1996 Jaguar XJ Executive 3.2l - sofa to racecar
Discussion
I will preface this thread with the sad bit: my step father unfortunately passed very suddenly in March. As a result, I have inherited his "project" 1996 Jaguar XJ Executive with the 3.2l engine and automagic gearbox (AKA the boggo Jag XJ). Unfortunately he never quite got round to completing this one, with the car failing a fairly simple emissions MOT in 2016 and being laid up under a tree ever since. The plan he had for it was to run it as a silly Euro-tourer during his retirement.
Fast forward to me, who is very keen to get racing after a season in Club 100 and many trackdays under my belt. I see a very fitting life for the car as my first race car with the Jaguar Enthusiasts club (who run a few of these), budget permitting. This will be a fairly long term project but I have set myself the goal of doing my first race in it by 2023. I will be doing trackdays in it leading up to then, getting used to the car and understanding it's shortcomings (and the limit of my talent). The engine only has 65k on the clock so I expect / am hoping everything to be in *reasonable* condition!
My first steps were getting the car cleaned up and assessing what was what - turns out the bodywork under the moss was not half bad!
Before washing:
After washing:
Next steps are having a proper look around the engine and seeing how bad a condition everything is. I am also heavily researching how to get my hands on a manual gearbox as I hate the idea of abusing the automatic box racing. I will be using this thread as a log of the car's progress which will hopefully motivate me to keep the pressure on and eventually sling it on track!
Fast forward to me, who is very keen to get racing after a season in Club 100 and many trackdays under my belt. I see a very fitting life for the car as my first race car with the Jaguar Enthusiasts club (who run a few of these), budget permitting. This will be a fairly long term project but I have set myself the goal of doing my first race in it by 2023. I will be doing trackdays in it leading up to then, getting used to the car and understanding it's shortcomings (and the limit of my talent). The engine only has 65k on the clock so I expect / am hoping everything to be in *reasonable* condition!
My first steps were getting the car cleaned up and assessing what was what - turns out the bodywork under the moss was not half bad!
Before washing:
After washing:
Next steps are having a proper look around the engine and seeing how bad a condition everything is. I am also heavily researching how to get my hands on a manual gearbox as I hate the idea of abusing the automatic box racing. I will be using this thread as a log of the car's progress which will hopefully motivate me to keep the pressure on and eventually sling it on track!
Some big changes since I last updated this thread!
Got chatting big time to the chaps over the Jag Enthusiasts Club and talked a lot more about taking the old land-barge racing. Since I am on a shoestring, the car is going to be built to Class A spec (basically stock with MSA safety mods, suspension and tyres). I only recently found out that the 3.2 and 4l are the same block just with different stroke so I would be silly to go racing with the 3.2.
So in short, we have gone from an auto-manual conversion to a full engine and gearbox swap! I have bought myself an engine on Ebay and will be inspecting it (pictures for sure) and have managed to source a manual conversion kit from Ebay which will be collected soon.
In the meantime, we have also stripped out all of the easy weight from the car and are working on securing the rear windows in place without the need for window motors to save some more weight.
Next post will be engine and gearbox receipt and inspection no doubt. Current headache is the stock flywheel for these is a DMF so I have been speaking to Chris at CovCats and he uses an XJ40 flywheel machined to fit in his AJ16 race car. So on the mission for one of those too.
Got chatting big time to the chaps over the Jag Enthusiasts Club and talked a lot more about taking the old land-barge racing. Since I am on a shoestring, the car is going to be built to Class A spec (basically stock with MSA safety mods, suspension and tyres). I only recently found out that the 3.2 and 4l are the same block just with different stroke so I would be silly to go racing with the 3.2.
So in short, we have gone from an auto-manual conversion to a full engine and gearbox swap! I have bought myself an engine on Ebay and will be inspecting it (pictures for sure) and have managed to source a manual conversion kit from Ebay which will be collected soon.
In the meantime, we have also stripped out all of the easy weight from the car and are working on securing the rear windows in place without the need for window motors to save some more weight.
Next post will be engine and gearbox receipt and inspection no doubt. Current headache is the stock flywheel for these is a DMF so I have been speaking to Chris at CovCats and he uses an XJ40 flywheel machined to fit in his AJ16 race car. So on the mission for one of those too.
