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I know of several of the late XJS (6.0) V12 cars with a 6 speed manual here on the west coast. Drivenman made a kit for that (a while back) and about 4 years ago a local shop here put one together in a 94 XJS for a customer. This would be the premium set up with a 3.54 diff out back so it geared up quickly. And actually yes, I drove it, and was driven in it. Nice, smooth, and fun to shift. I don't think he sold a lot of those kits, but certainly a few over the years..
As a side note both XK's Unlimited out here and Vintage JagWorks in Idaho both offer kits with the 6 speed now as well- I have not heard any feedback on any of them. So anyone who is ok with the price of the kit and the labor to have it installed can have a car like this tomorrow.
Now all we have to do is get you into an LS- XJS for a spin and everyone will have the full experience...
Last edited by JaguarSpecialties; 12-09-2019 at 08:04 AM.
HEY guys , have you tried the famous Jag V12 ,manual shift trick?
my 1975 XJ12C coupe,, setting still engine off, put it in 4th gear,clutch out , turn the key and away we go NO jerkin SMOOTH as ? and not let off till 100mph! all in one gear!
try it , just for something to talk about , with our TOY cars!
ron
HEY guys , have you tried the famous Jag V12 ,manual shift trick?
my 1975 XJ12C coupe,, setting still engine off, put it in 4th gear,clutch out , turn the key and away we go NO jerkin SMOOTH as ? and not let off till 100mph! all in one gear!
try it , just for something to talk about , with our TOY cars!
ron
Yes, I tried this after seeing Jeremy Clarkson do it in a V12 DB7 with a 6 speed. You have to slip the clutch to get going... but it's completely undramatic as detailed above.
So Andrew, If i were to put a 400+ hp ls in a newer XJS, would I need to spend a lot on suspension and performance shocks and what not? I just want a cruiser that can shock those Camaro guys at stop lights.
I know of several of the late XJS (6.0) V12 cars with a 6 speed manual here on the west coast. Drivenman made a kit for that (a while back) and about 4 years ago a local shop here put one together in a 94 XJS for a customer. This would be the premium set up with a 3.54 diff out back so it geared up quickly. And actually yes, I drove it, and was driven in it. Nice, smooth, and fun to shift. I don't think he sold a lot of those kits, but certainly a few dozen over the years.....
As a side note both XK's Unlimited out here and Vintage JagWorks in Idaho both offer kits with the 6 speed now as well- I have not heard any feedback on any of them. So anyone who is ok with the price of the kit and the labor to have it installed can have a car kit this tomorrow.
Now all we have to do is get you into an LS- XJS for a spin and everyone will have the full experience...
The "Drivenman" 6 speed for a 6.0 DOES NOT exist. I tried to buy one....paid for it...waited a year. Nothing, they told me only a 5 speed was doable. For the 5.3....maybe in the past. The 6.0 Nope. I maintain until I see a video of a Late 6.0 with a T56 Magnum that they are super rare here in the USA. I know there's a few in AUS.... Here in the USA...I've seen a Richmond 6 speed on a 5.3, I've seen lots of 5.3's with 5 speeds but not a 6.0 with a T56 mangnum . The "DrivenMan" 6 speed video on youtube never actually shows a 6 speed and is most likely a 5 speed becasue of the large RPM drop between gear changes. The T56 magnum has closer ratios, and makes much faster gear changes easy. The gear change RPM drop is too much and too slow for it to be a T56 Magnum.
Even if there are a few out there I dont know about, they're still rare and special none-the-less.
Also that video kind of makes my point...as the driver pulls away briskly the car get very sideways...very typical problem for power'd Jag that needs addressing. So this happens with only 316HP Imagine 350 HP or more.
Andrew can hook you up . You can make it look factory. This is a lt-1 swap but my next trick is the LS. As soon as I get the suspension sorted I will get to the LS kit from Andrew.
It did indeed exist and it was something they offered years ago- not sure about now. Remember, Driven Man was selling all of the Kiesler Automotive Jag stuff before they went broke- not clear if all of the Jag stuff was bought by American Powertrain or not (like the muscle car stick shift stuff Kiesler developed).
Regardless, I drove the finished car- it had 6 gears, not including reverse.... . What I can tell you is the shop here locally had a hell of a time getting it all to go together in the car and there was a lot of back and forth with Driven Man to get it all done. The shop was not happy, and neither was the customer as it all took far too long. But the car did get done....
Nonetheless, other places are offering a kit like this now anyway- Vintage Jag, XK's, etc., so what does it matter.... It's obviously not a one-off thing.
