Jon,

I didn't realize you guys got snow that frequently. Anything under a foot here is considered a "light" snowfall, and generally doesn't even rate school closings and or offices closing. We got 30 some inches in one storm last year and then another 20 or so the following weekend. We have also had winters like you describe with barely any brushes with snow, it's odd and unpredictable. We all have snow throwers to clear our driveways, sidewalks etc.

The main roads are plowed well and quickly here, and salt / sand is used aggressively. Most streets have a white hue to them by the middle of January. What invariably happens in my neighborhood, which is one of the more suburban ones, is that we have a delayed plow response. By that time the snow is hard packed, mostly due to all the suv's digging ruts into it.

Then the plow comes over it, and besides blocking our driveways with the wall of snow they produce, they basically act like a zamboni and smooth the street into a nice shiny sheet of ice. This lasts between a week and months depending on the temperatures and the subsequent snowfalls.

As far as incompetent drivers. Here's a story for you...

Years ago my brother used to drive a rear wheel drive lexus is300. He comes over to get me to go out, and we back out of my driveway and go around the first corner, where he promptly loses the rear end, goes left, right and then up the curb and puts the side of the car into a mailbox built out of bricks. He had the same humbled "I have no idea what just happened" reaction. My father wanted to kill both of us the next day... Him for wanting to go out in that weather and for driving like a fool... AND me for not talking him out of it as the supposedly wiser older brother lol.

George

 

I haven't posted anything recently relating to progress on the LS3 installation.

I haven't made much visible progress during the holidays.

- I have been detailing minor things in the engine compartment.
- I tore apart the dashboard to get out the instrument cluster.
- I found out that the plastic Jag/Ford uses brittle hardens and shatters after it is 10 years old. All the tangs that hold the vents in the dashboard broke off while moving them up in order to pull the vents out, and several of the vent covers are cracked.
- I have a replacement Pontiac instrument cluster that now fits in the s-type's dashboard. This 2009 Instrument cluster will play well with the the GM electronics I will be installing.
- I've torn apart Camaro and Pontiac harnesses and am slowly mapping out wires I need to install a GM BCM, ECBM, Instrument cluster, yaw module, fuse boxes...
- I believe that the electronics are gobbling up time at a far faster rate than the mechanical installation.
- On another note, I was getting ready to put the gas tank back in the car and I found out that my fuel level senders were worn out. I am going to post another posting on the forum about my findings.

That's all for now folks!

 

Wow. And ouch.

 

Is it Jaguar or is it Pontiac!

 

Looks like ur going all in with the G8 Eh? Good job on the cluster...

Sorry I've been out of touch, had some issues with the family lately.

E-Mail me for details.

George

 

Months have passed since I last posted.

I've had little to no time over the past several months make much forward progress on the LS3 conversion. It is looking like I will have little to no time to work on the car for the next several months as well.

I am stalled on the electrical and harnessing for the car. I only get a few hours here and there to work on the electrical. I make a bit of progress, then can't get back at it for several days. Enough time passes that I forget what I did. Even with good notes, it takes 1/2 the time I have to get the wires laid out so that I can put a few more wires in the harness and make a little more forward progress. What I am doing isn't hard, I just need a huge block of time without interruption to make real headway. The engine harness is in good shape. The harness I am building from scratch is a pin-to-pin, connector-to- connector harness that integrates specific GM control modules, sensors and switches. BCM, Instrument cluster, EBCM, YAW, Main fuse box, secondary fuse box, Steering angle sensor, brake pedal sensor, accel pedal and accel pedal sensor, brake booster vac sensor, fuel system electrical, ABS wheel speed sensors with electronic ratio adapters. I also have power and ground tie-ins to the existing S-type harnesses for integrating some of the Jag sub systems.

On the bright side, I am about done with installing a GM brake booster/master cylinder in the car so it will be compatible with the GM EBCM and needed brake vacuum and rake fluid level sensors. I couldn't get the Lucas sensors to play well with GM's Bosch based brake system.

At least the car is far enough along that it looks like it should run! It is just missing it's brain and nervous system...

 

Man, I can`t wait to see this when it`s done.

 

that is sexy

 

Quick update: Another 3 months have passed and I haven't done anything on the car. 3 months ago, I landed a job that has taken me to Edinburg/McAllen, Texas the majority of my time. Therefore the car is now just sitting there.
Now and then I take some small harness project down with me, but overall the project is stalled. I suppose it is better to have a job and income, but now I don't have the time to work on the car.

Kind-of brings a tear to my eye when I see the car just sitting there...

 

Thanks for the update Tijoe.

One of these days you'll get it done.

 

The months pass and progress is slow on my conversion. A wire here, a bolt there. No major conversion updates or images to post.

I have a question to the forum. Since I'm not home enough to work directly on the electrical changes to the car that are still needed to get it running, I've been working on suspension and brake upgrades to the car. Should I start a new post to track the modifications I make to the suspension/brakes, or post the mods on this thread since it is a sub-set of my conversion?

Thanks.

Joe

 

Progress is progress even if it's slow.
I'd suggest a new thread for the suspension / brake work, as many people may be interested in that who would not want to read through all the conversion stuff.

 

Wow, 10+ months since my last post. It looks like I will finally be working in my home town again, so at last, I am making plans to start working on the conversion portion of the car again. Hopefully the 100+F Texas heat will go away soon, so I will be motivated to start working on the car.

