Hey gang. I am thinking of getting an MK 2 and wondering about options for a more aggressive stance.

How are they lowered - are there spring kits?

Also if I want a classic, sophisticated yet sporty wheel; think restomod polished mesh or wire wheel as attached how would I go about sizing to ensure they fill the fender (or do you guys have sizing charts?).

 

Check out what Primaz has done, also work by Doug Doreen and Licksahotskillet on this forum, Primaz will give you chapter and verse on the wheels for sure.

If your looking resto mod check these guys out, they will give you loads of help.

Good luck with finding a Mk2

 

just buy the one in the pic,
yours for 350k

 

That's a very good point, but that does take all the fun away !

 

Evoking,
I'll speak to my build and also recommend you look at Doug & Primaz' threads. (Thanks Tilly Jon)


Stock ride height is 7" measured from the bottom of the rocker panels. My build with the frame change and new tire size will net a ride height of 7.5". I lost ground clearance with the new frame. My options to lower the car were channel the frame into the floor, or raise the floor. Both sounded like too much work. How little did I know!


My tire sizes will be: Front 245 45 17, and Rear 275 40 17. I added 2.125" to the inside of the rear wheel well. My frame is wider in the front than stock, the wheel well remained unchanged. Doug and Primaz are the tire size expert on tires that fit in the stock wheel wells. I studied their treads long before in headed off in a different direction.


Find a dry and rust free car as possible. They are worth their weight in gold.


I've included a shot of my car with 215 70 15 tires off of the XJ12L. These tires are 1" taller that the ones mentioned above. Car is not level, no coil overs installed, only held in position with straight bars instead of the coil overs.


For me the MK2's have a wow factor. Not many around and very cool lines.

 

Thanks for all the insight guys. The restomod I was considering got sold. It already had a V8 swap.

Should I buy a clean one and do the swap? Well when I say do I really mean have my dad shop do it haha. If I were so brace how much should I estimate in addition to the price of the car?

 

Buy one done - cheaper. Do it your self?, three times your budget. Having a shop do it?, four to six times your budget.
Just watched the barn find episode on Haggerty last night, the one about the DeSota and the BBC Cameros. Tom eludes to the expense of the hobby.
The nice part about the hobby, is we all come at from different angles, but love the drive!

 

Well said Clyde, the journey is the best part, the destination is the bonus, or in you case where the bonus went !

 

Speaking purely in terms of the drivetrain what would you say the budget? I was thinking three to 5K on the engine. And $8K-$10k on the labor and auxiliary componentry. Of course I understand Amy interior, body and suspension and car would be in addition.

Does this sound right?

 

Crate engines are the least expensive & offer the most power for the $.
I'm over kill here. I paid $3500 for the BBC, and put another 10K in it. Did most of the work by myself. Then you have to add in a kit to install it.
Overhauling a 12 scared me. We took the heads off with a sledge and turned it into a wine rack. TilleyJin could best tell you on the costs for the older engines for a MK2.
In overall costs it depends on where you draw the line to stop. I didn't stop until I had the engine compartment down to bare metal.
My MK2 is 57 years old and the XK12L is 40. Cars this old are full of surprises.

 

Evoking,


First of a V8 restomod Jaguar is an awesome driving car. Lickahotskillet and Doug I am sure can agree. My Jaguar is a very reliable daily driven car that gets a huge amount of thumbs up, positive comments/& headturns yet will smoke most stock cars with the horsepower.


The bad news is as lickahotskillet pointed out perfectly this is NOT a cheap build nor a walk in the park. The difficulty is that the V8 is a tight fit requiring a lot of minor yet time consuming mods to make everything work and fit. Then add the fact that there are no kits or parts made to do the swap so most if trial and error, etc. For added difficulty many Jag owners frown upon us restomod people which is why I left a popular forum site to only post here as at least this site does not allow the badgering and negativity other sites let occur. Other sites call our cars "lumps" and are very derogatory and thus you then have very few people to turn to for help. At least here there are some good people to give you good honest helpful information.


As far as lowering, my car is an Stype 1963 with the four wheel independent suspension. I ran QA1 coil overs all around and right now the car is close to what I want. I am commissioning a custom front drop spindle which will provide a more ideal geometry and stance for the front. I am running 17" x 8.5" custom CCW rims with 245 wide 40 series tires with no body mods. For more info check out my post "3.8S sleeper"
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/m...st-done-73952/




The Callam picture you posted is no lie a car that will sell for $350K to $500K but that is the creator of the Jag MKII so he is making a limited run of 12 or so. That car has a unique custom rear suspension with outboard brakes and I believe is independent rear as well.