So I now have a 4 litre engine and a Getrag 290 Gearbox! I have inspected the engine on an engine stand (just top/bottom visual for excessive wear, valve clearance and scooped the gunk out of the sump) and the gearbox turns nicely in all gears and is waiting to be cleaned up ready to go in.
Engine was bought on Ebay with ease I just had to order a pallet courier to bring it over. No headaches at all surprisingly. In a stroke of luck, the 4 litre actually came with its injectors and inlet manifold still full intact which was a big win!
The gearbox came with a full conversion kit (DMF though) but it came rather conveniently with a 4L manual ECU. So I just need to work out if I need to play with any ECU pins but I may be closer to "plug and play" than I would have been without the ECU. I have managed to source a solid flywheel and clutch from CovCats but need it skimmed to fit (the "shoulders" on an AJ6 XJ40 flyhweel are too wide for an AJ16 and will foul on the casting, so they need bringing in).
Next job is to get that flywheel machined, and now that I am happy with all of the other bits, start removing the old bits from the car. Next post will be engine/gearbox removal (I sincerely hope). In the meantime I am going to be doing more internal bits like heater core and pedal box removal, bits and bobs that need doing "at some point". Once engine and GB are removed and probably sold to make space, I then plan to assemble the 4 litre and manual gearbox on the pallet ready to get lifted and go in as one (apparently thats how they do it with these cars).
More to come!
Engine was bought on Ebay with ease I just had to order a pallet courier to bring it over. No headaches at all surprisingly. In a stroke of luck, the 4 litre actually came with its injectors and inlet manifold still full intact which was a big win!
The gearbox came with a full conversion kit (DMF though) but it came rather conveniently with a 4L manual ECU. So I just need to work out if I need to play with any ECU pins but I may be closer to "plug and play" than I would have been without the ECU. I have managed to source a solid flywheel and clutch from CovCats but need it skimmed to fit (the "shoulders" on an AJ6 XJ40 flyhweel are too wide for an AJ16 and will foul on the casting, so they need bringing in).
Next job is to get that flywheel machined, and now that I am happy with all of the other bits, start removing the old bits from the car. Next post will be engine/gearbox removal (I sincerely hope). In the meantime I am going to be doing more internal bits like heater core and pedal box removal, bits and bobs that need doing "at some point". Once engine and GB are removed and probably sold to make space, I then plan to assemble the 4 litre and manual gearbox on the pallet ready to get lifted and go in as one (apparently thats how they do it with these cars).
More to come!
THE ENGINE IS OUT!
Lots of progress once more, lots of tea drinking and lots of laughing to accompany us on our journey. We have managed to extract the engine/autobox out of the car. We were advised to pull the autobox out with the engine through the top of the car as it weighs so much and we don't have lifts it just made better sense. Needless to say any engine removal is a royal PITA (oh be quiet you Mk1 Beetle owners!), but all things considered I feel that this was nothing we didn't expect. We managed to snap none of the bolts some how, rounded a couple of heads but nothing a dremel and flat headed screwdriver couldn't fix. Massively surprised we didn't snap a manifold stud after 25 years of baking but hey, im not complaining. Some fiddly bits here and there, but with careful labelling of hoses and wiring harnesses staying in the car, I am happy with the result.
Pic below is us attaching the crane after all accessories had been removed. We removed everything from the block other than the water pump, PAS pump, A/C pump and used the inlet manifold as the lifting point. A few hoses were left on for ease as they were swiftly transferred to the new engine. We were able to leave the exhaust headers in the car for engine removal (they were VERY attached to the exhaust pipe) but once we had room to wiggle them free, we did as at least one of the lambdas needs changing.
Side profile of what we did with the car. As soon as the gearbox cleared the bulkhead (meaning the crane boom was at a silly height) we then just dropped the car on our lowest stands and walked away with the engine. The second jack under the car is taking some of the weight of the GB to make sure it didnt scratch along the floor during moving. That jack came out shortly after this photo.
Small study break to make sure we were doing everything correctly however my friend had to stay standing on the crane feet as it was trying to cock a wheel (despite being a 2 ton crane). Thankfully he's got decent mass to him so worked well as a counter weight!
Engine out and car being lowered away from it, after this photo we walked the engine backwards to safety and promptly popped it on a pallet.
