Glenn,

Thanks! I agree and will ignore any comments and keep mine specific to this thread

 

New to this site, I fell straight into your wonderful project! It seems one great conversion, unfortunately way beyond my capacity... For me; the small things, and I wonder if you have started posting pictures of your offset wheels, as I am getting a bit of rubbing even with my original size tires and some spirited driving...

 

I just pulled my motor and transmission, getting ready to inspect and prepare it for new body.

 

Edfast,

It is totally fine if you cannot do it yourself as you can just hire someone to do it

Here are some pictures of the 17" x 8.5" rims running 245 diameter tires on my 3.8s. It does clear but to give it more room I am having the fenders rolled. That eliminates that sharp lip and will look clean and stock yet give you increased clearances. It is funny that so few Jag owners even attempt to do simple custom offset rims/tires when it can make such a huge difference in the handling performance.

 

Way to go Mish! I know how much work that is and am glad to see it progress further.

 

Keep it coming Mish.......

 

Primaz your wheels look awesome. I removed the skin from one door but have been tied up. The compound nature of the curves in the door is not going to be easy to deal with! PS, I scored a T5 from a 86 Camaro. I know it's no real tuff so I'll be easy on it.

 

Hello to all

If you go to the MWS site (MWS International) it has all the wheel sizes they can be fitted to the different models. It also has the wheel sizes fitted to the beacham jag, plus an explanation of inset,outset and spacing.

Couple of pics showing ls1 engine size. (these were obtained from the ls1 tech site)

Hope this helps.

Glenn

 

Glenn, I went to that link and that is a cool guide but it is just for stock rim/tire sizes as the widest tire they show is a mere 205. Anyone interested in the right offset for stuffing a 17" x 8.5" 245 tire go to my posting on Beefing up the rear suspension - https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/m...g-tires-63437/

FLA Steve,

You are a regular Chip Foose as that crazy custom two door 3.8s you are creating is one cool ride. You are doing a very clean job, way to go! I was amazed that nobody even the Beecham Jag is using the full extent of a proper offset for the Jags as that extra meat on the ground makes a huge difference in handling. We should be rolling the fenders for extra clearance this week. It is going smooth just slow as I do not have the budget of what they have on TV

 

The only bad part of my Jaguar was the previous owner really hacked up the engine bay so we are spending a lot of time to weld up all the unecessary holes, sand them smooth, seal and prep them for paint so you will never see any clues that there was an issue before. When you see the amount of welds and we still have some more minor ones to go before we paint you can get an idea of bad it was before.

We still have a lot more welding to do, a lot more sanding and grinding of the welds, and sealing before we are ready to paint but it is looking so much cleaner.

 

The General Motors modern aluminum block aluminum head fuel injected motor is a great power plant with stock form already getting 300-350 HP. My LS1 has a mild cam, upgraded computer harness/programming, headers, and mild tweaks that bumps it to 450 HP yet still will get great fuel economy.

This 5.3 liter motor did take some modifications to get it to fit. Here are some pictures of the passanger firewall that needed to be cut and modified. Once we finish grinding the welds, sealing it and then painting you will never know anything was cut or modified. Also neglible leg room was sacraficed as there is plenty of room for a tall person to have great leg room.

 

The engine bay had plates welded so that they are flush and look like there wer no holes cut. It is a rather slow process as the grinders, etc. can only do so much then the rest is all hand sanding, etc. Most areas are ground smooth with a small amount of filler to give it a new seemless look. We should be able to move to the rolling of the fender wells soon. There we had to fabricate our own fender roller in order to keep the factory curvature but that was not too hard.

 

Your project like to be in the good way, realy amazing. For me, it's more slow than i expected: I ve just finish to restaure and custom the body. I continue my research of the good engine. Finaly i will maybe choose the same as you.. To folow. This is the body without bumper, i like the result, back is a mix between a big beetles and an austin mk100.

mastic put with gun paint. unrefined

 

to evrard36 ..you are a bit ahead of me..if you haven't already checkout My Stypes on this forum...my shortened 2 door coupe.

