Great write up Skooba, we're getting started on a Andrew's manual transmission swap right now.

 

How much HP can the stock rear end/half shafts, etc. take in an early XK8??

The LS swap has been in the back corner of my mind ever since purchasing a 99 xk8 a few months ago, and the 59 Chev BelAir restomod (LS1/6 speed) that I built last year has been laughing at the stock Jags temperamental nature lately, so it might be time.

Russ

 

I bet it comes down to how you use it. With some sticky drag radials on a sticky track at the drag strip, you'd probably have issues with the 400 ft-lbs from an LS2. But on street tires, on the regular pavement, you probably have the ability to handle higher powers. We're shooting for 400-450hp at the wheels. So we'll find out if that works or not, and go from there.

 

I know avos has gone over 650hp (twin screw supercharger on an AJ-V8) and not broken anything, but he is on street tires, and I'm not sure if he does many hard launches.

 

Understood. 8-10 years ago I built a Fiero with a very snooty 377ci SBC bolted to the stock Fiero 4 speed. I bought a spare trans just in case, but never blew the oem trans up, and I did more than a couple smoky burnouts with it. but I've seen guys yard sale a super t10 with a lot less HP than my Fiero had. it's not the right foot than breaks parts, it's the left (with a stick shift car anyway).

Russ

 

I would ask Andrew at Jaguar Specialties that question. I wouldn't know the right answer.
Pretty color on your kitty. Never seen that before.

 

Hey All,
Just a quick note to welcome everyone to spring and to tell that we just put the Jag plates back on. It fired up first crank as we used staybil in the fuel and a C-Tek charger over the winter. We had a bum seal where the dipstick tube meets the tranny so I swapped it out and that was solved. Funny thing happened the other day. It started to run like I lost a cylinder and in fact I did. I was messing around with the fuel rail covers and I knocked an injector electrical connector loose. Not off, loose. So the problem was intermittent, I hate those. Without even realizing it I fixed it by reseating every plug on the engine. It still runs great. We put 6000 km on it last year. We didn't take it on the long trip due to time constraints so we flew instead. Off to the Island soon and we'll just keep tooling around BC this year.

Hope everyone is having fun too!

 

Update: It is now 2 years since the LS1 conversion and I have had no problems (other than the self-induced one mentioned above). This car has power and grace. We are so happy. Regular maintenance has and is being performed, such as, rear suspension bushings (done) and front suspension bushings and ball joints soon. Kitty lost a fight with a 4x4 in a parking lot as the front fender and headlamp were damaged by the truck pulling out of the stall beside the car. All will be fixed by insurance. I will let you all know how the front suspension rebuild goes. Johnny painted the rims black. Thinking about a cool wrap for next year. I will tackle that myself. Happy Jaggin' Folks!

 

Hey folks,
Don't know if I mentioned this before but I have been experimenting with octanes. I was reading that the big impact would be passing power and fuel mileage. Burning 87 octane does not cause knocking but power is down on passing and fuel mileage is not great. At 89 octane the power is better and fuel mileage improves as well. At 91 octane power is significantly better over 87 and noticeably better over 89. Fuel mileage is awesome by comparison.
I figure since we don't use the car as a daily driver anymore (due to the 4x4 incident mentioned earlier) we can afford to spend the loot on 91 octane.
I did not use 94 octane due to cost and the fact that I am very happy with 91.
Hope this helps.

Cheers,

 

Can anyone see a problem installing a 2002 XKR engine in a 2002 XK8 Jag.

Thanks for your time and trouble.
Summershade.

 

It's not really possible, at least not easily. The transmissions are different, as is most of the wiring for the engine and some reaching into the car. Perhaps if you had both cars sitting side by side you could do it but it is a HUGE project

 

Likely be far easier and cheaper to just buy an XKR. 2002s on eBay, and there are a lot of them, are running around $15K with around 80K miles on their clocks.

 

I would ask Andrew at Jaguar Specialties that question.

 

I thought about doing this on my '83 XJ-6. as I love the supercharger sound in my 2002 XKR, but it just isn't reasonable when you consider that you can potentially make the same hp or more with an LSx engine, and swapping in the Jaguar mill would pretty much require swapping all the body modules, transmission, gauge cluster, and everything else electronic. Simply too much of a challenge for this old boy and I've done several engine swaps (Jeeps), have a lift and a fully equipped garage. Too much work and cost (and risk of failure) for too little gain, in my opinion.

