Hi guys,

I have had my series 2 XJ6 for a few months now and am slowly sorting out the issues. The car is in great condition body-wise (a couple of small bubbles of rust around the rear windscreen, surface rust on the floor, nothing more that I have found) but all the mechanical parts are tired.

I have purchased a rusty but mechanically excellent series 2 as a donor and was wanting opinions. My intention is to swap the engine, all engine accessories, front and rear suspension across to my better car. Since the gearbox is a fairly recently fitted series 3 unit I may as well swap that across as well.

I am sure I heard somewhere that a clever/easy way to to do an engine swap is to leave the engine and gearbox together on the front subframe and lift the car up over the top, has anyone done this? Is it a good way to do a swap? Since I am looking to swap all of these parts across it seems like a plausible method to me if it works. If this method works would the front of the car be light enough to lift by hand with a few strong people, or would an engine crane or similar be needed to lift it?

 

I did that once only when I had the "original" S Type, NEVER AGAIN.

Theory is fantastic, thats why we got teh mob in Canberra, but when piut to reality is harder than it appears.

I have since taken the engine/trans out as a unit, then supported the car on the 4 jacking pins (modified jack stands) and removed the front and rear cages seperately.

That car is way heavier than you think.

 

One the radiator and top cross member is removed, there is a large space available at the front to remove engine and gearbox in one go with a suitable engine crane. It must be able to take the weight, of course, this is not a small engine !

 

You can drop the subframe and raise the body especialy easy if you have a v12. Ive done it both ways and prefer to drop the frame. If you drop the frame with the wheels in place you can put a dolly under the transmission pan and roll the whole lot easily arourd your workspace.

 

Ok, so mixed responses. I have a decent engine crane which should be capable of lifting the engine and transmission out if I can place it well. I had also considered using the engine crane to lift the body over the engine and subframe but I was unsure of where to lift from.

In an ideal world I will get both cars side by side in the garage so that I can swap parts between them and have both rolling again as quickly as possible. I was thinking front guards and bonnet off both, exhausts off, wiring disconnected, carbies off (?), then either:

Pull engine and gearbox out of both as a unit, drop front ends out, swap over (with new rubber mounts on the good car if necessary), quick engine bay repaint on the good car then engine back into both.

OR lift body over front end with motor still attached and dolly under transmission, repaint engine bay on good car, then roll new complete front end and engine under each car and reassemble.

Is there enough space to leave airconditioning/powersteering/alternator etc. on the engine?

 

As fraser mitchell says once the rad, bonnet/hood, front bumper and front slam panel are removed there is a world of accessibility to the engine. Once the crane is able for the dead weight its relatively straightforward getting it out. And take transmission & engine out together. There is more than enough room to leave a/c and intake manifolds, headers etc on the engine and take out together, seriously the room you have will be huge. I was advised to do so here and these folks know their stuff, i can vouch for the knowledge on here!

 

Just pulled the old Jag 6 a few days ago,... easy out . Get a good hoist and a plan regarding where you are going to put the old engine. A good heavy cart would be nice. I my case a newly rebuilt 350/700r4 with FI is replacing the old motor that had lots of new stuff on it.Started well, idled well but could not hold coolant. but when the head gasket failed for the 2nd time...it was deemed junk. Had enough.

 

What EFI are you going to use?

 

Had 2 complete newly rebuilt systems to choose from - a 350 TBI with 1227747 ECM (asdu BBC code) or a TPI I just finished putting together,.. I elected to go with the TBI ,..nothing fancy .. just new , reliable, and lots of low end torque. Got a 1995 roller block with low miles, now has been rebuilt rings bearings, seals etc.
Most of this stuff I had on hand including engine/trans mounts (JTR) and Dual electric fans.

The car has gone through extensive refurbishing including complete front/rear brake and suspension rebuild. Resprayed it a few years ago.
Just put 16 inch wheels and tires on it.

This has been a long project mainly because I don't have much "spare
time anymore but I am now just focused on getting it back on the road.