Hey guys.. new fella from South Dakota here checking in. I have been kinda making a build thread over on another forum, but I thought I'd post it up here as well for you guys.

I thought I would finally start to throw together a build thread for this thing. So here she goes.

After picking this car up for what i thought was going to be a quick and easy flip, i started to play around with the idea of swapping this car. After a little research, i quickly found that no one makes any kits to do it, and I could only find one person that has actually started to tackle an actual S Type. I did however run across a Lincoln LS that looked to be done correctly and turned out pretty nice. Everyone else said this was impossible and that it would take sooo much to make everything work. I don't care. I like a challenge I guess.

So, I fully developed the plan, pulled a motor I had sitting in another car, started buying some parts, and ripped into the old Jaguar.

The plan:
5.3 w/ right around 100k on it
Early model 4L80E with the harness upgrade of course.
Engine & trans controlled by two Microsquirt units
VS Racing 88/83 turbo
VS Racing WG and BOV
Siemens Deka 80 lb/hr injectors from VSR
Twin Walbro 450 E85 fuel pumps
A2W intercooler with heat exchanger for daily street driving and ice box for the track and Mexico of course.
Factory IRS will be retained but the 8" open rear diff will be swapped to an 8.8" LSD. If the 28 spline axles or 8" ring gear give up after being tortured, a custom rear suspension will be in line along with a 31+ spline solid 8.8".
Reworked hubs all around with 5x4.5" bolt pattern incorporated in lieu of the funky 5x108mm pattern to widen the spectrum of wheel options.
Plus bunches of other jazz I can't remember...

I am trying to retain as many of the interior functions as possible to keep this car comfortable since I want it to be capable of daily driver duty. This will include AC, power steering, power seats and steering wheel with memory, factory stereo and navigation, etc.. However, I am not even going to attempt communicating with the Jag's indecipherable CANbus systems, so it will be lacking functional ABS and traction control.. big deal. I hate that shitt anyways lol.

Anyways... on to the pictures and whatnot!













I got the 4.0 wrestled outta there and the new motor sat into place. While doing so I quickly ran into my first of many space issues... as I assumed it would, the oil pan ran right into the rack. I sprung for a fabricated aluminum pan and just kept on working while I waited for it to show up on my doorstep.





After A LOT of cutting, trimmings and multiple hotside ideas, this is just about where I currently sit on the project. I will have to get some more up to date pictures this evening, but the engine and trans are right where I want them with nothing hanging below the car, oil pan is on, hotside is nearly fully welded, accessories are in the midst of being mounted, and I'm still playing around with routing the downpipe.

 

Just one word: WOW!

I've seen LS3 swaps for bad V-12 XJ-S' but never for STs.

Just like back in the day when an unbadged Chevy Nova pulled up next to you....it had a 396 big block hidden under the hood. A real sleeper!

 

Jaguar progress the past few days... Intercooler mounted, radiator support is nearing completion with the radiator and heat exchanger sitting basically where they need to be and the bumper actually fits lol, accessories sitting in place with brackets started, painted intake, fittings found for evap and fuel, hotside fully welded, ice box location is up in the air, and charge pipes are made, but waiting for my couplers to arrive before paint.

Today, I'm going to finish up the rad support, build the finalized motor mounts, and mount this ice box after finding an official spot for it.

THEN! hopefully this weekend we can fire this bitch off after plumbing and wiring!! She's getting close, and I can't wait!

 

Man this is SO awesome! I dream of a turbo LS swap in my STR but went down the twin screw route as it was cheaper and mostly a bolt on swap. Can't wait to see what this monster will do once it's dialed in.

 

Got some good work and good pictures of the Jag done yesterday and lastnight. Pretty tore up and its sad to say.. but im actually kinda sore from going hard on it until about 3am, so I decided to take the day off until after dinner time today. Hopefully everything will be ready for paint by the end of tomorrow.

 

There is some great progress going on in there ! Well done .
I'm guessing that it will be a track only car am I right ? With no a/c and no heater .
Also what are you going to do for brakes , cause I don't thing those wee stock ones will cut the mustard . Very cool project .

 

Just to be nosey, what HP#'s and spool time are you looking at with that turbo? Also, what c/r did you wind up with? Meth or no meth?

I'm putting together an F/I(78/75vs) 5.7/T56 for my SI XJ6 and just looking to compare set ups. Really looking forward to see how yours turns out. I thought mine would be a good sleeper, but no one will expect the ***kicking that they'll get from yours. Awesome build.

 

Fantastic. Nice job.

What is your electrical plan? Run the engine stand alone, or rewire the car to get everything to work?

 

Crazy how fast you're making progress, nice work! I saw another build thread using pretty much exactly the same parts as you: stock 5.3, 88/83 VS Racing turbo with 80lb/hr siemens injectors - https://sites.google.com/site/sloppy...s/fairmont-5-0

Made 740whp at 23psi! This is going to be one fast 4.0 S-type

 

Sorry just notest that it will be a daily my question was already answered , great idea ! Hope it all works out with the electrics , good luck .

