Would this be a good kit to invest in?:

Jaguar Chevy V8 Conversion Kit from John's Cars

Or does anyone know of a better one for the money?

 

There were a few alternatives mentioned by Jagcad in this recent thread:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ted-xj-142903/

I dont know about their relative merits.

Cheers

 

Jaguar Specialties with the Suncoast Conversion

The John's mounts are not quality... Andrew at Jaguar Specialties mounts are great and his after sale service is friendly and complete.

Having one of each now, I greatly prefer one over the other.

 

Go for Andrews. Roger can a test to this it's sits the engine lower and farther back which helps with hood clearance. My "client" bought one that had a diy conversion based on Johns, or so it seems from the mounts, and I'm now having hood clearance with the taller intake manifold we opted for. So if you want a Edelbrock rpm intake or any that sits taller then stock, height matters.

I'll also vouch for andrew's customer service. It's very helpful, as is Suncoast.

 

Andrew at Jaguar specialties, Jim at Sun Coast and John and Mike at Johns cars have all bee n great to me. John's resident electric genius helped a lot with my weird harness. he spends a lot of times on John's RR fleet!


I've no issue with either engine mount. Mine are John's version and serve well.


However, I think the way mine connect sets the engine further back. Why, Because I removed the GM mount and placed the John's mounts one set of holes in the block further forward!! And, there ain't any extra room at the back of the engine and the fire wall. Were there a distributor, it might not fit!!!


I chose John as I was working and it provided more up front. Andrew and Jim's kits
are really good and use more GM, but you gotta go shopping. OK, if one has the time. I didn't. But, I still needed to shop some. Plumbing, E fans and down pipes.


I also did some fabbing. PCM mount. Ps resevoir mount. Relay rack. Grounds buss.
Odds and ends in nuts and bolts. Brass nuts, Nyloks, EFan weather proof connector.


Lots of shrink tubing.


Carl

 

There always seems to be a lot of comment about respective merits of the engine mounts used. It might be useful to get some pics posted so we can see what people are talking about. I will post mine later, I might find out where they come from.

 

The rubber died in the John's mounts, they were easily replaced...but they were only a couple of years old...used Dodge replacement rubber. My biggest complaint is getting conversion parts from John's if you are not the original buyer of the conversion... you are treated like you are the enemy. Plus, using these
mounts with headers causes cracks in the headers - the mounts are too soft and the flex breaks welds. Notice how flimsy they are.

All the others use their own metal stands and GM mounts that last for many years.

I had Mundorf mounts in my SII with a 383/700R and they used their own stands with GM rubber mount as well.. but they are out of business.

(JTR) Jaguars That Run have good stuff, but you have to make them yourself from their plans... I like their trans mounts the best... you end up with the ability to service the trans parts easily due to the room not taken up using a big clunky trans mounting plate. All the other use the stock Jag mounting holes, but a few more holes allows for easier access.

These are my opinions after owning (4) four Jaguars that were converted to GM V8's... today there is just Jaguar Specialties as my choice and I would ONLY use a LS engine and the appropriate trans...auto or Tremec if you like to row/shift.


My current Jag has the Suncoast mounts, a powerful 383 V8 and no problems... if I were doing a conversion today I would not use a carb V8 again... it
is so much nicer to have fuel injection and all the modern stuff in the older Jag platforms.. = "my choices"... LIVE AND LEARN...

 

Using JTR factory mounts

 

I was concerned if my motor mounts were heavy enough. After seeing some others I'm not worried in the least!

My conversion was done by Interjag in 1986, uses standard Chevy engine mounts. This looks strong enough to handle any Chevy I ever want to put in here I think.
(';')

 

Alternatively, they could be used to moor a cruise ship :-)

 

Odd, the kit I got from John's cars provided a neat plate to bolt to the jaguar chassis and replaces the Jaguar plate. uses a simple GM style hard rubber block in lieu of the
Jaguar engineered spring rubber gizmo.


