Jag XJS Info?

My Uncle once had a V12 XJS for a few weeks. It was clean and supposedly well sorted, but he sold it after the electrics caught fire. Not quite sure what he did to prompt the inferno, probably tried to drive it or something.

I would ditch the intricate fuel injection system for 6 weber carbs with velocity stacks through the hood. As scary as that may sound, once you get a batch of Webers set up, you hardly have to touch them again. (Says he who's read a few articles on V12 Ferraris and fiddled with the idle speed/mixture on a single 32/36.) The hardest part would be finding a manual gear box.

in the old TV show "The New Avengers" John Steed had a BRG/biscuit XJS with flares like that. I've always wanted one.

That Toyota swap sounds like a good idea. Wonder what other straight six/manual goodness could be used...? BMW?

I'd look into putting one of the (relatively) new GM I6's in.... If a SBC fits.... ;)

That Avengers car was sweet lookin'. IIRC, there was a very similar car used in the movie 'Arthur'.

V12 manual swaps aren't that hard. Conversion Components out of New Zealand has a bellhousing to mate a Toyota Supra 5 speed with an I-6 or V-12 Jag. The Supra box is good for around 300HP. IIRC, John's Cars has a pedal cluster available and the rest of the stuff is pretty simple.

Just to show that not all Jaguar owners have discerning taste:

Ewww.

Lose the hood scoop and the box side vents and it wouldn't be too bad.

is that the bumper from an M5 on that Jag?

Travis_K wrote: The autobody teacher ... installed it, and it blew up ...

There's a reason I don't paint, and there's a reason body guys shouldn't be installing engines.

thatsnowinnebago wrote: is that the bumper from an M5 on that Jag?

It most certainly is. I knew it looked familiar.

Blech.

fastEddie wrote: Lose the hood scoop and the box side vents and it wouldn't be too bad.

I thought the exact same thing.

Lose the scoop, side snorkels, green side inserts and the garish decals. Blend the rocker moldings better (too square) and put the front trim back chrome. Get rid of the 'mouth' under the front bumper. Then I'd be happy.

^ Doesn't that make it a normal XJS with fender flares?

Boy are you guys all wrong. That thing is awesome! Vents, monster scoop, squared off mouldings and everything. Love it. I'd paint it a deep gloss black and have the side decals in silver though.

J

ACarlson wrote: Pictures? I gots pictures... Hotness:

I'm liking this one...

This thread fills my head with crazy ideas. I've wanted an XJS since I was 15 years old and have never owned one yet. There is something awesome and scary about a v12 car you can find for two grand and drive home (theoretically) under its own power.

Finally, another nutcase! (Not that there's any shortage around here...)

Got any good links to share?

njansenv wrote: I'd look into putting one of the (relatively) new GM I6's in.... If a SBC fits.... ;)

The 4.2L Atlas Inline 6 is a beast of a motor. Only problem with these is being able to mate it with a manual tranny. Really no bellhousings that will work with that engine and any GM tranny.

A lot of guys are throwing these 4.2s in there 57 Chevy's and so on and boosting the crap out of them. Consider an American version of having 2 Jay-Z from Toyota in your vehicle.

I'd love to have an XJS, but what an f'ing nightmare those cars are. LS1 swap ASAP if I do ever get juan.

I used to see a red w/ beige XJS convertible around my old house. It was driven by a pretty well-preserved middle aged woman.

I would love to have that car, but probably not the maintenance bills.

billy3esq wrote: ^ Doesn't that make it a normal XJS with fender flares?

Yup. It's hard to improve upon Jag's original styling.

My dad had 3 of them: a red and biscuit '85 coupe, a red and biscuit '89 'vert (my favorite) and a '94 (IIRC) 'vert. That last one had the 6 banger rather than the V12 and IMHO wasn't a real good drivers' car. It also had the 'corporate' taillights that ruined the rear of the car. He now has an XK8 Portfolio. Beautiful car!

The '85 had driveability issues (hesitation) but never left him sitting. The '89 had the wiring harness go up in smoke, turned out Jaguar ran the harness under the battery box with predictable results. That was the only problem that car ever had. The '94 wasn't around long enough to give problems, he just didn't really like that car. The XK8 has been completely trouble free. For $99K it damn well better be trouble free. It has the supercharged V8 and it runs like a raped ape. If you turn off the traction control, you better hang on!

And no, they are NOT cheap to keep up.

I've found this book to be very interesting. http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/ Experience in a book by Kirby Palm.

Didn't Jaguar use GM TH350 transmissions for a while? Late 70's, early 80's? What bellhousings were those? Surely one of those would lend itself to a manual swap. And I know that some Jags actually did come with a manual transmission, but not many.

My friend had a XK1?0 in the 60's with an actual Lister Jag motor. He backed off it on the LA freeway in tripple digits (140? I forget) when the front end started lifting. That motor alone today would be priceless. Ahh, the things we used to have.

Dr. Hess wrote: Didn't Jaguar use GM TH350 transmissions for a while?

Turbo 400s in the '80s? Maybe? I'm not up on my General trannies.

Dr. Hess wrote: My friend had a XK1?0 in the 60's with an actual Lister Jag motor.

"Lister Jag:" ever since I was a kid, those words have had connotations of absolute coolness. Now they make me happy in my pants.

Jag used TH350's and 400's, IIRC. There was also a Borg Warner for a while. The E type 2+2 was, IIRC, the first 'sports' Jag to come with a slushbox.

XJS's came with manuals overseas. A long time back, I saw an article about a streetable XJS done by some German tuning group which was bored and stroked to around 7 liters and used a 6 speed Getrag box. That one was really cool looking; understated flares and all black, no chrome anywhere.

Gearhead_42 wrote: 99% of the "difficulties" with Jags is the electronics. Electricity scares people for some reason

I had to post it.. Really I did.

My dad owned this mighty Xj since 88 now its mine lost the red stripe nasty haha wicked motors http://s609.photobucket.com/albums/tt174/rsmad69/