Jag V12

Call me crazy but I am kicking aroud the idea of putting a jaguar v12 in my xj any opinions would be appreciated. iratefla

I´ve been kicking around the idea of putting an old, aluminum block, Rover (Buick) V-8 in my fun truck. More horses with about half the wieght. Would probably raise the front, an inch or two, on the stock springs.
A V-12 Jag motor, would sure get you some top end RPM´s, don´t really know, if an aerodynamic brick, like the XJ, would benefit from the full potential. With a manual shift auto or a stick, it could be a neat sleeper, for a little stop light to stop light action. Neat sound when a motor revs to 7000+ RPM´s, especialy with the right exhaust.

my first car was an 86 XJS HE... The thing was a pain in the ass to maintain the engine, it was such a whiny little biotch... i didn't have it long, but my mom owned it for about 5 years before I did and had the work orders to prove how expensive the engine was to maintain... But it would definately be about an 9 on the really cool scale... Also, it's a rather large engine... if I recall correctly it was a good 4 feet long, nevermind the tranny... if you have the engine, and a spare XJ, take some measurements, do some math, draw up some plans... it would certainly be an interesting build!

When they are running right, they kind if purrrrr, really smooth, little or no vibration. Seem to rev forever.

Brian Felts said:

Call me crazy but I am kicking aroud the idea of putting a jaguar v12 in my xj any opinions would be appreciated. iratefla

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Avoid it like the plague. When they run well they're great, but they're temperamental, expensive, and prone to fail for no good reason and without warning. We had two 12-cylinder Jags when I was a kid and my overwhelming memory of both was that they spent nearly more time in the shop than on the road. The 6-cylinder cars were great - never had a problem with them, including a Mk. II with over 300,000 on the clock.

Oh, and on a purely personal note: screw the V12 for ruining the E-Type. It destroyed the aesthetics and balance of that fine car, turning it into a bloated boulevardier.

8Mud said:

I´ve been kicking around the idea of putting an old, aluminum block, Rover (Buick) V-8 in my fun truck. More horses with about half the wieght. Would probably raise the front, an inch or two, on the stock springs.

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One thing to be careful of are the differences between the Rover and Buick versions. I don't remember them off the top of my head, but I ran a Rover P6 (great car, terribly underappreciated in the US) with this engine in college for a time while my 4-cylinder P6 was off the road. Nearly bought it until I found out that most of the cheap parts from America wouldn't bolt on. Kept with the 4-cylinder after that.

Something I thought that might be fun to do to with a P6, though, would be to talk to the people at RPi Engineering and drop in a 300bhp injected version of the engine. It'd make a serious sleeper and run without the touchiness the carburetted engines had - keeping the SUs in balance was fun, from what I remember.

The 215cid Buick lump would make an interesting candidate for an XJ transplant. Light, lots of potential power (though stock it doesn't make as much as an HO 4.0), plenty of go-faster stuff for it. Having said that, a more modern version might be a better choice, such as the versions Morgan used for years. I wonder how well it'd mate up to the AW4...

Don´t want to steal the guys thread. Drove a few of the Rovers, the little V-8 seemed to move them right along. Was wondering about the potential for using Buick parts on the Rover version, but had no high expectations.
Know a guy, that seems to be a regional dismantler for most things Rover. Could probably swap some labor for a good motor.
I do a lot of Mud, lighter is better most ways, on washboard, mud roads.
Just thinking about this winters project

8Mud said:

Don´t want to steal the guys thread. Drove a few of the Rovers, the little V-8 seemed to move them right along. Was wondering about the potential for using Buick parts on the Rover version, but had no high expectations.
Know a guy, that seems to be a regional dismantler for most things Rover. Could probably swap some labor for a good motor.
I do a lot of Mud, lighter is better most ways, on washboard, mud roads.
Just thinking about this winters project

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A Buick GN engine would be the best bang.... easy to fit light and gobs of horsepower, or the OF V6 from when Kaiser was building them if you want gobs of torque.... while you can still get valve train parts like hi po cams and roller lifters ect... from places like Kenne Bell for the old 215's pretty much the rest of the internals will have to come from salvage and most likely Rover stuff since the Buick stuff hasn't been built since the early 60's. Pretty sure LR changed the back of the block to mate to a different bellhousing so adapting a tranny might be in order there.....
The V12 Jag.... I can't imagine ever making an engine that long ever fit.
Hmmmm... If you removed the firewall and set the front against the grille, mounted a radiator on the roof with electric fans, engineer a tranny adapter, figure on using a NV4500 with whatever tcasethey hook to those and dana 60 & 70 from a Dodge deisel to handle the HP, oh and some sort of tube frame or subframes too.... Hell maybe it won't be that hard.
:idea: I heard tell of a V10 4wd Dodge that had been rolled thats fer sale a few miles up the road... and my insurance agents daughter blew the engine in that real clean little 85 Wagoneer, he said the 1st $200 takes it. Maybe.... just maybe....

Ok a little less ambitious but how bout a 4.7 how hard would it be to hook up the electronics? or mabey a 2jz toyota?
::

1986xj said:

86 XJ 3.4L w/ Weber, AX-5, np207, 4.10's, 3" OME, 31x9.50 TSL's and some other junk, 69 CJ5 (Modded 225,T18,3:15 D18, D44's F&R, 36" TSL's ect, 02 WJ 4.7, 88 F350, 460, zf5, 1345, 10.25 & d60, 78 F250, 460, C6, D60, 77 F250, 400 T18, NP205, D44, D60, 77 F600, 361, up on 20's 04 F350 XLT 4x4, 6.0 PS, TS AT

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Note to self:
Add wyfes Jetta, the Sea Ray, kids scooter, my mountain bike, the new dishwasher, and my plasma cutter to my sig.
:laugh2:

bgcntry72 said:

Note to self:
Add wyfes Jetta, the Sea Ray, kids scooter, my mountain bike, the new dishwasher, and my plasma cutter to my sig.
:laugh2:

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to the regular naxja visitor the sig may appear to be specs on a garden of vehicles.

but to the enlightened, they are coordinates, date, and time for when and where we make first contact.

Beezil said:

to the regular naxja visitor the sig may appear to be specs on a garden of vehicles.

but to the enlightened, they are coordinates, date, and time for when and where we make first contact.

Click to expand...

The truth is out there.
Scully used to be a skater punk.
I will be sleeping in a hat lined with tin foil and masking my movements with pink noise.
Keep watching the skies.

I've got a friend who is putting a Chevy 350 in his Jag because the V12s are Junk. There is actually a site called jagsthatrun.com that sells the conversion kit. If I remember correctly, the Jag V12 is a small displacement V12 with a very short stroke. Short stroke = not much torque, not a good truck engine.

My step-father has a Range Rover with the buick V8. I think it is a '99 or '00, he says its the last and best year of that engine. Anyway, my 4.0 will blow it away. Its slow, and doesn't seem to have much torque. It would probably be cheaper and easier to just by a Land Rover.

You could spend a ton of money trying to make one of those engines work, or spend half the time and money and put in a 350 and get twice the power. If you want to be different, put a whipple charger or run the thing on alchohol.