Hello everyone! As much as I love my XJR, it was totaled in a storm to the point there there is no reasonable way to get it back on the road.

I've decided to put the engine / trans / rear suspension / fuel system / wiring / computer into one of my project 1920's cars. I am a good mechanic and fabricator, so I'm not concerned about the actual building of the project.

What I am concerned about is activating some sort of anti-theft device or limp-home mode or similar. I've been reading on this forum about rear gear ratio swaps resulting in the car being stuck in 3rd gear... my radio is already locked from unhooking the battery (on hold with Jaguar Service right now trying to get the code)... I'm hoping that if I transfer ALL of the engine/trans/electronic equipment, it should still work.

Any tidbits of information related to this would be greatly appreciated! For example, if I dont use any of the front suspension, will the car lock me out somehow? I suppose I will need to defeat the ABS sensors somehow.

Thank you!!!!

 

The ECU is in communication with all the other modules, and it is unlikely you will be able to be successful. It may be better to part it out and use a modern american V6 or V8 for which you can purchase a stand alone after market ECU.

 

There are a couple of companies around the world who specialise in these types of swaps. I don't know how much help they'll be, but never hurts to ask, right?
One of which is a New Zealand company, Beachams. https://beacham.co.nz/

Hopefully they may be able to give you some actual first hand advice about getting this working

 

If I were to remove the metal "skeleton" of the car and kept all of the wiring connected except the air bags and collision sensors, I feel like it would still run just fine. Then if I transfer all of that wiring and such into the 1920's skeleton, along with a healthy dose of welding,I doubt the electronics would realize they were in a slightly different arrangement. I'd transfer over the gas tank (with fuel pump), and so forth. I suppose I may need the radiator or at least its fan/temp sensor.

Of course this is grossly oversimplifying, but you see my point.

...but:
Would the computer allow the car to function without the air bags and collision sensors?
If I unplug the ABS sensors at each wheel, I'll probably get an error code, but would the car still operate normally (sans ABS)?
Is there anything that if unplugged cant simply just be plugged back in again?
Is there a 'module' that would be impossible to transfer over that I'm not thinking of?

 

This thread covers a similar conversion and discusses some of the issues involved in moving the drive train to another vehicle. It is a good read.
XJR Mark 2

 

If you swap the dash and seats, keep the ABS and collision sensors, I don't see why it wouldn't work.
I imagine the hard part is the body control module, but I have no idea if this is required to make the engine and transmission ecu's work.

Fitting things like window switches and motors, and lighting, which are controlled by the body computer, seem to me like the harder parts

 

Thanks for the link Clyons, I'm reading through it now, this will be very useful!

 

I'm thinking that anything that seems like it miiiiight need to remain functional, but isnt necessary for my purposes, will be remain connected but be stowed in an out-of-sight location until I'm sure everything works.

 

The wheel speed sensors are critical, as one of the rear sensors is used to determine vehicle speed. So you would probably end up in limp mode without it.

 

Ahhh, ok, that is great information to have. Thank you!
I wonder if disconnecting just the front sensors has any negative effect (other than the loss of ABS).

 

I do recall someone claiming reduced performance message from a front sensor loss, but I had a communication loss to a front sensor on my 97 due to a abs defect and no reduced performance. I'm sure others will be able to comment. You would probably have to rig a brake switch mount also.

 

Another thought- it may be possible to fool the air bag circuits with a resistor.