XKR-R, The car Jaguar should have built.

 

Great video, with more content to come.

 

I agree, reliability would go way up.

Jack

 

Interesting question though. Is it really a Jag? Without doubt a great car, good performance and great looks but not really a GT anymore?

 

I applaud the concept, but at 6-foot-7 with size 15 feet there is no way I would have anywhere close to enough legroom / kneeroom / footroom to be able to drive that car. The excessive heat inside the cabin would also be a major problem for those of us who are polar bears....

 

I don't believe it takes 60 to 70 HP to turn the automatic trans.

Jack

 

Neither do I, maybe with the older Merc unit like they had but not with the ZF 6 speed unit. It shouldn't be any different to a manual considering fuel economy is roughly what you would expect from a manual as thr transmission can lock up on all 6 gears.

 

Old news! This conversion has been done several times, many years ago, both in Sweden 2014 https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xk8-xkr-x100-17/xkr-manual-gearbox-124769/ and in the UK by the late Norman Durban. There was even an article about it in a UK motoring magazine

 

Yes, the difference is that Swallows has developed a custom ECU that is plug-and-play and allows manual transmissions without losing CAN bus functionality or having the Christmas tree of lights in the dashboard. It will also allow remapping. This car is one of the test-beds for this ECU, which they apparently have intentions of making available to the public. That's a big deal.

 

Except both the 4.0 and 4.2 XKR have identical 0-60 times, despite the extra 200cc on the car with the ZF gearbox.

It's all academic anyway, as very few of us are crazy enough to flog our 20 year old cars to within an inch of their lives, just to get the kind of performances the test drivers were achieving when the cars were new.

 

Sadly Mike Fernie do not know what he is talking about. A manual transmission swap will not give you any more HP in the ENGINE. At the wheels yes, in the engine no. It could have been interesting to know the difference at the wheels with auto vs manual, but when you at the same time swap out the ECU with a better tune AND the pulleys for the supercharger to get higher boost - that is where the power gain is.
It has nothing to do with the "heavy converter". And BTW the MB gearbox also has lock up.

Swallows has done a god job, hopefully they can come up with a tune even if you want to keep the auto.

 

I think they said it was a 50hp uplift with all the work they did which to me sounds about what I would expect and what people have said you get from the smaller pulley. 80hp increase with the filter taken off.

 

It's a fun video. Especially if you like X100s. I think I like it better than the Barbie Movie. (a lot shorter too)

 

Yep Id never be able to drive mine as a manual either. About an inch shorter than you, still have 15 4E feet though. Oh and like ive said before, Im built like a linebacker weighing in at about 365lbs lol