As always Primaz looks a great project. when you say you put A/C system where battery was, I presume you have re-located battery to the boot clearing the space for the A/C unit. Could you provide pics of both as this is what I was planning to do but unsure if everyting will fit. Also adding the A/C compressor to my engine requires additional mounting points which obviously your engine already had.

 

I am using the Jaguar 3.8s kit from Retroair, that kit has the evaporator blower unit designed to mount wear the stock battery used to be. There are some nice pics of his kit as it really looks like it came that way from the factory once installed but it is a tight fit for the evap/blower unit and I was told a little tight for the kits ductwork setup but it all is designed to fit ; he has a version for the 3.8s and MKII's. I was lucky since using a GM v8 which is so popular to restomod a huge variety of cars that there are so many serpentine kits to allow more variations to mount the AC compressor and other accessories as well as many options for radiator connections and engine mounts, etc. I wish you luck on making mounts for the AC compressor as that could be very difficult. I will take some pics once we mount the unit so you can see how it fits. Things are all fitting but we need to make sure we do it in the right steps as it is getting tight in that engine bay.

What I am doing is putting the batteries in the rear but I have this crazy mobile office set up with a full network color lazar jet printer, color scanner, refrigerator, microwave oven, huge low frequency pure sine wave inverter in the trunk so for power requirements and space requirements we mounted a total of three batteries. There are two 6 volt AGM batteries in series on the passenger side under the rear fender where one of the gas tanks used to be; then there is a standard full size battery on the driver side where the other gas tank used to be. These utilize a special battery isolator system mounted back on the engine bay firewall.

The batteries are removable from under the car and the wiring is routed up to the trunk. The two AGM batteries will give a huge resever of power so that all of the coputers and accessories can never drain the main battery. We also added a modern fuse set up and removed most of the electrical to that to keep the stock set up just to start the car as the Brittish electrical has a bad reputation and I need this to be a reliable daily driver.

 

here are the three batteries mounted, new drive shaft and new bracket to keep the stock column shifter functioning with the new GM tranny...

 

Finished the new gas pedal, the linkage modifications to keep the stock column shifter operation, later model windshield wiper motor. The small bits always take more time than expected. We just need to drill a small hole for a vacuum line off the cold air intake and put gas and fluids into the beast in order to start her up! I hope to bring the car next week to get a new custom stainless exhaust system! You can still see minor bits in work in progress like mounting the Retro-Air air conditioning system, the heater box, and new steering wheel, and that list goes on when you go beyond the engine bay..... I can see why some well done restomod cars sell for more money than a stock restored car as if you have the money and do not want to take so so much time you could just plunk down cash at a Barrett Jackson Auction, etc....

 

Primaz, it looks like you're in the home stretch. I can't believe you managed to squeeze headers into that engine compartment. Judging from the diameter of the throttle body intake this thing should scoot pretty good. The pedals are an absolute hoot - old school Jag just connect the brake and clutch arms with a single pedal for the automatic model, right next to the high tech billet aluminum accelerator linking you to all that horsepower. It's perfect. Good luck with the fire up and first run. No tickets.

 

Doug,

It was third time the charm as we tried two other slim headers that did not fit and the third was the charm. So that is why there are two arms; that stock brake pedal is so huge that I think we might look for one to match the new throttle that is smaller. I am so eager to get this Jag on the road and it is amazing all these little things that seem to take so much time. Thanks for the reply as it is not easy to keep up all this work when it seems to take forever. Too bad we are not closer to each other as it would be cool to have a restomod Jaguar cruise with everyone on this forum whom restomodded their Jaguar when we are all done!

 

The motor is now installed and here are some pics so far and a youtube video of it running with no exhaust mufflers etc. installed yet just running open headers so it's a beast now Exhaust should be finished next week. It will be full stainless to prevent any rust and mufflers to keep the beast hidden as more of a sleeper. Still needing to finish stereo, interior, trunk mobile office, clean up the wiring, install new steering wheel, so more to come...

 

nice job that,
where did you get the rad from and how much, thanks,

 

I have done a few Jag conversions in my time but nothing to compare to this.
Wow. Kudos ++++.

 

This car sounds like a muscle car than a purrs lol
Good job , I have seen 350 Chevy conversion in old Jags but not a single LS1

 

SWEET ho i wish my wife had a body like that lol

 

I got the radiator from Wizardcooling.com for about $675 US. They make good radiators and the nice thing is that they are willing to customize it to your specifications, so we had them modify their stock one to accommodate how we wanted it so that it would fit and work well with the new GM V8. They can also change the fins per inch and other parameters to meet your individual needs.


