Some TLC Needed: 1970 Jaguar XJ V8 Swap
The series 1 Jaguar XJ was built from 1968 through 1973 with a standard inline-6 engine and an optional V12 (introduced for the 1972 model year). The XJ12 was the “fastest” 4-door car in the world when it was introduced, but keeping one running will make you the “brokest” person on your block…so…swap in a Chevy V8 and cruise into the sunset…or until you IROC V8 siezes and then sell it for pocket change. Find this 1970 Jaguar XJ V8 Swap offered for $2000 in Albany, NY via craigslist.
From the seller:
1970 Jaguar XJ
condition: fair
cylinders: 8 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 98000
paint color: blue
size: mid-size
title status: clean
transmission: automatic
type: sedan
Mechanics special L98 5.7 350 from 1988 iroc-z but sadly it is hydrolocked.
Will need some work to get running but solid car & swap.
All guages work with the swap, new fuel tank & gaskets on lids (root of the problem)
Please contact for further info.
I dont have the time nor resources for the repairs.
car is here in ny with clean Massachusetts title.
Was professionally appraised 2014 .
Spam & scam will not be entertained!
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Did the seller drive through high water? Doesnt say how the water got in the intake. I guess they think at two grand no one should ask any questions. We had a ’72 and it was the quietest damn car we ever had. I loved it. Then I blew it up on the 405. I was young and it was my girlfriends car. Now I would go through it knowing more than I did then about their cooling systems , electrics etc. If this was on the correct coast I would go look at it..bbeautiful color.
I think the hint to the water is “new fuel tank & gaskets on lids (root of the problem)”, though not sure what is meant by ‘lids’
I am not sure why this engine swap is so popular. The engine is the best built part of a jag!
Maybe because useable SBC engines are literally in big piles at junkyards everywhere?
But it is not likely that your jag engine is going to be the source of your problems.
An XJ with a dead engine and all the swap hard stuff done? Plus all the bits to complete a cheap short block with warrantee from summit racing or the like? If it were local I’d be tempted.
Massachusetts inspections are pretty strict on rust and the like as I recall. Oh and California smog exempt!
Even more tempting, I have a friend with a lift in Rhinebeck NY that owes me a car, less than 100 miles. I join the AAA , have to flat-bedded to Rhinebeck …
Oh wait , COVID
Also, only one new gas tank? What about the other one?
Do it Hugh. I dare you …
If I weren’t taking care of my 91 year old mom 3000 miles away this would be perfect.
The only thing that would be better is the same situation with a Volvo wagon.
I suspect the “lids†are the twin gas caps.
I feel you. I’ve never had as many real obligations that detract from having fun as I’ve had since stumbling into my 50s.
Hmm…looks like it is running in some of the pics. I thought hydro lock meant no-go.
There is a big difference between running and being usable.
I’ve driven cars with bent valves, bent con rods, spun bearings, but not very far.
Then perhaps the running photos were taken “the before times†as all the kids say now.
Pulling the spark plugs, draining the sump and turning the engine over will fix the hydro lock. It won’t fix bent con rods, bent cranks, cracked main caps, pulled studs, blown gaskets, and I’m probably forgetting something.
Know a guy that told me he would pour a quart of oil into a cylinder just beginning the compression stroke and put the spark plug back in to keep an engine from getting stolen out of a car in “long term out in the woods storage†on the theory that no one would bother an engine that wouldn’t turn over. Of course he told me this -after- the engine in my truck got stolen from his back woods long term parking area.
Oh look!
His other car must be a Volvo!
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