Hi all
As you can see from my number of posts, I'm a complete noobie here.

I've been lurking for a while, trying to soak up all the great info in the boards - thanks for that

I'm after a bit of advice please.
I'm looking for an XK8 coupe and have been chasing a few for a while.

I've found two promising cars that I'm trying to decide between.

The first is a 2000 in beige - sorry Topaz. It's a two owner car - the second owner having owned the car for 13years. 66k on the clock and at a reasonable price.

It's at a dealers so no service history is being offered, and the car is too far away for me to easily inspect personally. I have a garage inspection on Monday and have used a list compiled from these very boards to ensure certain known points are looked at. The car looks to have been cherished.

Obviously, I don't know if the tensioners have been replaced, whether the oil in the box has been replaced or Water pump. The car seems to be post Nicasil.

The second in a 2003 coupe. Obviously this has all of the above sorted as its a 4.2 with 6speed. Though it's not without its flaws. The roof has sun damage (black car kept in LA), the interesting seat air bag warning is on (2:2 flashing - doesn't bother me too much as I'm willing to dig into this to fix it). But it has 95k on the clock. It's also $1k more expensive. It's also a 4 owner car...

I'm looking for the car to be a summer cruiser to work. Store and work on through winter. Though I'm not looking to do major surgery on the car!

The first car is going to need the tensioners done, as I have no way of knowing if they have been before purchase ($????k how much??? Can anyone tell me please) may have gearbox issues (though I might be early enough to swap out the oil?) Again more $$$$ and the water pump. Any idea what an independent might charge for that little lot and if it all needs to be done?

The second car would be okay to run now but has probably two or more years extra miles on it. Also the roof will need paint at some point.

Any suggestions as to which car I should go for please and what the related additional costs of the 2000 car will be.

Thanks and sorry for the first long post!

I'll share my garage report for the first car on Monday.

 

Attached are pics of the Topaz car and the Black car.
The black car has a faux carbon wrap on its roof, bonnet and boot (trunk and hood) to hide the sun damage to the roof.

 

Both will likely need full suspension/brake refurb soon so figure $1000 if you do it all yourself.

Its still a buyers market so asking prices are just a suggestion and thorough inspection (drive it listening for noises, check grooving on the brake rotors, check upper/lower shock mounts, drips under car, etc) can help to make a realistic offer.

I think the '03 has been on CL for a while. I think i remember seeing it when I was looking for a car back in December.

 

Thanks for that. Yes, I think the black car has been around for a while. Convertibles seem to be plentiful, but coupes much harder to find.

I'm happy to do the suspension myself. Someone has just written an excellent step by step 'how to' guide on here (Great post BTW). And I'm reasonably confident with that. Engine internals is somewhere I've never ventured before...

The black car has been a little flexible on price but the Topaz won't move $100!

I know you are looking to do the LS swap. Any thoughts on which a lesser mortal should go for? Or none of the above?

 

I'm not a big fan of Topaz, but it seems to look better than the black. The Topaz car still has good gap between the front tire and fender, but there appears to be some compression on the black car - though big diameter tires make it harder to tell.

2000's have subtle things that the earlier cars don't have, like Rolling code Home link and the ability to do the Flip Key mod (key fob & Key in one), so even a 2000 has advances over an '97 like mine.

The only reason I haven't started the LS swap yet is the original motor is running great and knocking down 24mpg on my daily commute. My timing chains were swapped by a previous owner 20K miles ago, so there is likely no catastrophic failure to speed up the swap. My best hope is the tranny giving up. When everything works, these are great cars and everything seems to be working on mine.

#1 rule over all others is Rust free is key. Any car you buy will likely need full suspension overhaul and rusty bolts suck. Definitely keep looking south for the right car.

 

I'd go for the 00 Topax coupe, looks to have been better cared for and aside from the tensioner so you will have the same repairs on both.

Don't know how much $ you are looking ar spending but IMHO the 00 should go for less than $10 in excellent condition. More like $8 would be a good buy.

 

How about one of these:

Beautiful Like New Jaguar XK8 SuperCar with ONLY 11k MILES!!
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/5574265154.html

2001 Jaguar XKR Silverstone Coupe $18500
2001 Jaguar XKR Silverstone Coupe

 

Jandreu - Thanks for the call on the Topaz car it looks to have been well looked after as you say (as far as you can tell from Internet pictures). It's a bit below $8k so think it is a good deal.

Jbarbakow. Thank you for the links. I especially like the Phili car. I could stretch to it, but right now I'm looking for cars in a slightly different league - hoping to find a bit of a diamond in the rough! I know that it's probably asking for trouble...

I just sold my Elise to free up some money for the mortgage (work looked a little shakey for a while) and I have just managed to get approval for my kit car to be driven on the road (after a 10 month battle with the DPS).

So now I'm looking for something a little more comfy and will leave me some extra $$$ in reserve after I've bought it.

 

I might have to retract that 'Thank you'.
I've just sent an email to the seller in Philadelphia... Just to see if he has any flexibility in price....

I'll thank you but the wife might not

 

Beautiful Atom. I'll have to wait until my 17 year old is married and has kids before I look at something like that. I would never get to drive it.

 

Thanks
It took 12 months to build then 10 months to get registered.
It's only been on the road for a month and I've only managed 55miles in it so far.
Still going back and tightening things up... And then there's this guy who is 7.

 

Well, unless the guy in Phili gets back to me tomorrow - or the Topaz car turns out to be a mess, it looks like it's going to be beige all the way for me! (The black car sold today).

Can anyone give me an idea of the price of a tensioner and chain swap (upper and lower) is likely to cost me please?

Thanks

 

I've just had a quote from a local independent for chains, tension era etc and its estimated to be $2700 before tax. Wow!

 

... And that with a "transmission fault" is why people do the LS1 swap.

It seemed to me the parts were around $600 replacing everything and the labor/tools didn't seem too specialized.

Mine was changed, but If I was keeping my motor, with the resources available on this web site, I'd have no problem diving in with confidence.

You may open it up to find somebody already went in and changed the tensioners out.

 

Thanks again all for the advice.
It seems that the beige car isn't quite what I was hoping for after the inspection soooo it looks like I'm back on the search!
So I think I'm going to try and narrow this down to post 2002 cars or those with the tensioner done at a minimum!
Preferably with no more than 60k on the clock... In my price range? (I know - good luck with that!)
If anyone is interested in the Topaz car - it's at Diamond Motorworks in IL with an asking price of $6800.
Kester

 

FYI, that Silverstone is already sold. I really wanted to buy it... I live close by.

I ended up with a 05 XKR convertible, 92k miles. I got it for 13k, which I feel like was an excellent price. Obviously a lot more than 11k miles though :-)

 

Thanks.

I emailed the guy in Phili but think he's not going to drop a cent on the price. I've also seen an older advert for it at $20+k.

I think I have a couple of other possible tips - an XKR 2003 with super low miles and possibly a more local but earlier BRG coupe