Steve, that is why I wanted to video it now because this would be the loudest that new power plant roars, once we put the new stainless exhaust and mufflers it will be much quieter as I need it to cruise without a loud sound for daily driving using my blue-tooth speaker to be on the cell phone all day but at the same time I wouldn't mind it roaring when I really punch the throttle.... we will see how she finally purrs later and what RPM when she roars a bit

 

hi all
im still pondering which engine to go for in my daimler mk2 the thing is i spoted a Chevrolet 5.3 V8 LM7 Vortec engine (no box and no ecu) on ebay local to me if i went down that road how much will it cost me for ecu's from usa and i was hoping to go down the manual road so how easy will it be to get hold of a box to fit.
still thinking of the jaguar v8 as well but i dont want all the electrics abs ect and get the thought i will need them all to run the engine

 

To me you want all the electronics as it is the more modern computer and the electronic fuel injection that is enabling modern motors Jaguar or GM to get the better fuel economy and make it easier to do trick ways to control the performance of the motor. I opted to spend a little more than the typical $2-3K US for a used motor from a private party and spent $5200 at Sand and Street performance out of Arizona for a mild rebuilt GM LS 5.3 and they preprogrammed the ECU to match the differential, transmission, wheels/tires, etc. that is specific to my car and the performance I wanted which was a daily driver with good performance and improved MPG. They are mainly known for the computer but they make complete motors and transmissions for many shops in the US that just do GM engine swaps even though their website does not advertise that. I do not know what it would cost to ship to your location from the US but there might be others local to you that do specialize on GM motors?


Also there are many ECU computer places in the US that will program the computer the way you want and send you the whole set up to install into your motor. Just do a search and you will find dozens of companies that provide aftermarket computers either preprogrammed or will provide you with the tools to do it yourself but I would look for one that provides a good proven custom setup close to what you want so as to not reinvent the wheel. Sand and Street will also just sell the computer ECU with harness, etc. preprogrammed for you without the motor, etc.


If you go with a Jaguar check before if there are any companies or persons whom can customize the ECU. I think reading Doug's conversion, he is trying to fit all the same accessories, etc. of the swapped Jag motor including same wheel diameters, etc. so that he can keep the ECU stock; I think that makes the conversion a bit more work?

 

Primaz,
What product did you use for the interior soundproofing? You referred to a "liquid Dynamat ?"
Thanks,
Lin

 

Lin, I will try to look up the liquid sound dampening product but I am not relying on that alone as I am also using Dynamatt on top of it as well.


The exhaust system is complete and is all done in stainless steel to prevent any worries about rust.

 

Primaz, I've been looking forward to the next episode. Hope you will show a vid on the fire up after the silencer has been fitted. You posted on 11.16.2013 (ready to fire) mentioning 'fitted a later model wiper motor', what was it? from what I can see it's the same shape as original. Is it better? . My mk2 not so good seems to struggle, especially when a bit dry. New springs in arms, perhaps to much pressure. Cant seem to do a full arc when a little dry.Thanks barry

 

Lin, I used "Quiet Car" coating on all of the interior floor. I am sure you can look it up as I used the left over can a friend of mine gave me after he used it on his 240Z he is resto-modding.

 

Barry, I will let you know which motor we used, I know it was a Jaguar but have to ask Andy from Jaguar Specialties as I purchased it from him. The wipers as you can imagine are pretty low on our priority list for testing them but will try to remember to let you know how it works. My car was completely missing the motor with the coil strip so whom knows if there are any other missing parts for my car to make the wiper work? but I must make that functional since this will be the daily driver. Yes I will try to post a video now that the car is running mufflers and resonators as it was super load before and my video of it was at idle without giving it gas! It is much nicer now and once the Dynamatt and carpets are in the interior should be quiet enough for my needs as a daily driver always using my Bluetooth speaker phone, etc.

 

Thanks, yes I realise that the wipers are not exactly at the top of the list at this moment in time. When you get round to it I would be interested to hear how they perform.
It would be of interest to hear the veiws of others on wipers!!. If there's any body out there with any experience/knowledge in improving mk2 wipers I would be very interested.
You must be getting a bit excited now a major land mark is looming!!.
Barry