Hi Ron
Thanks for the info
That Chev Malibu 4 cylinder turbocharged looks sleek has great MPG and its on sale. Wow 10speed transmission I'm having trouble with 3.
After looking at your set up, I thought about how I use my 88 XJS. Its not a commuter. I drive it on weekends and select trips.
I had been driving it for years using a kickdown switch, and after trimming the governor weights my 1st to 2nd shift was routinely 6000 +
but the TH400 just bit the dust , or it may have been what Doug had said about the Torque Converter flexing ,not sure. It was whining for a week or so but then shuddering then barely movement. Fluid level fine and it was shifting as usual. Whined in gear, park, and neutral. Scared some guy I passed on a 10speed.
So opportunity strikes. I liked the power that kickdown provided and 6000+ shifts .
I will attack the differential possibilities first. Either 3.54 or 3.73 then decide if the 700r4 with a B&M kit like yours would work
Or slide my 6' 3" body into a 5 speed manual. For Fun and more Fun !
2010 XF Supercharged for commuting/ and Fun!
1986 XJ Vanden Plas For comfort and FUN!

Any or all advise WELCOME
Thanks
Chris

 

Sorry it took so long to get these up...

These cables are both made by a company called Lokar. I tried to label one of each as best I could. You'll notice a lot of extra cable on the throttle; it simply hasn't been trimmed yet. The new transmission dipstick is mounted to the passenger's side inner fenderwell.

 

Thanks for posting these. How long ago did you have this done?

 

So here's my latest, I I've been working on some engine performance issues and trying to get the kickdown cable correct.

New upgraded coil and plugs fixed most of the stumble issues. I found that 6 Injectors weren't firing at idle so I messed around testing them and think they work under highest pulse widths so I'm going to run the Injector cleaner through them since they are fairly new and see how it goes.

As for the kick down cable, I think I found my solution. I tried John's original location (like Jess) and mine, pictured above. This gives 2.5 inches of throw. My cable only has 1.5 inches of throw (extension), and this matches 700r4 installation specs. I tried Rons posittion by drilling the throttle turn table and adding a barrel to the cable, pictured here below That reduced it to 2 inches of throw.


I called the guy who builds 700r4s and sold me mine and he said he sees 1.5 inches to 2 inches of throw depending on the trans. I was looking for 1.5 inches of throttle movement from at-rest to WOT and here's where I found it: at the end of the throttle rod. I had a hard time figuring out how to keep a ball stud and attach the kick down cable pin on the other side. One has to be male threads and the other female. I only found one ball stud with female threads in an edelbrock kit and I had to cut it, but it worked perfectly with the pin John provided. So I made a plate with to mount his set up on the passengers manifold. It turned out great and works great so far.




I'm pretty stoked at how this works, although it doesn't look clean. It would be much cleaner on the drivers side, moving the ignition module to the passengers side and using those holes to mount the bracket. This is probably a future update.

I drove it around and it shifts great and the Injectors are starting to free up.... We'll see.

 

It's been a project ongoing for a year or more, and that's how I kept costs down, by letting the shop work on it between projects. Remember that we also replaced all the suspension parts and did a bunch of other stuff, plus installed a Kilduff Lightning Rod shifter setup in the car (which I still have not trimmed out to make it match the rest of the interior). We finally got the car back in ... June? All I really remember is that it finally came back to us after hurricane season had started.

Jess

 

The car is running pretty well now. I adjusted the timing again after replacing the coil and plugs and still didn't have a great initial throttle tip in. While checking the TPS I noticed the blades were not opening with the first throttle movement so i adjusted the rods and that made a BIG difference. Now, 0-50% tip ins are great it pulls REALLY well. 75% to WOT launches still are lean and give a pop but pulls hard around 2500. The Injector cleaner seems to have fixed the sticking Injectors so we'll see if it helps at WOT launches in the future. It idles very smooth again.

The 700R4 is fantastic. The car is a blast to drive and it had never been a blast to drive. Quick down shifts, good up shifts, firm under heavy throttle, nice under easy throttle. I'll post some actual performance data later. I am loving it.

 

What is a "tip in"?

 

I've considered it the movement of the throttle where the throttle blade goes from closed to open. The tip of the blade starts to move away from the bore of the throttle body and just starts to open and let air into the engine

 

Hi Jeff
That's great news that its running well, you and others(Jess, Ron, Greg Doug) have been a big help, thank you!
I'm thinking about changing my differential to 3.54. and rebuilding my TH400 with a more robust Torque converter
or doing the 700R4 conversion with 3.54 diff.
What was the final cost for the conversion?
Anyone know how much for ECU change.
Thanks
Chris




/

 

It cruises around 1800 at 70 mph so you could increase the rear gear ratio and still have quite the benefit. I would just do the 700r4, see what you think and do the 3.54 if it isn't enough.

I'll try to get a good summary here soon. Off the top of my head in thinking $22-2300. It's possible I have over 100 hours into this conversion. After having done it, I could probably do it again in 30.

ecu prices are here Prices | aj6 engineering

 

Replace those fuel hoses, pronto

Cheers
DD

 

The car is wheels in the air now. I have a few things to fix.

The GREAT news is that it's running and launching great now. After reading Scott's cross country adventure and hearing about how eliminating the tank vacuum fixed a problem, I noticed my tank hissed when I opened the cap. So I drove it with the cap cracked open and it drove perfect. What a blast.