Obligatory engine bay pic:
We are nearing completion of assembling the new 4l engine and manual box together on a pallet ready to go into the car, so the next post will be photos of that more than likely. At some point I should probably take photos of the inside of the car as we have been gently getting on with that too (pedal box, heater/AC matrix removal etc).
Lots of progress once more, lots of tea drinking and lots of laughing to accompany us on our journey. We have managed to extract the engine/autobox out of the car. We were advised to pull the autobox out with the engine through the top of the car as it weighs so much and we don't have lifts it just made better sense. Needless to say any engine removal is a royal PITA (oh be quiet you Mk1 Beetle owners!), but all things considered I feel that this was nothing we didn't expect. We managed to snap none of the bolts some how, rounded a couple of heads but nothing a dremel and flat headed screwdriver couldn't fix. Massively surprised we didn't snap a manifold stud after 25 years of baking but hey, im not complaining. Some fiddly bits here and there, but with careful labelling of hoses and wiring harnesses staying in the car, I am happy with the result.
Pic below is us attaching the crane after all accessories had been removed. We removed everything from the block other than the water pump, PAS pump, A/C pump and used the inlet manifold as the lifting point. A few hoses were left on for ease as they were swiftly transferred to the new engine. We were able to leave the exhaust headers in the car for engine removal (they were VERY attached to the exhaust pipe) but once we had room to wiggle them free, we did as at least one of the lambdas needs changing.
Side profile of what we did with the car. As soon as the gearbox cleared the bulkhead (meaning the crane boom was at a silly height) we then just dropped the car on our lowest stands and walked away with the engine. The second jack under the car is taking some of the weight of the GB to make sure it didnt scratch along the floor during moving. That jack came out shortly after this photo.
Small study break to make sure we were doing everything correctly however my friend had to stay standing on the crane feet as it was trying to cock a wheel (despite being a 2 ton crane). Thankfully he's got decent mass to him so worked well as a counter weight!
Engine out and car being lowered away from it, after this photo we walked the engine backwards to safety and promptly popped it on a pallet.
Obligatory engine bay pic:
We are nearing completion of assembling the new 4l engine and manual box together on a pallet ready to go into the car, so the next post will be photos of that more than likely. At some point I should probably take photos of the inside of the car as we have been gently getting on with that too (pedal box, heater/AC matrix removal etc).
Mike here, the owner and peddler of the tatty XJ40 pre-owned (pre-battered) by Gail Hill.
Good to meet you at Donington- I hope our races were evidence that the ends will justify the means!
Great to see this thread and to be able to follow your progress. Feel free to give me a shout if you need a hand with anything. Best of luck, hope to be sharing paint with you soon!
ETA: Chris Boon is absolutely the man. You couldn’t put your faith anywhere safer.
CanoeSniffer said:
Mike here, the owner and peddler of the tatty XJ40 pre-owned (pre-battered) by Gail Hill.
Apologies for making you almost miss the start of race 1
Thanks for the well words everybody - really enjoying the project and yes, FIL was a huge fan of tinkering with things. He really helped me get "the knack" when I was younger.
ENGINE AND GEARBOX ARE BUILT AND READY!
So we now have an engine and gearbox, full mated together. The crank pulley turns the output on the gearbox and everything. Very exciting times for me having never done an engine or gearbox swap before, both in one go is a big moment!
Hopefully this week we will be dropping the engine/gb into the car I am just waiting for delivery of a couple of bits and bobs (managed to rip one of the cats apart trying to remove a duff o2 sensor).
As Mr CovCats said it would, the solid flywheel with the shoulders machined off and 2kg lighter fitted perfectly, along with the clutch kit he supplied. New crank oil seal, new release bearing and master cylinder for the pedal box, along with generally cleaning up and refinishing anything else we see along the way.
ELECTRICAL:
Other events in the last couple of weeks are doing a big chunk of research on the electrics of the car. I can confirm that a 4l ECU will plug and play directly into a 3.2l ECU, as long as the correct injectors are used for that ECU (interestingly, I have been told that 3.2l injectors work on a 4.0 engine, provided the 3.2 ECU is used.)
I have found a bunch of bits I need to fuse/change, like the "park" signal from the old gearbox, and I have removed the rollover sensor for racing as they are not allowed - so that needs to be fused as well to allow the fuel to run. Plenty of other little bits, such as keeping one blower on one side feeding the central vent (with heater and a/c matrices removed) to demist and working out which wiring can get chopped/removed as a result of that.
