2012-05-10 07:27:38 | pauls writes:

Ebay item 5/10/12
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1983-Jaguar-XJS-Professional-LT-1-Conversion-Automatic-T ...
Opening bid $1,000, no reserve no bids 6 days left in auction.

Sellers description:
This no-reserve auction offers a 1983 Jaguar XJS, white exterior and light tan interior, with a 1985 Corvette LT-1 motor and a Corvette J-4 automatic transmission. This car is nice...rust free, clean, and fast, fast, fast! We realize that Jag XJS cars don't always fetch high prices so we set the opening bid low enough for buyers that may only be interested in the Corvette drive train.

My client loves fast cars but he isn't a gear head (neither am I), so I'll give you a brief history and description of everything we know.

My client wanted a Jaguar XJS for nearly 10 years, and when he was finally ready to purchase one, he found this car in San Francisco, CA in 1998. It was listed in Hemmings Motor News.

This car lived in California until 1998. It's completely rust free. The previous owner had all of the conversion work done professionally in San Francisco. The previous owner was a retired British mechanical engineer. And the only reason he was selling this unit is because he was doing another restoration on a newer, 1990's XJS. Can a guy ask for a more ideal owner to supervise the modifications?! He saved everything...all of the schematics, receipts, documentation... everything!

Now on to the conversion... The conversion was based on a "John's Cars" kit. It has a 1985 Corvette LT-1 TPI engine with a mild cam. It has a 1985 Corvette J-4 automatic transmission with a shift kit. The motor and tranny had around 35,000 miles on them when they were installed. They also did the following: brand new water pump, new serpentine drive belt, new alternator, new battery, new hoses, new Pontiac Firebird radiator, new AC compressor (cfc free), new oxygen sensor, new brake master cylinder, 1989 XJS molded leather steering wheel (only made for one year), and later model headlights. The entire Lucas electrical system was gone through and the connections were soldered. No fires here!

My friend purchased this car and drove it to from California to Minnesota in 1998. He informed me that he got it up to 150 with no problem and it wasn't even close red line!

My client estimates that he put less than 2,000 miles on the car since he got it back to Minnesota. He cruised around the Twin Cities the first two summers. After the speedo went out (more on that later), it sat parked the rest of its life...other than starting it every couple of months and driving around the block or to the convenience store to keep things lubed.

The first thing that happened in Minnesota was that all of the light bulbs started to go out. So my client replaced ALL of the bulbs in the entire car. The next summer he undercoated it with the best undercoating company in Minneapolis. They steam cleaned it and used a waxy type material (he doesn't remember the name); they didn't drill any holes. He had the windows tinted in compliance with Minnesota Law, which is only 20%. The next summer the brakes started to drip so he had a rear gasket kit installed and the pads replaced all around.

The second summer the wiper motor went out and the speedo went out. This is when he, basically, stopped driving the car around. The speedo deserves special explanation since this car is a ticket waiting to happen! It will need to be fixed. The tranny drive gear for the speedo went out and when they went in to fix it, the cap was stripped. The modern factory cap was longer (or higher) and it didn't fit because of the tight tolerances between the tranny and the Jag body. The only solution was to find a 1985 (or older) cap or to (according the John's Cars) buy a "buffer" box and go all electronic, like a modern Vette. The repair dudes tied the speedo cable up under the car, it fell down, it got chopped up by the road, etcetera, etcetera.

Last fall my client was going to post this car on E-Bay and he spent $1500 on the following work: professional paint touchup, detailing, complete tune-up and fluid replacement, new gas lines (the old ones were cracked).

In the interest of full disclosure, this is a list of the only bad things we could find on this car: the speedo is out, the wiper motor is out, the automatic antenna is bent and needs replacement, the third brake light cover (after-market) needs to be re-attached, the passenger side fog light has a hole in it, the lower valence has a small chip (from hitting a rabbit), the interior wood is starting to crack here and there, the interior leather is excellent but a couple of the seams are starting to separate, and there are some chips here and there on the paint...to be expected on a 29 year old car!