The not so great, the starter isn't disengaging on time. It takes a second for it to turn off. I put it up on stands and there is trans oil on the passenger's exhaust cat. My assumption is that the vent is plugged because when I filled it, it burped out the dipstick tube. I should have heeded this warning but I was too excited to drive it.

I'm also popping the kickdown fuse.

Anyway onward and forward.

 

Hey Jeff
You make a lot of sense.
I think the 3.54 diff would give me some options down the road like the TKO 600 5speed.
Installing the diff may also make want to drop the rear suspension and tidy things up.
The 700R4 is tempting and would be cost effective, but I fear that may stop me from going
for the TKO. I might rebuild the TH400 and see how it integrates with the 3.54 diff.
I would think it would be pretty perky.
I will be starting to remove the TH400 this weekend.

I hope your problem is not too serious.
Thanks for the info
Chris

 

Got all the issues sorted above. Lubed and adjusted the starter, it acts OK right now
Got the vent working on the trans so it is not burping fluid out the dipstick hole any more. If you have noticed the vent hose and nipple on top of our transmissions, I moved mine to the 700R4 and did not notice that the nipple was plugged. That might be why the TH400 was leaking. Anyway removed the nipple, confirmed it is venting and no more leaks.


Ran a new wire for the TC lockup and it fixed the fuse blowing issue. I'll write about that in a separate post.
Removing the emissions control stuff made the performance worse and I now have a lean tip in issue again. *sigh*

I drove it and it shifts correctly and the solenoind lockup is now working without blowing the fuse.

 

A little information on how the torque converter lockup is set up. The 12 Volt to the kickdown switch on our throttle runs to a Normally Closed microswitch. John has used this for torque converter lockup. He runs the wire from the other side of the switch to the trans electrical connector and inside the trans, it runs to the torque converter lockup solenoid and then through a Normally Open switch to ground on fourth gear line pressure. When it shifts to 4th gear, the switch closes and 12 volts from the kickdown switch goes through the lockup solenoid and to ground through the switch, energizing the solnoid and locking up the torque converter. 12 Volts is lost when the trans is no longer in 4th or the kickdown switch is opened through a full push on the accelerator pedal.

John's kit had the trans electical connector with enough wire to reach the kickdown switch, completely bypassing the original harness. I should have used this, instead I used what i now know is a harness full of issues, including the kickdown ground side harness shorting to ground.


To confirm it was the harness and not an issue in the trans, I unplugged the plug on the kickdown switch to the trans and tested for continuity to ground, except I had to test this in 4th gear while driving. I ran a couple long wires to the cabin with an ohmeter and saw that after the car warmed up, it went from 27 ohms which is the resistance across the lockup solenoid to 0 ohms or short to ground which would pop the fuse. I reran the wire John included straight from the trans connector to the kickdown switch on the throttle and problem solved. In 4th gear i read 27 ohms, when it shifts to any other gear, open circuit.



Next step is to get the speedo working to test gas mileage.

 

XF, i had a system in a HI performance camaro 454, and blew a 700R4 twice, ripped the convertor clutch and burned up trans internals!
OK senero, when you have crusing vacuum all is well and good, but Hi rpm FULL throttle you have NO vacuum(right)?
convertor clutch disengages, engine redevelops a vacuum at 6000+ rpm full throttle because of less load on it, suddenly clutch grabs in at full load, because vacuum switch senses it!
car almost out of control speed 150+, as clutch disengage, and instantly reingage, NOPE did away with vac/electric system,never had problem like that !
that system is not made for hi performance duty!
another thing is ? have you ever weighed the big factory convertor relative to the light weight 10" convertor, engine response is half the time to 100MPH!
also i dont drive enough to worry about a V12 in same sentence as fuel consumption!
my final drive ratio in overdrive is 2.60 to1, so it gives reasonable MPG anyway, using my 3.73 Posi rear!
ron

 

Ron, I'm puzzled by this because vacuum has no input into my 700R4. I have a TV cable and TC lockup switch both of which are throttle position based.

 

HMM? my 700 had a vacuum switch(not on the trans) to operate the Torque convertor clutch, so i just eliminated it!
also my 10" convertor has no lockup clutch, its very light weight, which i like!
system works for me!
ron

 

This kit uses the kick down switch already on the throttle cable for TC lockup.
I'm glad you mentioned this because I wondered if a vacuum operated switch would be better. I will likely not drive mine like you drive your Camaro though.

 

Hi Jeff
Just checking in to see how your getting along with the 700R4.

I removed the TH400 and was grateful for the pics you took. I did this by myself so its doable.
I bought a low mileage (38,000) 1995 4-liter XJS Rear End for $1,250 from welsh enterprises to get the 3.54 diff and outboard brakes.
I took the old IRS out and installed the New used IRS. It was easier than removing the transmission. A bit tricky but doable.
I am going with the DM T600 close ratio 5-speed kit $6400 with first gear of 2.87 and a .82 5th.
Bywater at AJ-6 engineering has my ECU in England for the SE-ECU, and TT extractors stainless steel pipes for about $1600
Total for everything is about $9200 with shipping and exchange rates. (5 Speed conversion $9200) - (700R4 $2500) $6700
No labor included.
Its not cheap so I hope I can get it together properly. In case your interested AJ6 has a lead time of 8 to 10 weeks or 4 weeks for ECU upgrades.
The DM has a lead time of about 4 to 6 weeks. I will give my impressions and results when it up and running.
Currently removing shifter, ski slope, wiring harness, shift cable, pedal box, preparing for the Tremec .
Enjoy the Holidays
Chris