Nice. How is the axle wrap?
Sloppy 🔧 Builds 1984 Jaguar XJ6.0
- Thread starter nsogiba
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Completely gone. Funny enough it spins both tires under hard power. When you put it on the lift and turn the left rear tire forward, the opposite side turns backwards...which means it should be an open diff. But I have not yet been able to get a one tire fire going - it just boils both. I am curious to see what kind of black magic is going on in the diff.
Thanks...it's pretty budget actually. Summit racing fuel cell, AEM400 pump, china regulator and AN lines.
Leave the magic alone lol.
Some day I might become the next care taker of my FiL's '83, he's spent billions of dollars keeping that car stock.
Some day I might become the next care taker of my FiL's '83, he's spent billions of dollars keeping that car stock.
Sounds exactly like the PO of mine. Had the car for a decade, never drove it in rain or snow, spent tons of money trying to keep it going. Eventually ran out of patience spending money on a car that always had little stuff going wrong every time he took it out. In the end he couldn't even find a competent shop to diagnose issues he was having. I don't blame him for selling it, I would have done the same if I were to keep it stock. But.....who has time for that stock nonsense
They're sweet riding cars, I bet I have less wrapped up in my swap even with the turbo than most owners spend just keeping theirs stock and running.
I think his 6 popper comes stock with a TH400, does that sound right?
No, they used a Borg Warner 66 3 speed behind the 4.2 I6's. The V12s had beefed up gearboxes, from 1977 to 1991 it had a TH400 and from '92-'96 it was ironically a 4L80E
Been fighting an annoying oil leak on the Jag motor. I thought I had this fixed when I had this motor in my Crown Vic but apparently not.
Up on the lift, use 4 cans of brake clean to get everything nice again
After 10 mins of running on the lift, saw some evidence
I have an oil cooler gasket and galley plug kit on the way, hopefully that's all it is.
I also found the rack was pissing a bit after sitting for a while, but that's just old car stuff.
I don't think I posted a recent engine bay pic...
Up on the lift, use 4 cans of brake clean to get everything nice again
After 10 mins of running on the lift, saw some evidence
I have an oil cooler gasket and galley plug kit on the way, hopefully that's all it is.
I also found the rack was pissing a bit after sitting for a while, but that's just old car stuff.
I don't think I posted a recent engine bay pic...
Seriously one of my favorite builds here and I look forward to updates.
Future ref. Buy a can of leak trace powder... It's great at finding leaks.
Future ref. Buy a can of leak trace powder... It's great at finding leaks.
I took the car out for a long ride around the city last week. Gorgeous night for a drive with air temp in the 80s, but beating on the car on the thruway I was seeing 240F IATs at the end of a pull. Even cruising for extended periods as the evening cooled down they never went below 120. I realized I was spending a ton of time staring at the handheld worrying about IATs, so I decided it was time to do something about it.
The reason I never installed an A2A in the first place was a lack of space, and mostly me using the parts I had laying around. The truck water pump worked but needed a bunch of adapting to fit. Old FEAD setup: Truck accessories/WP, bunch of 90s and hose splices to route the top rad hose under the turbo outlet. Overly complicated and took up a bunch of space.
The LS3 (2010 Camaro) water pump has the outlet in the front with truck spacing, but was about the same price as buying an LS1 Camaro pump, new Camaro top hose, new tensioner, 2 sets of gaskets, and the water pump spacers (.700"). So...
Tore it all apart, removed some of the plastic bumper shrouding between the hood and the bumper. Made up some new tabs to mount the bottom of the radiator isolators. The whole radiator/fan assy got shifted back 2-3". The radiator was previously mounted dead center (fore/aft) on the lower rad cradle, whereas now the front of the rad is flush with the rear face of the crade.
Few more shots showing the movement. It's best visible looking at the cutout for the rad filler cap.
The other issue is that the belt now rubs ever so slightly on the bottom of the intake coupler at the throttle body. I can probably find a smaller tensioner pulley in a catalog to bring the belt away.
I'll have to figure out something for the header panel, chop out the middle section or something. The plan is to throw in one of these now that I have room:
3" aluminum charge piping will run up and over the top of the radiator.
Plenty of room now:
The reason I never installed an A2A in the first place was a lack of space, and mostly me using the parts I had laying around. The truck water pump worked but needed a bunch of adapting to fit. Old FEAD setup: Truck accessories/WP, bunch of 90s and hose splices to route the top rad hose under the turbo outlet. Overly complicated and took up a bunch of space.
The LS3 (2010 Camaro) water pump has the outlet in the front with truck spacing, but was about the same price as buying an LS1 Camaro pump, new Camaro top hose, new tensioner, 2 sets of gaskets, and the water pump spacers (.700"). So...
