Hey Guys,

Today I have been faced with some saddening news, my beloved 99 XJR has kicked the bucket and I'm looking for options. My mechanic (who is a trusted family friend who has worked on my past 3 cars) said that the camshaft is cracked in half, valves are bent, and the compression is really low. From what he's told me, I'm better off just replacing the engine. I'm trying to get as many options as possible and being that I am a 'broke' college student. I also am trying to make the most of my money. I seriously love this car and have taken great care of her and aside from the obvious problem, she's in great shape overall. My question is, what would you guys recommend? I also want her to perform as well or better than before and want to do this properly. I know there are conversion options out there also with chevy LS engines? I really could use some insight, thanks in advance. Today is a sad, sad day

 

Wouldn't replacing the bad head be the cheapest answer? I wonder how sure the mechanic is that the valves are bent?

 

May need timing chains, guides and tentioners as well. may have what lead to valve train destruction.

 

If you want to stick with the AJ, I'd go replacement engine. They can be found pretty regularly with low-ish miles for $2000. If you can't do the major engine work yourself, you'll easily surpass that getting yours back together. Tensioners and chains will be ~$1200 all by themselves, and that's before getting a new head (if actually necessary), and if a piston is damaged you'll need a new engine anyways, as it'll be easier and way cheaper than rebuilding your current one, especially since it's likely a Nikasil engine. This would allow you to get an 01+ engine as well, and all the upgrades that came with them. But again, if you can't do the work yourself, you're probably looking at $1000 or so to do the swap. So I'd budget $3000-$4000.

I've investigated the LS swap pretty thoroughly. The easy route is the Jaguar Specialties swap kit. It's about $1500 for the kit with the interface harness. Then you'll be looking at at least $800 for an iron 5.3 engine like the LM7. Figure on about $1000 to $1200 for an aluminum 5.3 like an LM4 or an L33. Then the iron 6.0L s like the LQ4 or LQ9 are running about $2000, LS1's are still running about $3000, and LS6s are still running around $4000-$4500. The iron block engines in NA form are still a little lighter than the supercharged AJs. The aluminum engines are about 90 lbs lighter than that. A 5.3 makes around 300 hp and 325 lb ft stock, so quite a bit weaker than the XJR. But they are easy to get up around 350-375 hp and 360-400 lb-ft with basic mods like a cam, LS6 intake, and a tune, which would be around $600-$1000. The good LS1s (01+) will make around 360 hp and torque stock, and can get close to 400 with a nice cam/intake/exhaust/tune combo. LS6s make around 400 hp and torque stock, and will make around 430-470 with basic mods. The LQs are heavy, but will make over 400/400 with very basic mods, and it's not too hard to get 450/450 out of them. If you want to stay automatic, 4L80Es can be found all day for $1000 and will hold up to any naturally aspirated / light mod LS with ease.

So, the cheapest I was thinking an LS swap could be done for was about $4000, using an iron 5.3, a 4L80E, the JS swap kit, and going pretty cheap on the other swap stuff like the intake and exhaust. To match the power of the AJ would probably take about $5000 for some basic upgrades to that combo. Your power ceiling will be higher with the LS though for future mods, and it doesn't get cheaper/easier to maintain.

 

how do you get a set of compressions with the cam snapped in half?

Second opinion and tech suggested. Replacing the timing gear and cylinder head isn't something a spanner newbie could tackle. It requires tools that require knowledge of use like a torque wrench. But everyone started somewhere and they are good engines to work on, say compared to German stuff of the same age.

Take pictures of what your tech found and post here and we can suggest the best course of action. I assume it's still in pieces awaiting a decision?

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys I greatly appreciate it!

Yeah the only downside is that a second opinion is difficult to get with the car scattered in pieces and un-driveable. I trust my mechanic and he has always been upfront with everything but I'll try to get some photos uploaded later today to see what you guys think.

I'm curious to know more about a chevy conversion if anybody has any insight (positive or negitive). I'd hate to not keep her original of course, but dropping a 450 hp LS engine in it is tempting I must say not to mention the fact that I'm a college student with student loans and all that nonsense so that solution would also be cheaper long-term as well (if it comes down to that). Has anybody done with with an X308 that you guys know of?

Thanks again for the replies!