I am currently waiting for my Jaguar Specialties kit to arrive for the XJ6 and looking for a truck motor (LQ4) 6.0L and a rebuilt 4L65e transmission from Lsx4U.com, then add a craigslist sourced LS1 intake and fuel rails with adapters for the truck injectors to work with the Camaro fuel rail and wiring. Since the original engine (4.2L six) weighed about 770lbs, I'm not concerned about the extra 65lb difference between the aluminum LS1 and the LQ4 - the car will probably still sit too high in front! I could also go with one of the aluminum truck 5.3L like from a 2004 Buick Rainier, but extra $$ and I need to do this within a budget of about $8K, including rebuilding the fuel system completely, all new suspension and brakes and some interior work (headliner, door furflex and odds and ends). I'm hoping I have enough left over to do a quick repaint, too. I'll be keeping it mostly stock but with a mild cam and PCM flash it should wake up nicely. I'll use the LS1 intake and oil pan ($150 aftermarket) with the mods Andrew has in his manual (BUY the manual, well worth it to plan your swap!!) and the corvette manifolds, do a light refresh on the engine (all gaskets, oil pump, all the "while it's out" items). I'm probably going to use the Holley conversion accessory bracket kit (Summit) to allow the accessories to line up with the truck-length harmonic balancer (it is longer) and use either a Dirty Dingo water pump spacer or go with the 2007+ truck water pump. I got the car for $75 (previous owner put a new battery in it and wanted his "investment" back, haha) and the car was garaged for 25 years and looks great, so I don't mind dropping some coin on this project.

 

Hey all,
The things that changed:
My job, better position with the same company.
My address changed because the new gig was not in Kamloops, it's in Port Hardy BC. We bought a house in Coal Harbour, BC ( you might want to google earth that )
My drive to work, 13km of road course style two lane highway, oolala
No lights, no intersections, no cops and no traffic, it's heaven

The things that didn't change:
The jag is running as good as the day we fired it up after the conversion
Amazing head turning, ego boosting, tire burning fun
Have you eaten a Miata lately? Nice light snack for Kitty

I will focus on maintenance over the winter as brakes need to be bled and the radio panel needs to be swapped. I am working on a mockup roll bar wind deflector. I will post when done with pics.

Hope everyone had a great summer!

 

Cable,
Good luck with your swap.
Sounds like more work than mine but it also sounds like your know stuff.
All the best

 

Hello all,
Well another year has gone by and Kitty is now hibernating again.
5 years of trouble free conversion and loads of looks and fun. We love our Jaguar, we really do!
We attended the Jags On The Island show in Victoria BC in July this year and we got a Director's Choice ribbon for the car because of the conversion (nothing to do with the fact that the Director is the President of the local Corvette club ). Lots of great cars there, modern, current and classic, 192 in all. The saloon cars were amazing.
Anyway, we had a nice time, we were well received and had fun.
Jag people are so nice!
Happy trails everyone!

 

Hey everyone,
Just in case anyone is wondering the answer is yes, another great summer with our converted kitty.
No problems, no issues.
Okay, maybe it sounds like bragging a little bit but I like to think of it more like a statement of simple fact
The darn thing just runs!
Thank you everyone for all your comments and kind words over the years
Thank you Andrew with whom I still have a connection with to this day!

Happy Jaggin' Folks

 

Hello All,
Spring has sprung and kittly is awakening from her winter slumber.
In recent news, I had a massive heart attack in mid December but obviously survived!
It makes the Jag that much more sweeter and as I contemplate my mortality at least I can do it in style LOL.
I am grateful for most things in my life as I consider myself a very fortunate fellow on many levels.
I am a modest man with modest ambitions and life has served we well regardless of the curve ***** thrown at me from time to time. I am 61.5 years old.
As we enter into our 7th season with the converted Jag we once again look forward to a summer of sun and fun with the top down.
Happy Jaggin' Folks

Skooba Kowboy

 

Very happy to hear that both you and kitty are still alive and kicking!