Tore it all apart, removed some of the plastic bumper shrouding between the hood and the bumper. Made up some new tabs to mount the bottom of the radiator isolators. The whole radiator/fan assy got shifted back 2-3". The radiator was previously mounted dead center (fore/aft) on the lower rad cradle, whereas now the front of the rad is flush with the rear face of the crade.
Few more shots showing the movement. It's best visible looking at the cutout for the rad filler cap.
The other issue is that the belt now rubs ever so slightly on the bottom of the intake coupler at the throttle body. I can probably find a smaller tensioner pulley in a catalog to bring the belt away.
I'll have to figure out something for the header panel, chop out the middle section or something. The plan is to throw in one of these now that I have room:
3" aluminum charge piping will run up and over the top of the radiator.
Plenty of room now:
Fitting an air to air is a pain in the ass. Went through that on the Eagle. Almost wish I would have just done air to water, but it's done so I'm not sweating it now.
Making room for the A2A IMO was way easier than running all those water lines, wiring, fittings etc for an A2W, at least in this application. Plus the cost of buying a pump, relays, wiring, plumbing, tank, etc. A2A is just so much simpler
Update - Still had the issue with coolant escaping the radiator cap under boost, but I don't really think it's the headgaskets. I pulled all the plugs and scoped the bores, all pistons had a nice buildup of carbon and didn't seem to have evidence of steam cleaning.
That's not entirely conclusive since it seems my "headgasket leak" would have been pressurizing the cooling system and forcing coolant out the radiator cap, rather than allowing coolant to get into the combustion chamber. To confirm that, I pressurized each cylinder with shop air (100psi) and let it sit for a few minutes, looking for evidence of bubbles coming out the radiator cap or surge tank cap - nothing. I also did a compression test, with all 8 coming in with at least 170-175psi.
So, I pulled out the F-body radiator and installed a new C5 radiator, which is the same design/footprint, just without the integral radiator cap. F-Body fans slip right in, no modifications needed. While the system was drained I also swapped the thermostat for a Motorad with a 160F opening temp, and changed the fan temps to come on sooner (#1 - 190F, #2 - 200F).
The old thermostat on the left was a mystery truck unit that came out of one of the half dozen spare truck water pumps I have. It had a 187F opening temp and the design looked a bit different than the new one I installed.
Result - no more coolant loss (at least externally). Runs usually around 180-185, if it sits for a minute at a light it'll sneak up on 190-195 and fans bring it back down quick. Haven't logged coolant temp during a long pull yet.
I also finished up the intercooler install. IATs are now nearly ambient (perhaps 20F above, after a pull) rather than 240F.
Wrapped the pipes (mostly cosmetic, maybe keeps some heat out).
Laying some stripes on my 35th birthday for durability testing
I run pump ethanol all the time. Even though there's a station 15 minutes from my house, it's out of the way, so I'll head out there every other week and stock up.
Slowly getting my little guy (19 months) into cars. He will see my M3 or Jaguar and yell "DADDDAAAAAAA"
Went for a cruise a while back.
Rerouted some items under the hood to add the Corvette engine beauty covers. Yes, the motor in the car is a plebian iron 6.0 and not an aluminum 5.7, but the covers came off my personal C5 FRC that I owned from 2016-2020, so they have sentimental value.
And finally, hit the local Cars and Coffee with an old acquaintance in his all original 1970 Series 1 XJ6.
That's not entirely conclusive since it seems my "headgasket leak" would have been pressurizing the cooling system and forcing coolant out the radiator cap, rather than allowing coolant to get into the combustion chamber. To confirm that, I pressurized each cylinder with shop air (100psi) and let it sit for a few minutes, looking for evidence of bubbles coming out the radiator cap or surge tank cap - nothing. I also did a compression test, with all 8 coming in with at least 170-175psi.
So, I pulled out the F-body radiator and installed a new C5 radiator, which is the same design/footprint, just without the integral radiator cap. F-Body fans slip right in, no modifications needed. While the system was drained I also swapped the thermostat for a Motorad with a 160F opening temp, and changed the fan temps to come on sooner (#1 - 190F, #2 - 200F).
The old thermostat on the left was a mystery truck unit that came out of one of the half dozen spare truck water pumps I have. It had a 187F opening temp and the design looked a bit different than the new one I installed.
Result - no more coolant loss (at least externally). Runs usually around 180-185, if it sits for a minute at a light it'll sneak up on 190-195 and fans bring it back down quick. Haven't logged coolant temp during a long pull yet.
I also finished up the intercooler install. IATs are now nearly ambient (perhaps 20F above, after a pull) rather than 240F.
Wrapped the pipes (mostly cosmetic, maybe keeps some heat out).
Laying some stripes on my 35th birthday for durability testing
I run pump ethanol all the time. Even though there's a station 15 minutes from my house, it's out of the way, so I'll head out there every other week and stock up.
