LnrB's engine bay is certainly well done in an older school sort of way. No issue with old school ways here.


Those steady bars don't really hold the wings on. there are lots of nuts and bolts doing that. They probably control some flutter at the cowl or elsewhere though.
What does seem lacking in the XJ front bay is a tougher upper cross piece. Something between the shock struts. Imagine a quadrangle with a load on two verticals. Supported along the lower leg by a massive cross member and only shaped tin along the top? But, it seems to work anyway!!


As to grounds, oh yes. I created a relay rack along the cowl piece where the VIN is.
And, a ground bus along side. The ground legs or f the relays are grounded to the bus. Except where the ground leg is the trigger leg. Then that bus is grounded to the wing at the same place that battery ground is.


In a "perfect" electrical world, the chassis would never be a ground. Each electrical component would have a return to battery ground. So says me, not noted for my skills in electrickery!!


Carl

 

Thank you, Carl, but I had nothing to do with it.
The conversion was done in 1986 according to the paperwork that came with the car. So it IS old school.

In that time it was only driven 71,000 miles by the time we took possession; just well broken in. I've added a few thousand in the past year though. I'll probably continue to drive it until it simply won't go anymore.
(';')

 

sorry about that, the question was really to icsamerica

you clearly have other stuff happening atm with that nice dash work. Should be a thing of beauty when you are done.

 

There is more clearance than there appears. I have a tall tunnel ram intake and it fits under the hood. It doesnt fit under the hood of most other GM cars that it was designed for so cutting it down or adding cowl is usually necessary on those cars but not the jag sedan.

On a Jag the SBC sits very low and this contributes to the stellar handling of converts.

Have a look at this convert notice the air cleaner seems to have plenty of room to clear...and it's not a SBC... its a big block Cadillac. The BBCD is much larger than a SBC and a dual snorkel from a 84, 85 HO camaro is a nice symmetrical look and fits with plenty of room to spare. From this its safe to infer that a the same air cleaner would work on the significantly smaller SBC.
http://www.suncoastconversions.com/image0081.jpg

A racers trick that is good for a few HP is a 1 inch carb spacer which goes between the carb in intake manifold. It softens the angle rate of the air path and insulates the carb from the heat of the engine a bit. It's excellent value for money considering that dyno testing suggests its for good 5hp.

 

Thanks for the response. I think I may be my own worst enemy with my set up ATM. I am using a 14" filter and I thing the leading edge is very close to the down sloping bonnet line. Over the carb , no big deal , well below the braces. Will look around for the item you suggest over on this side of the planet.

 

Here's a few pics just so you get an idea. I've got 6 coats of clear and plan to wetsand tomorrow and assemble it all back together.

 

Gorgeous!
(';')

 

Wow....Jaguar cars are terribly wired from a design standpoint! Good grief....I have never seen so many hidden pull/twist type inline fuse holders in my life on one vehicle-let alone a factory job! No wonder they're fire hazards! I traced out all the factory relays and such under hood and I am amazed this car hasn't had a fire yet. The shear number of color coded/striped wiring would be enough to drive anybody bonkers I'm willing to bet. I made sense of all the factory stuff though-it was fairly easy to tell when somebody hacked in a shoddy fix. I had headlight wiring splices, the diode relay junction was hacked up, as was the main relay (I assume for ignition coil power) and the factory starter relay was bypassed (as evidenced by the partially melted inline fuse holder that was hidden in some electrical tape) and that is where the PO scabbed in the leads for the pushbutton start-ugh.

So, plan is to verify all of my constant BAT and IGN switched power sources, then build my own engine and front lighting harness to fix both the factory junk AND the even worse attempted "fixes". The only lead I haven't traced down is on the passenger side-big 12 ga blue lead with a funky single male terminal on the end-almost looks like it push-connects into a coolant temp sensor at the radiator perhaps....but I no longer have the original one so I'll have to research that a bit.

So, 4 hours of work today just sorting out crap wiring fixes from goofy OEM wiring AND determining how best to remedy all of it....whew!

 

I can't locate a factory battery hold down for my dads project....anybody have a correct one they'd be willing to sell me?

 

Gmachine:


Three ideas:


1. David Boger at Everydayxj surely can provide one.


2. Make one from a simple alloy or steel strap.


3. If you have cutting and welding stuff, make one from angle and strap. You can approximate an original one very closely.


I customized the one in my car to fit a battery with a lower profile. It included rubber tubing spacers and thusly a tad of shock absorbing capacity.


Oh, one more. A local scrap yard has many to choose from.


Carl

 

You begin to see how/why Lucas is called Prince of Darkness.
(';')

 

Thanks....I just may end up making one. I can't believe I forgot to take pics...I'll be working on it today again so I'll take plenty!

