That is a beaut. There is only one thing that could imrpove it, and you know what it is!
######Greeeeen
Iâm sure @Donald_Petersen would put a different engine in it too.
1 Like
Why green? I was sure you meant Tweed.
1 Like
Yes, a hot dark girl that I could swirl with.
Unfortunately, itâs becoming winter here in WI and Iâll vbe storing it till late March.
----- Original Message -----
Yes. Yes, he would.
Standing by with a '95 LT1 and a socket wrench!
My 350-powered '87 XJ6 Vanden Plas has gone the way of all flesh, thanks to my nephewâs incautious driving that broke off half the IRS, and Iâd be tickled to do another project like that. And the XJS is even prettier. And a convertible⊠[salivate]
Want. So. Bad.
1 Like
Very, very fun to drive, and quite comfortable (though I donât think it would be if I were any taller than I am, at 6â2"). But rust issues abound, and converting from the straight-six and three-speed BW transmission to a fuel-injected 350 with 4L60E overdrive transmission made it sooo much more fun (and about 150 lbs lighter, to boot).
Last I checked, the Series IIIs were dirt-cheap these days. They sold for around $35k in 1986. I got mine from the original owner for free, since it had a blown head gasket and 186,000 miles, and he didnât want to sink any more money into it. Best free car I ever owned!
(To be completely honest, the donor Chevy Caprice cost me $1,000 and the conversion kit cost around $1,350, plus a couple hundred here and there for exhaust fabrication and alignment, but still⊠dirt cheap for British luxury.)
1 Like
A three speed automatic transmission?
Forgive my ignorance, I suspect they were common(?), but that made me shiver. So it was Tow Mode, Town and Country Mode, and Screaming Passenger Mode?
1 Like
Yeah, just some crappy Borg Warner 3-speed, so the gears in the IRS are nice and tall, which makes for a groovy, fuel-sippinâ cruising speed when you install an actual OD transmission. I got over 25 mpg with a TBI 350 with leaky injectors in mine; had I freshened up the fuel system I expect I would have gotten over 28.
When I acquired the Jag, not only was it running on 5 cylinders, but that BW gearbox was pretty worn out, too. When you first fired it up, you had to drive around the block in first gear for five full minutes before it would warm up enough to shift out of first. Driving it home from Santa Barbara to North Hollywood was an adventure, particularly when going up the Conejo Grade. After a white-knuckle crawl up the grade, I topped the hill and cruised down the other side and finally fell in love with the car and its handling, and knew that I was going to invest in the Chevy conversion.
1 Like
5 cylinders is plenty.
I always wanted one of these, but was too poor/sensible to buy one.
My 1978 Audi 5000 would have begged to differ. The fuel efficiency of a 6, the power of a 4.
2 Likes
Yeah. In a vehicle with a 4,000 pound curb (sorry, kerb) weight, it really couldnât get out of its own way.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