Slowly getting my little guy (19 months) into cars. He will see my M3 or Jaguar and yell "DADDDAAAAAAA"
Went for a cruise a while back.
Rerouted some items under the hood to add the Corvette engine beauty covers. Yes, the motor in the car is a plebian iron 6.0 and not an aluminum 5.7, but the covers came off my personal C5 FRC that I owned from 2016-2020, so they have sentimental value.
And finally, hit the local Cars and Coffee with an old acquaintance in his all original 1970 Series 1 XJ6.
fucking hell. so awesome 
Original steering wheel was gross, the leather was sticky and in bad shape, no amount of cleaning would get it reasonable. I splurged on a new wheel and hub adapter, which is about 1" smaller in diameter. Way better. The horn button required a small sub-harness to mate up with the horn button, no biggie. I am on the hunt for a small (1" or so) Growler/Jaguar emblem/badge to put on the wheel, if anyone knows of a reasonable example let me know.
Starting to work on refinement of a couple little items that have been bothering me.
-Get the stock gauges to work, I want to see if Dakota Digital has an interface that will talk to the Terminator X Max and translate RPM and Speed to the stock gauges.
-Work on front end alignment, currently there is a fair amount of toe out which is causing it to be very darty. I plan on trying my hand at a DIY alignment.
-Polish the lips of the wheels
Starting to work on refinement of a couple little items that have been bothering me.
-Get the stock gauges to work, I want to see if Dakota Digital has an interface that will talk to the Terminator X Max and translate RPM and Speed to the stock gauges.
-Work on front end alignment, currently there is a fair amount of toe out which is causing it to be very darty. I plan on trying my hand at a DIY alignment.
-Polish the lips of the wheels
Great updates. How is your rear axle setup working?
Pretty flawlessly. I have a minor weep from the pinion seal but who knows when it was changed last. It continues to spin both wheels in anger. I do still need to change the cage mounts, but I can probably do that without completely removing the rear cage.
When I bought the car over 2 years ago (man that went quick) the front outer tie rods were shot - lots of play and boots torn. I replaced them during the engine swap and did a very quick eyeball alignment which got me on the road but the car never drove quite right. It was darty, the steering would follow grooves in the road, both characteristics of too much toe out. I decided to try my hand at a DIY alignment and learned some interesting facts along the way.
I drilled some holes in aluminum square stock cut to exactly 24", mounted them to the hubs, and set the toe that way (1/4" toe in).
I then put the wheels back on, set the car on the ground, took it for a spin, and it still drove poorly. After doing some research, I decided to measure the toe difference between loaded and unloaded. Turns out as the suspension compresses, the wheels toe out quite a bit.
I put the car on wooden wheel cribs to be able to access the tie rods, settled the suspension again and zip tied the bars to the wheels.
Measuring the front of the bars compared to the rear, wowza! There was close to 1" toe out. This explains why the car was so darty, and why it would leap all over the place when coming off full throttle. The nose would come down, wheels toe out and the front end would want to pull. After dialing in 1/4" toe in with the suspension compressed, the car drove straight and the darty feeling was gone.
I drilled some holes in aluminum square stock cut to exactly 24", mounted them to the hubs, and set the toe that way (1/4" toe in).
I then put the wheels back on, set the car on the ground, took it for a spin, and it still drove poorly. After doing some research, I decided to measure the toe difference between loaded and unloaded. Turns out as the suspension compresses, the wheels toe out quite a bit.
I put the car on wooden wheel cribs to be able to access the tie rods, settled the suspension again and zip tied the bars to the wheels.
Measuring the front of the bars compared to the rear, wowza! There was close to 1" toe out. This explains why the car was so darty, and why it would leap all over the place when coming off full throttle. The nose would come down, wheels toe out and the front end would want to pull. After dialing in 1/4" toe in with the suspension compressed, the car drove straight and the darty feeling was gone.
This is cool, I always wanted to try and do some home alignment stuff but never really knew where to start.
Nice work. This thing looks really nice. I look forward to more refinement updates.
Thanks boys, I'm looking into getting the stock gauges working next. Going to talk to Dakota Digital and see if one of their products will talk to the TermX.
Speedo, fuel, oil pressure and coolant temp all don't work.
I hooked up the tach to the output on the TermX but the scaling is off, and if you exceed 3,000rpm (easy to do) the needle sticks at 3. Annoying.
The volt meter does work, but seems to read 11V (TermX handheld shows healthy 13.xV
Speedo, fuel, oil pressure and coolant temp all don't work.
I hooked up the tach to the output on the TermX but the scaling is off, and if you exceed 3,000rpm (easy to do) the needle sticks at 3. Annoying.
The volt meter does work, but seems to read 11V (TermX handheld shows healthy 13.xV
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