Even though I haven't been working on getting the car running, I have been working on the car's suspension and brakes. There has been other progress on the car. (See other threads)
I can state, that I've spent/will be spending, about as much money on the suspension, brake mods and rims/tires, as I did on the the original engine conversion.

I am also getting motivated to get this car on the road because after I purchased a 2004 STR, I have a taste of what S-types R's can do and I want this car to be much more capable.

Hopefully more to post by the end of the year...

 

I am finally starting work on the electrical part of my conversion again. Amazing how much one forgets after a year passes. I've been spending an hour or two several days a week getting back up to speed on the wiring layout. Since the wiring is based on a combination of Camaro and Pontiac G8, there is not much I can share that will help regarding S-type electrical issues. I need to get the wiring into the car and functional so I get the engine running. Since a lot of the suspension is stripped from the car, it will still be a while before the car can hit the road even after the engine runs.

To date, I have learned that the CAN based control systems used in late model year cars makes it a real challenge to try to get all the systems functional. All the control modules are integrated through the body control module. Ford/Jaguar control modules don't talk to GM modules. Switches don't interchange because they have different resistor packs. So many functions are controlled by relays that are told to turn on and off by the Body Control Module. Conversions were so much easier before CAN systems.

 

It has been a few months since I posted an update. Over Christmas, I made a pair of ECM extension harnesses for the LS3 engine harness because I don't have any room around the engine in the car within range of the stock harness to mount the ECM. Therefore I will put the ECM in the stock location.

- I am slowly working on the harness upgrades for the car. (And I mean slowly)
- I am distracted building up a Mark 8 differential to swap into the car. Torsen T-2R LSD, 31 splines. https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...install-86430/
- I am working on building up stronger axles that will take 600HP for my long term goal for the car. I am getting to know more than I ever planned about axles on IRS cars. I have an interesting thread going in the LVC forum.
500+ HP rear Axles? - Lincoln vs Cadillac
- I am slowly working on front fender flares for the car.

I really want to get this car running!!!!

 

Tijoe... I just read through this thread again..

Like re-reading a really good book. Hope to see more updates soon. Maybe feed us a picture or two of the whole car sitting there taken apart.

Such a cool project.. Nothing I would ever be able to attempt. Only to dream up in my head...

 

Another several months have passed since I gave an update regarding this conversion project. I seem to only have 4 to 6 hours a week to work on the car, so progress is slow.

I've been distracted from working on the car's electrical because I took on rebuilding the rear end assembly of the car. I've posted bit and pieces of this project on other threads, but figure I'll post an update here.

I want to post images of my progress, but things are not assembled enough to show anything really exciting. (Soon...)

Since I plan on eventually having around 600hp, I decided to put in a Cobra/Mark 8 carrier. I purchased a sub frame modified it to fit the housing and built up a Mark 8 housing with a Torsen 31 spline T2R LSD. This made me go down the path of needing custom axles. While trying to make stronger axles without spending a fortune on custom ones, I 3-D modeled parts of the S-types rear suspension. After going though this exercise, I decided I didn't want to work with the S-type/STR hub carrier. A few months and a lot of research, I decided to design and build new suspension based on Corvette C6 spindles.
This solved a lot of other issues I was having with the Stock S-type suspension; - Corvette Hubs = stronger, and the ABS hubs work with my GM/Bosch ABS module. Rear C6 spindle/hubs use a parking brake hat, and thus I could easily fit different Brembo Calipers I had purchased that are necessary to balance out the huge front calipers I am using. - The C6 spindle work with the Corvette 19 X 12 rims I purchased and plan to use. So merrily I slowly trod down this path of reconstruction.

I've purchased about 70% of all the parts I need to put the C6 spindles into the sub frame. $$$ and more $$$$ and lots of time to fabricate parts.
I finally ordered a pair of Coleman Custom rotors. (365 X 28) The last items I need to be able to put the complete spindle sub assembly together. Then I can finish the caliper adapters and focus on building the upper and lower control arms.

Lastly, I have been working on flaring the right rear fender. I have to widen about 4" to fit the 12" wide rims. I was reading the recent thread on wheels for STRs and thought about posting an image, but the flare has just taken shape and I'd like it to be further along and aesthetically pleasing before revealing.

Enjoy

 

Came across your thread, interesting read. I love the 99-01 S-Types and I FWIW co-founded LS1Tech, so I like LS swaps too.

Ever think about running an aftermarket pcm system like the Holley EFI to run the engine?

 

I looked into the LS3 Rod Engine stand alone controller and other controllers but decided I wanted to get more complete integration into the car. (ECM Integrated to a BCM with many of its peripheral functions.)

I complicated things by deciding to run the electronics like a Pontiac G8 so I could use its speedometer cluster. It fit nicely and replaced the S-type cluster, but made the electrical more complex.

As I believe I've stated before, my limitation on the project has been working out of town, plus not liking to do electrical. I get easily distracted on mechanical projects. (Like my Mark VIII-Torsen LSD based sub-frame project with suspension adapted to Corvette C5/C6 spindles, with Camaro Brembo rear brakes.) Posted elsewhere on this forum. Plus I am slowly adding large fender flares to the car to fit much wider tires/rime on the car.

Too many projects, too little time and money...

 

My kid just blew the engine in my 2002 Jaguar S-Type 4.0. Otherwise the car looks great. I am thinking about selling it as is, or donating is to Kars 4 Kids. I was wondering what is a good asking price to sell or what can I expect to get for a tax write-off if I donate it!