But that's not what this thread is about anyway, is it?
Originally Posted by icsamerica
The "Drivenman" 6 speed for a 6.0 DOES NOT exist. I tried to buy one....paid for it...waited a year. Nothing, they told me only a 5 speed was doable.
Since we are talking about the T56 ( or 6 speeds in general in a Jag), let me tell you a little about a project about to get started over here. A customer (and friend) of mine owns a Cobra/GT40/Shelby focused hot rod shop but he has a soft spot for Jags and also LS engines. (Did you know that many of the replica GT0's out there run LS7 engines....???). Anyway, he has a couple of Jags too and has big plans for his 1994 XJS convert. More specifically he just ordered a low miles 2012 Corvette LS3 Grandsport engine (which makes an advertised 430 hp) for this car. And that car has a T56 in it's future as well. He drove my 88 XJSC with LS1 and T56 and LOVED IT so the die was cast. Actually, he has 2 XJS's- one is the 94 mentioned above and the other is a cream puff all original 55k mile 85 coupe, which actually looks like it has 500 miles on it, and he's having a hard time actually deciding which will go LS. Regardless, I can only imagine, compared to my paltry 325 hp LS1 XJSC what a car like this would be like with 100+ extra hp. I'm pulling for the 94 to get the nod since it already has the 3.54 gears and better rear brakes, etc.,. And as a side note, he's looking specifically for a wide ratio T56 (with the .50 ratio 6th gear) which will get all of the HD upgrades before it goes in. With all of that LS torque, close ratios aren't a requirement....A short throw shifter, dual disc clutch, among other goodies, are in the plan as well.....
Here's a pic of the car- besides the wheels it'll be a total sleeper (has many of our suspension upgrades underneath...)
So for a purely street driven car, you can make just basic mods on the stock suspension and get a great performer. For an XJS that would be the polyurethane steering rack mounts, a 1" front sway bar upgrade, and a decent set of new shocks. I don't bother with expensive adjustable shocks for the street- for me, KYB is fine and gives a good road feel but not harsh. We have some upgrade rear suspension cage mounts that are probably a good idea to use when facing LS torque, and then for the rest of the suspension we just want to be sure everything is still in good shape- ball joints, A-arm bushings, etc.,. For 99% of my customers, this is a good recipe for a daily driver that will also be a lot of fun. All in all, this is not an expensive proposition....
So Andrew, If i were to put a 400+ hp ls in a newer XJS, would I need to spend a lot on suspension and performance shocks and what not? I just want a cruiser that can shock those Camaro guys at stop lights.
ics ,, you have to have the clutch out before you actually start the engine in 4th gear!
i think i explained that? NO clutch slipping , in fact no feet on any pedals till you up to idle speed, then give it the gas!
course its a useless thing . but explains the torque of a V12 at very low speeds!
ron
its back to the super smoothness of a V12!
for quiet ,easy , driving , without having to shift any thing!
hey even Chevrolet 2020 Corvette did away with manual trans,
has any one here ever driven a new Ford with the 4 cylinder , 10 speed automatic. you should!
ron
pic of the SILLY simple V12 , its only an engine!
Jerry i,m kinda old fashioned , i made the Flares using sheet metal!
i do everything to my CARS myself, bodywork, rust remove, complete engine overhauls, trans mods, 4 speed GM, rear gear changes, suspension mods, electrical wiring(needs some tidy up tho)! James Bond center control station! start button, back in 1994!
It did indeed exist and it was something they offered years ago- not sure about now. Remember, Driven Man was selling all of the Kiesler Automotive Jag stuff before they went broke- not clear if all of the Jag stuff was bought by American Powertrain or not (like the muscle car stick shift stuff Kiesler developed).
Regardless, I drove the finished car- it had 6 gears, not including reverse.... . What I can tell you is the shop here locally had a hell of a time getting it all to go together in the car and there was a lot of back and forth with Driven Man to get it all done. The shop was not happy, and neither was the customer as it all took far too long. But the car did get done....
Nonetheless, other places are offering a kit like this now anyway- Vintage Jag, XK's, etc., so what does it matter.... It's obviously not a one-off thing.
But that's not what this thread is about anyway, is it?
The 6.0 V12 with a 6 speed may not be one-off but it's close. I have not seen another and I'm not saying another doesn't exist but I haven't seen one. Silly to try to make it out to be common like a LS swap. Nothing wrong with an LS swap just common and kind'a played out IMHO. Going forward...Richmond no longer makes a 6 speed... apparently Vintage Jag Works is not aware of that, so even if they did exist in the past, there isn't going to be any more of those. That only leaves the T56 Magnum.
