My dad will be 80 in October. Next month he'll be taking his Supercharged AMG V8 (490 RWHP) powered 2004 Chrysler Crossfire on a weeklong tour of Arkansas back roads. 290 HP (at the crank) is "underpowered".



The relevance comes from the highest prices paid for XK8's is at auctions like Barrett-Jackson. Cars that wouldn't sell for $8K on Craigslist will hit to $14K -$16K at these Auctions. What else sells for high dollars at these auctions is LS swaps. An LS swapped resto-mod or street rod will pull down a $10K-$20K premium over the typical 350-350 swap. Based on this and the fact LS swapped XK's start going completely Emissions exempt in Texas in less than 2 years, nicely done LS swapped XK8's are a car someone can enjoy and drive drive worry free, that won't depreciate.

 

There has been nothing said that warrants anyone being removed from the thread at this time. The moderators are monitoring and will take appropriate action if/when required. As mentioned earlier - let's just agree to disagree and move forward. Rebuilding is an option but this thread is about the LS swap - so let's keep it on track as there has been enough discussion on rebuild vs swap.

 

The new modern GM LS V8's is what has elevated things to where a quality restomod or pro-touring cars are now selling more than numbers matching versions of those same cars. As Ungn said, "Street rods morphed into restomods, restomods morphed into "pro touring". The ability of an LS swap to have such impressive HP yet drive smooth like a factory car and even last longer is the key.. That in mind, using an LS V8 will have strong resale appeal, but if you install a earlier model V8, or a stroked older V8 the resale is not there. A stroked pre-LS will have good power but it lacks the refinement that a modern car has which is why the LS is so popular. On my car I purchased it with an iron block 350 for less than 8K and now with an LS I could have sold it for a profit. Thus if you are considering an engine swap make sure you use a modern LS1 or later model and you can get great power in basically stock trim. What Andrew has done by perfecting all of the electronics integration, etc. is well worth it as it eliminates the headaches one would face otherwise...

 

yep im aware of all this and dont care about resale, cause well i just dont sell anything i put a lot of time and money in. I build a project every decade. 80s was my 79 el camino with now a 580cid on nitrous, strip car 1250hp. 87 suburban in the 90s with 383 stroker on 300hp nitrous and currently reworking all wiring and fuel lines, and in the 2000s my 2005 nissan frontier offroad truck with a v6 4.0 i built and adapted a ken bell 2.6litre twin screw from a ls kit. It puts out 475 hp. Unfortunatly im getting ever closer to retirement and 3 high performance trucks to drop money and time in is consuming of both. Now if that 700r4 and 383 go out ill probobly use that as a reason to ls swap in and put a turbo on it. Like your build i like stuff that is not camaro, mustang, vette or other me too vehicle..

 

I would like clarify that the LS series engines that are being swapped into the X100s are Gen III LS engines. If you want a Gen IV or Gen V "L" series engine, it is a much more difficult swap electronically. Andrew can clarify which GM ECM his swap kit uses, but the older LS1 and LS2 engines used a 24 tooth reluctor, and the newer engines use the 58 tooth reluctor along with the E38 ECMs.
Other "L" series engines used the E67 ECMs
The latest GM ECM is the E92 series. (2014 and newer direct injection engines)

Andrew, any progress electrically installing a Gen IV or Gen V Engine?

 

On his website it says,
"Everything Will Work: When the conversion is finished, all of the (original Jaguar) gauges will read correctly, the Jaguar shifter will work properly with the new GM transmission, the power steering will have the right feel, the AC will probably work better, and even the factory Jaguar cruise control (if equipped) can be used.We offer kits and parts that are compatible with any Chevy V8 engine from 1969 up to the present day including carbureted TBI, TPI, LT1, and even LS1 LS2 LS3 LS6 and LSx (including LS- based truck engines); transmission options include T350, T400, T700R4, 4L60, 4L60E, and T2004R.

There are still plenty of LS1, LS2, LS3, LS6, and LSX you can get with low mileage with the factory transmissions and all of the components, computer, etc. for $4-6K

 

Just to clarify, there really is nothing stopping a Jag owner from using a Gen IV LS in one of these cars. We have many customers who have done it- the mechanicals are pretty much the same externally and our cars will for the most part accept the later transmissions as well (like the 6L80E 6 speed automatic). With some adjustments everything goes in pretty easily. The control systems are different but all of that is on the LS side and with the various programming options out there, we can get everything we need (discrete tach and speedo outputs, etc.,.) with no issue. There are no issues with any of our kits using any of the GM Gen III or Gen IV PCM or ECM's. All are compatible.

