I decided to replace the original normally aspirated 4.2L engine with a Supercharged 4.0L engine from an X300 XJR.
Why would you want to do that you might ask?
Well a number of reasons as per below:
- The car is of little financial value and with the amount of restoration already taken place and still required it cannot be considered original so why not?
- Considering the state of the cylinder heads, a complete engine rebuild is probably the best way forward but will cost a few hundred pounds at least
- It will be something a little different from even the very few Series 2 XJ6s I occasionally come across
- I have seen an E-type with the same engine so I am not necessarily the only person considering this
- It will be more of a challenge to sort out all the electronics and associated issues
- The X300 XJRs do rust a fair bit and so a complete car can be purchased for a silly amount of money!
So a few ground rules!
- Limit the amount of modifications to the car so it can be undone reasonably easily and retain any parts swapped out – keep the original engine & gearbox for example
- Limit the amount of holes drilled in the chassis where possible
- Limit the outwardly visible changes to a minimum
- discrete addition of some kind of XJR badge and maybe 4.0 instead of 4.2
- use same wheels
- It may be nice to add all of the features of the newer car but there is a point that you need to stop!
I therefore went and purchased a 1996 XJR from that well known online auction site for just over £750 and with new enthusiasm the challenge really begins!
