1989 Jaguar XJS V12, with Lucas. Have been doing research on manual conversion. Know The Driven Man has a kit. Know some others use a Toyota Supra Transmission. Looking advice on best route to go. What are some of the snags, and try and get a best estimate on total cost. My car only has 40k miles so still a lot of life left. A summer weekend driver.

 

 

 

Nice Car!
I think you will do the car justice with the gearbox swap, Sorry can not help you with the ones advertised, but here in Aus we can source the conversion from Dellows in Sydney. I have spoken to them and they recommend a T5 from one of the ford 6 cylinder turbo's the spline length is perfect and the shifter comes in the correct place, also its ratios are a little higher which work better with our low ratio diff. You can pickup a complete peddle box of Ebay at a good price, that's where I found mine.
Good Luck

 

Bump - any more advice on manual conversion from experience? The car just performs and sounds so majestic at high revs, its a shame it doesnt come stock.

 

From what I've read (no experience yet, but I am going down that path soon) there are several options you could take. You could find a World Class T5 and do a fairly budget friendly swap, but it will require you to be more creative putting it together (adapting bellhousings, pedal boxes, etc). If you want a more "bolt in" solution, then you will have to pay for a kit which are pricey and more than likely not really a bolt in type of operation, but at least you should have all the bits and pieces required.

 

nice car indeed.
there are a couple on the board who have gone through the swap. i'm sure you've read their threads. and keep us (me) informed if you do go through with the swap.

also, let us know if youre planning on doing this yourself, or enlisting a garage or other mechanic. its something i've been thinking about as well and being in the same area, would like to hear your approach.

 

If anybody wants info on the manual swap drop me a line at Calvin.Silbernagel@gmail.com and or dm me and I'll give you my phone number and I'll talk you through it

 

aw Calvin, why not post the info here?

 

Has anyone used the parts listed from JC Whitney?


Jaguar Flywheels & Covers - JCWhitney


Parts seem seriously cheap compared to other options - includes options for bellhousing, flywheel and clutch

 

T5 manual transmission
Www.5speeds.com bellhousing
Mcleod throwout bearing
Custom pedal which I can make for anyone that needa it for like 200$ cus you have to tig weld the aluminum.

Flywheel from the driven man and a ford clutch with a chevy pressure plate and then a custom pilot bearing bushing to match the jaguar crank diameter. Then a custom crossmember will need to be made.

IF You want to make your life hundreds of times easier I can weld a new mount on the t5 that isn't angles and will just need a spacer on the factory transmission mount.

I'm a fabricator, so I'm pretty good at the whole custom made parts thing

 

If you guys want any of the custom parts I'm making like the stainless headers that are in progress, the custom pedals or the sheet metal intakes just ask and I'll give anybody on here the super discount rate cus I am a huge supporter of high performance jaguars

 

I would be interested in the heaters for sure, how much are you thinking of asking for a set?

 

No idea but they will not be cheap! I have 250 in the flanges alone. If someone wanted them.cheap they'd have to make them out of mild steel. Cus they will be a lot in stainless and a lot of effort to tig. When I get further along I hope to get a price figure worked out.

 

When you get closer to it, let me know. Still definitely interested. What year car are you making them for?

 

The car is an 87 but the motor is a 78.
Truthfully I think the sheet metal intakes will make much more of a difference than the exhaust