Other Cars (British & British-Inspired)

Ready for LS conversion.
Two of them:

[www.jaguarspecialties.com]

Too bad the green one isn't the convertible.

Very nice, and love the price. Wrong coast though.

Jim

I called and talked with them today. They are out of San Jose and I'm going to be in Palo Alto in a couple of weeks so I'm going to go check them out. Apparently they have a kit to transplant an LS in - including tying the motor into the CAN bus (although that kit isn't included with the cars). Good news is they've done the engineering (the convertible actually has a drivetrain in it and is at least partially operable but they plan to pull that motor/trans for another project). Bad news is it depends on a proprietary computer that, whenever it goes south, replacements can only come from them... If they're still in business. I'm going to reach out to Pete Mantell to see what he knows. Apparently he'd been in discussion with them about their kits but they haven't heard from him in a while so either it's on his back burner or he moved on from the idea.

Rob, check out our forum. jaguarfourms.com. Andrew has a LONG thread dealing with his conversion business. A few of our Jag XK8) members are on that forum also.

Rob,
Thanks for investigating.
Look forward to you reporting anything other info you can gather.
Ken

Can't help with the transmission but we're doing a tech session on the GM '411 PCM at Wytheville.

Jim

I got a reply from Pete. He used their kit on his XJ8. Seems happy with it. I still don't like the idea of a car that's rendered useless if the proprietary CPU* fails but I'm still going to go visit & talk with them when I'm out there.

Update from Pete in reference to what happens if the proprietary CPU fails...

"The car will run just normally. His CPU unit is for the Jag gauges and warning lights."

"BRG exterior over coffee interior" Very weak coffee. ;)

So, Pete has an XJ8 with an LS engine?

He did clearly say he used their kit on his 2001 XJ8 and indicated the kit is identical to the XK8 version. Whether he still has it or sold it, I can't say.