Sacrilegious Jag and another hack job
Discussion
I used to have a classic BMW but rarely used it with two kids and a barely existing rear seat. Sold that, went looking for a nice 4-door. I had always liked the Jag XJ6 but read about poor reliability everywhere. Took the plunge and bought a beautiful low milage series-3 4.2 with a manual transmission (pretty rare apparently).
Sure enough, on it's first long journey (to Le Mans) blew its headgasket, wonderful! Reading up on the XK motor didn't reveal to many positives on the reliability front so considered an engine swap. Found a lot of Chevy and Ford swaps, but those engines are pretty hard too come by here especially with a manual transmission. I had however something sitting in the garage from an earlier parts car... Made decision:
In case you have not figured it out by now, it's a BMW M60 V8 (4.0) with a 6-speed manual transmission. The result:
- added 100 hp
- better on fuel
- a transmission where you can actually feel which gear you've selected
- flawless for one year now
- Jag purists hate me
Sure enough, on it's first long journey (to Le Mans) blew its headgasket, wonderful! Reading up on the XK motor didn't reveal to many positives on the reliability front so considered an engine swap. Found a lot of Chevy and Ford swaps, but those engines are pretty hard too come by here especially with a manual transmission. I had however something sitting in the garage from an earlier parts car... Made decision:
In case you have not figured it out by now, it's a BMW M60 V8 (4.0) with a 6-speed manual transmission. The result:
- added 100 hp
- better on fuel
- a transmission where you can actually feel which gear you've selected
- flawless for one year now
- Jag purists hate me
Edited by sacrilege on Sunday 25th January 16:30
I used to have a classic BMW but rarely used it with two kids and a barely existing rear seat. Sold that, went looking for a nice 4-door. I had always liked the Jag XJ6 but read about poor reliability everywhere. Took the plunge and bought a beautiful low milage series-3 4.2 with a manual transmission (pretty rare apparently).
Sure enough, on it's first long journey (to Le Mans) blew its headgasket, wonderful! Reading up on the XK motor didn't reveal to many positives on the reliability front so considered an engine swap. Found a lot of Chevy and Ford swaps, but those engines are pretty hard too come by here especially with a manual transmission. I had however something sitting in the garage from an earlier parts car... Made decision:
In case you have not figured it out by now, it's a BMW M60 V8 (4.0) with a 6-speed manual transmission. The result:
- added 100 hp
- better on fuel
- a transmission where you can actually feel which gear you've selected
- flawless for one year now
- Jag purists hate me
Sure enough, on it's first long journey (to Le Mans) blew its headgasket, wonderful! Reading up on the XK motor didn't reveal to many positives on the reliability front so considered an engine swap. Found a lot of Chevy and Ford swaps, but those engines are pretty hard too come by here especially with a manual transmission. I had however something sitting in the garage from an earlier parts car... Made decision:
In case you have not figured it out by now, it's a BMW M60 V8 (4.0) with a 6-speed manual transmission. The result:
- added 100 hp
- better on fuel
- a transmission where you can actually feel which gear you've selected
- flawless for one year now
- Jag purists hate me
Edited by sacrilege on Sunday 25th January 16:30
vx220 said:
Something about the jag engine bay pic sequence makes it look like an easy job!? I'm assuming it wasn't, but you've made it look like it was meant to be there, great job.
How tricky was the 944?
You are right, it was not. How tricky was the 944?
The 944 was not too bad, the link in my earlier post provides details
Simes110 said:
At first, I wanted to hate you for wasting a beautiful Series III Jaguar, but I really rather admire the job you've done there.
I'd like to see more, if you've the inclinaion for a detailed write-up.
Thanks! As for the write-up, well it was mostly a matter of fabricate everything myself as (to my knowlegde) this swap had never been done before. I made my own exhaust manifolds, engine and transmission mounts, shift linkage and modified the front crossmember to clear the V8 oilpan. Then of course all the little bits like the wiring (and getting all the instruments to read correctly again), fluids plumbing, etc. etc. Maybe I will do a write-up similar to what I did for the Porsche sometime...but maybe not...I'd like to see more, if you've the inclinaion for a detailed write-up.
Pappagallo said:
Love the Jag - does that bonnet actually close?
You bet, not a whole lot of clearance I admit, here you can see how the engine sits height wise:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPcCrSmhgn4
And if you have a decent set of speakers then here you can here how she sounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq2y1QzHQN0
LanceRS said:
Are you using the BMW ECU? How was it tying to get it all working?
Yes. Pretty easy on the BMW side, it's a 1994 motor so does not yet have the electronic immobilizer. On the Jag side a bit more complicated as the wiring diagrams I could find online did not completely match what I found on my car. Thanks guys. Well documented? You may find that those other builds are based mostly on the information provided on my website ;-) Prior to this going online there was not much to be found on the web regarding this swap. My 'method' is a budget one and quite different from the 600+ hp builds from Scandinavia that I have seen where very little if the original 944 driveline is retained.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTC4BDVp0Vs
Microphone may have been an bit close to the exhaust... :-)
Microphone may have been an bit close to the exhaust... :-)
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