We will be putting in studs in the front to bolt the Vanden Plas seats in so we left enough height to allow for the studs that way the seats bolt in like it was made that way. We just looked at how the new seats are made to mount and cut enough width to give clearance se we can slide in with full travel with no issues but did not over cut it too low. What I think we did that looks better is the flat plate work welded on the sides and after we cut it looks stock compared to some I have seen that look hacked up. We are also doing some minor welding on the driver side so that the hand brake integrity is strong.

I sure hope we can get the rest done soon as I am getting impatient and wanting to drive it now! The electrical is almost done, we added a new modern fuse box to handle all of my electronics and most things like the engine management system, etc. so that the stock fuse box is mainly for starting the car and basic lights nothing else. All of these minor things seem to take way longer than we hope but all is going without any major issues.

 

Just catching up on your progress. The VdP seats must have been a challenge.

Graham

 

Going to a fuel injection we did not realize the Jaguar gas tank would be an issue but it was since it has two tanks and the available routing for the exhaust, etc. is limited. The issue is we could experience sloshing and having air issues if one tank drained etc. I did not want to do a hack by linking the two tanks as that would result in a fuel line under the exhaust. We were going to go with a fuel cell but by luck realized that right next to my car was a mustang which had the perfect size and shape tank to work with the 3.8S!

We just finished rough mounting and will send it out to get the tank modified for a return and relocation of the gas intake. Then we will paint it with Por-15 to look clean. What was cool is that we made a storage compartment with the extra unused space which will also be painted to match the car. It looks very good even though the tank and extra storage box are not painted yet.

What is very cool is that this provides even more space for my electronics and mobile office as we will ditch the two factory gas tanks and mount two batteries, one a marine battery for the electronics and on the other side another battery just for starting the car. We will use a battery isolater and build battery boxes for each battery.

Hopefully no more unexpected issues and we can get it done in another month?

 

Here are some pics of the seat mounts showing studs used for the front and strong plates welded below the car to secure the rear mounting studs. The mounts look clean like the car was designed for those seats.

Still working on the trunk. Here are shots of the extra storage box we made which was painted then Dynamatted for sound proofing. It will increase the storage of the trunk and use the stock spare tire section which will be modified with a hinge for easy access yet look factory. The rest of the spare tire sheetmetal will be mounted to cover the new tank so when done it will still look stock yet now we solved the tank issue for a modern fuel injected car. Removing all of the unneeded stock fuel lines and pumps which to me is a poor design cleans up the trunk and looks cleaner.

 

Graham,

Take a look at some of the new pics on the seat mounts. You can see it looks clean and the previous pics show that if you cut the section and weld in plates you can make it look clean like it came that way.

 

Seems Jaguar owners are not as familiar with what can be done to modify the wheels so here are some shots of the new rims on my car. Yes those are big 17" by 8.5" rims on a stock body Jaguar 3.8S with no body flares. I searched for days and all I found was a Jag with 225 tires and they had to butcher the car and cut the body which lost the classic look of the 3.8s. On any car you can buy custom off set rims so that you are using every bit of the wheel well. In the case of the Jaguar 3.8s I think I could have gone with a 255 in the rears but I wanted to be able to rotate the wheels since this is a daily driver. Remember half of your handling is the quality of the rubber and the width of that rubber.

Even if you are not putting a 450-460 horsepower engine having quality wider tires like these 245 45 series tires will enable your Jaguar to handle much better like a new high performance sports car or sports sedan.

 

The gas tank is now installed, just need to finish up the filler neck and piping. We will be fabricating a custom track system so that the many electronics, printer, scanner, refrigerator, microwave, etc. can have easy access as everything will slide out like a drawer. This is a 22 gallon tank so the fuel efficient GM V8 will go 550 miles before refilling depending on how heavy I am with the throttle....

 

Resto-modding an old Jag just never goes as fast as shows like Overhauling, etc. accomplishing a total transformation in less than a week on television.