 

Yes, the plan is to retain heat and air conditioning, but to be honest, I haven't looked very far into this yet. However, I am fairly confident with my abilities, so I will likely make it work one way or another by either it just working, or developing a module that utilizes simple electronics basics like relays, diodes, and resistors.

Brakes will most likely be swapped to Brembo STR or some other Brembo OEM equivalent since they are relatively cheap, readily available all over. I have also pondered the idea of doing some research on component weights and mounting points, and then see if I could source a full aftermarket kit from another vehicle.

I am hoping to be right around 700 RWHP. I did all my fuel system calcs using 900 FWHP, so with 15% power loss due to drive train, probably even more with the 80e... I should be right around 700 hp at the wheel.

Spool time should be fairly quickly. I am thinking that when this thing lights it's gonna take off like a rocket. I am more focused on drag racing than the road race type of thing that most of you guys are probably into more, so this will probably sound awful to you guys lol. I will hopefully be able to flash the convertor up around 2500-3000 RPM on the foot brake and then leave the line, and I am assuming that I will be able to leave on atleast 8 to 10 lbs and hopefully be at full boost by the 60 ft.. my turbo is actually only a .96 A/R exhaust housing, and I feel that my hot side is pretty well laid out, so it should be pretty efficient.

If it takes too long to spool, I will rebuild the hotside using 2" instead of the 2.5" I currently have. I'm actually more worried about my 44mm wastegate being able to regulate the boost efficiently lol.

Compression ratio is stock LM7, so it should be right around 9.5:1. As far as meth goes, I have everything for it just in case since I was going to use it in my drag car, but I will be on E85 with this setup since it is so easy to get around here. I also have an air to water intercooler with heat exchanger as well as auxiliary ice box, so my IATs should be dam near sub ambient even after a good run set on kill haha. Either way it should be a badass ride, but I really hope I hit my goals with it.

The engine and trans are controlled using two seperate standalone MicroSquirt units, but they will communicate to eachother via CAN signals. The rest of the car will be controlled separately. I'm not sure what I'm going to have to do, but I will get it to work and report back with my solutions and results.

Yup.. That would be Matt's build. Him, Viren Singh, and all of the other slops have been a huge part of this build.. whether it be just giving me their opinions, providing their knowledge, helping find info, or even getting me parts as quick as possible that fit the budget, they have all been a huge help. Matt and his group of sloppy mechanics are a hell of a group of guys over there. They're simply full of knowledge and will give it to anyone that wants it. That's real hot rodding.



As always, thanks a lot for the compliments and even the questions, fellas. It helps motivate me even more to get this thing done. If anyone wants anymore specifics, don't be afraid to shoot me a PM or post up. I don't have any secrets, and I'd love to help out over here any way I can.

 

By the way, sorry I forgot to mention your car is one of my favorite jag body styles. Gotta love that grill!! I just recently sold my SBC swapped 83 XJS, and I've always seen a little bit of the XJS in the Series I XJ6.. I just like it haha.

Off topic, but have you ever seen this custom coupe SI XJ6? B E A utiful!!

 

In hind sight that I had started with a Gen II face lift S-type rather than a 2000 S-type for my conversion project. Suspension would have been easier to modify for brake upgrades.
2003 and newer S-types have a better front suspension and supporting cross members, as well as more robust rear sub frame mounting points. The STRs added a reinforcing cross panel behind the rear seats to stiffen the body.

At your HP level, it will be interesting to see how long the rear and and 1/2 shafts hold up.
Electrical will the most difficult challenge if you want everything else to be functional. Early CAN Ford system is very dependant on the BCM to make all the other modules work.
I got stuck on the electrical and couldn't make a cost effective interface between the engine ECM and BCM. Decided to rewire most the car to GM electrical, then ran out of time and haven't been able to restart my project.

 

Having started with a 2000 S-Type his car did not have any CAN (until he adds it).

 

Jonnyv713, I take my lid off to you.
That is an amazing piece of quality worksmanship.
I am in awe of the huge skills people like yourself have.
Fantastic and its a pleasure to see the build.

 

It'll be interesting to see the fresh air intake !!

 

how is this thing coming along ? any updates ?

 

I'll give a little write up after work today, but I'll just share some pics for now! Getting extremely close to going for a ride!

 

Damn, that's lookin' good.
What size heat exchanger(radiator?) for the i/c, what are you using for a pump and how big of a water tank? Are you running a hobbs switch for the pump? Sorry for all the questions, I'm going a2w for my build and trying to get as much info as possible. Also who's coil brackets are those?

 

Is that pipe going to be stuck out thru the bumper like that?

Not sure how you would keep it from getting torn off or damaged?
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