V6 to V8 swap possible?
#21
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Perth Ontario Canada
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Experience gained on previous, far simpler Jags with only a fraction of the complex electronics of an F-type.
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Dan's cat (06-24-2017)
#23
How Jaguar Land Rover Cleverly Creates a V-6 from a V-8 ? Feature ? Car and Driver | Car and Driver Blog
Intake, cooling, transmission (when auto) and even lots of electronics are the same.
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Dan's cat (06-24-2017)
#24
It may seem as simple as a new Engine ECU and you're good to go... but that's very much not the case. Every module in the car is programmed to know it has a V6, and while that may not affect some things like your radio, it will certainly affect how the transmission, body controller, drivetrain controller, cluster, etc work. Here are some examples:
- the transmission is looking for signals specific to the V6 to properly shift and adjust for throttle table mapping. In changing to a V8, the transmission will either not see these values at all, or be confused by them because they're different than the range it is programmed to see. Manual trans might work better, but issues could still be present.
- dynamic mode and sport mode won't be configured properly. You'll have the V6 variation installed, and that won't work properly for a V8. These modes may make the car drive funny or not work at all.
- the V8 vehicles have an electronic differential. The engine controller will look for signals from this unit and not see them. This could cause a permentant limp mode or light on the dash along with many active codes.
- the instrument cluster won't be programmed for a V8. You'll need new software for it to understand most of the signals coming from the engine controller.
- the transmission is looking for signals specific to the V6 to properly shift and adjust for throttle table mapping. In changing to a V8, the transmission will either not see these values at all, or be confused by them because they're different than the range it is programmed to see. Manual trans might work better, but issues could still be present.
- dynamic mode and sport mode won't be configured properly. You'll have the V6 variation installed, and that won't work properly for a V8. These modes may make the car drive funny or not work at all.
- the V8 vehicles have an electronic differential. The engine controller will look for signals from this unit and not see them. This could cause a permentant limp mode or light on the dash along with many active codes.
- the instrument cluster won't be programmed for a V8. You'll need new software for it to understand most of the signals coming from the engine controller.
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Dan's cat (06-24-2017)
#25
Just to give you an idea how complicated the electronics are in these cars, here's a vehicle network map from 2014...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e6fp29b26h...works.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e6fp29b26h...works.pdf?dl=0
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#31
I'm going to explore the suggested option of replacing the internals of this one and see how much power I can get from it. If it's too expensive to do that, I will definitely find a used and swap it out.