Here is where the car is now. We should start the engine in 1 week or so if all goes well, on finishing the cold air intake, brakes, accelerator pedal modifications, and shifting modifications for the trans.

Then we bring the car to an exhaust shop for a custom stainless system. Then finish fabricating the sliding trunk floor rail system for my extreme mobile office. Then the stereo. Then to an upholster shop to put new leather on the door panels, new headliner, clean/paint the front seats, and see if they can section the vadenplas rear seats as Doug did otherwise reskin the stock rear seats. Lastly put the dash and all wood back. Then we can do a shakedown and see what needs to be modified for the suspension.

Most likely we may have to change to heavier springs in the rear. At least the ride height is adjustable a bit thanks to the adjustable coil over mods we did. In these pics you can see the xenon headlights, the serpentine set up enabling AC and other accessories to fit the narrow engine bay, power steering & radiator overflow billet tanks, how we had to move the radiator and fan set up to fit the accessories.

 

Hi I have been following your progress, some real fancy panel work.
I have been looking back at the floor pan mods you made for the seats.I cant seem to find any info as to why it was necs'y to lower the cross member!. Can you fill me in a bit
thanks barry

 

Primaz, thanks for posting the pictures - the car is looking fabulous. I'm a little jealous that you're so close to having a runner, but then I realize you've been at the project a lot longer than me. The overall stance looks just right - not crazy but definitely let's you know something serious is going on here. Speaking of that, have the number of CHIPs gone down with the economy out there?

Is that an electric fan I see in one of the pictures - between the engine accessories and the radiator? No idea how you got that in there, but with the ac and big alternator and all that horsepower you'll need to move a lot of air in that narrow nose.

Good luck with the finishing details - those things always seem to take the most time, but you want to get it right. Please keep us posted on your progress.

 

Barry, I had to modify the front seat crossmembers as I am installing late model Jaguar Vadenplas front electric leather seats. I wanted modern leather seats yet with classic wooden picnic trays to keep that old school charm of the early Jags. Doug is doing the same I believe in his Jag and did something very similar. I wanted modern seats that were comfortable and had good back and head support especially with the power this car will have. The moment I first sat in the stock Jag seats, I was so uncomfortable and can you imagine punching the throttle with 450 HP I might have whip lash

Doug, yes the 17x8 inch rims with 245 wide tires on all four corners look nice. I wanted just a mild hint of modern flare as for my taste the wire wheels were too old school for me. I think 17" is a good diameter maybe maximum could be 18 but I think the 17" with an 8" or 8.5" will give great handling and they really fill up the wheel wells with no clearance issues with the right offsets.

I need to send my radar detector in to get the new chip so that I can avoid the CHP radar/lazar guns With the economy weak they are looking for new revenue like speeding and parking tickets. One nice thing of using a GM LS1 v8 is that that power plant is so popular for restomods that there are a lot of specialty parts for odd transplants. I was able to find a radiator fitting that connects to the block that spins 360 degrees to make it easy for any retrofit and it takes stock thermostats. Also the many aftermarket serpentine kits for both show and mild performance enable a number of types that allow the accessories to be mounted either wide or narrow. For the Jag stuffing a big v8 makes for a narrow engine bay so the front mounted serpentine kit makes it perfect to fit it all and it is all engineered to work easily. Yes the fan was a bit tight but we are using all electric, a very large fan in the front to push it into the radiator and another to pull it behind the radiator.

The cold air intake will go where the passanger horn grill is. Yes all these little bits are a pain. We had to mount the radiator three times to get it right. The first time we realized there was no way to get the AC compressor to fit with stock mounts other than cutting the inner fender well so luckily there are so many serpentine kits for GM v8's so we found one that works slick and all the parts are billet and all the accessories are included and in polished chrome. Now we have to remove the radiator one more time to install the new evaporator and to cut a path for the big cold air intake to feed this beast

 

Hi Primaz, yes I fully understand why you want/need to fit a better seat.I to am thinking along those lines.Was it not possible to put in new seat mounts, to suit the new runners, without having to lower the xmembr. New bracket at the frt , then move the sloping mount at the rr. After all it only seems like 1-1 1/2" has been gained, alot of work unless really needed. Sorry to such a pain
best regards barry

 

Primaz

Fantastic work as always just a question thought where did you find Zenon headlamps for the MK2 or is it just the xenon bulb in an old housing. Can you provide more info on how this was accomplished.

