350 Conversion

Sorry to hear that you got taken... that's why a comprehensive pre-purchase inspection by a Jag mechanic is good insurance, especially when it's obvious the car has issues.

Did you subsequently take the car to a mechanic specializing in Jaguars? If so, and the mechanic thinks you'd be better off doing a V8 replacement, I doubt you could get much for the old engine. My guess is that the mechanic you took the car to is NOT experienced with Jaguars, and he'd just be a lot more comfortable dealing with a Chevy 350.

Hopefully someone can answer the question about the cost of a swap... undoubtedly it would take at least 2 and perhaps 3 or 4 days labor; the engine itself could be as inexpensive as a $500 used engine at a junkyard, or around $3500 for a new mild-performance crate engine (which may still need an intake, carb, alternator, exhaust headers, and air cleaner, among other things), and stuff like the fuel system, a/c hoses, cruise control, and power steering hoses (among others) may present some more issues to be resolved... try doing some research at these sites:

Good luck.

Perhaps it is only a couple hundred; go to a specialist.

And since you live in California you would also have to get re-certified; an expense on top of the conversion.

B.D.

David, If the mechanic says that the replacement of a seal is a couple of hundred bucks, unless you need specialized equipment to get at the seal, you are probably looking at $25-$50 to do the seal yourself.

That being said, let me climb on to my soapbox a moment.

If you bought a 1982 Jaguar and you do not plan to do the work yourself -- sell it. Period -- end of the discussion. Even if you put in a conversion engine, silly little things like wheel bearings are going to cost you a fortune to repair using a mechanic. It is a 23 year old car after all and things WILL need to be continually repaired. If you give the car to some one at this point you will come out financially ahead of where you will be in two years having a mechanic do your work. This would be true of ANY 23 year old car -- but especially true of Jags. You say Jag to most mechanics and you can see the fear in their eyes and the drawer of the cash register start to open!!! The best example I can give is my own. I bought my '88 XJ6 and did about $1000 worth of work in brakes, bearings, bulbs etc. I gave the list of what I had done to my local Jag dealer to quote and it came back just shy of $7500. I have never understood why, unless a Jaguar XK engine is completely blown, some one would want to replace it with a conversion engine. In my own case, I would even replace a blown engine with another XK engine. The XK engine went into production in the 1940s and remained as the premier engine in the Jaguar line until it was replaced by the AJ6 engine in 1988. It was race tested and time tested. It has won a NUMBER of awards and in

1985 was named as one of the all time best engines ever designed and built by Car and Driver magazine. This is an engine that is SO well designed that you do not even have to remove the timing chain to remove the head for valve work. The chain simply unbolts from the cams and remains in position until the head is returned and the chain is bolted back into position. Remarkable engineering. Then of course, you have the value of the car. If you put a 350 conversion into the car you have created what is known as a lump. Lumps do sell to others that think the way to go is the 350 conversion. But as time goes on, there will be fewer and fewer people interested in a lumped car. More and more people will want the car simply to put the rear end IRS into a hot rod. The resale value of the car will continue to drop as a result. In fact, as some one else mentioned, you will probably spend twice what the car is worth to replace the engine and re-certify to California standards. Finally, I have 2 Jaguar saloons from the mid-sixties with the XK engine in them. One of the saloons has over 150,000 miles on it, and is my daily driver, the other I have no idea as to mileage. As I previously mentioned, I have an '88 as well. The clock on the '88 just went over 200,000 miles. Although it has the AJ6 engine, it is a very similar design to the XK engine. Obviously, you are going to do as you like with the '82 XJ6 as well you should. If I were you, however, I would stop and think long and hard about how you want to proceed.

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"82JaginCalifornia" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...

Good point, he might be able to purchase an already-converted car and junk the old car for less than the cost of converting the old car.

I thought "lump" referred to a Jag with an engine in such bad shape that it isn't rebuildable (ie, a prime candidate for a conversion to a Chevy V8), not to a car already converted. I've owned an XJS with a Chevy conversion, and an XJS with it's original V12, and I prefer the V12, but the Chevy was nice, too, and more reliable.

I know if I had to take my jag to a repair place, I'd not have it. Thank good ness for boards like these and some handy knowledge of my own.

You'll need at least $1000 to fix a jaguar engine with those miles. It will have major corrosion to the cool system and the head blots will have snapped. You can drop a Chev in it but that'll cost you at least 5 grand after the rusty cross members below the engine are replaced and then you'll be stuck with a car that is no longer authentic and will be worthless.

You must have gotten a bad Jag!! I have three Jags -- all well over 100,000 on the clock. In fact my '88 XJ40 just turned 200,000. The water passages are all clean as a whistle and the car just keeps going. I just had the intake manifold off the 1967 to replace the temperature sensor. After 38 years, the water passages are still clean, the cross member is still solid and the car still performs extremely well. At 115,000 miles that '82 XK engine is just starting to get broken in!!

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