Well, this isn't a GM mutual admiration forum. But, I'll hit it a couple of times, mebbe just once. GM's SBC came to us in 1955. In iron form, it lasted til the mid nineties. Used in tax's, cop cars, grocery getters, work trucks of a lot of sizes, hot rods and track racing, oval, dirt or black top and in the drag cars. If it is so bad, why????

Now, engines and transmissions are buyilt by competent folks and by fools galore. A rebuilt unitfrom a compentent place is as good or better than new. A cheapie unit, Nope, just gaskets and used psrts to replace the busted ones. Machine tolerances from closer than original to "close enough".

True, fitting the intake so it doesn't leak oil and opr vacumn is a tad tricky. But, that was solved by those in the know long ago. Just omit the end gasket for liquid gasket. Solved.

The LT1 and 4l60E in my Jaguar have performed flawlessly. Quite hitech for the nineties. Reverse flow cooling, PCM engine and transmission management, etc.

Jaguar chose the 4L80E for it's latter cars. Not to mention it's earlier use of the TH600. Lesson, got away from the antiquated and marginal BW's for a modern capable unit. The 4L80 brought Jaguar into the OD world.

Not that I could not live with and enjoy either a OHC six or V12. I could.

Oh, some Jaguar guys swap out the BW for a GM350 or even better a 700. Good reasons.

I could knock some Jaguar goofs, and they do exist, but why?

Off my soap box and see who has behaved best and as such gets paid first!!
Bailey has been out, business done, got his breakfast and I'm sipping a nice cup of Nestle's Classic, black, of course.

Carl

 

Acer, IE, windows goofed. A great response lost to cyberspace. Probably best as some might have taken offense. Twas a defense of the venerable SBC!!

 

I guess it came back!!! Too good to go down.

Carl

 

No offense taken and welcome to the forums! I'm not really familiar with the newer 350s my Jaguar has a mid 70s L82 350 and I'm happy with it. Always good to hear different people's opinions. What a sad world it would be if everyone thought the same and nobody had different opinions!

 

Some good points made by all. I might as well throw my two cents in, in short form

- V8 swaps have kept many Jags on the road that would otherwise have gone to the crusher. That's a good thing, not a bad thing.

- V8 swaps are an easy way to get more power. Some Jaguars need the extra power to become that much better cars. Darn few cars are made worse by the addition of 50 or 100 horsepower :-)

- Some swaps are fantastic displays of engineering and workmanship. Bravo! Others are hatchet jobs. Yuck.

- Chevy V8s are great engines with heritage. No argument.

- Some people who grew up loving V8s, and still do, really like Jaguar engines. They're interesting. They're fun. They're different. You learn something *new*.

- A V8 swap isn't the entire answer to having an easy-to-own Jag. Even with a V8 installed the other Jaguar challenges and quirks remain

- *Many* Jag owners find Jag engines to be very long lasting and reliable. V8 lovers trying to convince happy Jag owners that their Jag engines are actually a piece of s**t is pointless. They won't believe you.

- *Some* Jag owners have had terrible luck with Jag engines. Trying to convince unhappy Jag owners that their Jag engine is actually a wonderous marvel is pointless. They won't believe you.

- Reseale value. The Jags that usually get V8 swaps -- XJSs, Ser III sedans, some XJ40s -- have VERY low market value to begin with. The notion that a V8 destroys resale value isn't very relevent on cars that typically sell for $2500-$5000


That's all for now. Gotta get ready for work !

Cheers
DD

 

Doug you are absolutely right!

I would say more...

Why remove one of the greatest V12 engines, typicaly racing, oversquared and instal V8 pushrod instead for few BHP more in a country where police can bring you to the judge for speeding...

Maybe it will sound not polite... But if you buy Jag for 2000 and complain about fuel consumption it means you can't afford proper regular maintenance. So when car will stop don't complain because its your fault...

Look at this story...
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/o...rs-soon-90644/
I find dealear's offer as absolutely honest and true.
That how much Jag cost...

 

I agree there are goof up in all brands of vehicles yesterday and today. How ever after owning a few late model GM's with the new 350 engine and also having a few older ones the older 350 motors are far better then the new ones. Just what I have experienced the last 5 to 8 gm vehicles over the last 40 plus years. I do know some have very good luck with the 350 newer motors I just dont know any of those people. Still really like my Jaguar and the old style 350 GM motors, mix them together dont think I could ever do that.

