A couple of you have suggested that I start a thread to track and share my current project. It all started this last summer as I was watching some YouTube of Cobra kit cars. I was hooked again! The exhaust sound was like a drug, so I decided I would build one more car before the window on wrenching and driving closed. The Cobra kit cars were just out of my financial range, but I knew I didn't want a Camero/Chevelle/Nova/Mustang, etc. My life long dream has been a C2 Corvette, but that won't happen either. A widow neighbor has two TR7's that I thought might have some promise- lots of history for swapping a Buick V6 in them, but they seemed small and the widow didn't know where the keys were so I couldn't sit in one. The look throws me off too. Next, I was drawn to the Volvo 240 class which had better brakes, was tougher and had more room under the hood and are popular for engine swaps. I couldn't find one in my area, but one day as I was looking through Craigslist, this Jaguar ad came up with pictures and a narrative that sounded too good, and a price that sounded way too good. So my wife and I decided to drive over and have a look. I was amazed at what I saw and the guy was beginning to do the exact build I had in mind. He had a complete 1995 LT1 engine and transmission out of a wrecked police car, the original 6 cylinder and transmission out of the Jag as well as a basic conversion kit and headers. The car was the selling point though; two small surface rust spots below the rear window trim and a gouge in the leather of the rear seat cushion. Period. On top of all that, I think it's a very good looking car.
I am doing the engine and trans first, then I will bring the car into the shop and start familiarizing myself with British cars. I'll see if I can get a current picture on this post.

 

There's nothin' to it. Attitude is everything

First, there are no design faults on an old Jaguar. Things that have the appearance of a design fault are, actually, an "interesting design feature". Remember that. It helps.

The model you have is the most modern of all antique automobiles. Built like a tank. Some (for the era) modern-ish stuff but other things that are throwbacks from prior decades. Don't fight it. Embrace it .

There's tons of good support on these old Jags.

Cool project. Good Luck !

Cheers
DD

 

Lt1:

Akin to me on several levels.

1. As a Texan, we admire Alaskans,

2. On another jaguar forum, at least two guys shared experiences with us., I'll Always treasure Bill de Creeft's picture of his V12 powered SII in the snow at night, His other Jaguar is lumped...

3. Your car is the dame color as mine., Grosvenor brown, That and the contrast with the interior attracted me in 2001!!

4. My car has an LT1. The donor car, a 94 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. A close cousin to the soured of yours.

5. Mine is an OBD I car, the changeover year. Yours might well be OBD II.

6. The engines are a great match for the car. heavy, and torque to drive them.

7 I am available to share any help I can give..


It was not easy for me. but so rewarding. I like mine a lot !!! Major understatement,.

Carl

 

Thanks Doug for the attitudinal tip. After all, all cars are the same, just some are different-right?

 

JagCad:
Thanks for your post, I am getting a very warm reception on this forum and you, Doug and the others I've heard from so far. I haven't built a car in over 20 years, so all of my experience is "old school", but I have already learned a great deal from research on the 'web and other forum's. I appreciate your offer for help, I already feel better about how to find answers to a lot of the questions I still have.
Dave

 

LT1 / 4l60E is a GREAT power train match for the Series 3 sedan and the B body LT1's are the best match for a sedan, they provide ample torque and great fuel economy. Most of the LS stuff is too much for these sedans with out major upgrades to the suspension. These iron headed engines are bullet proof and their mild 191/196 cam on a 111 LSA provides great torque. The optispark and modern sequential fuel injection offer up near V12 like smoothness. The lower weight and additional power does present some opportunities. The lower weight will lift the nose considerably.

Consider after market spring or space the lower spring plate down with some spacers and longer grade 8 bolt.
2.88 diff is fine but, consider a shorter diff ratio. The 3:31 with a 4l60 will allow brisk starts and sedate highway cruising.

I've converted many cars to LT1 and if you need a stand-alone wiring harness and PCM contact me. I also can add in a switch for sport mode which add some ignition timing, make the trans shift later and harder.

