TECH...well sorta... JAG IFS into mid fifties F100

My local parts house gets all the parts for me no problem. Never looked for a all encompassing kit though.

 

here is a link to the place were we get the most parts.

https://www.sngbarratt.com/profile/holland.asp

see ya

twan

 

Oh boy.. lots of places.

http://www.welshent.com

http://www.xks.com

http://www.coventrywest.com

http://www.jagbits.com

http://www.terrysjag.com

I've used those guys before (OT I'm into Jags)

rockauto.com has stuff too.. I looked and they had Quinton Hazell and Moog ball joints. If you wanna go nuts you might look into a Harvey Bailey Engineering setup, but that gets pricey.

 

The steering rack IS where you want upgraded bushings, come to think of it www.johnscars.com if they're still around does a nice setup for them if I do remember right.

The rack bushings are a real weak spot on XJS/S1-S3 cars. As far as complete kits go, it's rare for a Jaguar to need a whole front end rebuild. Contrary to popular belief, these are really well engineered cars. I have seen them with upwards of 200k on the original ball joints.

 

X2. You want the stock bushings everywhere except for the steering rack bushings, where you want the John's poly bushings.

 

My daily driver is a series 3.
Rubber bushes and all.
Rides brilliantly.
No need to change a thing from OEM.

 

I would think the ride is gonna be a bit softer than OEM with air bags in place of the coils. I will go rubber on the control arms and poly on the steering rack and sway bar. The front end I have has been worked on before. The ball joints are different. Only really looked at the two uppers, but one has a zerk fitting on top, the other doesn't. To be safe, I will just replace all 4. Maybe repack the wheel bearings as well. I found rebuild kits for the steering rack as well but may leave it and see how it is before fooling with it. Thanks for the links, that Welsh Ent. seems like the prices are fair.

 

My DD is an XJS. Poly on the steering rack and sway bars. Rubber on the control arms.

The rubber front bushes work well on these cars because they are not the big mooshy pillows typical of a US design. The rubber is a smaller proportion of the bushing with steel inserts carrying much of the load, so going poly doesn't net you much gain, IMO.

I bought a complete suspension kit from Ebay for mine and just did another search. Found several kits with all bushing and four new ball joints for under $200.

You definitely want the poly or even solid aluminum on the steering. The bushes are oriented with the bushes in line with the steering force. The OEM design flexes a lot. When new, the steering feels like it is mounted in a soft sponge. As the bushes age, that sponge turns to pudding and the steering will feel like its not connected to the chassis at all. Poly eliminates that soft play and sharpens up the steering response.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Were you happy with the quality of the eBay ball joints and bushings?

 

Most of the Jag experts hang out here it seems. This thread has totally changed my opinion on the Jag front end. I will definatly be putting one in the new truck I'm getting. Thanks for the info. Does anyone know much about the IRS's I would like my truck to be able to preform like a truck. I don't see it hauling a yard of gravel, but I would like it to be able to handle pulling a car trailer with a car on it and bed load of swap meet parts. I'm looking at a 90 XJS cheap thats missing the motor and tranny. Any bits off it that might help to offset the cost of purchase that Jag guys would want?

 

Have a look at my build up below and you can see how I have done it to suit the pickup. You need to stand the shocks more upright than if you were doing a coup. This will let them carry a load a bit better.

 

Last time I looked at your post you had just recovered the truck. I'll be watching yours closely. Won't standing them straight up take some of the "triangulation" out of them making handling worse. Yeah I want my cake and eat it too

 

If the interior is any good you might be able to sell it (or parts of it). The A/C from a 1990 model might bring some money as its different to the pre 1988 cars. Being an XJS rather than XJ6 it will probably have an LSD rear end in it, but check before you fork out funds. If it was a V12 car the gear shifter will bolt straight to any Turbo 400 and work better than most aftermarket ones. The radiator will be huge (and heavy) - don't let it get scrapped with the shell. Also, somewhere there is a Jag owner looking for every individual switch in the car

 

I'm gonna try to go manual tranny but thats a good tip on the shifter. I would probably strip it to a bare shell and have that crushed. but take all wires switches gauges etc.. out. hell I might even use the bucket seats to get me on the road. toddc what do you think about the rear being truck duty rated? You seem to have used a lot of Jags

 

It depends how big a truck. F1 to F2 ok, F3 probable pushing it. These rear ends hold up a jag (which is bloody heavy) and they are pretty strong as far as HP is concerned. A friend of mine has 500 hp punching through his and he is hard on it he has a lighter car though. A 9inch with a jag front is still a good option if you want a truck duty. One of these will just make it ride like a Jag. I am doing mine more as an experiment in the effy. I have only seen one other like mine with a Jag rear in it and it still isn't on the road yet.

