Work on the XJS has progressed, albiet slowly. I've bought another car for daily transportation that needed serious suspension and mechanical work to make it useable, but at least I now have a vehicle that'll tow large trailers easily.
I've been spending time on the XJS the last few months aligning the engine exactly where it needs to be in the car. This takes some time if done properly to reduce drivetrain vibrations to a minimum and to ensure a long, trouble free life from parts such as universal joints and differential and transmission input/output bearings and seals.
Setting up the body took a while, ensuring it was level front to rear and side to side:
Centreline measured out on floor with plumb bobs etc:
The sump on the engine also had to be swapped out for a rear sump out of an earlier model car. I also modified it to use the later model baffles and windage trays, which added a full day's work to the job, but is well worth it considering it is going into a GT car:
It took a fair while getting the engine in the right spot as the XJS has the large reinforcing buttresses running down the inner guards from the firewall. In a Jaguar sedan, these don't exist, so clearance for exhaust manifolds and cylinder heads is much greater. There were also clearance issues in areas I didn't even think would be an issue. The A/C compressor was hitting the front of the engine mount on the crossmember on driver's side and the bellhousing on the transmission has two small wings cast in that need to go. Otherwise, it's pretty good all round now, with a good, big finger's worth of clearance everywhere it's tight.
Our engineering guidelines for modified vehicles require a minimum of 10mm clearance from engine to body, so a big finger gives more than enough clearance, and is easy to measure!
In the end, it all fit pretty well. Bonnet clearance is going to be close, but I tink it'll fit. If not, I don't have a problem welding in a nice teardrop shape bump. Very retro and will suit the styling of the car.
The cast iron manifolds I bought a while back have no chance of working, but I have found a source for some shorty headers used to fit these engines into Toyota Landcruisers. They will fit exactly as I need them for the XJS by the looks of it and being mild steel, if they need tweaking, it will be easy enough to bend or cut them slightly.
I have made a transmission crossmember to fit the new drivetrain. I stepped it down in the hopes of having enough clearance for dual exhausts. We'll see how (and if) that works out!:
The front crossmember has the new mounts tacked into place in the car. I'll slide the crossmember out and weld them up properly very soon, then I'll paint both crossmembers with some super tough epoxy paint I have on order.
Before I put the engine in, I spent some time unravelling the engine harness. Teasing the wires out, removing the power feed wires that ran across the engine to the other side of the donor car engine bay and labelling all the wires as to where they go and what they do etc.
As Jaguar thoughtfully put a big bus wire on the firewall, I can easily shorten these power and ground feed cables and mount a nice relay/fuse block up near the washer bottle out of the way. Of course, we all know Jaguar did this only because it was easier to build the car so it could be easily made as a RHD or LHD car on the production line, but it makes life easier for us!
So the next few steps are getting the crossmembers welded up and painted, then back into the car. Once the front crossmember is in the car, the front suspension will be reconditioned and reassembled. I have the balljoints on order and all the bushes already here, ready to go. All the front suspension will need after that is caliper rebuilds and new front rotors. That will all happen fairly quickly once it starts.
I've been spending time on the XJS the last few months aligning the engine exactly where it needs to be in the car. This takes some time if done properly to reduce drivetrain vibrations to a minimum and to ensure a long, trouble free life from parts such as universal joints and differential and transmission input/output bearings and seals.
Setting up the body took a while, ensuring it was level front to rear and side to side:
Centreline measured out on floor with plumb bobs etc:
The sump on the engine also had to be swapped out for a rear sump out of an earlier model car. I also modified it to use the later model baffles and windage trays, which added a full day's work to the job, but is well worth it considering it is going into a GT car:
It took a fair while getting the engine in the right spot as the XJS has the large reinforcing buttresses running down the inner guards from the firewall. In a Jaguar sedan, these don't exist, so clearance for exhaust manifolds and cylinder heads is much greater. There were also clearance issues in areas I didn't even think would be an issue. The A/C compressor was hitting the front of the engine mount on the crossmember on driver's side and the bellhousing on the transmission has two small wings cast in that need to go. Otherwise, it's pretty good all round now, with a good, big finger's worth of clearance everywhere it's tight.
Our engineering guidelines for modified vehicles require a minimum of 10mm clearance from engine to body, so a big finger gives more than enough clearance, and is easy to measure!
The cast iron manifolds I bought a while back have no chance of working, but I have found a source for some shorty headers used to fit these engines into Toyota Landcruisers. They will fit exactly as I need them for the XJS by the looks of it and being mild steel, if they need tweaking, it will be easy enough to bend or cut them slightly.
I have made a transmission crossmember to fit the new drivetrain. I stepped it down in the hopes of having enough clearance for dual exhausts. We'll see how (and if) that works out!:
Before I put the engine in, I spent some time unravelling the engine harness. Teasing the wires out, removing the power feed wires that ran across the engine to the other side of the donor car engine bay and labelling all the wires as to where they go and what they do etc.
As Jaguar thoughtfully put a big bus wire on the firewall, I can easily shorten these power and ground feed cables and mount a nice relay/fuse block up near the washer bottle out of the way. Of course, we all know Jaguar did this only because it was easier to build the car so it could be easily made as a RHD or LHD car on the production line, but it makes life easier for us!
So the next few steps are getting the crossmembers welded up and painted, then back into the car. Once the front crossmember is in the car, the front suspension will be reconditioned and reassembled. I have the balljoints on order and all the bushes already here, ready to go. All the front suspension will need after that is caliper rebuilds and new front rotors. That will all happen fairly quickly once it starts.
