Jaguar XJS progress.

Yes, glad to see progress. Very cool and thanks for sharing. 

What to do about the engine?  The one sitting in the car now.  It's been sitting outside in the snow for 4? Winters now, before that in various garages, lots,  etc.  for about 20+ years.  
   A few days ago in preparation of pulling it to rebuild it I put a wrench on it to see if it wanted to turn over.  ( remember everything I've said  about sitting? ) 12 cylinders sitting in snow.? Squirrel's making, nests storing acorns in any nitche  they can find. 
     So I put that wrench on it and gave it a half hearted tug. Smooth as a baby's bottom. It turned over. You coulda knocked me over •••• well, really easily. 
     Now I wanna give that motor a chance.  Throw some SU carbs on in place of that nonsense called  fuel rejection. 
     I'm sure it wont be the powerhouse it could be, but I just wanna give it a chance.  
   Am I being stupid or emotional over a ? thing?  

Neither stupid or emotional.  That engine is already in the car and spins.  Just gotta make it run.  Easier than an engine swap right?

Just going to clean it up, put some fresh oil in it and get it running.  See what it can do in the Northern version of the challenge 

My vote is to make it run. Then you won't have to push it up the driveway.....

Get it running, throw some carbs on it, and no mufflers!  We want to hear the V12 glory!

sergio said:

My vote is to make it run. Then you won't have to push it up the driveway.....

It's a race car. Like airplanes pushing it around is just part of what it is.  
  I already have a Tilton triple disk clutch so I'm not going to spend $1000 putting a regular flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, and throw out bearing in.  
       Triple disk takes more horsepower, and for racing is much better. But it has limits.  You can ruin it loading it on the trailer and other mundane duties. 

Anybody looking to replicate  what I'm doing? Very much on the cheap?  Another car popped up, guys parting it out.  But as you can see from what I'm doing most of it you don't want. 
      The cool thing is the car is a running driver.  So if you wanted to live with the stock fuel rejection  you could have a lot of fun. 

In reply to frenchyd :

Just wanted to say I have been following along and really enjoying your build!!!!  

In reply to dean1484 :

So what should I do?   Build an all out wheel to wheel race car? Or just do the northern version of the challenge this year and over the winter upgrade  to wheel to wheel? 

What ever is the fastest way to get you and your car driving is what I recommend.  

Doing that means pretty much taking it apart over the winter to build a proper wheel to wheel car. 
    I've got drivers, three right now and making another driver isn't much motivation.  But I guess in fairness to my team mates they would probably prefer driving it around a bit  to the detail work required to make a reliable and reasonably quick vintage racer for wheel to wheel. Just human nature I suppose. 
Plus there is a bit of desire in me to just get the old engine running and see what a well worn Unmodified  engine performs like in a semi lightened body. 

dean1484 said:

What ever is the fastest way to get you and your car driving is what I recommend.  

This!  Since you have winters there I think the get it running and upgrade over the winter plan is the best.

In reply to APEowner :

I probably will do as has been suggested unless my teammates object.   
    I'll forego the extra 150+ horsepower a proper rebuild should give me. Save the typical 200 hours I'd spend  rebuilding and upgrading the engine.  While there is potentially a lot more power available, on my present budget I simply cannot afford to spend it. 

Run the stocker while you build the ringer.  That's what we did with the 460 in the Plymford. 

frenchyd said:

Plus there is a bit of desire in me to just get the old engine running and see what a well worn Unmodified  engine performs like in a semi lightened body. 

For myself, I would love to see what she'll do I basically stock and lightens form. Will be fun, and establish a good baseline to what "anybody" could do with her. Then, as you've said, over the winter build out some power, and run'er again. 
Gotta clear it with teammates, of course... but that'd be my vote. All us bench racers wanna see the first run!

