Hello all!

Im thinking of converting my XJ SWB to chevy v-8 power. The V12 has given up the ghost and is seized beyond repair.

Does anyone know a good conversion shop other than Johns Cars in Dallas?
I live in Wash. DC.

Thanks!
Happy Jagging!

John W.

 

Best kit is from Andrew at Jaguar Specialties. Contact him for a referral.

 

Wow! Is that your Garage!? Fantastic!

Rusty

 

Not sure if Johnscars is still in the conversion business. Kits and Parts I think so. I bought heir kit and the guys helped me a lot good guys there helped me a lot.


And, for sure, Andrew Weinberg at Jaguar-specialties is good place to shop. Good guy, helped me a lot.


Or Jim Johnson at Suncoast in Punta Gordo, FLA. He and Andrew have a business relation,. I got the down pipes for mine there. Well made and well priced.


OTH, getting a sound V12 to install might be the best way home. Check with David Boger at everydayxj. Not that far, in the Carolinas. Also a lister and good guy,


Carl

 

Yes, just call the guys at the 3 main conversion parts places and ask them for a referral in your area. They sell to shops that do the conversions and if you go to their referred shop they get a sale on the parts required. Jim Johnson at Suncoast is very helpful but retired from doing the actual conversions himself.

And as Carl said, David at Everydayxj is as good as they come.

Jeff

 

I finally installed a Chevy truck 454 into my 86 xjs, built my own headers.. The engine is maybe 270 hp, 380 ft lbs. I have a stock 1988 camaro z28 700 r4 transmission i would like to install behind it. Just street driving, no track stuff. Should this trans be adequate for this setup? The car has the 2.88 rear, and I want the 454 engine to run low rpms.i know how to set the trans TV cable properly, just wonder if anyone has run this setup successfully

 

Andrew is very helpful. I recommend getting a GM LS engine as you can easily get much more reliable horsepower than the V12 and have all of the modern features of new cars. Do not get an old school carbureted V8 as that is not as reliable and will greatly decrease the value of the car. Your car is old enough so it is smog exempt so the LS you decide is based on your budget. You can get reliable daily driver LS engines from 400 HP to 750 HP and they will be lighter than the stock Jaguar engine. I think any good auto shop that does custom fabrication would have no problem installing it using Andrew's kits. There are a lot of good shops in your state and I would look at shops like https://www.novaspeedshop.com/ Shops like this that do a lot of custom Japanese street/race cars are often very familiar with LS swaps as many drift cars are doing LS swaps and with Jaguar Specialties kits they will not need much fabrication but if they run into an issue they are well equipped to cut/weld whatever is needed to make it work as most Japanese swaps involve more custom one off work.


Today swapped LS cars are very desirable. I have an LS1 putting over 400HP on my 63' 3.8s and I have put over 80,000 miles in the last two years without any issues.

 

My thoughts exactly, I forgot your original question about the dead V12 and focused on that work space in the picture.

 

80k mi on a 3.8! I'm soooo jealous.

 

v12ls.com