6.0L V12 with T56 Magnum is not any harder than any other conversion. Easier in some ways and was one of the easiest conversions I did. FAR easier and WAY cheaper than any LS swap by a mile. That said... I'd LS swap a V12 5.3L car and 6 speed swap a 6.0L as a rule. The 6.0 has NONE of the vices that the 5.3 does, save for fuel consumption. For all out performance any 5.3+ LS will roast a stock 6.0 V12 and as everyone knows when it come to LS power the sky is the limit. But what's the point of all the HP unless you can put it to the ground clean. And that "DrivenMan" 5 speed youtube video is a good example of what every Jag I've upgraded does not do...leave straight. That's kind'a important. It takes major re-engeenering and augmentation of the rear suspension to get it to put power down right. Andew (JagSpeciaties) knows this....but he's selling dreams... and lest not they be damped. Like the guy who thinks an LSA with a 215 tire out back is somehow not laughable.
V12 is the king of refinement as a manual...with no odd vibrations or harmonics even at very low RPM. The refiment of the Jag V12 is really apparent with a manual trans. As an Automatic affair...LS and V12 are both very refined and have smoothness parity. The slushy auto soaks up lots of the V8 harmonics. As a practical matter a V12 with 6 speed is easier to drive daily, fewer gears changes are necessary when compared to row'in an LS but the LS is the high performance king of the road and track and easy enough for most.
When it comes to rarity and occasion , Any XJS V12 with a 6 speed is the king hands down... and more so if it's a late 6.0L. They are not common even though Andew tries to suggest they are common in one breath and difficult to complete in the next. Odd mind trick right there.
There is a reason I dont have a high performance LS 6 speed XJ. It would be redundant.... I already have a 500+ HP 6.6L small block chevy powered XJ that revs clean to 7000 RPM and has a 6 speed T56. Far better than anyting off the shelf with the engine set farther back and lower in the chassis than is typical. The amount of work and upgrades that was required for the rear to handle that power is considerable and more work remains to be done as the power will be kicked up a notch for the up-comming season at Limerock. One upgrade I'm going to try to solve is wheel hop with a single forward spring instead of the dual spring setup. Somewhat easy to make 500+ HP LS engines these days and the XJ platform is just not up to the job. I'm trying my best to keep going but at some point rationality sets in and you gotta move on.
Wonderful problems to have... We are so privleged to be able to be pre-occupied with such "problems"... 6 speed LS or 6 speed V12. Either choice is rewarding to drive but 1 is more special than the other.
Last edited by icsamerica; 12-10-2019 at 10:24 PM.
This was a thread started by a user looking for info on an XJS- LS conversion. Not sure why it keeps being dragged into the exclusivity or smoothness of stick shift XJS V12's but whatever.
Back on topic, with a relatively high level of interest (and high $$ too) going into the Jag-LS route, it seems the community has spoken to some extent. I'm blown away to still be getting calls from prospective customers who saw or heard about the $103k LS1 powered XJ6C on Bring-A-Trailer. Now, even 2+ years later, in a booming worldwide economy, no other XJ coupe (6 or even V12, as far as I know) has come even close to that number, stock, restored, etc.,.. That sale inspired some 15-20 other XJ coupe owners to go down that path as well. My friend/customer above with the 94 XJS convertible thinks those models (2 seat and 4 seat factory XJS convertibles) are next to catch this "Jag-LS" wave like the coupes before, with prices to follow. We'll see about that.....It might happen- LS converted XK8's, when they do occasionally sell, are now commanding 3+ times the money of stock Jag-engined XK8's... and climbing.....
I'm glad my interest as an enthusiast, and as a supplier, helps keep these fine cars mechanically up to date so they stay on the road and can be enjoyed,
HEY guys , its just a simple "TO EACH HIS OWN"!
not many people are going to drive on a daily bases, and on the week end head out to California from East coast and couple months then drive back, and put 75000, miles on a year!
NOPE just not practical , like we could do with an IMPALA< or Honda ACCORD, and be at ease ,not to think ,what if happens!
thats why i call them TOY cars , we play cars with them, its the little boy in most of us!
ron
12-09-2019, 07:55 AM
V12 6 speed cars......
. What I can tell you is the shop here locally had a hell of a time getting it all to go together in the car and there was a lot of back and forth with Driven Man to get it all done. The shop was not happy, and neither was the customer as it all took far too long. But the car did get done....
