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time for an update. I moved the Jag about 5 times today - yes, just pushing it around the carport, but for a good reason.....

this weekend, I spent both afternoons fitting some lights to the carport - not just any old 100w batten-fix shitter either.......think 8 x 4' double-fitting hospital grade fluoros !!

yeh baby, my old mate Pete is doing a refirb on the old ATO down here, so we snagged a few office fittings a few weeks ago. The big fluoro light fittings have now seriously turned night into fucking day in the carport !! Its awesome. Its actually better lighting than the workshop !! Photos to come. You will be amazed.......NASA called, they thought there had been a supernova in downtown Belconnen....

With the old Dunneydore now up and running with a transplanted Series 2 motor, all it needs to finish it off for rego, is a new windscreen, a gas certificate (LPG) - and some new lower ball-joints. Thats it. I expect it will be registered on the 18th July - exactly 2 years to the day since rego expired, so no need to re-establish rego or get new plates or any of that other shit. That is 1 car down and 1 to go. Getting my hands dirty doing the motor swap on the Dunnydore has been the best thing that could ever happen to the Jag......

One thing I did get for the Shagwah which hasn't been posted here yet - is a complete new interior from JagSpares in Melbourne. The new interior has everything - fr and rr seats in a nice light cream velour, door trims, floor carpet and everything else. This will be fitted up while the OEM leather seats and door-trims get refurbed. The old interior is really 'dark' and the leather upholstery is in pretty poor condition, especially the back seat. The new interior is in much better condition and also will lighten up the entire interior considerably - the only downside is that it has been taken out of a pov-pack Series3, so no electric adjustment for the seats and no timber inserts in the door trims - but I can live with this while the OEM seats & doortrims get re-done.

In some further good news - it looks like I can get the modified oil-pan directly from Dellow now. Back when the conversion info came with the kit - they recommended that a specific Camaro oil-pan be used, but modified for clearance to the cross-member and steering. Dellow Automotive have recently started building custom oil-pans for the LS1, which pretty much replicate the specs of the modded Camaro pan - so that makes this job that much easier. Its still about $600-odd bucks for the custom oil-pan though......

Xmas is just around the corner - I better pull the finger out. So can't wait to drive this rig down the coast for a hamburger !

Good shit!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great stuff Gos

Cant wait to see the beast when its done. Have you done anything to the LS1? A mild little cam would be nice

Haven't done anything to the donk mate - not yet anyway......one thing it has to get is some custom-built headers. Nobody offers anything off-the-shelf for this conversion, but my exhaust bloke is pretty confident he can knock up some good headers and a decent zorst without too much trouble. The MAF also needs to be ditched - these conversions use an OTR air-intake (see the pics of the Series 1 conversion). These 2 mods will help a lot with the breathing, so a mild cam really is something to think about.......got any tips for specs ?

Gosling1 wrote:Haven't done anything to the donk mate - not yet anyway......one thing it has to get is some custom-built headers. Nobody offers anything off-the-shelf for this conversion, but my exhaust bloke is pretty confident he can knock up some good headers and a decent zorst without too much trouble. The MAF also needs to be ditched - these conversions use an OTR air-intake (see the pics of the Series 1 conversion). These 2 mods will help a lot with the breathing, so a mild cam really is something to think about.......got any tips for specs ?

Sounds good. I'll check with Chris. The cam hes got in the Stroker is a reasonably mild street cam. Doesnt cause any issues with daily driving. Just with the Cam, full twin 3" exhaust, OTR intake and a decent tune, Chris got just under 300kw at the wheels. Some work on the heads got about another 20. When he stroked it he only got about an extra 16 but a bucketload of torque. To get the most out of the 383 it really needs a bigger cam but then probably wouldnt be so good on the street. The cam in it is nice though.

If you google 11 second vy ss a couple of youtube clips will come up. This is it before it was stroked. Its the red sedan at Eastern Creek.

Good work Gos . I have faith in seeing you drivin round in the Santa suit .

Hey Gos,

Try Dellow Automotive in Revesby,

I purchased a kit from them in 2002 for a 350 conversion, just had to fabricate a rear cross member for the Turbo 700.

thanks Glenno, I'll check out the young fella's style there is 1 really good shop down here that specialises in the LS1 family - have had a few recommendations to take the finished product out to him for final tuning & dyno etc....

the kid wrote:.....Good work Gos . I have faith in seeing you drivin round in the Santa suit . ......

good idea mate Yes I can picture that as well.....

thanks Zedex6 - Dellow used to do conversions for the older iron-block Chevs, this one is using an LS1. I got all the engine mounts and trans mount etc from a place called Jaguar Specialties in California. Great people to deal with.

I will be getting 1 part from Dellow though - the sump kit from ebay. Bit exxy but have to have this to do the conversion....