I wonder if it was Mundorf that was a possible choice, when I did my car. I was sent a few page that has been copied over and over. Not impressed. Better engineer/mechanics than merchandisers, I suppose.....a


Way back when, I participated in a settlement conference. The claimant was a really nice Irish guy employed at the Jaguar dealership in San Rafael. he was riding his Buell to work over the Golden Gate Bridge. Clobbered by a young gal driving mama's car while in her elevated shoes!!!


Some of the gals involved "professionly" couldn't stop drooling.


After the hostilities were resolved, small talk turned to Jaguars. he told us that at one time, half the shop was devoted to GMizing problem cars. And that the more modern V6 cars were merely Taurus under the skin.




Many ways to skin a cat... my daughter would skin me if she read that remark.


Carl

 

Thank you, Steve,
Soon after Nix came to live with us I tried to find out exactly who/what Interjag was. I finally found a brief reference to the company on the 'other' Jaguar forum: Interjag was run out of a wrecking yard in Huntington Beach, operated by two brothers back in the 1980s; both brothers have been dead for years.

That explained why I find parts with yellow junk yard numbers. As far as I can tell their work was good; it's lasted nearly 30 years. It's modifications made by the Previous Owner that give me fits.
(';')

 

As I suspected! I saw the two side by side in a parking lot once, they were Obviously the same car; hood ornament not withstanding!
(';')

 

This much smaller mount allow access all around the trans... easy to make. Uses GM rear trans rubber mount. Just bolt through the floor with
Grade 8 bolts, washers and nuts... 700R has a deep pan so that is not "normal"....


Allowed the new dual exhaust system to tuck up higher for more clearance.

 

Slick.


Yes, the transmission mount in my John's kit afforded lots of room for well tucked in true dual exhaust system. H pipe included. Cats aft of transmission.


The cats may be an emission issue as some would say they should be much further up.


Sure glad they are not, as I am in the throes of a starter change. The Sun Coast mounts allow the big GM AC Delco to get past them. No need to drop the down pipe.


I was planning to get down and under. But, our weather is just not spring. H.... it was much warmer in January, Chilling breezes coming in of the Pacific.


Better weather forecast for Thursday... I'll wait.


Carl

 

They could never have be accused of under engineering their stuff. Built to last! Both you and Clarke seem to be living in parallel universes when it come to wondering what PO's where thinking then unravelling it all.

Edited to add a pic of mine:

 

Isn't Oz in a parallel universe by itself??
The very idea of Parallelism suggests points of commonality or mirror/opposites (gender, color [light,(silver)/dark,(black)], one is upside down, etc.); in the case of Xj6s it's insistence that things be *Correct,*
That looks plenty stout to do the job.
(';')

 

Yeah, adequate iron seems common in most of these engine mounts. It seems that Roger got a hold of a set with poor rubber. I would suspect the source of the rubber, rather than the design. John has used the design for a very long time. As he is pretty good about standing behind his stuff and reputation, if the design was a failure, he'd change it.


As the rubber is a MOPAR thing in John's design, it would seem that if it were poor, they would have walked away.


MOPAR engineers are not dummies.


Circa 3003 installed in my car. Still doing their job just fine.


Caveat. To each his own. Roger has his preference. Nothing I say should be construed as to criticism of his right to his opinion.


Side bar. Way back when, GM mounts could split and allow the engine to torque past normal bounds. the rub was that it would hang the throttle open. A temp recall fix was a restraining cable. Later, the mounts were redesigned to include a metal stop, A pair of lips to engage if the rubber was unduly stretched.

In Jalopy racing, they were drilled and a limiting bolt installed. Nott o lock the mount, but to limit the travel.


The weather guy has not yet fulfilled his promise of warmer weather.... Starter awaits it!!


Carl

 

hey i want to install a v8 engine on my v6 xj6 1985 because my whole engine blew so might as well throw in a v8
i just dont know how to start etc. haha i need steps. please serious answers
thank you

 

William

Go to Jaguar Specialties, Andrew..he has the best kits - install a LS engine and trans.