Auto pedalbox got removed along with associated wiring, which gave me access to the rollover sensor and made it much easier for me to remove the big heater matrix box in the middle of the dashboard.
Not so picture heavy this week, hopefully in the next few weeks we should have an update with new engine/gb in the car along with lots more interior photos once I finally get round to taking them.
So we now have an engine and gearbox, full mated together. The crank pulley turns the output on the gearbox and everything. Very exciting times for me having never done an engine or gearbox swap before, both in one go is a big moment!
Hopefully this week we will be dropping the engine/gb into the car I am just waiting for delivery of a couple of bits and bobs (managed to rip one of the cats apart trying to remove a duff o2 sensor).
As Mr CovCats said it would, the solid flywheel with the shoulders machined off and 2kg lighter fitted perfectly, along with the clutch kit he supplied. New crank oil seal, new release bearing and master cylinder for the pedal box, along with generally cleaning up and refinishing anything else we see along the way.
ELECTRICAL:
Other events in the last couple of weeks are doing a big chunk of research on the electrics of the car. I can confirm that a 4l ECU will plug and play directly into a 3.2l ECU, as long as the correct injectors are used for that ECU (interestingly, I have been told that 3.2l injectors work on a 4.0 engine, provided the 3.2 ECU is used.)
I have found a bunch of bits I need to fuse/change, like the "park" signal from the old gearbox, and I have removed the rollover sensor for racing as they are not allowed - so that needs to be fused as well to allow the fuel to run. Plenty of other little bits, such as keeping one blower on one side feeding the central vent (with heater and a/c matrices removed) to demist and working out which wiring can get chopped/removed as a result of that.
Auto pedalbox got removed along with associated wiring, which gave me access to the rollover sensor and made it much easier for me to remove the big heater matrix box in the middle of the dashboard.
Not so picture heavy this week, hopefully in the next few weeks we should have an update with new engine/gb in the car along with lots more interior photos once I finally get round to taking them.
Look forward to this, my dad's last car was a V8 XJR of the same era. Sadly it went to my step brother and he sold it on at a time when I didn't have the ~£4k available to buy it off him.
As such, massive softspot for these particular XJs, and a manual conversion would be a brilliant thing, looking forward to seeing how it progresses
As such, massive softspot for these particular XJs, and a manual conversion would be a brilliant thing, looking forward to seeing how it progresses
Just a tip, probably most useful to you now as you’re still in build- if you intend to race with the JEC, dive into the regs and work out where they can/can’t be pushed. Do you have Chris Robinson’s contact details? He’ll be able to clear up any grey areas for you. I believe Class A is rather tightly legislated in comparison to the slightly nuttier classes, but even so I’ll bet you’ll find ways to take advantage. The regs haven’t been significantly updated for a while and there are always debates to be had about what is/isn’t practicable, if you catch my drift!
You’re forgiven for me nearly missing race one, I’ve never made a better start so being late to the assembly area is apparently best practice going forwards!
RE; your screen clearing demist vent, I’ve not studied the apertures in my firewall for a while (and long may that continue
) but if you could draw fresh air from your standard cabin air / pollen filter intake and run it through the firewall in factory location with some flexi pipe (and of course an effective seal as it passes the firewall) to your demister outlet I imagine you’d get some heat soak advantage from the engine bay to keep the screen clear. Failing that, a lot of X300 racers have electric front screens which I didn’t even know existed- that will chew into the build budget nicely but I’d consider it a worthy investment. I know we discussed this before, the reason I emphasise it is that it’s something I didn’t consider strongly enough when I started racing, cut to a few months later-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ReWjOZnew
- fairy liquid failing to help, and what the camera sees in that video is a true representation of how bad it was, totally blind and not a very enjoyable experience at all (even before I stacked it!)
Another piece of advice from that weekend, there are a few tyres written into the regs that we are allowed to run other than R888Rs. From memory they’re all pretty naff other than R1Rs, which are rocking horse poo at this point. But £150-£200 should get you a new set of T1Rs, T1Rs etc. I can’t even remember what my set is, they’re all pretty poo- but should you find yourself facing up to a race track that resembles Donington last year, you better pray you’re wearing something other than R888Rs! You can see in that video just how goddamn awful they were, totally overwhelmed and borderline dangerous in those conditions- whether we should have been racing at all when the Old Hairpin was totally underwater is a debate for a different day.
