Nice looking silver car with the LS1 for sale. Just ran into it: https://www.streetsideclassics.com/v...999-jaguar-xk8

 

it is an interesting car! I'm certain that if I undertook to try to duplicate all aspects of the modifications I would be well over 20K

BUT
This was someone else's dream and without knowing so many little details it is hard to justify taking the chance.


thanks for pointing it out


wj

 

nice but needs suspension work - front upper mounts, rear lower shock mount looks like its cracking, drivers side seat switch pack broken tab and what else

 

All true but it would cost you more than 17K for the swap and body kit and most of the cars of this age group have age issues like you've pointed out. It could be fun project car for someone, I've already done a car in this series so I'm not interested but figured someone else might be.

 

To me the color and kit make it look like a Roomba for streets.

Like the seller, I'd wanna be rid of it too.

 

oooooook…….

 

Hard to tell if it's been built with one of our kits- I don't recall a 5.3 XK8 down that way, but it's possible... A few details under the hood look familiar. I would maybe have used an intake ducting that looked less like something from behind my clothes dryer, but that's just me.. When I looked closer I think the drivetrain is more likely a 400hp LS2 from a GTO- I see the drive by wire, GTO power steering reservoir on top, the GTO only small alternator underneath, and a deep pan on the 4L65E (not 4L60E) transmission, which was also a GTO only bit.....

All that $$ spent on the Arden kit (which is nice) but they kept the base 17" wheels.. It would be so much nicer with a more aggressive wheel/tire package...

Not a bad price if it's been done well. They cheaped out on the exhaust- kept that useless center front muffler and also the small
turbos that lead to very restrictive pipes over the rear suspension. So in the end, 2 cats and 5 mufflers. That was a major miss- ~$300 would have made for a real nice free flowing exhaust that went under the suspension- easy...

Andrew

Jaguar Specialties

 

I think the paint is gorgeous and all-in-all it doesn't seem like too bad a price... I would definitely swap out the wheels for some 20" like I currently have and maybe a few other minor mods but the ride looks sweet.

 

Did anyone besides me notice that the gap between the hood and the front bumper seemed a little large??? Then I noticed that the rear lower section of the left front fender seemed out of alignment with the rocker panel. Usually all of that would point to some front end "incident". So I asked a friend to run a Carfax on the car to see what's there. Interesting details- the car was originally from California and was sold online to someone in North Carolina in 2007. In 2008 it had a front end accident described as "minor" (knowing what the parts for these cars cost I wonder what "minor" added up to on a 9 year old $85,000 car). Anyway, after that incident it moved to South Carolina with a new owner. Interestingly in early 2017 there was another new owner reported, and the registration was renewed with a "exempt from odometer reading" note which may point to when the conversion was done .

Anyway, some interesting background....

Andrew
Jaguar Specialties

 

"Proceed with caution...."

 

I just figured that was where the vacuum attachment must vent its exhaust air.

 

one would think with all of the work that went into the paint that they would have spent some time on the panel gaps. it is not that difficult to do correctly.

 

It says it is a 5.3L, which means it is a truck engine (with GTO tinwear?) likely an LM7 and not an LS.



Most of the 5.3s out there are Iron blocks if so it will be quite a bit heavier than the jag V8 or an LS motor.

 

An iron block LS engine is (according to Wikipedia) about 100lbs heavier than the all alum LS1/LS2 engines. That's actually a high end estimate based on what I've seen elsewhere on the internet, which is usually 60-75 lbs . But even with the iron block the car here is using a 4 speed auto trans vs a 5 speed Jag original so I think any weight change in negligible (my guess is the GM trans may be slightly lighter, net). Regardless, in a 3900+ lb car, 100 lbs +/- is not going to be that noticeable, if at all.. And years ago when I weighed mby original prototype XK8 LS-automatic car, as I remember, it was very very close to a stock XK8

What I should do is get my LS1-6 speed manual trans car on the scales and see where it comes in relative to a stocker. That would be interesting.....

As far as whether this is truly a 5.3 vs a 6.0, I would bank on the description in the listing being wrong. The GTO accessory bits are not that common and it would be something of a stretch for someone to actually have located a full set (early LS Camaro pieces are similar but not the same..). Also, only about 1/3 of 5.3 LS engines are drive by wire, so that also tips the hand more towards the 6.0. Just based on my experience.

BTW, on the subject of the exhaust system that I mentioned in an earlier post, attached below is a pic of what ( I think) a proper XK8-LS exhaust should look like (this is not a bad approach for a Jag engine either...) . This is the system we are building for a 97 XK8 that is getting a 2009 Pontiac G8 drivetrain (361 LS L76 engine with displacement on demand and 6L80E 6 speed auto trans with paddle shift capability). The build is being documented on our website (you can follow it along if you like). The exhaust will run from high flow GM exhaust manifolds ( 2 1/2" outlets) and stock G8 cats (manifolds and cats not shown in the pic) and then into a full 2 1/2" mandrel bent system with a stamped 2 1/2" x-pipe. The pipes run high under the body and then smoothly tip under the center of the diff to then go left and right (the L-shaped pieces at the bottom) out to resonators on the stock exit locations (not shown in this pic). An interesting pointshere is that this system is for the most part very flat and is built from a kit of mandrel bends, cut and slipped together and then welded. Also, you may wonder whether just the cats and the rear resonators will make it too loud, but I have found that the X-pipe also has a major sound deadening feature that requires little muffling afterwards (my XK8 manual car has essentially the same system and is no louder than a modern Mustang or Camaro). Anyway, I thought you might like to see that, as a tech tidbit...

Andrew
Jaguar Specialties

 

And here is the exhaust pic for you. You may notice the slight dimple in the left pipe- that is where the section has been flattened slightly to dip just under the handbrake mechanism....

 

Nice!