How are they to live with? I keep looking at them and I might need to get a new car soon, and I was just curious what people think of them.
How are they to live with? I keep looking at them and I might need to get a new car soon, and I was just curious what people think of them.
SBC conversions are fun. 
Purists will hate me for that 
I live in CA so chevy swaps into 90s cars aren't really much fun. If I got an XJ40 I would just drive it stock for a year or two then get something else once i got tired of it.
Is the Jag inline six really the unreliable part?
If you want more fun, start welding together manifolds to add a turbocharger.
The six isn't that bad, but they have electrical issues and can rust rather well.
i like the xj a lot and think they are one of the most undervalued cars out there but on my list of xj's the 40 is at the bottom. i would go with a pre 86 or after 94 to a x300 or x308 i just think these years are better never had luck with xj40 and what is amazing is you can buy a pre xj40 or a 300 or 308 for about the same money
Honestly I would go with the newer X300. It is nicer, more reliable and not much more expensive.
I'm a huge Jag fan, and have onwed and loved early XJ6s. There are a lot of unloved Jags that I'd drive with no problems.
The XJ40 is not one of them. The WORST of the pre-Ford build quality, with more problems per car than the '86 and older XJ6s. You might have good luck with one, but even I doubt that would be the case. Still, if you do, there are good parts sources online for them, as well as specific forums for them.
One good thing to have is the parts and service DVD for these cars.
Here's a $2k donor, looks clean for the money, dead engine.
John's Cars has been selling conversion kits for decades: http://www.johnscars.com/jaguars.html
http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3582544125.html
In reply to 914Driver:
No. Just no.
That is a tarted up Lincoln LS with the wrong 6 cylinder.
My mistake.
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/3557948231.html
Electrics are the worst part. Ours would randomly consume brakelight bulbs no matter how much I cleaned/repaired the socket boards. Seems like I was constantly replacing fuses in the thing. It was never the same one twice, so I didn't know which circuit I should be chasing. SWMBO loved it, though. Good ol' grace, space & pace..car handles pretty well, just doesn't bother the occupants with the details. It was like a Buick that actually went where you pointed it & stopped where you told it to.
Hmm, I don't think I would like having one enough to deal with that amount of electrical problems. That would explain why they are so cheap I guess. Are the 300 and 308 Xj6s a lot better? There are some of those for reasonably cheap near where I live, so that might work too. I dont even know why i want a jaguar, it sounds like a good idea though for some reason lol.
The X300 has a few known small problems. There is a part of the heater system that goes bad (I want to say it is a switch or something like that), the electric motor on the power adjust steering column goes out and there is something else that is a problem but easy to fix. The X308 has the Niksal (spelling?) cylinde liners like some of the BMWs but problems with those either will have shown up by now or they won't happen and the timing chainer tensioner is crap on the early ones but changing to one for a late one will fix that problem. All in all both are better choices then the XJ40 in terms of looks, reliability and probably driving.
Travis_K wrote: Hmm, I don't think I would like having one enough to deal with that amount of electrical problems. That would explain why they are so cheap I guess. Are the 300 and 308 Xj6s a lot better? There are some of those for reasonably cheap near where I live, so that might work too. I dont even know why i want a jaguar, it sounds like a good idea though for some reason lol.
the reason i love them is they can be bought cheap, they run good i have had many not one ever left me on the side of the road (things go wrong but not side of road wrong) and the most important is peoples reaction at gas stations "wow nice car i wish i had the money to drive one" just dont tell them you spent a lot less than the the 3 year old toyota they just bought 
cutter67 wrote:Travis_K wrote: Hmm, I don't think I would like having one enough to deal with that amount of electrical problems. That would explain why they are so cheap I guess. Are the 300 and 308 Xj6s a lot better? There are some of those for reasonably cheap near where I live, so that might work too. I dont even know why i want a jaguar, it sounds like a good idea though for some reason lol.the reason i love them is they can be bought cheap, they run good i have had many not one ever left me on the side of the road (things go wrong but not side of road wrong) and the most important is peoples reaction at gas stations "wow nice car i wish i had the money to drive one" just dont tell them you spent a lot less than the the 3 year old toyota they just bought
There's a lot to be said for that. She still talks about how people would look at it and decide perhaps they should wait before they made that risky move in traffic. And true, I don't think we had a car-stopper in the bunch. Just frustrating. If I hadn't been laid off (and could afford to take it to a specialist just once to get it properly sorted), she would probably still have it.
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