Hello all. I have been perusing these forums as a guest researching my next car project - XK8 donor for Aston replica. Now, I don't want to offend any purists (and if I do, well, I'll make you a great deal on the leftover parts - most of the car..lol) but from what I've read, the whole technology and design history of the XK is a great platform and Jaguar should be proud!

My car: Been looking for the past few months and found a suitable donor. 1999 convertible with a blown engine for $2900. Looked at it last week and about to offer the guy $2500 for it. Listening to the guy talking about the motor definitely led me to the chain tensioners. He had no clue about them. Sad! Otherwise, the car is solid and in great shape! I live in Southeast Virginia and let me know if you need any parts...

Me: Motorhead pretty well sums me up. New to the Jaguar community and newer cars in general. I have had several Mopars, all older than I am and carbureted. Still have a couple of them.... '70 Plymouth Roadrunner and my daily driver '71 Dodge Demon. Now that I think of it, I've never ridden in a Jaguar..

Ideas: Drivetrain - I have to do something about the motor and want a 5 spd transmission. Make it a Lump? lol Don't laugh, the old Lumpers are hard at work on motor mounts for GM LS1's in XK8s!

IRS - First sign of rear end problems (and I seem to read through alot of 'em) and I'm yanking the IRS and going solid axle..

Wheels - I'll give Jaguar credit for making decent factory offerings. There's a set of 19" Apollos with tires for $400 on craigslist. Probably toughest decision is which to get...

Aston body kit - Only style gripes I have on XK8s are the "grill challenged" front end and the long rear end. Astons look better in my opinion (Don't hate me XK8 coupes with the Vanquish kit (company name for it is "ASH MART") don't look quite the same as a real Vanquish but it's close enough for common folk... I'm going for a little different look, a race car look with Gulf Livery. See pics (if they loaded right). Any opinions, hateful ones included? haha

 

Welcome to the forum,

An interesting project for sure.

Keep us informed as you progress.

 

I'm not sure I'm a purist, but be careful, as in the end you'll end up as one of those guys trying to sell his project on Craigslist "35k invested, first 10k takes it".
You've seen those cars I'm sure. A Jag guy won't touch it, neither will an Aston guy.

And a solid axle in a Jag? Now you're wandering over the edge into blasphemy...

 

Haha.... Thanks for the replies, guys. I'd probably never sell it so I'm not worried about value.... Solid axle, well, I want around a 3.73 to 4.10 gear and the highest I've seen here for the IRS is 3.2x and that's an upgrade from the 3.07 stocker... No autobahn around here...lol