1984 XJ6.0 Turbo

Unfortunately I didn’t have much interest locally in a motor with no history and questionable running condition so I pulled it apart and scrapped it. No pics as it was a messy affair.

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Working on getting the drivetrain positioned in the last week or so.

Made up some pedestals out of 1-1/4 square tubing and round DOM. Drilled the square tubing, pressed in the DOM, then welded it up for good measure. These will get bolted to the SBC mounts and the adapter plates.

The first test fit with the F-Body oil pan pushed the engine pretty far back and still landed the stands a couple inches behind the subframe pads, so the engine needed to come forward a bit. Since the oil pan didn’t allow for that, and I didn’t want to cut up the oil pan, it was time for a different pan.

Stock F-Body

302-1

The 302-1 bought me a ton of room. I got it mocked up and slid everything in for a test fit.

I got the scrap block and trans in and decided to dig out a couple scrap cylinder heads just to make sure I had adequate space for manifolds. Of course I could only find one cylinder head so I decided to just install the actual motor with the trans case. It will have to come out again to get the actual trans bolted up and for some more engine bay clean up, but we are at least getting close to having mounts done.

Finally, I bolted up my M-Parallels which I’ve run on a number of cars. They’re a square 18x9.5 wheel with a 255/35 tire. I am aware of minute bolt pattern difference between BMW and GM and am not expecting any issues based on first hand experience of others who have run these exact wheels on Chevy bolt patterns. Since the wheels use a 60 cone seat and the stock Kent wheels use a flat mag seat, I purchased new lug nuts witih a 1/2-20 thread and 60 degree seat, intended for a Mercury, to run my BMW wheels on a Jaguar with a Chevy bolt pattern.

Initial impressions are that the offsets and widths work great, but the setup will need some work to fit just right. Luckily I won’t need any spacers but I will definitely need to roll the rear fenders as the tires are almost tucked at a stock ride height. The front will wait until the entire drivetrain is installed to ensure the springs are fully laden, but even then I’m assuming I’ll have to lower the front to fill the giant wheel gap.

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When I did engine swaps, back in the day , I always had a rule of thumb that the engine had to come in and out at least 10 times before it went in for the last time. When I did the hot rod, that’s about how many times the Jaguar went in and out!

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those wheels look good on there! going to have to look for a set.
i have heard of using a wobble lugnut? are those not needed?
same oil pan i used as well.
seems to me the real value of the original engine is just the head. IIRC i sold mine to a guy in Canada for a fair price.
King springs in Australia makes jag/350 chevy swap springs. i used their -30mm but they are available in stock height, but allow for the lighter weight chebby motor. i think the shipping was as much as the springs… rides great though

Yeay!

I took my Jaguar out for a spin, yesterday. I had planned the day before. alas, non use meant a dead battery. but, a night on the smart charger and it went to 100%!! fired almost immediately. Returned bum printer for a refund. Expanded the run. got a burger and a taco. Long way home with a brief opportuity to stretch its legs. The LT1 power is just right. .

I gave away a perfectly sound BW66, along with the engine with 0 compression in all holes. N buyers!!
Sold a lot f the ancillary stuff. distributor, radiator, alternator, etc. Reasonable orices to fellow jag guys.
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I’m hoping the next time it goes in is the last! If it needs to move a little bit I have some adjustability in the LS plates.

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Jay, I could probably use a wobble nut but others have run these wheels on a Chevy bolt pattern behind some serious power with no issues, so I’m going to give it a try as is.

I made the mistake of bolting on the oil pan before drilling and tapping for my turbo oil return, so it has to come back off. Not a huge deal.

I was thinking about cutting a coil or two off the springs once the car is up and running to lower the front end - has worked well for me in the past on other vehicles. Not the most elegant solution, but very effective. Another option is to measure the wire diameter, overall length, and ID/OD to find a factory replacement spring from another application that will work. I had a 2009 Police Interceptor with oddball rear springs that had a large diameter in the middle, but narrowed to pigtail ends so you couldn’t cut them; I ended up looking through the Moog catalog and found that springs from a late model Jeep Cherokee were very similiar dimensionally but about 2" shorter.

