Has anyone investigated what would be required to future-proof an XKR. I absolutely love them but my experience has been mostly with 60s era cars that did not have computer modules, internal data radios, immobilizer systems, EPROMs, a 1000 sensors, etc.

What would be required to strip out the electronics, starting with the immobilizer system, and then replacing all that with more commonly available computers/software for managing only basic fuel injection, ignition timing, shifting, etc.

I love the aesthetics, I love the handling and power but I hate the complexity. I would be willing to sacrifice some of the performance to end up with something more akin to a restomoded 60s car - but with the body, frame, suspension, and drive train of the 2007+ XKR coupe.

 

Tembek, how do you feel about getting rid of the 4.2L engine and putting in say a Ford 5.4L engine? I ask this because finding a stand alone ECU set up for the 4.2L engine is going to be difficult where if you switched to a more common engine, they are a dime a dozen. Now, the ECU kit will probably cost you about $4000, so, you can expect to drop say $10K to do a motor/tranny/ECU. That would then let you kill most of the electronics. Then all that would be left is what you are going to do wtih the power windows/locks (converting these would be fairly simple if you understand electronics) and then the A/C-heat system integration into the radio system. This can be handled using a generic "tesla screen" setup or with a little more work, going with an aftermarket radio and figuring out how to make the A/C system work with only manual knobs. Granted, this would probably also be simplified by going with a generic wiring harness. These can be had for $500 or so that would give you say 40 circuits to play with.

 

Fascinating. Would that eliminate the immobilizer?what about things like the abs module? Would the ECU replace the emissions monitoring system?

 

Yes, this should remove the immobilizer. That is a part that is built into the ECU. Since you are replacing the ECU, the immobilizer would go away too. As for the ABS unit, you can probably keep that. This will also allow you to keep your wheel speed sensors. You can then access the speed signal from the ABS unit to feed into the ECU for the tranny computer (or the separate tranny computer based on the setup you get) and this signal would then be used by the instrument cluster that came with the aftermarket ECU to give you all your dash indications. As for emissions, you should still have atleast your upstream O2 sensors, but you can most likely find a unit with downstream sensors too. Granted, most people that are going as far as you are are not too worried about emissions and just need the upstream sensors for feedback to keep the air to fuel ratio near where it needs to be.

Do not forget, you may need to lock the headlights into a fixed position because you may find that you have self adjusting headlights and this may cause them to shine in the wrong areas. But that would be fairly easy to correct. As for things like turn signals, the blinker module would be built into the fuse box for the aftermarket wiring harness.

I have a generic working sense of this as I helped my dad build a 23 T-bucket many year ago and it would be something very similar to what you are looking at. Also been known to wire a boat or two from the ground up. The big things to keep in mind is that you want all your connections either inside of water proof plugs (like what your factory plugs are) or you want to seal the wire to wire connections in a product like Raychem WCSF-070 (heavy duty heat shrink with a heat sensitive glue inside that bonds to the insulation to make a water tight seal).

 

Oh, one thing that crossed my mind when thinking about the ABS unit, you are going to want the most basic of systems (ie, ABS only). You don't want a module that is going to incorporate stability control (DSC) or things like that. DSC requires inputs from like the steering column, X/Y/Z axis g-sensors, etc. A lot of stuff that it sounds like you are trying to get rid of. This should also make it so the ABS unit is pretty much a "stand alone" system other than having an output for speed indication.