okay... my 81 Jag just died... can't do nothing about it except changed teh whole engine... they ask me 1100 for whole change plus laber... but they showed me an option of putting chevy 350 with manual tranny.
should i do that?

is there any known problems while doing that...

like do i have to change teh coolant to dexcool?
reroute the powersteering pump and lines?
anything i should know or warn about?

Submitted by ljl888@aol.com on Sat, 03/06/2004 - 09:56

I have seen many 350 conversions here in L.A. and every cat tammer love the results. I only wish Jaguar Specialties hurries with their prototype so I can put one in my 1990 XJ40!

Lee

My Kitties are my wife in mechanical form!

Submitted by jam@ispwest.com on Sun, 12/28/2003 - 09:00

a 1981 XJ-6 is worth maybe $600.00 if running. Sell it in parts and get
4 times that, then buy another. Unless your '81 is in 'choice' condition,
don't bother spending the money because you can get another running car for
the cost of a conversion or getting another XJ engine.

Submitted by wljenkins@usa.net on Sun, 12/28/2003 - 05:49

Personally, I would not do a Chevy conversion. I would put a good used engine in if I were you. It should be pretty easy to find one.

Did your engine just blow a head gasket or did you spin bearings and throw rods? If you only blew a head gasket, that really is an easy repair.

Oh and converting to a manual transmission?? I would advise against this also unless you already have a set of pedals, a clutch master cylinder, a console, etc.

It's bad enough converting to a small block Chevy will all the modifications but you really will complicate things even more if you go with a manual transmission as well.