Hi all, I have been enjoying reading all of the posts on this forum and learning the proper care and feeding of my 1995 XJ6. I had loaned her out to a family friend and while in her care the care decided to spit a rod out of the side of the block, the reason why this happened is really not all that important although I believe a lack of lubrication was a major contributing factor. The point of this is I would like to get advice from the community regarding what I should do with the car now. I have invested a fair amount of time and some money getting parts and keeping it running.
Some of the items I've replaced
rack and pinion rebuilt
power steering pump
water pump
harmonic damper/primary pulley
I'm sure there are more items that I have forgotten to catalog at this point, anyway long story short is the local salvage yard has offered me $200 for the car (less tires and battery which are being saved for the wife car). What would you guys do with the car? I'm not too interested in rebuilding it as I have too many project and a lack of time and money to take on the project of repairing it.
Should I take the money from the breaker?
Should I bite the bullet and get a remanufactured motor?
Does anyone here want to buy it from me and take a crack at it?
Also if there are any members in the ALBUQUERQUE NM area you can come by and take a look at it.
Thanks all.

 

I’d part it out whenever you have the time avaliable. Otherwise if you want it back on the road go with the used motor route, these engines are not known for major failure.

 

Parting it out has occurred to me as well, I'm not sure which avenue would be the best route to take to get there. Should I post on this forum to see if anyone needs parts that are currently on my car? Or would you guys take a part off each day and then post it on e-bay? Maybe I should just put the whole car on E-bay and see what happens?

 

Really depends on what’s of value in your particular car.

Remotes make good money, modules like BPM and SLCM do too. That’s already more than the $200 they’ll give you. Working alpine radios, wood trim, etc it could go on and on.

 

As I suspect your car will be rust free in New Mexico, the bolt on front wings are worth more than you have been offered for the whole car........

 

That's really sound advice, I have actually posted the car on the marketplace section of the website. If anyone needs any parts off of the car you can find it there.

 

The answer on this seems easy, if the wife has a similar car you have just gained a donor car.
Look at eBay and check the prices of the parts you know to be good, if you have room save as much as possible.
The other option of an engine swap depends on the price in your country, also the cost of the swap over.
Hope this helps.
John.

 

Okay after no requests for parts and an incredibly meager offer from the local pick a part. I started looking into what a replacement motor would cost, and I'm surprised to see that good used motors aren't that expensive. So I'm inclined to do an engine swap. My question is any areas to look out for while swapping the motors.
I'm well versed in replacing American V8 motors particularly in trucks, I've even swapped a couple of Japanese motors and I know that every chassis and powertrain has it's own unique challenges. Bolts that are nearly impossible to reach or fittings that are typically impossibly stubborn etc...
What experiences have you folks had with this process and what words of wisdom would impart?
Thanks in advance

 

Good salvaged AJ16 engines are cheap because there is very little demand for them - they've generally proven to be bulletproof. I haven't had to replace one but I recently swapped engines in a 2011 BMW 325i with a straight six and if you can swap a V8 you'll have no problem with a straight six. But you'll want to have the workshop manual for torque specs and such. You can find it in the forum download area at the link below:

Jaguar X300 Workshop Manual

Cheers,

Don

 

Thanks for the link Don, I have just downloaded it and I'm sure it will be a real life saver.

 

I pulled the engine from my car when I did a full rebuild some years ago. I lowered it with the transmission and front subframe out the bottom as I was stripping the whole car anyway. But I put it back in the traditional way from the top.

There are no real dramas and if you've done other engines you have nothing to be concerned about.

A recent thread on an oil leak from an O ring at the back of the engine is worth a read and you could consider replacing the O ring on the new engine as preventative maintenance, especially on an "unknown" engine. Rare, but if you have the engine out then it's small money. Here's the thread.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-fluid-231609/

 

B1mcp
Thanks for the link. I wonder if that's the oil leak that ultimately led to my engines demise.
I was actually thinking of replacing cam cover and oil pan gaskets etc while the engine is out anyway, just to ensure that there are no leaks when I'm done. BTW when you reinstalled your engine did you have the engine and transmission as a unit? I'm curious how difficult it is to reach all of the bell housing bolts and motor mounts etc.

I know when I'm working on a small block chevy I lower the rear of the transmission to reach the bell housing bolts with a long extension. Any tricks like that to recommend?
Thanks

 

I seem to recall that when replacing starters on cars with the AJ6 and AJ16 I've had to remove the transmission mount/rear engine mount to lower the rear of the transmission for better access to the top starter bolt with long extensions, so if you decide to disconnect the engine from the transmission you'll probably want or need to tilt the transmission down to access the upper bellhousing bolts.

 

I would definitely separate the two. The engine is a bit to long to make it comfortably out as a unit. I did an engine swap on an xj40 not too long ago. I tried to at first stab the whole combo in and couldn’t safely make it work.

I pulled the tranny on mine over the weekend, the bolt comes out of the same way as your Chevy, used a 2’ and 6” with swivel. Best of luck!

-Neil

 

When I did mine I did the engine/trans as a unit. But I had the luxury of a completely empty engine bay (no rad/condenser to worry about). And with a completely stripped car I gained probably 6 inches height on the tunnel because of the weight (see picture).

Also, I have a ceiling mounted hoist so can get lots of height and angle. If you're using an engine crane you would be more limited.

 

Neil,
Thanks for the reply, do you recall how many bolts hold the torque converter to the flex plate? Since my engine threw a rod rotating the crank can present a challenge.
Also did you attach the engine hoist to the front and rear of the intake manifold? What method did you use to lift it?

I started tearing my old engine down yesterday so now the cooling system and wiring harness are clear, and I haven't seen any really solid points to lift the engine from. Once again thanks for all of the wonderful guidance from everyone here.
John

 

To lift the engine, I made brackets out of weld flat and installed one on the exhaust and the other on the intake. After that I just used engine hoist. Pardon the welds in the pics, but below are the brackets.

There are three bolts holding the the flexplate. Hope you can turn it somewhat. Let us know how it goes.

-Neil

 

Neil, thanks for this pictures I'll be building something similar this evening. It turns out (not surprisingly) that the motor is locked up very tight, so now I'm thinking I'll have to remove the pan and hopefully be able to remove whatever shrapnel is obstructing motion.

I promise I will post pictures of the carnage when I get it out.

 

Engine came out yesterday afternoon, and as promised I couldn't move it at all so I just pulled the torque converter with the engine. Here are a couple of pictures of the damage.



The holes look much larger without the starter covering them.

I would like to add that I pulled this out of the engine without removing the pan or the cylinder head! I literally reached into the hole in the block and pulled it out.

 

That rod was thrown... a long ways! How could this happen to an AJ16? It had to be severely abused and neglected. That is ugly.