For budget you should buy one already done if possible as others are right, it will be significantly less money. A V8 create engine/tranny will set you back anywhere from $6000 to $20,000 depending on your choice of quality and power,etc. This is not a simple drop the V8 in swap so if you have to pay a shop and even if you found a very fair inexpensive shop I would say to do the entire car you could easily spend $50-60K I think a good value would be budgeting - $7500 engine, $15K engine labor, wood $3000, wheels/tires $4K, paint $7500, brakes/suspension $9K, interior $7500 and that would be about $47K


Now look at my posting, Doug's, and Lickaskillet and ask yourself can you do that kind of work yourself? If so maybe you save about $15 to 20K if you are able to a lot yourself but not much more as the rest are parts or too specialized for any DIY.


Thus you will spend say $27-30K if you are skilled like Doug or Lickaskillet otherwise plan on around $47-50K

 

Primaz, you nailed it. Although the estimate for mine is a "little" low. I quit guessing on the final cost.

 

Me too! The budget I provided is a great price but one could easily spend a lot more. He would need to have super shops that give him a great deal but it could be done. I have a few more mods before I stop and move onto the next project car I did my car before the LS swaps were so prevalent so now I am already pondering when I put 300,000+ miles on this setup and it gets tired what engine I will replace it with? I am thinking Mast Performance LS3 create motor that puts down 630 HP with no fancy induction! all motor
https://www.mastmotorsports.com/coll...nt=21144296518


I have put down 57,000 miles in just under two years, hmmm....

 

Primaz,

Thank you for the detailed summary. My plan is to buy one that does not need painting or extensive coachwork. I have seen plenty of used LS1 engines for $3k. And plenty of new 350 crates for that. These two changes represent nearly $20k of of your estimates.

Regarding your lovely build I noticed you added rear wheel arch flares yet there is no arch. Did you consider cutting the wheel cover out? I recognize some may like them but I personally do not - and this is my biggest issue with S type.

 

Evoking, sorry you are incorrect. My car is bone stock body. There are no flares or wheel arch's added. The Jaguar 3.8s came stock where the rear fenders cover about 1/4 to 1/3 of the wheels. I like that stock look and when you stuff a wide wheel that eliminates any inner fender well gaps, it looks cool and I've gotten many positive comments on how the rear fenders are filled with the tire/rim.


I have researched LS engines a lot. Yes you may see used LS engines available for around $3k to $4K but those are not only typically high mileage say 70-120,000 miles typically. Also on an LS you need to have the computer custom configured to work in a Jaguar to match the wheels, trans, weight ratio, options you have on your car, etc. Also you still need a transmission. Thus my budget number of $6K for both engine/trans on the low end is about right. You do not want to but a worn V8 into a Jaguar as stuffing that V8 is a huge amount of work. Thus you want a new V8 or at least rebuilt one. Getting a new create engine and matching trans with all of the induction, accessories, starter, radiator, etc. is also part of my budget. One other thing is in order to fit the LS and have AC it required the March Performance serpitine pully set up and that is about $2K so $7500 is about right when you consider all the accessories, pully's, radiator, starter, compressor, power steering, fuel pump, that a engine needs.


Evoking my budget of $47K for you is using the cost of only $7500 for the engine/trans, and accessories NOT the $20K figure. If you have more money and want to get a 630 HP create engine with trans that can handle that power then you will spend $20K instead of $7500; then your total budget would be more like $60K. Do the match using the numbers I listed with $7500 for the engine/trans and you will get $47K.


Yes you can get plenty of carbureted V8 engines cheap but that is definitely NOT what you want. My car had a stock 350 iron block. That is not a trouble free reliable daily driver due to the choke, no fuel injection, no computer control, etc. I have seen a few Jag's with old school V8 350's but they like other restomod short cuts that do not use a modern computer engine do not sell for that much nor hold as high of a resale value.

 

You will look at paying in the region of £3K GBP for a second hand Jag 3.8 complete with carbs manifolds etc. Then there will be a rebuild cost, I spent £3500 on machine work, pistons, bearing and valves with oil pump and other sundries on top, and doing the rebuild myself.

You will be looking in excess of £8K GBP for a rebuilt 3.8 engine, and could be up to £12K depending on what has been done and who did the rebuild.

I think Primaz and Licksahotskillet have pretty well nailed the conversion information for you, but for my penny's worth if as you say you will look for one that doesn't need painting, or much coachwork etc. I think you will have a surprise if you hope that the paintwork etc. will hold up to a full restomod, the other guys will know that much better than me.