a way to have rear tail-pipes that exit the center of the rear and follow up the curve of the bodywork-like an XKE.

 

The only way to do that would be to weld a tunnel into the boot floor, which wouldn't be too difficult, but the rear beaver panel is actually a 3 piece affair- outer skin, inner boot skin and a third member between the two, so it would be reasonably involved:

 

Unless you use oval tubing....

http://www.spintechmufflers.com/imag...2040%20blk.jpg

 

Oval tubing is easy to make if you have an engineering vise! I was considering departure angle clearance as the XJS does have a pretty long and low overhang as it is.
Plus, exhaust tunnels finishing at the back of a vehicle look cool and would give a more modern look!
I'm off to the parts car now to hack out some wiring harness. Someone in the past has removed the indicator and wiper switches from my car and just cut the harness to do it!
I can't overstate how useful it is to have a complete parts car, it's the only way to go.

 

Bit the bullet and ordered a radiator after some careful measuring and plenty of procrastinating. This is a replacement radiator for the Holden Statesman/Commodore the engine came out of. It's a perfect fit for what I want to do, the side clearance on one side will be engine cold air intake and an area for an air filter and the other side will be partially blocked off with a plate and trans/ power steer coolers.
What shocked me is the excellent fit top to bottom and the fact the bottom radiator locating pins drop straight into the jaguar crossmember mounts! Needless to say, the distance back and hose outlet positions are perfect, even the stock trans cooler lines will plug in. From what I read of the US built GM products, it seems GM here in Australia used a lot of very similar structural architecture in their vehicles:


I also ordered what I hope will be the last pieces for the exhaust system, these pieces will go through the cage, between driveshaft and lower arm:

Power steering is also under control. I need to order a banjo fitting for the pressure side of the pump outlet and shorten the pressure hose a lot, but nice clear routing. The return hose already had a Jaguar PS rack right angle fitting on it and is all sorted out.
Mechanically, apart from the exhaust, I only really need to sort out the cooling system including heater hoses, power steering, throttle cable, trans cooler and air intake for engine. I'm not going to start on the A/C system until I have the car up and running reliably well and most of the interior back together so I can run the interior controls a bit more easily.
I also found out some really interesting information online about how easy it is to modify GM Saginaw pumps for pump rate and pressure, so that should make any future issues with too light steering a non event. I'll put the link here, but will also start another thread as I think plenty of people would be interested in this:
Modifying your Power Steering Pump - GM Truck Central