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Picked up an XJ8 this weekend for my son to replace the one he crashed... We had the good engine and transmission, so we were set for a new project with either issue (or both)
Pull up a chair and sit a spell while I tell you an interesting story.
Looking through Craigslist after the crash on a regular basis while son saves $ to buy. Come across a $800 white one with a rod knock... had to wait a few days before he had enough to cover what would be a decent offer- texted owner and he says "sorry just sold it today" Oh well, we will keep looking. We are waiting at the airport chatting when a text comes in from a local number "how much for the engine and trans?" I reply with a solid, but not too high offer, and he says it's above his budget and we part ways.
I look over at my kid, and ask him- do you think maybe he would want to sell the car he needs the engine/trans for? Son says, "might as well give it a shot!"
BOOM $525 he says. I tell him we are out of town and I'll touch base the following week.
Fast forward to me going to the guys house (about 10 minutes from me) I roll up and there are TWO XJ8's in the driveway- one white, one black. We get to talking and agree that pending my son being interested I will buy the black one for $525. We get to talking and I mention I work on them for a hobby... he looks at me and asks if I would be interested in swapping the engine from the black one into the white one in exchange for the black one and the motor from the white one since his mechanic would charge him aruond the same price as the car I was offering to buy.
BOOM again, I agree. Drew up some documentation on expectations and results for us both to sign and we got started on the process. Turns out the white one is the car that we tried to buy but was sold- small world eh?
Fast forward to last Sunday, we pulled the motor from the black one, then Monday we pulled the motor from the white car and transplanted one from black car into the white car. The whole time the guy was looking a bit skeptical but went bananas when it started and ran fine...I kept having to repeat that I am NOT a mechanic when he and all his friends ask if I can now perform repairs on all of their cars....
Drag car and engine home to our house, commence to pull my son's engine and trans out yesterday and stab it in. Today we buttoned it up and it is running smooth as can be- he needs to replace both motor mounts, but he is a college kid on a budget so....
TL;DR Free XJ8 for swapping a motor for a guy- lotta work, but FREE.
Thar she is- next to the soon-to-be towed to the crusher crashed Silver XJ8
If you have a double garage that two cars will comfortably fit into, now strip one car, and have the bodyshell hauled away.... guess what???
The second car now lives in the drive/street, the double garage and half the back yard is now full of car parts...
6 months later... you get the phone call from ebay or the local auto trader... have you got XXXX part?... Hang on a minuet, I will go and check... Hour and a half later, covered in crap, after having smashed, bent or scratched half your inventory, and leaving the garage/ backyard looking like Hiroshima, you triumphantly get back to the phone with the part,( worth about 10 pence ) in your hand , only to find out .... he got pissed off hanging on the line, and has hung up!!!
Andrew makes a good point- and to be a good neighbor I keep it down to a 60 day max period, and then box up what I think is valuable and have the carcass hauled off by a wrecker.
I then occasionally post some things on ebay but frankly it has been nice to be able to just "grab" an expensive or difficult to find part for one of my cars when I need it...Haven't bought fuses in years and when my alternator went out, I just grabbed one off my shelf and it was good to go. Now that we are empty nesters, I will probably trim down and keep only what I think I will really need for the near future and give away/sell whats left.
Oops I did it again!