 

i also agree with all on this thread;

ques; do i like GM engines and cars, i forgot how many i'v owned, bought new in 1957 Corvette,283 V8, and many other GMs did follow. along with other american cars, that was the mind set of a young man growing up in 50-70s.

i dont quite agree with saying the newer LS series SBC engines are not as good as the old SBC ,having owned some(the best one in my garage,Buick GN) after blowing up TWO buick turbo engines ,non repairable, i installed an LS2 6.0L with 4L80E trans, and it is the most dependable set up for a car, you can abuse incessantly, over and over. also the V8 sound of the exhaust is mezmerizing, BURBLE -BURBLE, OH yes!

as far as JAGS,(i lovem), but it was kinda forced on me,TWO great rust buckets were given to me absolutly FREE of charge,just cost of moving them to my garage! pix in my garage, 1978 XJS V12, roadster and a most respectable 1975 XJ12C,MANUAL TRANS car.

resto on the XJS was 2 1/2 yrs, a great moddified car, to far gone to make it pure, besides all the mods upgrade to modern,most important was NO RUST anywhere(that was a lot of work).

well after burning out on one car ,i regretfully sold the 75 12C coupe,manual trans car, i drove it around some,and coming from the standard shift crowd, yes i liked it,BUT my XJS V12 rodster, 700R4 automatic, would blow it away in the performance department.

just yesterday, i was in the garage warming the Jag engine, decided to listen to the 5" outlet exhaust, just lightly bringing up the revs,500 rpm at a time holding each rpm level for 2-3 seconds, when it reached 6000 revs, the incredeble sound can only be appreciated by a conosur of open exhaust people! makes the hair on the back of my neck raise.
i know not for everyone,but i'm not like everyone, never have been, and at my age seems as tho never will be!

 

The old XK engines from 1948 were only made in penny packets by a company that could only afford secondhand machinery to make them ! When newly introduced, they gave a huge boost to performance, yet were just as reliable as the engines around at the time. Trouble was, finance did not allow a lavish development program to proceed, and the European motor industry eventually passed Jaguar in the slow lane when it came to reliable and long-lived engines. Only the AJ6 and AJ16 engines rescued the company. V12s are lovely engine, but a specialist product made in even "pennier" packets.

If you look at the GM V8 engines these are/were made in huge numbers and any problems were soon sorted out so they are a very reliable engine, and cheap to buy secondhand, but they are not a Jaguar engine.

If you want a Jaguar car, then it is the sum of its parts. One with a GM engine fitted is a "bitza" - Bitza this, and bitza that !

 

Since this thread is already sidetracked to discuss "less filling vs more taste", I'll chime in. My XJ12 swap was rescued from a rusting heap. I wanted a swap and poured in the time, money and love to get it looking nice and on the road for the last 10 years. When I bought it, it was already swapped, and already dying in a auto shop scrap yard. When I found mine, I can safely say the car's options were to stay on the road with a swap, or head to the crusher.

 

I have purchased my Jags already converted or partially done and not running.

On all the Jag Forums, there are FEW, purchases of Jags with dead engines
that ever run again with Jag engines.....

 

hi i have a nice jaguar xj6l 1974 and i would like to convert the engine to v12 jag engine and i really want to know what shoul i do changes to covert the engine

 

Doug has done just that!
He'll be along shortly to tell you all about it.

When you get a minute, you should stop over at New Members and post an official introduction. The Management likes all new members to do that.

Welcome to our playroom from ElinorB.
(';')

 

A lot of what you'd need to know has been mentioned in this thread

I did the same but with a 1985 Series III XJ6. The basic installation of the engine is straightforward. There are numerous time consuming details. Cooling system, exhaust system, wiring, linkages and cables, oil cooler, driveshaft, heat shields....

What version of V12 are you going to use? And what transmission? Do you have a V12 donor car? Without a donor car you'll spend forever finding all the parts you'll need.

With more details we can better advise you

It's a big job. And a V12 is not the right choice for everybody.

Cheers
DD