I am re-wiring everything from firewall forward in GM style both with IGN feeds, power distribution and front lighting. The 4 firewall mounted relays and headlight relay on drivers fender was easy enough to figure out. All the trailer wiring style dash connectors were very entertaining IMO....lol. I do like the various pushbuttons for switching tanks, etc. And, I do think the ignition switch, headlight, etc are well made, but the shear number of wiring color coded varieties and goofy connections are terrible. And nothing factory under the hood is a true weatherproof style seal like the Delphi stuff I'm used to. AF some points I was unsure what was factory Lucas and a shoddy repair attempt....lol

But, the car is cool so I like the challenge of making it more reliable. I just checked the price online of a factory starter relay-yikes! Pretty proud of that one! I don't think it's any better than the Hella 70A diode and resistor equipped relay I'll be using and at a fraction of the cost.

 

Gmachine:


When I did my install, I spent a lot of time with the soldering iron, shrink tubing and a heat gun.


I did use a trailer style all weather connector for the E fans up front.


I'm not too concerned with the all weather stuff under the bonnet/hood. My days of Gunk and hot water are behind me. Wiping has to do.


I used a generic style Hella relay stolen from a driving light package for the starter. it works just fine as do other similar ones for fuel pump, etc.


Some say the tin can original starter relay is OK if cleaned from time to time.


A semi genius former member on another forum designed a booster relay for the complex headlight relay.


I made a mount bar for the various relays along the VIN strip at the rear of the bay. All on studs secured by Nylocs.


And, a ground bus along side. As applicable all the relay grounds go there and thence to the same place as battery ground. Floating grounds are an ssue, I merely understand as best to avoid!!!


I gotta laugh when I think that many components have been swapped out as faulty when the remedy was the swapping cleaning the contacts!! Disconnect and reconnect cures many a fault???


Carl

 

Ok...here's a couple pics of the wreck of a wiring harness which I've begun modifying. As of today I've replaced the stock starter relay with a 70A Hella relay, deleted the diode pack relay, main relay and fuel pump relay. I've isolated a white 14ga wire from the main loom which is an ignition switched source so that will serve as my ignition source for the HEI BAT terminal, as well as the electric choke on the carb and will serve to "excite" the regulator on the 140A alternator which is part of the serpentine setup.


Also located is a white w/yellow stripe 18ga wire which is the starter solenoid trigger. I actually like the relay bank bracket and relay bases in how they mount to it-I wish I had a stockpile of them-I could find a ton of uses for them! Anyway, there's a myriad of white wires and such which I am unsure of their original uses since the PO just hacked them off...anyway....these pics give you an idea of what I have to sort out.

 

Oh Dear.........
(';')

 

If you can lay your hands on a S57 original jaguar wire diagrams book, it will ID, these odd wires and allow you to decide which to use and which to tape off.


For example, there are a bunch that travel from the engine bay, through a grommet under the battery tray along the console to floor transition in the cabin on their way to the boot. As I recall only two were needed for my purpose, the fuel pump wire and the starter neutral/park interrupt.


Electrickery at it's best!!!










Carl

 

S57 Wire Diagrams Book:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpn6hvcrfj...20XJ6.pdf?dl=0

More schematics in color:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2mz3mpr0wp..._SIII.pdf?dl=0

If there is one thing I am not, it is an electricity/wiring expert. I understand only the most basic fundamentals and can't do anything other than follow the instructions kindly provided by the more knowledgable. I have no idea as to the completeness, veracity, or helpfulness of these documents. I just thought they might serve as a useful example of the original intentions of the factory wiring - it certainly looks like the previous owner deviated from that plan pretty severely in your car. Apologies if this is redundant or off topic - Just trying to keep these documents circulating freely.

 

Ok....I got a few pics to show the electrical progress. I am using the stock relay location and bases for my 70A starter relay, IGN coil, low and high beam headlights. I'm adding a Ford solenoid, running the 4ga charge lead for my 140A alternator upgrade and just basically cleaning up the OEM wiring.

After the engine harness is complete, I'm gutting the OEM headlight relay/wiring and building a new relay triggered system with weather-pack connectors/terminals.

 

Here's a couple pixs with just the 2-speed fan sitting in place to show the basic look of it. Its a RF24 4200-4400 CFM fan on high speed and I built a control harness for it using a Volvo 2-speed relay epoxied to the side of the fan assembly. I use these types of fan systems a lot and they move a LOT of air! I'll be making aluminum bracket mounts for it at the same time I replace the front lighting harness.

I also found an air cleaner assembly and plastic cold air ducting from a TBI Cadillac in the junkyard which keeps with a stock type look-need to modify it a bit, then sandblast and paint it-pics on that coming soon.

 

And here's the junkie foam air cleaner assembly I'm ditching....notice how the heat has destroyed the foam and the motor had actually been "inhaling" it? Ugh. I hate these types of "performance" air cleaners!