 

Thanks for the info icsamerica, I learned about options to correct the nose-up attitude as I was reading in the Tech section yesterday. The gear ratio and PCM are on my short list of things to continue researching. I completely agree with your suggestion of a shorter ratio and 3:31 sounds about right. The tires that are on it are 26" and if I plug that into a speed/RPM calculator online, I get 2096rpm (.70 overdrive) at 70mph. That's my favorite speed in my area. I couldn't read the tire size just now because it's 12* and low light where the car is parked and I didn't have my flashlight and I didn't put my warm coat on. 26" seems like a short tire, but I have nothing in the yard to compare that to, just my Suburban.
I haven't looked at the car at all yet, but do you think finding different gears will be an issue?
The PCM and fuel injection operation has only recently become a faint pin-point of light at the end of a very long tunnel. I don't have a comfortable grasp of how to verify that the PCM/wiring harness/fuel injectors/?? will make the engine come to life. Old School was very simple, but also very predictable if you understood what you needed to do. My son is a senior mechanic at the local GMC/BUICK dealership and he just tells me to 'hook everything up correctly, make sure you have fuel pressure and turn the key, if it doesn't start we'll figure it out'. I'm sure that's true. I really appreciate your offer of advice though, I'm sure something will come up down the line.
Dave

 

You're gonna have a Barrel of fun!
Enjoy your project.

And then, you'll have even more fun Driving the Wheels Off!!
(';')

 

Thanks for the post LnrB. If I can have just have a 5-gallon bucket of fun to start with and then maybe move up to the barrel later, I'll be happy. But I KNOW I'll have fun driving it.

 

This is an open invitation to all of you who have conquered the fuel delivery issues of swapping a different engine into an 1985 XJ6, an LT1 in my case. As I have read, the LT1 fuel injection runs with 43.5psi at the rails. Somewhere (?) I read that the stock Jag pump run the stock system at about 38psi. The chevy also uses a return line from the regulator, don't know yet what the Jag has, but I don't see running another line as a huge issue. I am concerned about the pumps however. I have read a little bit here on the Forum that my XJ6 should have an in-tank pump, as did the chevy. Can a chevy pump be installed in the Jag fuel tank? If not, would an in-line pump work? I'll backwards engineer the electrical once I can figure out the fuel delivery.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Dave

 

Stock jag pump is fine. The carburated cars have 2 small low pressure in tank electric fuel pumps. The fuel injection cars have 1 external fuel pump with a system of switch over valves for tank selection via the dash switch. The stock Bosch fuel injection pump can deliver well over 100 PSI. Since your car was originally fuel injection it has a proper pump and proper return line. This is the same pump design the Germans used on their K-Jetronic mechanical fuel injection cars which runs at much higher pressures.

The fuel pressure regulator is on the fuel rail of the LT1 and will have a proper pressure regulator integrated. I run the stock pump in all my converts. It;s quiet, reliable and mounts out of the way in a good place. My 500 HP 12.6 second @ 111​ track convert has a single stock pump that's approching 30 years old and it's was made in France BTW. Vive la France. At this point I'm gonna see how long it goes and drive donning a yellow vest in solidarity.

I do recommend you check your tanks carefully for rust, add 2 pre-pump filters / 1 for each tank, and eliminate the tank selector valves and do a procedure called "bridging the tanks". All this has been covered extensively on this board.

You're from Wasilla Alaska?....better get packing...I here President Trump is pulling out the troops and turning it over to the Russians.

. ​​

 

I lost another post!! A good one with a lot of info. But, some all ready covered.

As stated, the fuel delivery is not hard at all. A bit of plumbing from Jag fuel lines in the bay at the left rear corner.

Like you I went from old tech DIY's to "modern" FI!! The project before was "Hot Rod roadster of the 40's. An A, T and V8 mixture.

I bought a rather complete kit from Johns cars of Fort Worth. It did me well. Check his web site, broken kitty, I think

Check Jaguar=Specialties. ASndrew's site. Great guy, good stuff, lots of help.

And Jim Johnson"s Sun Coast jaguars at Punta gorda, FLA. I got down pipes there., great work, for perfectly. Good price. Muffler guy that piped my car and I appreciated them

I bought a new harness. Big error. As the vendor is no longer in business, I'll go no further/

Majpr asset is your GM Tech son. Mine is a talented machinist fabricator. Lots there.

I got the Jaguar S57 schematic via Bob Loftus of AZ. He did a similar swap.
I invested a hundred bucks in the GM manual for my donor car.