In reply to 03Panther :

I just met the guy who got the right hand drive British spec car.  Yes he's going to race it. That will make 3 local XJSV12's racing soon.  
burgundy, Yellow, and Green. 
  The Green one is owned by Robert Knodt from  U tube's Camp  Chaos. If you really want to see good video  of Jaguar stuff watch those. 
    Mine is the Burgundy,  and Lor is the new owner of the Yellow right hand drive. 

In reply to frenchyd :

Here's the 6 SU carbs and the plate I'll use to adapt them. They are in remarkable condition  considering their age, over 50 years old but the throttle shafts aren't badly worn and don't need replacement. All the linkage is present and it too is in good condition. 
clean up, polish and rebuild kits away from use.  

In reply to frenchyd :

Many years ago I adapted a couple of SUs from my Austin Mini to a 1600 cc ACVW engine in my autocross car. I'm curious to see the end result of 6 SUs on a Jaguar motor. 

The stock EFI has essentially a 5 inch intake. While 6   inch &half SU's  have a 9 inch intake. 
 What makes it work is the variable Venturi effect of SU's  

An American carb has to be small enough to flow enough air to pick up fuel and mix it.  650 CFM is a typical sized carb for that size engine. That's about 3&1/4 inches.      Racers might use as much as  5" 1050 CFM if they are willing to completely sacrifice bottom end power. 
    The really great thing is the ease I can adapt to E85.   The jets are .090 go big enough to flow 20% more and Bob's your uncle. 
 

In reply to frenchyd :

I've been trying to clean up the paint. I started with a cleaner wax, no go. Then tried a fine rubbing compound, no go. The coarse rubbing compound, no go. Buffer & coarse compound, no go.  
  Today I was cleaning the aluminum plate I'd scrounged up and set the paper tools I'd used with some Lacquer thinner on the roof Bingo!   Success!   Wipe on wipe off!  Paint!    I mean still need to buff it out. But at least I don't have to sand it off like I was planning.  

Happy to see progress.  Gee, I don't know, but all those carbs would be more aesthetically pleasing.  At least to me.  Although it gives you six times the work.  Glad you found a relatively easy paint restoration method.  I would work a more discreet area first, to see how it ends up.

I'd get it running first before worrying about paint. Looking forward to seeing the 6 SU setup, seems like a good plan.

In reply to Racingsnake :

The running part is easy with SU's.  Wire the distributor and coil. Bob's your uncle. VrrrooomVrroom 
    I've done a leak down test on all 12 cylinders and everything is good there. Turn the engine over by hand it's baby butt smooth.  I've got to pull the whole car apart to put it up on the rotisserie and clean the bottom, engine compartment, etc. 

  I'm going up to a SVRA race at Brainard  Saturday to see what group I'll be in and how the rules are for that class. 
    You can read the rules on line easily enough but talking to the racers and inspectors  will tell you a whole lot more than reading the rules. 
 Smokey was the King of Gray area's and I see most racers follow Smokey's lead. While keeping in mind the historic nature of their car. 
checking the cars and tech inspection will give me a good guildline as to what shade of Gray is acceptable. 

Dirtydog (Forum Supporter) said:

Happy to see progress.  Gee, I don't know, but all those carbs would be more aesthetically pleasing.  At least to me.  Although it gives you six times the work.  Glad you found a relatively easy paint restoration method.  I would work a more discreet area first, to see how it ends up.

The discovery area was rag sized. And in 15 minutes or so I'd got 1/4 of the car cleaned.  A good buffing, some waxing and Bob's your uncle. 
 During the rebuilding of the carbs  I'll run everything over the buffer. Polished aluminum really looks pretty sexy. 
Actually Once set up SU's tend to be pretty straight forward. While I always remove the air cleaner and pass the unisyn over them as part of my race prep,if any change comes up it's usually an ignition problem rather than a carb problem.  I have an air density meter and can adjust for weather changes easily with SU's. Turn the 6 jets up or down a flat or two  probably will take 3 minutes now because I'm old, Fat,  and slow.