Just out of interest, and because I've read a few threads where potentially/eventually I'm going to have to shell out $3K for a torque converter, $3K for throttle bodies etc., has any heard of some mechanical wizard putting an American v8 into the Jag? A mustang shop near me put an Aston Martin engine into a mustang! Has anyone returned the favour?

I'm thinking an LS7 engine, or a tweaked mustang 5.0 motor might be a good addition!

This looks a bit of a nightmare:

http://www.buyrcars.com/jag.htm

 

Looks cheaper to just fix your current engine...

 

I've seen small block Chevy 350's (and tranny?) in an XJ12. Almost blasphemous, don't you think?

 

Back in the XJ6 day there were a couple of companies that specialized in conversion kits, primarily small/big block chevy engines and transmissions, for Jag XJs and XJSs. Some folks even switched out V12 engines because they were heavy, low on torque and very complex. The guys who converted XKEs lost the entire long term value of their cars. The people who bought these conversion kits were interested in acceleration and reliability, sometimes at the expense of top speed. A bonus was better handeling as a result of lower weight on the front end.

When Jag went to the V8 and V8s with superchargers, the issue of acceleration and the American driving experience went away. The issue of maintenance cost is still with us but demand for conversions dropped to the point that kit suppliers never really got interested in developing kits for late model Jags. Additionally, I think the kit suppliers got a load of the complexity of these new generation cars and didn't want any part of it..

To directly answer your question, engine swapping in late model Jags without benifit of a professionally developed kit is not economically sound and the results will be unsatisfactory. You will lose many of the tech features in your car. Take it from a guy who did 3 of the old ones. You are better off and money ahead repairing your Jag than trying to make it into another car.

Now if you got money to burn, you like to play around with machinery and you got a high tolorence for pain -- go for it.But it will break your heart.

 

Theres a XJ8 running around Houston with a supercharged big block 454 Chevy in it. He flat spanked a techs XJR that hopped up from the light and he caught up to him later and asked about what he did. But you have to be creative to get it to pass state inspections depending on where youre at.
A turbo'd LS7 would be awsome

 

Touch wood - There's nothing wrong with my car (only 30K miles so far)! However I've got one buddy with a Lexus ISF and another with a Rausch P51 Mustang (the car not the plane!) which are fairly horny cars!

It would be cheaper, probably just to do a Factory Five kit!

 

A long while back when I was shopping, I though about buying a good XJ body with a thrashed or just old and tired engine and doing a swap. I pinged Jags That Run (JTR) who are known for doing a bunch of the old swaps, but they were not interested in developing a kit for the 350/358 series. They told me that the engines are reliable and powerful enough to not need to be replaced.

I'd still love to have the option of swapping a 700+ HP built and turboed LS series engine in, but I certainly won't be the one to figure out how to do it!

 

Never mind the fact that it would be a nightmare with the complex electricals in the X350.

Yes it's been done with the X308 (jaguar specialites doing the LSx conversion) but for sure we won't see a fully-functional X350 with a conversion, it's gone over the tipping point for complexity...

 

My supercharged 4.2 is plenty.

You could probably fit an Aston Martin engine in if you wanted to, as it is basically the same engine but hand built with lots of different bits in it.

 

IMHO taking the engine out of a Jag and replacing it with another make would be like taking the heart and soul out of a person and replacing it someone else's. Besides the 4.2 V8 in our cars ranks in the top 5 best V8's ever built. I think it is one sweet running motor and is part of the reason our cars are so much fun to drive.

 

If I needed a heart, I'd be happy to have a new one installed!

To each their own, but I'd imagine that the LSx series engine is also in that top 5.

I'd like to have an alternative if my powerplant ever gives up the ghost. I'd imagine a well sorted kit and an LSx engine (if there were such a thing) would be about the same price as a used Genuine Jaguar motor.

The advantages of course would be less weight, way cheaper mod parts, and tons more room in the engine bay for goodies like turbos. Unfortunately, as Cambo states, it would likely be a nightmare of complexity to convince the car that everything is fine.

 

By whom and using what criteria?

 

Yeah, I thought it was the old 3.5 V8 that was so acclaimed. Yes, the LSX series of motors are the holy grail for the swap market. They are just so tunable and the modules required actually stand pretty independent of the rest of the systems in the cars they are used in. Look at all the wrecked GMs that live on in other chassis.

 

The AJ30 from the Lincoln LS was given a place in 2000's Ward's 10 Best Engines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia but I seem to recall the AJ-V8 made it on some other list too.