Tattiest old set of Jag wheels you can find, a new or slightly used set of one of those few tyre types loopholed into the regs, and if the weekend is set to be apocalyptic you can throw them in the car / tow vehicle to have just in case. When it gets wet and you’re on the right tyres, is when you start giving the fast boys a scare! I scooped a 2nd and had a good go at the Swallows boys for the overall win at Thruxton last year when it got damp. A standard or near standard AJ16 puts you (and me!) about 150hp down on the average Class D runner, but add some drizzle to the mix and you can redden a few faces
You’re forgiven for me nearly missing race one, I’ve never made a better start so being late to the assembly area is apparently best practice going forwards!
RE; your screen clearing demist vent, I’ve not studied the apertures in my firewall for a while (and long may that continue
) but if you could draw fresh air from your standard cabin air / pollen filter intake and run it through the firewall in factory location with some flexi pipe (and of course an effective seal as it passes the firewall) to your demister outlet I imagine you’d get some heat soak advantage from the engine bay to keep the screen clear. Failing that, a lot of X300 racers have electric front screens which I didn’t even know existed- that will chew into the build budget nicely but I’d consider it a worthy investment. I know we discussed this before, the reason I emphasise it is that it’s something I didn’t consider strongly enough when I started racing, cut to a few months later-https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ReWjOZnew
- fairy liquid failing to help, and what the camera sees in that video is a true representation of how bad it was, totally blind and not a very enjoyable experience at all (even before I stacked it!)
Another piece of advice from that weekend, there are a few tyres written into the regs that we are allowed to run other than R888Rs. From memory they’re all pretty naff other than R1Rs, which are rocking horse poo at this point. But £150-£200 should get you a new set of T1Rs, T1Rs etc. I can’t even remember what my set is, they’re all pretty poo- but should you find yourself facing up to a race track that resembles Donington last year, you better pray you’re wearing something other than R888Rs! You can see in that video just how goddamn awful they were, totally overwhelmed and borderline dangerous in those conditions- whether we should have been racing at all when the Old Hairpin was totally underwater is a debate for a different day.
Tattiest old set of Jag wheels you can find, a new or slightly used set of one of those few tyre types loopholed into the regs, and if the weekend is set to be apocalyptic you can throw them in the car / tow vehicle to have just in case. When it gets wet and you’re on the right tyres, is when you start giving the fast boys a scare! I scooped a 2nd and had a good go at the Swallows boys for the overall win at Thruxton last year when it got damp. A standard or near standard AJ16 puts you (and me!) about 150hp down on the average Class D runner, but add some drizzle to the mix and you can redden a few faces
CanoeSniffer said:
Just a tip,
Another piece of advice
Wow Mike, thank you for all the info - very kind of you to take the time. Another piece of advice
I have indeed got the contact details of Chris thank you, I have sent a few emails back and forth with some hilariously specific questions. I am trying to push the regs as much as I can without falling out of Class A just as you say, a lot of "reading in between the lines". I am actually really enjoying building to the tight regulation as it means I don't have to worry about a lot of stuff - like trying to find cheeky power gains etc. A lot of it is standard Jag parts fit and forget. A good note for race car building in the future for sure, tighter regs does mean less headaches.
Good idea on the demisting, something along those lines is the plan as I wish to pull in air from outside to also keep me cooler on the hot days.
I have been looking at BMW fitment Team Dynamics wheels - trying to shave off the kilograms. I thought I saw some BMW fit wheels on some of the other Jags in the paddock at Donny? Were you on BMW wheels as yours looked very not Jag? I see what you mean about keeping the old wheels behind for wets perhaps - great idea and yes I will be planning on having a set of "wets" inside the regs of course.
I have also heard about the hens teeth heated windscreens, I am keeping an eye out - if not unbelievably expensive I may get one.
My biggest goal of the whole lot is to try and get my X300 down to the Class A min weight at 1500kg including driver. Meaning both myself and the car will go on a diet! I do believe it is possible, within the regs of Class A, with some serious overthinking. It is going to take a long time to do all of this but I am still enjoying the build and finding all of the little micro gains I can. Basically the car would ideally be about 1400kg with no fuel so I can put myself + a tank of fuel in. That may be a bit of stretch but 1500 is definitely achievable. Since I can't make power gains, I have to find them elsewhere!
