History
In 2012 I had an idea, to make myself and my family an awesome cruiser. I wanted to use a Jaguar of some description with only one stipulation from the good wife; it must have a nice loud V8. What was I to do? use a 350 Chev like every other Jaguar conversion? I decided to follow a different route. Having always been a huge fan of the Australian built 302ci Cleveland I thought, why not merge these two icons.
In late 2012 I swapped my series 1 XJ6 with her 2.8lt, 4 speed manual and electric overdrive for the 1963 Mark 10, it contained a Jaguar 6cyl engine with gearbox to match. The first thing to do was to rebuild the engine. I sourced a WELL used and clapped out old 302ci Cleveland for the magic price of $0 off a friend. I immediately stripped the engine to its bare block and inspected all parts for damage. The block, intake manifold and exhaust manifolds were all sent off to be bead blasted, honed, ported, polished and chemically cleaned. On receipt of the fresh clean block and associated parts the re-build began. It took me a little over 6 months on the weekends and several late nights in the shed to bring the beast back to life. I sourced a multi spark distributor and leads, stainless steel headers, valves, springs, rocker covers, VRS gasket kit, rings, big end bearings, a polished 650 Holley 4 barrel...well the list goes on, the crank and pistons are the only ‘old’ parts in the engine. Once complete the beast was kicked into life for the first time in 15 years, it purred like a kitten, all be it a very angry loud kitten. The engine and a matched and rebuild C4 gearbox were transported to a friends shed that contained the necessary tools, jacks and a great welder for the job.
The first thing we did was to remove the old engine to assess the engine bay and check for space and clearances. It was determined that even with the huge engine bay left by the old tractor sized engine and box, the fit would be tight due to the steering column and the position of the cross member. We hoisted the engine and box to check the fit in the engine bay, it was discovered that the extractors could not be used as they hit the steering column and the sump would need to be changed due to the cross member.
A Ford Bronco sump and pickup was sourced and fitted, the original exhaust manifolds were re-installed and the engine was once again re inserted to check for fit.
It a sigh of relief was briefly made. Now it was time to custom make some parts. It started both engine mounts. New mounts were made from thick steel, triple welded, bolted into the engine bay using plates on the other side of the chassis rail for extra support. A custom gearbox mount was made and installed into the tunnel. The radiator was leaking like a sieve so I made the decision to can it an sourced a triple core alloy radiator from an LS1 v8, made a mount and set it aside for later installation.
The fire wall was cut up a little and an amount on each side was re-claimed to allow good clearance of the custom made exhaust pipes on each side. The engine could now be installed completely for the first time. Looking at the engine in the bay for the first time was amazing, I was one step closer to my dream.
The engine was removed, engine bay tidied up, cleaned down and prepped. Once the engine was re-installed for the last time, the tail shaft was measured and taken to a fabricator to be shortened and a C4 yoke fitted to suit the gearbox. Before the tail shaft was re-installed the rear end was dropped and re furbished with new bushes, shocks, springs and a full brake overhaul was completed.
The day had finally arrived. The engine was now bolted hard into the bay, the tail shaft and rear end were in also, wheels went on and we gave it a spin. She drove nicely, but there was something missing. I realised that there was no mufflers fitted. The car was raised, the rear end removed and custom diff cage pipes were constructed for the diff jump. Once the read rend was re-installed, a pair of red back mufflers were fitted and the car finally sounded like I wanted it to. Once all this was completed, the fuel tanks were removed, fully cleaned and the fuel pumps overhauled. The interior was cleaned up, a v8 Tachometer inserted into the Mk 10 Housing and an XJ6 series 2 shifter installed to the tip of the tunnel.
It was driven this way for about 1 year. It was then decided to paint and panel the car. Although she was over 50 years old, the rust was very minor. The shed was quickly converted into a paint booth and the panel work was commenced. The white colour was kept but a modern Brilliant white was used with clear coat containing 3 coats of blue ghost pearl to catch the sun.
The car is now complete and enjoying the life of a weekend car that rarely reaches 3000rpm, the family love the car and the kids are always happy to take a drive in the noisy car we named ‘Grace’.
Modifications
all engine components are new, all engine and gearbox mounts cons trusted by myself and a mate. New alloy radiator a thermo fans, the list is too long really
