<VV> Chevy's in Jaguars - Little bit Corvair

[Sethracer at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/21/2006 12:05:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time,  ronh at owt.com 
writes:

Note  that installing a Chevy engine in a Jag makes the combo almost 
worthless  on the market.
RonH





Terms need defining here. An XKE Jaguar almost never had a Chevy V8  
installed. It was damn near impossible to fit. The common "Cheap" replacement  for the 
XK was a 289" Ford V8 (a.k.a. the best copy of a Small Block Chevy ever  
built) It was nice and narrow and would about drop in. Car & Driver did a  better 
install, though. They dropped a Pontiac OHC inline 6 with a T10  4-speed into 
the Jag. Less horsepower than the Jag motor, but smoother and  easier to 
drive. And Waaay cheaper! Now the older Jaguar sedans, especially the  XJ6 and the 
XJ12, have never been worth a dollar, no matter what you do to them.  If the 
motor is suspect, you often had to pay someone to take it away. Too  bad, in 
some regards, because they have nice-looking bodies - and Lucas  Electics! 
(Huh?) - Well they also had nice leather seats. A very common  installation was the 
350 Chevy and Automatic. It dropped in easily - a Company  "Jaguars that Run" 
still sells the complete kits. And some nice Jags were  made before the 1976 
model year - You Californians know what that means! Legal  swaps and no smog 
tests! And with a complete rewiring, you might have a reliable  nice car. 
Finally - An XKE today costs a lot more to restore than it will  be worth after 
restoration - Sort of like our Corvairs. That doesn't stop  us from spending 
money on our Vairs - and it doesn't stop the Jaguar purists  either. - Seth 
Emerson