Helped beyond my ability to describe.

CA has tough emmsion regs and engine change rules. A huyge hurdle that I finaly did.

I list my car among the top of all the cars I've ever owned or driven...

Carla

My .

 

Your info is very good news, thanks. The "38psi" I may have read about must have been regulated pressure, not pump capacity. I have read a few posts about bridging to tanks and many posts commenting on rust in the tanks. Does Jaguar have a particular problem with this, I don't remember it as anything I've worried about with American cars, unless of course they were found in a field with the gas cap off after 20 years of "storage".
I'm impressed with the numbers on your car. As far as your yellow vest for solidarity and our Donald Trump, my thought on the two are polar opposites. To those of you on this Forum who are from other countries, I can only apologize and ask that you not judge we individuals based on our President. I feel safe from being turned over to the Russians, I would think he would have to be able to point us out on a map first. That said, Politics and Religion have been the cause of all wars throughout human history and I don't want to start a war with my new-found friends, however, your opinions seem sound.
Dave

 

We have a saying up here when talking about dog sled racing: "if you're not the lead-dog, your scenery never changes". I appreciate all the responses I've gotten on this Forum, even the ones that weren't first. I have the 3 Jaguar conversion sites you mentioned already in my bookmarks. I've been trying to research everything that comes to mind.
I'm glad you commented on the new harness, one of those websites offered a new Jag harness to replace the old one that plugs into a firewall connector. It sounded a little like a unique Jaguar connector with 5' of loose wires that you route yourself. Is this the one you are talking about?
My Son is my go-to guy! I try not to wear out my good fortune though.
One of my thoughts for a little farther down the road is emissions. We no longer have emission testing, but I don't want my exhaust to make your eye's water. Thanks again for your help, Carla.
Dave

 

The LT1's have super mild cams so if you get the PCM programmed right and you run both O2 sensors you will have no exhaust smell whether you run cataytic converter or not. The LT1 didn't need big cams because the heads flow so well. The LT1 heads were one of the first to be re-designed using CFD or computational flow dynamics and it shows. Subtle differences in intake port shape and deign allowed these rather pedestrian heads to be the best flowing SBC heads ever mass produced by far. For the LT1, power is made in the heads, not in the cam so the exhaust stream is clean. The head design flows so well that the engine makes 40 more HP than the L98 SBC it replaced and does so with 11 degress less camshaft timing and very simple intake manifold. This with the advanced PCM all adds up to a powerful, smooth, efficient, clean and reliable engine.

Carla? Did you transition Carl? I thought you were a bit late in life for that.

 

You mentioned you'd performed a number of conversions. Always LT1? Or have you concluded that an LT1 is the best option, given your experience with other transplants? I'm curious because I've been promising myself (and threatening the missus) for years that a transplant is on the cards for my Series III. Not because it needs it, but because I want it (a good 4.2 lump will be available for the purists amongst us at that point).

 

I've done many transplants and one 6 speed conversion of a 6 litter of a V12.<br /><br />LT1's offer up the best bang for the buck and the power level is a good fit for an otherwise stock XJ.

My favorite conversion is the AJ16 which is by far the easiest provided you have access to all the parts.

The LT1 is the best swap for a non-jaguar powered daily driver based on simplicity and cost. The LT1/4l60e offers, by far, the best bang for the buck because of its power, smoothness and modern level of drive-ability. A complete power train with PCM and aftermarket wiring harness typically cost 2000$ or much less if you buy the donor right. LT1/4l60e packages can often can be had for under $1000.00.

LS swaps are great too but come at a higher initial cost and offer about the same level of smoothness. Low cost iron 4.8 and 5.3 LS truck motors are just starting to present themselves and can often be had for about 1000$ too but the harness, programming, retrofit oil pan, new sensors, mounts, low profile intake manifold, center dump exhaust manifolds and sometimes the driveshaft can all add up to a small fortune. The baby LS's offer up about the same HP as an LT1. The bigger LS stuff like the 5.7 and 6.0 can offer up power levels that will quickly overwhelm the chassis and suspension of a classic XJ and require many other costly upgrades. If you're not on a tight budget LS is the way to go though because they are incrementally better in every way. And if you have the budget to upgrade the suspension and brakes a high performance LS powered XJ sedan is a great experience but comes at a steep price.

