The only thing stopping a manual conversion is check & pen. What year XJ8 are you looking to buy? I think if you looking after 2000, it may be a lot harder to convert due to emissions, computers, and all that.

Samuels Jaguar Motors in Brighton (617) 787-1187 has done some conversions and is the "go to" place for Jaguar repairs in the general region. That being said, you'd fair a lot better converting an XJS as kits are available, you got the V12 under the hood and nice XJS are still very reasonably priced. You could have a killer car for under 20K easily.

 

Slick!!!!


1. A very nice collection of parts to do a quality swap. Oughta make an amazing car.


2. The TH400 in it's time was as good as it gets. Jaguar wanted reliability and a dependable source. They got it


3. Jaguar-specialties of San Jose, .Ca reports an XJ wuzza 8 to LS1 power. Auto box, though.


4. A fellow in the LA area did a manual LS1 to an XJwuzza six and reports it turned out amazingly well.


My son told me of an old shop that makes an adapter to replace the troublesome GM V6 found in S10 pickups with Kubota diesel power. Auto or stick, I dunno.


Carl

 

I changed my 91 conv to a 5sp Tremec TKO 600 about 6years ago. The kit was from Driven Man (DM) Total cost will be around $6k. I purchased the Fidenzo aluminum flywheel, had to send the ECU over to Roger Bywater to get reworked & other odds & ends all add to the cost. If you get a shop to do it, it will add substantially to the cost. It's a straight forward job, I did mind in my spare time. DM instruction were not the greatest @ that time. Research your needs in regards to trans gear ratio vs diff ratio's. I choose the 2.87 first & .82 5th . It works will with my 3.54 diff.
Lawrence

 

I converted mine with Driven Man TKO 500 kit 3 years ago and had nothing but bad experience with The DM firm. Their components and customer care are very poor, I ended up replacing their supplied junky clutch with McLeod and bunch of other misc. stuff with my own. Some components were missing and I had to wait to get those, after calling many times.
Long story short, if you have means of sourcing components from direct sources, you will save a bunch and will not feel bad for giving these clowns your money.

Right now car runs fine and replacing TH400 with manual is tremendous upgrade.

 

I havnt actually sat in one yet but I love the look of them. The XJS would be great but I still need to fit 2 car seats in the back. They could probably fit in an XJS but it wouldn;t be easy so that is why I an going for the XJ8. They XJ*s are much more in my budget than a XJR which would be awesome. I drive around a Scion xB for work so I dont need a new car. Right now I have a '14 WRX and my wife has an '06 Escape. I'd be more or less trading my car for a Flex and she gets it and I trade the Escape for something I want. Here are a couple I've found.

2000 Jaguar XJ8 140K nice condition
I thought something like this I could do an engine and trans together (maybe a 5.0 from a Msutang?) I thought if they come in together it could avoid some of the computer issues.

or

01 Jaguar xj8 4dr
where it would just need a trans swap.

I was also hoping I could slowly hack away at this in my driveway and get the final look over/tune/or what ever by a shop like the one you recomended

 

Well, that is disheartening to hear. They seem to be the ones who come up on all the searches for conversions. What alternatives are there in the US? They are reasonably close to me, so I could pick things up in person, but I was to ensure what I get is first rate.

 

The xjs should have never been made with an automatic transmission. Its the most disappointed aspect of the car.

My current dream car, if money was not an issue, would be a 1991 brookland green xjs convert with manual trans and a distributor-less ignition.

I now have a 94 brookland green xjs 4.0 and a 91 v12 in black. I am tempted to sell the 94, paint the 91 brookland green, put a manual trans on it and a distributor-less ignition and there is my car for life. Unfortunately, the 94 has 125k and it alone will not evn get me a manual trans, let alone a distribultor-less ignition.

...You can get ust the bell housing and then go from there:

tranny 5 speed

 

The manual version was not selling.
The new car buyer back when these cars were new was a totally different animal to those of us who own these cars 20 to 40 years later. Based on recorded sales l guess if a manual transmission was the only option back then the model would have been killed off very early in its life.

 

I See this post has been out there a while. 2011? Anyway. Which kit did you end up going with? I have an 83 with the V-12 that I have been wanting to do a swap in but Driven Man no longer makes the 6 speed..... so I was curious which trans you went with. If you happen to have a complete bill of materials you used too, that would be fantastic. I can give you my personal e-mail if you have it e-mailable...

 

I have all the parts for a 6 speed at hand, pedal box too. PM me your contact info.

 

By way of background, I am privileged to own a few jaguars, including an XK-120 OTS roadster, an XKE coupe, and an XKR coupe. To complete our small collection, last year, my son and I located a beautiful 1988 XJS V-12 coupe in Bountiful Utah with 60K original miles. After looking around at what was available for conversion to a 5 speed manual, including The Driven Man, we found a shop in Blackfoot Idaho, of all places, that sells all the components (Vintage Jag Works). They will also do the conversion themselves, which is what we chose to do. This is a father-son operation which has been doing Jaguar restorations for 40 years. At their recommendation, we went with a Richmond Street trans over the Tremec based on several factors. The downside so far is that we have had to wait several months for the work to be scheduled and done, but the car should be ready before the end of July. We plan to drive it in the five day Southwest Passage Rally from Sante Fe NM in late September. Please let me know if anyone would like pictures, and/or a list of components used once we get the car back. I will also be happy to comment once we get to experience this conversion.

 

Just curious about your chose of transmissions and yes pic's would be nice,especially of the console and how you fit the Long or Hurst shiftier. I was going to use the Richmond but the gear ratio's I wanted weren't available to coincide with my 3.54 diff. & I didn't want to deal with the Long side shiftier & tunnel/console issues. I understand you don't have to deal with those issues anymore. Sounds Great, You'll LOVE the manual shift .

 

The spacing of the five gears from low to high corresponded well using the Richmond, with fifth gear basically being one-to-one given the diff ratio on this car, (which I don't recall at the moment). Walt at Vintage Jag Works seems to have the right components to make the clutch box, shift mechanism, etc. very compatible with the car. The main difference I found with the components on their web site as compared to The Driven Man was that it was not a predetermined "kit", but several options for each of the necessary components. Of course, I can comment more accurately once we have the car back and in operation.

 

If there is an opportunity to avoid The Driven Man, take it. Their customer service and warranty are not existent. Please post some pictures along the process.

 

Right, this is why I developed my own kit.

 

I just saw this. I'll be very interested in your component choices, and the outcome. I suspect you have the real long rear end which should work well with a 1:1 fifth. If you don't mind sharing, what will your turn key cost be?

Jon

 

has anyone ran a mustang t5 transmission? dirt cheap to get,

 

2012 Aston Martin Rapide | 2011 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | 2017 Jaguar XE R-Sport | 2011 Lotus Evora |2007 Jaguar XK Coupe | 2005 Range Rover HSE | 2004 Jaguar XJ8 Vanden Plas

Still trying to get over this haha!

You da man