Carl, sounds like your car is running just right - got to love when the combination is set up well and just works.

I ended up scrapping a lot of the stock drivetrain, there was just no interest locally. I do have some odds and ends like the power steering pump, fuel injection harness, air flow meter, etc that I will keep in storage in hopes that someone needs them.

you could go full redneck and grab a torch to heat the springs till they sag at the height you want! :wink:

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Actually, done correctly, that works well!

done correctly are the key words there… :wink:

It’s actually not that difficult: did it on a few race cars–stock-based–and you get the added benefit of a slightly-stiffer spring.

Gasp, the horror…I would never do such a sacrilegious thing to this old thing.

I would do anything for LOW, but I won’t do THAT…

Anyhow, I’m really diving into removing the stock EFI harness in the '84. I’ve torn out most of the unneeded components in the engine bay but still have the mess of wiring poking out of the hole in the passenger bulkhead under the battery tray. I am thinking that instead of just cutting and heat shrinking all the terminations, it’s better to just remove the whole damn thing.

I am assuming I will need to remove some panels in the passenger footwell, as well as remove the passenger front seat and carpet to remove the harness - is this correct?

Will removing the harness all the way back to the ECU in the trunk affect the functionality of anything else? I read that the harness is largely standalone, which is great.

When I did mine. I found on.y oe wiire in that harness that I needed. fuel pump. I just cut the others and taped the ends, just in case. I used the holein the fire wall for needed wires. VSS for example.

Carl

Lots of recent progress, not a ton of pictures since I am just hammering stuff out before my son is born.

Engine and trans mounts are done, some minor hammering needed in the tunnel for the 80E. I also had Fleet Pride shorten my steel driveshaft and installed it as well as changed the oil in the diff.

I did find a set of 80’s Trans Am mesh wheels for sale locally and thought they might look great on this car - they did not disappoint. So between test fitting the M Parallels and the TA wheels, I’ve definitely found that I need to lower the front and raise the rear. This car looks GOOD slammed though.

In reality the rear might come up a bit with some new shocks as the current ones are blown and probably original, but I may need to install some spring spacers, and for sure will need to roll the fenders out back. The front can be lowered by spacing out the spring pan and by cutting the spring.

General pics:

Modified truck accessory drive. I didn’t want to pony up for the billet parts and just needed the alternator to clear the hood, so I cut a bunch of stuff off the top of the truck bracket and rotated the alternator down using the other mounting ear. It uses a 1" longer belt than stock, I could have reused the stock belt but it would have required a lot more cutting to pull the alternator down more and I didn’t want to weaken the bracket any further.

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and the prerequisite corvette engine!
nice shop!
the alt still looks a bit high, could be the angle.
keep up the work!

We’ll find out when the hood goes on.

And the Corvette covers are legit, just so nobody thinks I’m posing…those came off my 2000 C5 Fixed Roof Coupe that I swapped an L92/LS3 into (aluminum 6.2).

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Nice work Norbert, I like the Trans Am wheels.
The rear stance is correct, the problem is that you have too much offset.
But you definitely need to lower the front, and quite a lot I think, no spacers between the pan and control arms will be enough.
FYI, according to the Jaguar manual a 3.18mm packing ring at the front spring will alter the height by about 7.9mm, in reality not 0.1mm precise but quite close. Do the math.

PS.
Are you sure the Alt will clear the hood? Doesn’t look like it in the photos, but photos can be deceptive.

Ah, I disagree, I think the offset is just right - I love the look of a filled out wheel well, not a sunken in wheel. Rolling the fender lips should give me plenty of clearance.

No, the wheels look very nice indeed, I don’t like the sunken wheels much either.
If you don’t mind rolling the lips and you get enough clearance I think it looks great.

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