Gen 1 and 2 Small block chevy swaps like carburator, TBI and TPI are passe at this point and would cost more than an LT1 swap in all cases unless you happened to get it for free and then after its all sorted out it would still cost about the same as the LT1. Those early SBC's offer up far less smoothness, drive-abilty and power becasue they were just not precision balanced like an LT1. You can get a SBC to be smooth and very powerful but in most cases it would cost 5 to 10 times what an LT1 can be bought for and the integration is much more complex.

 

I thought I would do an update on the XJ6/LT1 project and ask for opinions at the same time.
As I said earlier, I'm starting with the engine rebuild. I have it completely taken apart and have ordered all the hard parts for rebuilding the long-block, but have not taken the big pieces to the machine shop yet. I'm going to take a break for a little while and see if that bucket of money I thought I had will fill back up again. I have run into some disappointments, but I shouldn't be too surprised with a completely unknown engine that has been sitting in a wreck for 20 years. Both heads had fine cracks radiating from bolt holes, so they are sitting outside the shop and being ignored. The crank is actually serviceable and only .0002 to .0005 out of round, but it has a small pit from the factory on one of the mains that would bother me and so I'll have it ground under-size. The throttle body collected enough moisture over the years to be covered with corrosion and to take it apart and do a good cleanup I would have to unscrew the butterflys, pull the throttle shaft and remove a keeper on the shaft that is staked in place. All this without having spare parts if I break something. Those of you who are in the know are mentally tallying the price-tag so far and yes, I could have bought a rebuilt crate motor a little cheaper, but I wouldn't have got what I wanted and LT1's are hard to find, I'm finding. But being my last car build, I want this one to be the best I've ever done and my wife is doing an admirable job of holding her tongue as she hears me ordering parts. I'm probably at least a month away from the next step which is the machine shop.
As the engine work is pretty well planned out, I have been thinking ahead to the Jag itself. I read a post somewhere is this Forum, I think, about removing the front and rear windows to address a common rust area under the trim. It seemed like getting the windows out is not an easy task, but necessary to fix the possible problem. Anyone have experience in this area? I'm pretty sure I have decided to go through the interior from floor-pan to head liner and see exactly what I have and get familiar with wiring, gauges, A/C, lighting, etc. It goes without saying that I will be going through the entire drive train to see what's lurking down there. When it comes to paint and what little body work there might be, should I take the chassis to the paint shop before I fit the motor/transmission or as a last step after it can be driven? I can appreciate both options, but I think I like the one where they get the chassis without the engine the best. I took a '70 Camero to a local shop for a front end alignment many years ago and when I got it back it still steered badly and had one dead cylinder. Of course no one knew how that could have happened, "it was probably like that when I dropped it off". I'm open to opinions.
If you are still reading, I thank you for your time
Dave

 

I've replaced rusty tanks in a wide variety of cars but this series of Jags is more problematic than others, I'd say. Some factors:

-There is some question as to the quality or type of steel used but I'm no metallurgist so I can't comment intelligently on specifics.

-The filler cap seals are virtually always dried out and leaking. Not that big of a deal if the filler pocket drains are regularly checked. They're usually clogged. What happens is rain water collects in the filler pockets and enters via the leaky filler caps seals. So, check your seals and, particularly, your drains.

-Mud, leaves, and rainwater kicked up from the rear wheels eventually find their way into the tank area, plugging the drain holes....and leaving the bottom of the tanks encased in a wet, goopy mess. The rear panels in the wheel wells can be removed for an annual hosing-out of mud and gunk...and clearing of drains

-E10 gasoline can be a problem for cars left in storage in damp environments but, in my experience, the above factors contribute much more heavily to the notorious tank rust problems on these cars.

Cheers
DD

 

Dave, your wife is a very wise woman.
Maybe she's holding her tongue because she Knows where you'll be on any given evening.
I *Never* complain when husband buys parts, be they Jaguar parts, Datsun 240Z parts, Chevy parts, or computer parts or house parts.
I know exactly where he is and what he's doing almost every minute of the day whether I'm at work or not.

He, on the other hand, Knows I'm driving the wheels off something somewhere, even of it's only a mower!
(';')