Kumba.

You may have read my posting on the LS3 swap into a regular 2000 S-type.
I am still making gradual progress, but I work out of town and have little to no time to make forward progress on my conversion.

But the project is not dead...

I have been slowly purchasing suspension parts for a complete suspension overhaul on my car. I have front spindles/knuckles that have been modified to fit a different hub with a 5 X 4.5 wheel bolt pattern. The ABS reluctor is a 100 pulse count rather than the stock 40 pulse count to match my Pontiac G8 electrical. I'll be using corvette PBR 6 pot Calipers up front with 14" rotors. The rotors are Wilwood 2-piece with custom off-set hubs to match up with the new caliper position. I'll be running 19 X 10 wheels up front and the wheels have to be 2 piece modular because no one makes the wheel offset I need. I am a bit worried about what is going to happen to the scrub, so other changes may have to be made. Since I am using 10" wide wheels, guess what, I have to flare the fenders. I purchased another set of front fenders to play with. I'll have to flare them about 2-1/2".

On the rear, I plan on putting on 19" x 11" or 12" wheels. I'll be installing Brembo Camaro 4 pot rear calipers with 14.4" rotors. When you upgrade to Brembos, you lose your parking brake. So one either has to find the S-type R rear hub carriers and add separate parking brake calipers, or figure out another way to add parking brake capability. (The parts to swap out to an "R" braking system will run around $1k US.)
To match the front fenders, eventually I'll have to flare the rear fenders.

I am still looking into adding limited slip to the differential and what may need to be done to the axles to handle 500 HP.

I figure the changes I am making will cost in the $4K to $6K range. At the rate I am making progress, it will be another year before I put on the suspension upgrades.

In hind sight, I would have been better off starting with a 2004+ S-type R as the body for my conversion. But A year has passed since I started work on my 2000 S-type conversion and I have yet to see an S-type R selling less than $8K in the equivalent condition as mine.

My biggest lesson on working with a modern car as a conversion platform is that late model cars are built highly integrated. When you change one small thing there is a snowball effect where lots of other things are impacted. Each small change costs money and time.

 

Nice to hear from you "Tijoe". If anyone knows the difficulty in taking this on, it's you.

Glad to hear you're still working on it.

 

I might have some info for you on that. Have you looked at taking the center section from a IRS Cobra or Lincoln Mark-8 and bolting it to the rear cover of your stock diff? The LS guys do that on the earlier years (00-02). All you need to do is fab up a new brace for the ears on the pinion end to bolt to and have the DS shortened to fit. I've seen the braces made out of square-tube and welded above the center section to the rear subframe for added strength. Assuming it fits in your car, you end up with an 8.8" Ford rear that has every gear ratio and diff option under the sun with relatively minimal work.

The other thing the LS guys do is just put an 8.8" limited-slip diff (the one with the clutch packs) in the stock case. That's essentially a bolt-in other then setting up the gears for it. Not sure if Jag decided to consolidate or make their own rears though. I would like to think that they just stuck with a common part.

I have a rear cover, IRS case, and 4.10 gearset from a buddy sitting in the garage. Since my conversion is easily a few months off, I could ship the case and rear cover to you so you can measure it up and see if it would work. You just have to either replace it or send it back when I finally need it

 

Thanks for the input.

I've read about the 2 approaches as posted On the LS forum. I'm not sure yet what will be the best approach.

I believe that the guts of the differential in the S-type are Ford 7.5 parts.
I read somewhere on the LS forum that someone put in limited slip 8.8 parts into an LS carrier.

I am not sure what approach I want to eventually take. I'll gather all the information I can before deciding.

 

From what I understand the gears in an LS are 8.0" one-off things. Only shared with the Thunderbird. Assuming the CVs fit, the 8.8" conversion is the way to go. They make everything for that rear end.

 

Here is the link to the guy who put the Ford 8.8 LSD into a gen. I Lincoln LS case.

Lincoln LS Limited Slip Differential bolt-in... - Lincoln vs Cadillac

Seems like a Ford Racing Traction Lok LSD will fit. The question is does the S-type have 28 or 31 splines for the axle.

 

Hello everyone,
I wanted to pose a question relevant to this topic. I am considering upgrading the brakes on my 03 s type sport. However, I am not sure if replacing the calipers/rotors with the brembos from an STR would be a task over my head. I've seen different sets of used STR brembos available online, some for as low as $600.

I will also obtain a set of larger wheels, possibly 19". As I understand it the steering knuckle in the STR and sport edition are the same.

Any feedback or advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[QUOTE=gabrielduenas;408149]Hello everyone,
I wanted to pose a question relevant to this topic. I am considering upgrading the brakes on my 03 s type sport. However, I am not sure if replacing the calipers/rotors with the brembos from an STR would be a task over my head. I've seen different sets of used STR brembos available online, some for as low as $600.

Front only? or Front and Rear? Swapping to the front is straight forward assuming you purchase a kit that has an adapter bracket to space out the front Brembo calipers to fit the larger diameter rotor. Otherwise it is a lot more work to fabricate your own rotor mounting bracket.

Upgrading to rear Brembos is more complex. If you are going to require a Parking brake then you have to upgrade your rear hub carriers to fit the S-type R electric E-brake calipers. (Plan on $1,000 to $2,000 for the parts) Otherwise you will need to make a complex adapter to fit the rear Brembos and add a parking brake. - There may be the option of purchasing a Rear Brembo kit that has the parking brake built into the caliper, but these will most likely be 2 piston calipers.

If you purchase a big brake kit, expect to pay around $5K to $7K for all 4 wheels. You can do it for a lot less if you can make your own caliper adapters and do the fit up yourself.

Upgrading brakes and doing it right is expensive! Plan on at least $5K if your want to purchase a complete kit, or $2.5K to $3K if you piece it together yourself.

 

Thanks Tijoe,

It seems my best option is to swap out the front only, I can live with stock rear calipers/rotors.

I will keep looking out for used calipers and make sure the bracket is included.

 

2006 S type 4.2l V8
2020 All major repairs done this year. 160,000 Miles
Water pump, thermostat, coolant res, transmission service and pan/filter replacement, front and rear pads and rotors, heater coil and ac control module, whisper fluid hosing, 6 control arms, 2 strut mounts, transmission shift sensor in J gate, 4 all weather continental tires, new interstate battery, head light polish, aux cord hookup.

2005 S type R
2020 All major repairs/upgrades this year. 130,000 miles
1.7 pulley wheel swap upper, all belts changed, low temperature thermostat, NGK laser iridium for colder spark, Caldoofy Intake pipe with Mina Gallery performance intake, water pump, Ac compressor and all hosing, 6 control arms, all joints and bearings, tie rods, front bilsteins, front and rear pads and rotors, 18x8.5 front 18x9.5 rear wheels and tires, rear parking camera, Alcantara roof liner, window tinting. Currently waiting on killer chiller race kit by kincaid performance (2months since ordered still not sent) and getting chiller tank fabricated by Mina Gallery

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