 

Rideordie:
SINCE you asked… I'm not a broke college students (but once was!), but if I were in your shoes I'd sell the car for parts, scrape together two thousand bucks to find a 'beater' from a reliable source (e.g. a high mileage car with full maintenance history), and spend my money instead on school and focus on getting those loans paid off. Once I was comfortably in my career of choice and loans gone, I'd buy whatever car I wanted. Somebody wise once said, if you live like nobody else now, later you get to live like nobody else. By investing your limited money on yourself and your education, rather than a broken, expensive car, you will only accelerate the day when you can buy the cream puff XJR of your dreams.

Just another opinion, I guess… Best of luck!
Scott

 

Good advice... If my student-son came to me with the same question I would give him a lecture how "broke" student does not mix with broken 99 XJR, and how he should sell it, buy that old civic from neighbor for $300 and ride it through college years, and spend the rest of the money to take his girlfriend to a nice weekend trip.

(I have to admin though, if at the end he told me that he can't live without this car... fixing it would likely become more of my project then his).

 

Chevy swap doesn't make sense if you are broke. If the engine is apart, what is really wrong? Valves, pistons. As Sean noted, you can't read compression without a camshaft. Maybe a cam is all that is really needed.

Best advice you have been given is to part it out and get a beater until school is done and you have a better paying day job. You can buy a lot of tuition with a four grand engine repair/swap. IMHO

 

Yeah, I hear you guys. Although I do have loans, I got a good job that is in the field I am studying so its not like I'm working at McDonalds lol (not to mention my boss drives a 98 vdp so we always talk jags) Yes, getting a beater is an option which I am considering (somewhat), but this has been one of my dream cars since I was a kid and when I drive it, I feel like a million bucks. I don't know if I can go from an XJR to a beat up civic. Not to mention as soon as the beater breaks down I sure as hell wouldn't want to spend money on something I don't want to spend money on to begin with, ya know? I was planning on keeping this car for years to come and I certainly don't mean to sound arrogant but I love cars and love driving them and the XJR is the complete package in that department imo. Even when I did valet, I realized how lucky I was to own such a quality car even though I was driving cars 10x more than what I paid for mine.

As far as the chevy conversion, that was an interesting notion but I've decided against it.

Thanks so much for all the replies! Will be posting pics of the camshaft momentarily...

 

 

Also, does anybody have any idea what would cause the camshaft to crack like this? Seems like a very unusual problem to begin with...

 

Here's a recent thread with a very similar problem.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...d-help-124513/

 

If you have the facilities, tools, and ability, IMO replacing the engine is going to be your easiest, cheapest, and fastest option. You could theoretically be running again over two hard weekends for less than $3000. But that's if you can do the work yourself.

Rebuilding your current engine might be the cheapest option, but it could become a money pit if you discover downstream problems. If it's just replace a head and replace timing chains, it'll be the cheapest route. But you might do a bunch of work getting the engine apart and see that it's got a fubar'd piston or potentially block damage, and you'll have wasted all that labor since at that point you'd need a new engine anyways.

The LS swap is definitely the most expensive, but potentially the most rewarding in the long run. Way more aftermarket if you want to go bigger down the road, cheaper/easier maintenance, etc. I am probably going to do it mostly so I can run a manual transmission and have access to an easy limited slip differential, as since I'd be running the manual I wouldn't have to worry about the speed signal and could run an X300 diff.

 

So you ain't "broke" at the end :-), that makes a big difference. If you have a place where to keep the car and work on it - it's a simple question you can answer yourself. Find your replacement engine , price it out with transportation and swap work, and make the decision.

Roughly your choices are: spend $4K, few days in the shop and get your car back, or spend some time selling the car and keep $4k + "proceeds" toward another car.

The devil is in details - what engine is available(if it is) and what you can get for "$4k+proceeds".

I see real nice 1999 XJR with 100K for $5500 obo :-) in my area
https://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/4650778410.html .

 

Yeah I'm bouncing around what I can get for about 5 grand-ish to replace her (between expenses/part out) and interestingly enough I've found some beauties, one of which is a minty 97 xjr that I'm trying to negotiate with.


Also checked out a xjs with a chevy 350 conversion today which was a little rough (mostly cosmetic) but damn that thing was quick. Too much risk for me in my current situation though, would be a great project if anybody is around the FL area...


I found a 99 xjr engine for $2400 with 80k miles. So that is where my options lie. New car or new engine. I love my jag man, either way the decision is very difficult and the risk is basically equal either way as well in my opinion.


I greatly appreciate the comments guys, thanks a lot for your input!