I need to know what complications there are in swapping the motor from a 2000 XJ8 VP to a 1998 XJ8L.

It looks strait-forward to me. Swap the motor and the ECU and call it a day. Am I out of line? Will it be more difficult than this?

Essentially I can pick an 80K 1998 XJ8L with 80k miles that had the secondary tensioners go bad and therefor ruin the motor. Picking up that L-series would be a help because my 2000 VP has a ruined tranny and rear differential. I think if I swap the motor I would be a happy individual and have a fun project.

BTW the XJ8L is only $1000 dollars and is in excellent good super condition other than the motor. Thoughts?

 

I would rebuild the second motor first....as long as you have it out, do a valve job and rering with a new set of bearings, tensioners, etc.. I have no idea if the swap is an easy one, but I would bet it would be as you describe.

 

Easy swap, if the 1998 has a AJ27 (should be), then you can re-use all the hardware. But as I am not so familiar with the NA engines, I would re-use the cams/cam vvt gearing, oil pump and re-use all of your 98 electronics.

 

98 model year has an AJ26 motor.

 

Thanks for the help. I'm not going to go for it. The donor car i was going to buy was not accurately described. I do wonder about people an taking care of their cars. You should have seen the paint and interior. It was like an angry gorilla with a bucket of acid was allowed to have his way with the vehicle for about 10 minutes.

Oh well.