Out of interest Mike, do you know the weight of your car in race trim? Or driver + car if you don't mind, I doubt we are far apart in weight.
I can imagine that having quite prescriptive regs would help when building with few big decisions to work through. However if you’re anything like me you’ll soon get itchy feet and start wondering how to extract more
Mine has Wolfrace wheels, the lightest thing I could find in 5x120.65 imperial fitment as I’d read (and believed) a load of cobblers online about the small discrepancy to the 5x120 BMW wheels causing problems. When I saw the grid first hand and realised everyone was using BMW wheels, I felt a right melon. Team Dynamics is the way to go, if you can’t get hold of a set give me a shout as I know of someone selling some 17x8s already wrapped in R888Rs!
It’s all guesstimation regarding weight, but the general consensus among those in the know is that my car is in the region of 1400kgs- it’s still all steel panels but with fibreglass bumpers and plastic side windows and rear screen. Apart from the windows I don’t think there’s any significant weight saving on my car that you can’t also do to yours, so 1500kgs with driver should be do-able for you. Remember you needn’t ever be carrying much more than 25-odd litres of fuel, depending how tight your safety margin is! They do get rather thirsty
Mine has Wolfrace wheels, the lightest thing I could find in 5x120.65 imperial fitment as I’d read (and believed) a load of cobblers online about the small discrepancy to the 5x120 BMW wheels causing problems. When I saw the grid first hand and realised everyone was using BMW wheels, I felt a right melon. Team Dynamics is the way to go, if you can’t get hold of a set give me a shout as I know of someone selling some 17x8s already wrapped in R888Rs!
It’s all guesstimation regarding weight, but the general consensus among those in the know is that my car is in the region of 1400kgs- it’s still all steel panels but with fibreglass bumpers and plastic side windows and rear screen. Apart from the windows I don’t think there’s any significant weight saving on my car that you can’t also do to yours, so 1500kgs with driver should be do-able for you. Remember you needn’t ever be carrying much more than 25-odd litres of fuel, depending how tight your safety margin is! They do get rather thirsty
Well that went better than expected...
So the engine and gearbox are in! They honestly went in a treat, other than the crane (despite being a 2 ton crane) cocking a wheel all the time so my great friend acted as counterweight all morning (plied with tea, of course).
We dropped the car to the floor on a jack to get the sump over the crash bar/rad support, and then did a mix of raising the car and lowering the crane until everything was roughly in the right place. We constantly tried to tear the heat shielding off with the back of the engine, which is probably a good thing as it needs to come off anyway! The manual gearbox slid beautifully onto the prop without a fuss, and with a bit of persuasion using prybars (2x4 wood) the engine sat straight on the mounts.
Actual time on the crane must have been less than an hour, including a tea break. Lovely car to work on given the size of the engine bay.
Once lined up, we put the jack under the rear of the gearbox and raised it so the mount would fit and tightened that up. So now the engine is sat on the rear mount and the two front engine mounts - voila!
After that we started putting the cats back in and the exhaust headers. Cats are a bit tricky as they are aftermarket so one of the lambda sensor holes is facing the wrong direction meaning it wont fit (fouls on the engine block). Currently mulling over my options with what to do about that.
Some of you might wonder why I am putting cats back on the car, it is because I am planning on making this race car "Sam Mckee style Roadsports" and having it road legal while racing. Since it will be Class A, it is so close to road spec anyway I felt why not keep it road legal rather than go through all of the expense of trailer + towing car at the beginning. I will take that plunge if the car ever gets serious enough to warrant taking off the road. Pic of Sam's car as i'm honestly a massive fan of what he's done and I am looking to follow a similar route into club motorsport.
Next steps for me are simple, start reattaching all of the stuff we took off! We will work from the bottom of the engine up and put the big things on last (nothing worse than having an alternator in the way of you attaching a hose). If anyone has any prior experience of pain and suffering putting things back on these engines let me know
I am also studying the wiring diagrams for the X300 at the moment to work out which wires to fuse and which wires can be binned. I was delighted to find out that since I have a 3.2L original car, it did not have a big multi-pin transmission module! So a lot less work firing signals throughout the car there.