 

Barry, I understand the intrepedation about cutting a car's stock body in anyway but to do it right it really needs to be done otherwise you will never get the comfort and use of the seats in the car. It is not hard even if you have someone do it for you and when welded as I did it does not reduce any structural integrity of the car. I had to do similar work on my Z cars to put racing and Recarro seats that is typical of putting higher quality modern seats in many cars. It is your car build it so you enjoy it have fun. It will not detract from strength or resale.

Ray, The Jaguar uses the same headlights as Datsun 240Z cars. These look factory yet give it the quality modern headlight viewing in the dark. The orange light inside can be used as parking or turning signal, I am using it as parking light.

 

Good morning Primaz, I would Have no hesitation in cutting into the xmbr should it be required, and after what I have done already the mod, in terms of work, would be insignificant. From what you are saying it was a chioce you made in order to acheive some thing that looked and felt better rather than to accomadate say a seat motor or some other physical reason. As I hope to do the same I was looking to be forwarned, that is the only reason I ask. I am of the opinion that its the chioce of the renovator or builder to what he thinks is correct. There is no right or wrong, as you say we should enjoy what we do I do . Many thanks keep the pics coming Barry

 

Barry, in order to mount the Vandenplas seats and to enable them to move forward/back, have clearance both headroom & physcially we had to cut that section to lower the mounting points. I have seen over four others including Ray, here requiring the same modification on their Jag to mount these and similar seats.

The hard part is what Ray I hope shares which is how to make the rear Vandenplas seats fit as that requires sectioning of the seat as the seat is too long for the car.

Ray, here is the link to purchase xenon headlamp kit for your Jag
Motorsport! Classic HID Projector Headlight Kit, 70-83 Z/ZX - The Z Store! Nissan-Datsun 240Z-260Z-280Z-280ZX-300ZX(Z31/Z32)-350Z-370Z Parts

Ray I am probably going to have the upholstery shop do the rear seats but can you share how you sectioned the rear seats to make them fit? If I recall you just did the back of the seat? did you use the stock rear bottom seat or did you section the bottom as well to make the entire rear seat fit?

 

Excellent job, what a cool choice on the wheels . They look dandy as well as spiffy
Not to mention , that car is a timeless one too

 

Cadillac,

Thanks, I really wanted to stuff the maximum rubber so I needed custom offset rims and wanted something that has more of a Euro look. These are Complete Custom Wheels (CCW) which is a great company as they make custom offset rims for any type of car. They are a popular brand for a lot of racers from Vipers to classics, very light and tough.

 

Thanks for your dope on the wheels primaz , I believe custom made stuffs add on value a bit much as well

 

Here are some more pics,

the cold air intake is done and came out clean, it is routed thru the passenger inner fender and we fabricated a louvered metal shroud to prevent water from entering via the wheel well. The air has been ported from the passnger horn gril so it will give good flow.

an extra brace for the steering rack linkage and we had to strengthen the frame to hold the brace.

brake booster on my car was moved to the battery location but now that I am putting the modern AC system which is designed to mount on the stock battery tray we re-routed the brake booster to driver inner fender well. Brakes are all done.

more shots of the serpentine setup. If there was more of a gap between the radiator and the pulley, etc. you would see more shine but it looks very cool.

still working on new gas pedal install, custom linkage so the stock column shifter will work, need to install custum drive shaft, install headers, then we can start it and get the custom exhaust going. Then the rear custom roller rails and trunk floor board system. Then stereo and interior. I am sure some more minor issues will arrise but am staying positive....