Your advise on buying a 1973 conversion please
 

Hi Everyone!

You all have been so wonderful to me about giving me advise about purchasing all 3 of my Jags. So I come to you, humbly asking for more advise. Here is what I am looking at.

a 1973 XJ6 conversion. First, here are the specs I have on the conversion.

Complete rebuild on Chevy 350 engine bored to 360 cubic inches with performance cam with Melling high volume oil pump, Edelbrock aluminum intake manifold, Edelbrock 600 cfm carburetor with electric choke, performance stainless steel valves, rocker arms and push rods. Less than 1500 miles on rebuild. 350 Chevy turbo hydromatic transmission totally rebuilt with "Monster" transmission kit in the performance mode with stock torque converter.
Performance HEI electronic ignition and wires.
New Air Conditioning compressor and recharge.
New performance exhaust system.
New white wall Michelein tires and new brake calipers

Typical rust in typical spots. Nothing too major.

INTERIOR is SHOT. I would need to redo it. Not a problem for me, I would do it over time. What I am asking about is body and what you think of the conversion. It looks like ti was done well, no real hacking here. But, I know sometimes boring 60 over can create some issues and I need some advise since I am a novice still.

Here are a few pics I took. I want an unbiased opinion so I wont tell you what he is selling it for. WHAT WOULD YOU PAY FOR IT?

Series 1's with the Chrome bumpers are a great looking cars. I'd want it!

This one looks like a John's conversion. They can be rough and very unrefined because they use a suspension joint as a motor mount and this doesn't provide the proper isolation. Alternator looks out of alignment and may toss the belt. Belt looks new so it probably tossed it recently. Typical for John's conversion.

Monster transmission can be harsh too. They're called monster for a reason, they usually shift and bang.

.060 for a SBC is really stretching it.

This car really needs a good and long test drive to evaluate it properly but it reminds me of the 76 coupe I bought, it ran and drove, had a John's conversion, was rough, slow, not tuned properly, needed lots of finishing. I ended up redoing the whole car and would have been better off starting with a shell. New engine, new mounts, new trans and so on.... Search around here, there are lots of well done conversions. When converted well, they are an absolute joy to drive. Smooth, fast and economical. When not done well they are grating and disappointing.

Knowing what I know...if I was in the market for a series 1 sedan. I'd pay 1500 to 2500 depending on what was re-useable and for me a rough around the edges carb'd .060 over 350 with a bang shifter isn't very useable. Car is worth 7 to 9 grand mint as a convert and will cost you every bit of 5000 to get this car there. Lots of ways to look at this and this is just one.

Not knowing the market in the US it's hard comment on a price. Body wise it looks straight and all the trim is still on the car which down here can be hard to find.
As you say interior is not a problem done over time. If it drives ok I would take a chance on the conversion being good, and that can be fixed.
Thing is you get a driver you can play around with at your lesure.(that is how mine is)

It would be a $4-8k here I think,from what I saw searching for a straight series 1 with all the trim and registerable.

BIG question:
Why is this person selling this car, after all this work and $$$$$ is put into it, after a mere 1500 miles on the engine??

What is so terribly wrong (probably more than one thing) that after all that investment he's pushing the car??

I discovered exactly why the PO dumped my car, it wandered all over the road, it didn't stop properly, the heater fans were noisy, and about 75 other things were wrong with it, some of them Deadly wrong!

Deferred maintenance and neglect had made the car nearly undrivable. After 7 months' nearly constant work and many $100s in parts it's a pretty good car now, but it was a Very Pretty piece of Junk when we first saw it.

So, ask yourself, and be Really Hard on yourself, What Is He NOT Telling You???

Then decide if you want to take on an extended project.

I'll add one thing from my own experience; Brand New Radial Tires on a car for sale should be a HUGE red flag.

I had a car once that got so I couldn't keep it between the lines and thought new tires might help (I was a very stupid young student). They straightened it Right up for a while, and I was Impressed! until I discovered the ball joints were coming apart and the A-arm bushing were gone.

You should probably count on having to rebuild the whole front suspension at some point not far in the future.
(';')

Hi Elinor, you are correct in saying why would the owner sell after a recent rebuild, always worth a good look to see what may be wrong.
But sometimes financial situations arise or relationship breakdowns, and often the toys are the first to go at bargain basement prices. Sometimes you can just luck upon a great buy.Look at the silver one below,$2000

:icon_smile:

Guys, wonderful advice!! Thank you so very much!
The owner says he is selling due to medical conditions. he has owned the car since 1978.( when we met he looks to be in his mid 60's.) he finished the rebuild about 3 years ago but that's when medical conditions deteriorated and he never finish the inside and never drove the car on a daily basis. only 3 or 4 times a week to keep things fresh.
I have emailed him and asked him questions about the alternator and tires, I can only hope he's honest.
can you tell me more about a "Johns rebuild"? if I remember right from reading around these forums that refers to the company that sells the rebuild kit is that correct?

Hmm. Thank you, Clarke, I hadn't considered the financial aspect. We tend to operate on a cash basis here, but I suppose a situation Could arise forcing me to sell my Pet Car.

But in the event of a relationship breakdown I would keep the car and jettison the Failure.

You got a good deal! Especially considering all the entertainment it's given you! LOL
(';')

$1500.00 - rust is hidden - you only see a little
 

350 auto = no OD = lots of gas to drive the car.

John's conversion = poor motor mounts and no after sale support to non
original owner.

Have you confirmed the heating and AC actually work? Car is full of plastic parts that are NLA for the heating behind the radio. Drive the car
down the road and take your hands off the wheel = does it stay straight?

Get it up on a lift and confirm the rear brakes are not leaking and have some pads left.. check the handbrakes = do they hold the car = or LOTS OF MONEY TO FIX.

Shroud around fan is "hooky", not a well done engine compartment...I have a '71 Jag with SBC and sold my '72 Jag with LT1 and John's conversion... the best part is this is a '73 and has good door hinges and later model heating fans.

Check the front seats to make sure the rubber diaphragms have not rotted out.. just more money when redoing the interior.

Roger,

Thank you so much for all the insight!! Wonderful information and I will see that I do all that.

Thanks again!

Entertainment
 

You know Elinor, I'm not the only one kept entertained by my $2k car. I think a fair few members enjoyed the commentary.(a long story if you are new here) Mind you,most of it has been fairly routine maintenance that was deferred for the next custodian.
The fire was the only real drama and turned out to be a great relationship builder between my self and "Fireball"

:icon_beerchug:

Oh, I know, Clarke!

Speaking strictly for myself, I was transfixed by your experience, in no small measure because one day, sooner or later, I will also be dropping my IRS and changing out all the rubber bits.

But not only that, you told a very good story, posted very good pictures of what you were doing, and you followed through from beginning to end so that we could see the car in its natural habitat. I think it's very cute that your wife named your car Fireball. Very cute.

I've learned that working on these cars is immensely satisfying because they seem to respond so well to attention. Mine has given plenty of warning when she hurts somewhere and does her best to bring me home safely when something goes wrong.

Even the late evening in March while on our way home from a club meet a few hundred miles away, coming down a long hill with a stop light at the bottom and rush hour cross traffic, I discovered I had no power assist for the brakes! I got stopped in time, partly because in the panic of the moment I stood on the pedal with both feet, partly because the light changed and by the time we got there and traffic was moving fast enough I was in no danger of tail ending someone.

But the adrenaline rush from that event kept us awake for the next several hours until we got home.

Next day master/booster (looked like 1976 original equipment) were ordered, changed a couple days later along with complete fluid flush and she simply purred with contentment.
(';')

2K-3K range