Jaguar XJ6 IFS - A-body swap...

[4mulaSvaliant]

OK guys and gals.... Please put down the pitchforks and torches! rotest:

Before I get started I must mention, I have now done several "updated" front suspension swaps and lots of fabrication like this, so this thought is not without some experience backing it.

SO, I am right in the middle of installing a 1986 Jaguar XJ6 IFS in a 1957 Ford F100 truck. So far (about 75% done) it has been such a ridiculously easy swap that I couldn't help but wonder what else it would lend itself to.

Naturally my 69 Valiant which desperately needs disc brakes and a new steering gear came to mind.


SO here are some basics about the XJ XJ12 has a much heavier spring rate for the V12 and is not desirable.

Date range: Something like 1974 all the way through 1998 are donors with little changes among them. I'd need to better confirm that however. I do know that the mid 80's versions are great donors.

Power rack and pinion steering: These of course have metric fittings, but the pump is a standard GM PS pump after about 86 which also has metric fittings. So hoses are not hard to come by as an off the shelf part.

4 piston calipers: Obviously nice to have..

Coil Spring suspension: I am not going to argue about which suspension system is better, but I will say that the amount of coil springs on the market far outweigh the amount of torsion bar options. This will make custom ride height just as adjustable as the torsion bars.

Also, the spring pockets in the Jaguar cradle lend themselves very well to airbags with very little modification if thats you "bag" (pun intended) :tool:

Wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface: 59.5"

Bolt pattern: 5 x 4.75, Typical GM passenger car pattern, so wheel options are huge. But the rotors have plenty of meat to redrill as our mopar patterns too.

Installation: So here is the deal... The Jag cradle has a flat plane that your frame rails sit on (when all is "zeroed out") meaning level (no rake). The width between the Spring towers allows roughly 34" wide frame rails with minor modification.

Factory replacement parts are very available at most parts places. The big, huge, monumental deal............. These cars are DIRT cheap!!!!

Below are a few images of the current install I am doing on the Ford truck.

Anyone have any experience?

All the white painted items are not needed and were cut off.

All cleaned up..

Pre fit... I am well past this now...

 

[65 Dartman]

Subscribed!

 

[mischiefdart]

I have a '94 XJ12 with the 6 liter motor and I am having similar dimented thoughts as to what to do with it. The motor and drivetrain are all in working order. Mine has the outboard rear brakes which are much easier to service. I was thinking maybe a '62 Valiant or Lancer would be interesting as the V12 would not sound that much different than a /6

 

[RustyRatRod]

You have some imagination and cool fab skills, I have to say that.

 

[arveeotto]

NO!!!!! not in a Mopar!,,,,now that that's out of the way. Great idea, nice to see different thoughts on how to do rack and pinion swaps. I have seen many CV F100 swaps, a first for me to see Jag swap, thanks for the info. Keep up the good work.

 

[dukeboy440]

Interesting concept. Subscribed

 

[4mulaSvaliant]

I am interested to know if anyone has done this or put much thought into it. I plan to set my car as low as possible, so my next measurements to take will be from the ground to the "flat plane" that the frame rails will sit on. That will be key of course, but if the car sits too low, you could certainly make spacers to sit up high enough.
You could potentially build this cradle to bolt in just as our factory K-frames do as well.

Of course a multitude of clearance issues may arise..
Headers, oil pan, steering, etc..

Anyone know the wheel mounting surface to surface dimensions on our A-bodies?

 

[72bluNblu]

Here are your track widths. Listed for both the +73 cars and the '72 down cars. That's NOT a mounting face to mounting face measurement, but rather the track width which also involves the backspacing of the rims. It should be fairly close, you can see the rear track is different from the 57 1/8" drum face to drum face that's listed for the A-body 8 3/4's.

Seems like a lot of work to end up with '70's technology, but that's how I feel about the coilover conversions too (they're a Mustang II design!). Realistically it's generous to call either of those designs '70's tech too, they go back further than that.

But from a fabrication standpoint I think it's awesome just to see it done. If executed properly the result shouldn't handle any worse at least, and it opens some doors as far as some of the additional components go too. And really the biggest advantage is the same as the coilover conversions, rack and pinion steering and more room for headers. But it should be a lot cheaper than that if you can do the work yourself.

 

[Greg55_99]

Not an A body (F-body), but you MAY have to start out with something like this with 2x4" steel tube to stiffen the rails and give you something to weld on.

Greg

 

[HemiDenny]

It looks like a rear steer ........just raised the degree of difficulty by 4.

Tuff enough to stuff a front steer in. The BFH's are usually in the bottom drawer.

Good luck,
Denny