Some of you may have followed in other topics a project i am working on, which is converting a vintage Bedford CF van to utilise the Jaguar X Type front and rear subframes suitably upgraded for the increased weight, the engine and transmission hybrid, again modified. I've had some tremendous help here on a couple of other issues, and i'm hoping for some sound advice and comments on these issues.

The van has a maximum weight of 2800 Kgs, the Jaguar 2025 Kgs, a difference of 775 Kgs. The plan here is you use either a full set of coils and shock absorbers rated at 3500 Kgs or get a set of custom coil overs made for the job. The question here, would the subframes and wheel bearings be up to a maximum payload of 2800 Kgs, or would beefier bearings need to be investigated? The subframes themselves, i suppose could be reinforced if we applied some thinking to it.

Another point raised was the overall stability. The Bedford is actually a custom motorhome build and the centre of gravity "COULD" be higher than the original Jaguar, although some thinking will be applied in keeping the heavier items below floor level where possible. Can anyone see any serious issues here?

The transmission chain. Again, the maximum weight of the van will be 2800 Kgs (in reality much less) The Jaguar has a maximum weight of 2025, a difference of 775 Kgs, however, the maximum towing weight is 1500 Kgs which totals 3525 Kgs which the transmission can safely handle, 725 Kgs more than the maximum weight of the van. Its appreciated that any increase in load the Jaguar has to pull will accelerate drivetrain wear.

Engine, its a 2.0L diesel. It would have been ideal to have kept the engine transverse mounted, but there is insufficient room front to back in the engine bay to do this. I have a couple of options here, first is to fit the gearbox and clutch from the Ford Transit Mk7 This apparently fits and has a remote gear linkage like the Jaguar, but that is costly. The second option is to turn the Jaguar engine through 90 degrees and lock the differential so its solid and effectively becomes a 90 degree gearbox. I have been informed by a couple of guys in the group who are heavily into 'Hot Rodding' (not my cup of tea ) That this practice is very common when a compact engine and gearbox is required in older cars. The rearward facing driveshaft would be mated with a propshaft driving a rear differential from either a 2.5 or 3.0L AWD Jaguar. Its appreciated this will upset the overall gearing having a second diff inline, but the donor Jaguar has been remapped and tweaked resulting in a power output approaching 270 BHP which we think should overcome the shortfall due to the overall gearing issue.

We have been looking at and discussing various ECU and electronics issues that will crop up with this project, and we feel we can overcome these.

There has been weeks of discussions on this project, and many idea's thrown around and mulled over. This afternoon, 4 of us spent a lot of time crawling around, measuring up with a Jaguar alongside the Bedford to see how things will fit. The above points are the current big issues still with question marks against them

So any advice, and/or comments will be greatly appreciated.!

 

On a lighter note, what would you call a hybrid Jaguar/Bedford?....Jagford, Beduar?? If you are a fan of Austin Powers and his Shaguar, that adds another possible interesting name.. :P