Current electrical problems solved (in theory):
Auto gearbox "park" signal - missile switch on dash to start engine and then "off" position all the time
Horn relocation - push to make switch on dash
Rollover switch removal - fuse in "good" position permanently.
Electrical problems still to sort:
Blower motor relay to a single on/off switch so I can demist without using silly dials and settings
Drivers and passengers window switches relocation to centre of car, removal of rears
Wiring up central locking so it doesn't get upset when it gets removed
Will need to address airbag and gearbox dash lights (more than likely) as they won't be happy that their components have been removed.
So the engine and gearbox are in! They honestly went in a treat, other than the crane (despite being a 2 ton crane) cocking a wheel all the time so my great friend acted as counterweight all morning (plied with tea, of course).
We dropped the car to the floor on a jack to get the sump over the crash bar/rad support, and then did a mix of raising the car and lowering the crane until everything was roughly in the right place. We constantly tried to tear the heat shielding off with the back of the engine, which is probably a good thing as it needs to come off anyway! The manual gearbox slid beautifully onto the prop without a fuss, and with a bit of persuasion using prybars (2x4 wood) the engine sat straight on the mounts.
Actual time on the crane must have been less than an hour, including a tea break. Lovely car to work on given the size of the engine bay.
Once lined up, we put the jack under the rear of the gearbox and raised it so the mount would fit and tightened that up. So now the engine is sat on the rear mount and the two front engine mounts - voila!
After that we started putting the cats back in and the exhaust headers. Cats are a bit tricky as they are aftermarket so one of the lambda sensor holes is facing the wrong direction meaning it wont fit (fouls on the engine block). Currently mulling over my options with what to do about that.
Some of you might wonder why I am putting cats back on the car, it is because I am planning on making this race car "Sam Mckee style Roadsports" and having it road legal while racing. Since it will be Class A, it is so close to road spec anyway I felt why not keep it road legal rather than go through all of the expense of trailer + towing car at the beginning. I will take that plunge if the car ever gets serious enough to warrant taking off the road. Pic of Sam's car as i'm honestly a massive fan of what he's done and I am looking to follow a similar route into club motorsport.
Next steps for me are simple, start reattaching all of the stuff we took off! We will work from the bottom of the engine up and put the big things on last (nothing worse than having an alternator in the way of you attaching a hose). If anyone has any prior experience of pain and suffering putting things back on these engines let me know
I am also studying the wiring diagrams for the X300 at the moment to work out which wires to fuse and which wires can be binned. I was delighted to find out that since I have a 3.2L original car, it did not have a big multi-pin transmission module! So a lot less work firing signals throughout the car there.
Current electrical problems solved (in theory):
Auto gearbox "park" signal - missile switch on dash to start engine and then "off" position all the time
Horn relocation - push to make switch on dash
Rollover switch removal - fuse in "good" position permanently.
Electrical problems still to sort:
Blower motor relay to a single on/off switch so I can demist without using silly dials and settings
Drivers and passengers window switches relocation to centre of car, removal of rears
Wiring up central locking so it doesn't get upset when it gets removed
Will need to address airbag and gearbox dash lights (more than likely) as they won't be happy that their components have been removed.
Did someone say crossover thread?
Hi Mike
Fantastic work, guys. I'm really enjoying seeing this develop, and it's a privilege to be involved from the very beginning. You know I'm all about making motorsport as accessible as possible, so to think I've inspired another home-grown, road-driven racing car is wonderful.
I thought the JEC drivers and organisers would be happy to come forward with information and experiences to help you along the way, and in this thread alone it's plain that the enthusiasm to get another car competing is even stronger than I'd hoped! It's a shining example of how club racing should feel.
Keep it up, guys. Not least because I really, really want a go
Photo courtesy of Jack, pictured above in his most imaginative driving position yet.
Hi Mike
Fantastic work, guys. I'm really enjoying seeing this develop, and it's a privilege to be involved from the very beginning. You know I'm all about making motorsport as accessible as possible, so to think I've inspired another home-grown, road-driven racing car is wonderful.
I thought the JEC drivers and organisers would be happy to come forward with information and experiences to help you along the way, and in this thread alone it's plain that the enthusiasm to get another car competing is even stronger than I'd hoped! It's a shining example of how club racing should feel.
Keep it up, guys. Not least because I really, really want a go
Photo courtesy of Jack, pictured above in his most imaginative driving position yet.
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