Todd may have a different view but I asked a lot of questions before I started as it is a lot of work for something you could achieve simialr results with a ford 9 inch with.

Best of luck with your decision.

 

I've only worked with stock geometry Jag rear ends, so can't really comment. I do know that an XJ6 makes a bloody awful tow car, but I suspect that is becuase the hitch ends up being so far behind the rear axle more than anything else.

 

Couldn't you just get some coilovers with stouter spings and shocks?

 

Not always, lots of variables, bags if set up correct can give you a nice firm ride.

 

Thanks guys. I don't have either the truck or jag at home yet. The truck is a 47 Ford!

 

Not sure I've seen a Jag IRS bagged. Guess if it's out of the cage.... why not. That would give you a way to carry a load for sure.

 

I've see a couple fronts done, but only one rear, it was done with Shock Waves. Not a cheap way to do things, but effective.

 

Hey fitzee.............IF YOU HAVE TO ASK !
Youse can't afford it !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I paid $850. fer the complete suspension, an, anutter $150 fer The Rack (complete) then haulded it 600 miles for
TrioxinKustoms (west BG Va. ) To Install.......Yes, that's the Biggest and Best Custom Shop in Romney !
55 miles frum Winchester, Va.
___________________________________________________________________
"See How IT Runs "..................
Smoked Up, again, Intha' Great Smokey Mountains ah' Tennessee , ahh damn !
Smile

 

They were the same brit labeled parts I've gotten from SNG Barrett. Not sure of the origin, but they've been good up to this point. Loads better than the worn out parts they replaced.

 

So for the longest time I've been debating how I was gonna solve my wheel versus the Jag hub problem. Machine the hub shoulder down. Run a spacer to keep my wheel off the shoulder. Open up the wheel holes to clear the shoulder. I've waited months and months as I wasn't sure what route to take. Well, I decided to bag my Jag frontend and have been working on it. I was at a rod shop pricing out bag mounting plates and ended up buying some spacers for the wheels. All excited, I went home to see if they worked. Guess I never tried my Centerlines on the Jag front???? They fit no problem without spacers!!!! Did I really not try them before? What a rookie move.

 

My centrelines fit on OK as well.
What Bag set up are you going with?

 

I ordered up the Slam Specialties SS-6 bags. I already made the lower mounting plates, now I just need to get the bags and figure out the top mounts. Thanks to ORN for showing me how easy it is to bag these Jags. I'm pretty much doing what he did but I made my own plates after seeing what they charge for them. Total ripoff! I'm gonna do the top mounts a little different than he did as well. With the Jag crossmember 6.3" off the ground, what I read was correct from the factory, I have 7" from the top and bottom plates. The bags I'm using have a range of 2.7"- 11". I'm trying to set it up so that the bag is in the middle of it's stroke at proper ride height. I'll post pics asap.

 

Hey cool.
Pics and any other info like measurements would be good.

 

Finally got around to fitting the bags in the frontend. I had modified the lower spring mount the way Orn did and had been looking at the top mount trying to figure out how I wanted to make it. The top and bottom plate are angled away from each other so when you compress it between the surfaces, it squeezes one side of the bag more than the other. I didn't like it so I made angled top cups/mounts to take away the angle up top. Now the bag sits straight up and down. Then I cut the bottoms out of the lower spring mounts and corrected the angle that was in them so that the top and bottom mounting surfaces are now perpendicular to each other. I still need to clean them up to match as best as possible and weld in the mounting studs in the upper cups. Drill the mounting and drain holes. I'll post a couple pics when I mount the bags back in. First pics are the upper mounts. The front end is upside down, obviously.

 

The lower mounts. First pic is how I first did it. Just flat plate welded to the bottom.

 

I ground down the outer welds but left all the welds on the inside untouched. I can't imagine these not being strong enough. I went through an entire roll of wire building them!!!