 

Hi
I like the examples previously discussed. I have a 2.4 which is a bit smoky and needs some remedial work, the choice is between rebuilding at least the head, (probably the whole engine) or replace with something more powerful. I reckon if I turn the exhaust manifolds over to point up, there is room for a turbo on the top without fouling the bonnet. The 2.4 is rather revvy and a very smooth engine, but definitely needs a bit of extra power. With the short stroke, and the general bulk & strength/cooling of the larger engines, I think it might be a goer for a turbo efi conversion, and it would be nice to keep the 'original' motor...has it been done I wonder? Comments gratefully received.

 

I found this online MK2 EFI

but to me it seems like a challenging project with not that much of payoff for all that work as the HP was not that impressive (160 HP). I am familiar with Haltech computers and they are good but are about $1500 to $2500 and then you really need a skilled tuner since this is not a typical modification. When you add the cost of a quality fuel injection and the cost of rebuilding the engine which for the long block done right will be about $7K plus another $1500 or so for headwork, here is a typical yet many others will charge more for a decent rebuilt (Engine Rebuilding ) I would guess that you are likely to be exceeding $12-$15K easily and you do not get that much HP and you are still left with sketch reliability and more maintenace but if you are keen on keeping it all Jag that is one way to do it.

I think a better alternative is to use a modern Jaguar v8 but then you really better find a tunner whom can custom tune the computer set up. Beecham does turnkey retro MKII's but they are about $100K so finding a tunner might be a challenge? If you are ok with going to a GM v8 you will find a much more easy ability to get engines, performance parts, computers, tunners, etc. with ease. You could do a modern fuel injected GM for half the cost and get 400-500 HP and if you want to spend the same for a stock Jaguar rebuild you could easily get a reliable 700-800 HP supercharged GM v8 street motor.

 

Hi all,
Great work, Primaz, fla steve awsome what you are doing, and everad36, the rear of your car reminds me very much of mine, no rear bumper.. I've just pulled my mk2 out of slumber to make a start, can't figure out how to post pics yet?

Any update on the engine install yet primaz? I noticed you did work to the passenger side bulkhead, obviously my car being RHD do you think I may have steering fouling the LS1 which is my intended route.

Did you buy you engine and box from sands along with the wiring?? and anyone got any idea's on how a MK2 axle would deal with this kind of power or who does any kind of upgrade??

I've got a lot of structural repairs to do yet, but love to get as much info as possible. My first job is to pull the 3.8 engine an box to sell, anyone got any ideas on what it would be worth??

Keep up the good work guys!!

 

Redcat 3.8 - yes I purchased the motor/tranny and computer from Sand and Street Performance which to me after looking into used Ebay motors was well worth a small amount more. For me I want power yet also a daily driver so I wanted a reliable motor I can just drop in with no fuss. They did a mild rebuild with new rings, cam, headers, gaskets, a few upgrades to the tranny internally, and included their computer upgrade all programmed for our needs. My cutting was due to clearances of the engine not the power steering so I am not sure if that small clearance issue is there on a right hand drive? You will likely need to test fit it to see?

Sorry I do not know about what others have done on the MKII rear suspension? I have seen some change it to the 3.8 IRS and if you do that you know the must do is the "Watts Linkage".

 

Few here have the problems of weak rear suspension, specific problem to MK2. For my part I am looking for an s-type, or an XJ6's rear suspension, with nearly 10 cm longer but it must be good. Nothing is consistent, which makes the swap hardly, i will see that later..
For the engine, I stayed with jaguar, probably with a 4l2 from 1986.
I'm curious to see what gives your mk2 without bumper.
This is my last update: headlights swap for Jaguar D-type and development of a fuel-doors daytona.

(lots of idea found in mans classic, I am inspired by BMW interior, minimalist) always in the mind of sixty's races.
I'm looking for a long time support of "Quick Stand", as the cobra, Do you know if what kind of support are selling?

 

Hi
you need to chat with a guy from RETRO POWER,its in the uk,
01455 617514, his name is nat,
they are doing 2 mk 2s and they use the axles in some of there cars now,
and i think he said they have one in an opal that thay sprint,
you can get an up grade from SNG BARRATT,for the axle to do away with the springs,
i need to do mine,but as i have an 03 stype 4.2 as a donner i wud like to try that first,but i will need to cut it as its to long,