Jag XJS Info?

Any good sources of info/parts/mods for the Jag XJS? Man are those things cheap... I have visions of a stripped, straight-piped, lowered, wide wheeled, flared-fendered, blacked out street terror.

You'd better include a SBC in your fantasy.

There's a place in the DFW area (I think) that sells kits to put an SBC in one. I don't have a link, but I've seen it several times without even looking all that hard for it.

billy3esq wrote: There's a place in the DFW area (I think) that sells kits to put an SBC in one. I don't have a link, but I've seen it several times without even looking all that hard for it.

http://www.johnscars.com/

Aww, c'mon, I need V12 goodness. Is there a problem with the engines, or just the rats' nest of bad British electronics?

Don't let these V12 haters get to ya!

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

Keep it V12, and swap a manual tranny in behind it. THATS what you do with a Jag.

Gearhead_42 wrote: Electricity scares people for some reason

Because you can't see it and it can kill you.

I'm an EE by training, so electricity doesn't scare me, but I know lots of people who are scared of a V12 Jaguar.

That said, I'm sort of a purist and would rather keep the Jag engine, although personally, I'm more of a straight six Jag person.

O/T: I saw a manual XJS straight six on ebay (only a single-digit number of these were imported, IIRC) a year or so ago that I nearly bought. Some days I wish I had.

First remember everything bad you've ever heard about an English car (plumbing leaks, an electrical system primarily held together by good wishes, etc.) then look closely at:

and think about a cooling hose that runs through the block, then realize that the above V12 is actually the RELIABLE part of an XJS.

Hess, did you photochop that?

I don't see any oil leaks....

Seriously, I like the XJS but it is one of those cars I can afford to buy, but not own.

bludroptop wrote: Hess, did you photochop that? I don't see any oil leaks.... Seriously, I like the XJS but it is one of those cars I can afford to buy, but not own.

Looks like a genuine photo to me, after all the hood is up and it's not running....

Dr. Hess wrote: First remember everything bad you've ever heard about an English car (plumbing leaks, an electrical system primarily held together by good wishes, etc.) then look closely at: and think about a cooling hose that runs through the block, then realize that the above V12 is actually the RELIABLE part of an XJS.

if you had the time and the big brass ones; it would be interesting to see how many of those hoses and lines you can remove before the engine will not work any more. just take it down to bare minimum to clean it up.

My dad had an '85 XJS, he got a quote of something like $950 to do the 30K service, this would have been around 1987. He said 'Hell, no', went and bought all the stuff the owners' manual said it needed: spark plugs, cap, rotor, etc. and we set aside a Saturday.

We discovered there were, IIRC, six plugs that could not be removed without removing the intake. It went back to the Jag place Monday morning.

Hess, I like the bellows-like apparatus in the middle. It's the beast's single evil lung, churning out acid and hate tinged air for the owner to inhale. I imagine that it smells like regret. And pain. And long-forgotten, deeply buried traumatic memories.

I've seen these things at our car show (COMING UP SEPTEMBER 13), and I always just shake my head and think of how easy this is by comparison:

That bellows doohickey is the cruise servo, IIRC.

Anybody else notice how much the XJS engine bay resembles the Giger 'Alien'?

Flat out HOT!

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/409/

EDIT - sorry for the huge pic, but it's worth it!

I think the engine bay pic says it all. I see approximately 3,529 opportunities to spill my blood on that motor - and that's just what I can see from the top.

SBC swap is very appealing...

Wow A friend of mind has driven one of those from time to time (long story). It is not his but he had to change the oil once and told be that the air filters, as in two, were about 80 bucks from Auto zone.

How much of that could you get rid of if you went to carburetors?

I have an XJ6 rear end in my garage, and I have fantasies of building a hot-rod using the rear end and a V-12. It would look like a '34 Ford Pickup and handle like a Locost

^ and leak oil like a trio of Spitfires.

The Jag to lower and flare isn't the XJS IMHO, its the XJ6 coupe, in its earlier form. Maybe not so much to flare, but definitely to lower, add an SBC, you know the drill. That is one sharp looking machine. I'll try to link a photo.

http://www.jagweb.com/vicarage/lib_xjc_1.jpg

Pictures? I gots pictures...

Hotness:

Lights and flares from this angle look like a midyear 'Vette:

And of course:

Can't forget:

Take the Tullius S-Type, paint it all black, 86 the bumpers like the first and second cars, add the lights from the second, and that's about what I'm envisioning. With sidepipes. Must have sidepipes. Probably six-into-six...

Edit: Heh, just realized that the second car probably is the Tullius car, in an early state of development.

IMO the best thing that could be done with one of these is a Toyota I-6 mated to the six speed. This will keep an XJ6 an XJ6.

The autobody teacher at the college I used to go to had an XJ6, he knew it was really unreliable but he liked driving it. It never ran in the 3 years I went there well enough to drive it. He had the engine rebuilt, installed it, and it blew up again before he even got it to run well enough to move under its own power. id say run far away. lol

mattmacklind wrote: The Jag to lower and flare isn't the XJS IMHO, its the XJ6 coupe, in its earlier form. Maybe not so much to flare, but definitely to lower, add an SBC, you know the drill. That is one sharp looking machine. I'll try to link a photo. http://www.jagweb.com/vicarage/lib_xjc_1.jpg