We have an ongoing in house project with a XK8-GenIV install- maybe you've seen it?? It uses the drivetrain from a 2009 Pontiac G8 into an otherwise vanilla 97 XK8 convert. You can see the various segments of the build here:

Jaguar Specialties

Quite honestly, it went a lot easier than I expected. And also please note that this one also has AFM (active fuel management) and DOD (displacement on demand) which shuts down 2 or 4 cylinders when load is light. That all was retained in this build as well, and other customers have kept it also. And this package also has the option for paddle shift or tap shift if desired. I am tinkering now with how to get the Jag shifter to do that.....

As far as Gen V, that is a completely new animal which shares some with the earlier LS engines, but is different enough that most of the (mechanical) pieces we use for the Jag installs are no fits now. So the process has to begin all over again. With such a huge stock and choice of different LS Gen III-IV engines already out there I doubt we will get into the Gen V engines anytime soon, if at all. But never say never, right???

GM is still pushing all of their Gen IV crate engines ( and there are many choices) so that supply chain and others selling Gen III-IV versions should keep everyone well supplied for a while...

It may not have been obvious, but the 97 XK8 with 530hp LS3 and T56 that I posted earlier (post #25) is a Gen IV build.... And the 575 hp LS3- 6 speed XJ8L Primaz mentioned in post #24 was also built using one of our kits. That one is also Gen IV

BTW, Gen IV is not just for the later cars- here's a 76 XJ12C that got a 2010 Camaro L99 (6.2L LS3 with AFM and DOD) and 6L80E. And this is a driver- the owner (a customer of ours) has over 20,000 miles on this conversion. This one even uses the stock Camaro engine cover- we want to keep engine noise down, don't we??? ha ha. (Not to worry- the pic of the car was taken when he was doing an oil change- it is up on a jack in front - that is not normal ride height).

I hope that helps

Andrew

 

Andrew.

Its been over 4 years since I've looked at my conversion electrical on my S-type. My knowledge is probably dated. My understanding was that starting 2010, GM implemented their Global A security on their E38 controlled ECMs, This meant that you couldn't run a stock ECM without the other matching Serial number/encryption modules: (BCM, ABS...) Has this been hacked so that you can get rid of this? The only other option was to purchase a stand alone GM performance rod kit that runs the engine stand alone, but gives limited signal outputs - speedo, temp, pressures, and this was more difficult to get the car's stock electronics to work.

On Gen III GM ECMs, how do you get Jaguar Traction control/ABS to work? (Part of your electrical interface?) The E38 is integrated into the GM BCM and ABS/TCS modules using GM CAN communication. How do you get a LS3 throttle body to respond to Jaguar ABS brake signals?

The Pontiac G8 series (Holden) were the only LS3s that didn't have Global A security implemented. at the time. (Only 38,000 G8s were brought to the USA. 1829 were LS3 bsed GXPs (415 HP), Majority were the V6 version, Can't find how many G8 6L (L76 engine - 361Hp) were imported. - Dropouts from Pontiac G8s are asking $2K to $4K more that the equivalent Camaro LS3 engine/trans.

 

For my G8 here, we left the programming completely stock and using the original (G8) BCM the engine can be started and run. Simple. For your application (likely non-emissions inspected) the ECM would just need to be reprogrammed for standalone mode which is something HP tuners software can do. You could be running in an hour. And if you wanted, you could leave full OBD2 in place with upstream/downstream O2 sensors, cannister purge, etc.,.

Your problem on the Stype is on the Jag side- getting communication going with the chassis so the gauges and other systems will work. That's a CANBUS hacker software project. It took us a year working with a consultant to get the XK8/XJ8 system working. I am pretty sure your stock Stype electronics need the proper CAN messaging (not discrete tach, speedo, etc.,. outputs from the GM ECM) to work. That's a CAN problem and a GM generic ECM would be no more help than stock (except the engine would run...)

 

I went down the rabbit hole using G8 GXP harness with a Camaro LS3 engine. Found out that 2010 Camaro engine harness and GXP engine harnesses are about 99% the same, but the engine harness connector that integrates to the Body harness/BCM are about 30% different. I did about a 50% G8 module and harness swap in the car to convert major Jag sub systems to the GXP. I fitted a GXP instrument cluster into the dash, put in G8 accelerator pedal, Clutch assembly, and associated switch., the ABS/TCS module, swapped the brake/booster unit, added GM pitch yaw module, was about 40% complete fitting a GM steering angle sensor.
One of the problems I ran into was routing the G8 body harness, many wire lengths were either way to long or too short, and fitting the interior harness that goes behind the dashboard. (Never sorted out how the Fuel system would be wired - Installed a Walbro fuel pump.)

It became too time consuming versus the free time I had available. Every time I would start working on the wiring, It would take a lot of time to look at my notes and wiring diagrams, then figure out a few wires, then I'd run out of time. Someday, I need several dedicated days to make real progress.

I still remember most of the GM harness details, but forgot most my plan for the Jaguar/Ford hybrid CAN control system.