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Hello all, this is Andrew from Jaguar Specialties.
If nothing else, I'm glad this thread is still being of some help to forum readers, and I wanted to add a couple of points-
1) I would say 25-30% of our business goes to shops doing these conversions for customers. And in general, those shops spend a good amount of time with us, up front, before the purchase, getting info and trying to comprehend what's involved. In nearly every case, only the shops truly capable take these projects on. In this case, none of that happened and I have to agree that this place was probably not a good choice. They never got in touch ahead of the game, and interestingly, as they went through the project, almost never called either. That's very odd. The reality is that 99.5% of these projects that professional shops take on get completed, and done well, such that we achieve our end goal- a reliable, drivable, enjoyable converted Jag. And just to hammer that point home a bit more, at the bottom of this post are some pics of a nearly identical conversion project done recently by a shop in Arizona: 88 XJS convert using a 6.2L Camaro LS3/L99 V8 (400hp) and 6L80E 6 speed automatic transmission . The car came out beautifully, runs well, and has been a daily driver now for over a year. This shop was in touch with us consistently before and during the build and the results were not surprising- that's how it's supposed to go.
Note- No DIY Jag person who has the capability to do any of these sort of projects would probably ever consider paying a shop to do the work, but some Jag owners go that way and that's fine.
2) Regarding 300hp V12 vs 300hp V8, there is one very important additional detail to consider. When going from the V12 to the V8, and particularly the to the LS all aluminum V8's, there is a weight savings of 400 lbs or more, almost all of it off the front end. My own 88 XJSC with all aluminum LS1 and T56 manual transmission was weighed afterwards and showed a near 450 lb savings over a stock XJSC. So in my opinion, and based on my experience, that 300 hp V8 in an XJS has the feeling more like a 400 hp engine compared to stock. So keep that in mind when considering power numbers....
The summary at the end....
