I've had a few people ask to see photos of the various mods I am doing to JagZilla. I have posted several pix in my garage. I think you can follow this link:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/m...jagzilla-5508/

More pix to come as things evolve further.

 

@JagZilla

Impressive stuff. What type of high temp paint do you use for the engine parts ?

 

Duplicolor 500 degree for the red and black. Duplicolor 1200 degree for the aluminum color. I also powder coated some of the smaller parts using the Eastwood Powder Coat system, and a small toaster oven in my garage.

 

Sounds like a great project car. I would be interested in what type of power gains your engine mods achieved.

 

That makes 2 of us. Fortunately, my 88 is pretty much stock, so it will be easy to do a side-by-side comparison..

 

What kind of shocks and springs are those, and how do you like them?

 

The rear shocks are Spax gas shocks, and are fully adjustable for firmness and ride height. Unfortunately, I have yet to feel how they ride because they were transferred to JagZilla along with the entire 3.54:1 rear end assembly from the wrecked 89 donor.

Here is their website: SPAX Coilovers Shocks Suspension Kits Springs

 

Efffffff yeah manual transmission. Good to see more of them like mine!

 

I have found an Iphone app called Dynolicious that will measure 0 to 60 and 1/4mile, this can then calculate the RWHP. I have had my car on a Dyno and the numbers from seem quite close.
I am getting about 220 RWHP through a 4 speed auto and 0 to 60 7.2 sec.

 

can you explain what this project is? im having a hard time telling exactly where youre going with this car based on pics alone.

 

M90power,

Basically I am transferring some major performance parts from a wrecked 89 XJS convertible into my 84 coupe. Because of the condition of the donor car, and the differences between an 89 convertible and an 84 coupe, I am having to rebuild, repair, fabricate, and sometimes reinvent various components, assemblies, and wiring as I go along.

JagZilla was already a fairly strong performing modified XJS, with ported heads, gutted cats, smog pump removed, upgraded cooling, 180 amp GM alternator, 1600 watt stereo, free-flowing 2.25" exhaust w/ Flowmaster 40s & Monza resonators, a Trans-Go shift kit which allowed me to hold 1st and 2nd gear to redline, and a few other mods.

Unfortunately, I blew a fuel injector hose on the B bank, at around 145mph, during a street race with a WS6 Firehawk Trans Am. That caused a severe "lean" condition in that cylinder, at exactly the time when it could do the most damage. It either burned the valves, or possibly burned a hole in that piston (I haven't torn that engine down yet). The car still ran after that (still had 11 good cylinders), but, it smoked, and performance was down. Since the car was my daily driver, I kept it on the road for several more months, until I happened to be corresponding with a fellow member of Jag- Lovers, who had the wrecked 89 with the GTJ-built motor, Richmond 6-speed, 3.54:1 differential, and many other nice upgrades. We struck a deal, and I have been working on the project ever since.

Here is what I said about the project in my New Member introduction thread, last week:

"It was supposed to be a fairly quick project, since most of the cool stuff was simply being transferred from the wrecked '89. It turned out to not be so simple, because Jaguar made quite a few changes between '84 and '89 with no regard for backward compatibility. Other components were bent, mangled, or otherwise damaged in the wreck. So I've had to modify certain things, and fabricate others just to get stuff to work. During that time, I've gotten distracted several times, and also, life kind of got in the way on more than one occasion. I'm still scratching my head, trying to figure out how to make a few things work, but, I hope to have it back on the road before the cold weather sets in here in the southern US. At that point I will be able to concentrate on possible body mods, and badly needed paint."



Pix of the donor car can be seen here:

Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum - Garage Portal

 

Hmmm...I wonder if there is a comparable Android app as well.

 

Could you elaborate on what you did here ? I've just had a 3 month battle to get mine under control so it's a particularly interesting topic for me right now

 

1. Radiator rodded CORRECTLY (both end caps must be removed to get all the gunk out). No need to spring for a pricey BECOOL radiator, because the original Jaguar radiator is made of brass, which transfers heat much better than aluminum.

2. Copper coolant pipes to replace the rusty, leak-prone steel pipes. Obviously with new top hat seals, and mounted to the heads using the newer Gortex gaskets (EBC 9634), instead of the flimsy paper.

3. 18 inch 2900cfm Permacool electric radiator fan. This cools far better than the stock, belt-driven fan, and has the added benefit of reducing parasitic HP drain by eliminating a belt.

4. Tefba coolant filters. One in each of the upper radiator hoses. Keep them checked and clean.

5. Coolant system flush port installed in the heater hose which crosses over the rear of the "A" bank (U.S. spec passenger side). Used to help bleed air out of the cooling system (when sitting level, this is the highest point of the XJS cooling system).

6. V12-correct 190 degree thermostats aligned with the air hole/jiggle pins in the 12 o'clock position.

7. Modified radiator banjo bolt with thicker (better sealing) copper washers.

Additionally, there is a recently developed modification that can be done to the coolant pipe manifold. I't's commonly being called the Lutz Mod, after it's developer, Norman Lutz. I have not yet tried this mod, but, others have, with great success. It is detailed in several posts at Jag-Lovers. You can also read a description and see pix of it here:

V8 Powered MGB-GT: Cooling system mods

 

Thanks for the info Scott...... I think that lot qualifies as "upgraded cooling" :-)

What kind of temp readings do you get using an IR gauge on your top hoses when the car is fully warmed up ?

 

JagZilla has been in non-running "project" status for the past 4 years. Before that, and after I finally got the cooling system sorted ,even during our blistering Mississippi summers, the needle stayed at the lower portion of the N (pre-facelift gauges), so I never felt the need to check the actual temperature. Even with the other mods, I DID see the gauge rise a little higher than I liked, until I tried the 190 t-stats at the suggestion of Pete Bond, my favorite parts guy at Coventry West. After that, it was smooth sailing.

I read about your ordeal on the Overheating thread. It sounds like you paid your dues there, and I hope you now have a handle on that drinking problem. Hopefully your experience will help that other guy get past his cooling problems with fewer complications than you experienced.

 

JagZilla project looks awesome! I especially like the way you've dressed up the cam covers and intakes.

 

Well i think this project is awesome. i love to see a properly built V12 with that big heavy parasite removed from the bellhouse.

how did you fare against the WS6?
dyno charts on the GTJ V12?
who ported the heads on your original V12? still got it? looking to sell?

 

He was behind me, but, pretty much on my bumper when the smoke started. then I let off, and he blew past me. Hindsight is 20/20, and I wish I had not gotten lured into that race. If I hadn't, I may have saved my motor.

I ported the heads myself. I found an old Popular Hotrodding article online, and dove in. I burned up a brand new Dremel, hundreds of sanding rolls, and clogged many burrs with aluminum, but, I was able to open the ports by several millimeters. However, I was told by someone experienced in porting, that I probably got too aggressive with the bronze valve guides. I cut them down flush with the port walls. I'll simply replace the guides when I build the motor, and I won't be heavy-handed with the Dremel or die grinder.

I used to have a good comparison photo of stock vs my porting, but, it was on the hard drive of a long-dead PC. Since I don't currently have the intakes on either motor right now, I may be able to recreate that photo with my old motor and the ports on the GTJ motor.

I don't have any dyno charts on the GTJ motor, because that was done by the P.O.

I'm not planning to sell the motor, as it, and my original rear diff/suspension assembly will be used in a future project.

 

I just photographed the intake ports of cylinder B6 on both my original motor, and my GTJ motor. If anyone is interested, I posted them both to my garage for comparison purposes.

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