OK time for an update - a real one

Got into the Shagwah today, removed the old leather seats and replaced them with some seats I picked up off ebay a few months ago. These seats are out of a standard Series 3 XJ6 - velour seats - in really good nick - but no power seat fittings. Not to worry, these will do the job just fine while I sort out re-upholstering the OEM seats in some new leather......


So its out with the old ............





you can see how damaged the stitching is in the rear seat here - its basically all coming apart.....






and this is the damage to the front seats - not as bad but on the way out and in need of new upholstery.....






and in with the new










the whole changeover only took a couple of hours. I haven't changed any of the floor carpets, door trims or console and associated trim yet - all that stuff came up with the seats ( it was a 100% complete new interior for $600 from a Jag wrecker in Victoria) - the replacement door trims are OK but not Sovereign trims. The seats were the main items I was looking to change over.

Tomorrow will be ripping out the remainder of the old exhaust system and tidying up the boot - need a replacement spare tyre 'floor' section, the old one was stuffed. I also am hoping to finish replacing the headlight plugs - someone just cut them clean off with sidecutters not a big job but just another step closer.

Starter motor from ebay next pay and on we go..............

Those new seats are in great nick!! And you don't need 'leccy seats anyway Gos. Set and forget..... It's not like you're going to let anyone else drive it.

Some bastard probably used Dubin on the ol seats hey Gos ??

New seats do look tidy .

hmmmm been a while between drinks as they say

OK things have started getting serious in the House of Shag. Last couple of weekends have seen the old shitter up on ramps and pin-stands, so I can haul my fat arse underneath and shake things about. One job which had me worries - was replacing the large rubber damper mounts on the front cross-member. The cross-member has 4 rubber-bonded bushes which isolate the entire assembly from the chassis - and the mounting system looked really complex....

Need not have worried at all - the front bushes came out reasonably easy and worth the effort - both sides show signs of wear, probably due to the previous 350 conversion and leaving the OEM bushes in. Here are a couple of pics of the set-up ...

Front crossmember with flexible bush mounting - that round rubber thing with the holes in it




Close-up of the bush, with the chassis bolt fitted. This is a big-arse bolt which bolts through the chassis rail and into the bush. One of these bolts on each side, locates the entire front of the front cross-member to the body.




Here is a new rear rubber mount. This little jigger bolts to the chassis rail at the rear of the cross-member, then the cross-member is jacked up and into position, one large nut on each side bolts this rubber mount to the rear of the cross-member.




All done and dusted now. Really happy with that progress. Also - installed the auto to the back of the LS1 - with the good news being that the tripod I have used on every engine install since 1983 - fits under the garage roof !!! so I can do the complete install under cover, without having to bring in any external hoists etc.

The brake master cylinder was sent down to Melbourne last week to be reconditioned. There are no new ones available in the country.....

Both lines for the power-steering have been taken out - a local hose company has the high-pressure hose and is making me a custom hose which has the LS1 power steering fitting at the pump end, and the Jag fitting at the rack end. The entire front bumper bar ( a 3-piece arrangement of covers etc ) is all off the body now as well - I have a bit of tidying up to do behind the bumper bar......don't ask. The good news about the bumper being removed - is that the engine/trans will pretty much be able to be slid in almost horizontally when it comes time to fitting - none of this bullshit hang-everything-at-a-weird-angle stuff......

The conversion kit included all new polyurethane bushes for the steering rack - but the rack already has poly bushes fitted.......so I will wait until old mate Jag expert comes over tomorrow to see if they need replacing.........Chris used to work for the local Jag mechanical workshop here (Dunster Automotive) - and cut his teeth on all sorts of Jags - he is coming over tomorrow to go through the engine bay and help me list out every wire and fitting. I have already found a few fittings and what they do just from cleaning the bay and underbody (e.g all the anti-pollution fittings). But his knowledge of Jags should really help me tidy up the engine bay and be confident with the final wiring etc needed.

Old mate and his brother fitted an LS1 to a Mercedes coupe here in Canberra a few years ago, so he has a pretty good idea of what the tricks are when it comes to getting the conversion running properly....especially the motor side

The conversion kit also came with poly bushes for the upper and lower control arms on both sides and by the looks of the lower bushes on both sides - having some replacements will come in handy.

So - that is the latest update on the saga that is the Shagwah. I just got sick to death of looking at that body sitting there doing nothing - and have 3 graduations this year as an incentive to get the bastard finished !!! Will bung up some photos of the progress over the weekend......I still need the rear-hump sump conversion before the motor/trans can be lifted in and fitted - but things finally moving along now properly. Hallelujah

Good work mate, you'll have the old shitter growling soon me thinks.

Youll need to get it going soon before fuel prices spike again.

Good to hear its progressing....
It was that long ago I saw it in my driveway, I forgot all about it...