The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Project XJ-PU V12

Yeah, I used a 455 Buick because it's different and I can make good power with doing little work. Hot rodding is all about what you have access to and what you can save from the dumpster and use on your car. Your project looks awesome!

"ITS ALIVE"
Fired up the V12 in the truck yesterday on the third crank it roared into life at half throttle and scared the sh...stuff out of me, a faulty TPS and a few air leaks fixed it calmed down sounds good with no pipes on, now I have a few oil and water leaks to take care of before I select drive on the transmission

What type of van are the seats from? They seem to fit very well.

They are the middle seats from a town & Country mini van stow and go, I removed all the stow and go mountings and made the brackets to get the right height, I wanted black leather and I just could not find a leather bench seat that would fit plus the seats are brand new and they were cheap

The first startup is always exciting. Even more so when the revs take off on you unexpectedly! I hadn't checked your pics lately. The "saddle" tanks are a good idea. Did you fab them? And the seats look nice, but maybe their backs are too verticle for me. I lounge some.

They are poly 10 gallon tanks need to link the two with a pipe some how and fit the filler neck and sender units, the seats are a bit tall gives more of a sit up and beg position

Check out the video

Very nice running engine. Smooth. Really nice chassis and with modern touches throughout the entire build.

A "Hot Rod" is any vehicle made fast using parts from "anything" that will make it fast. Look at the rods from the 40's and 50's, now that was some wild cars and truck "invented" then. I think that XJ-Chevy is cool.

Steve,Moff's rod is nearly all Jaguar.

yep a lot of Jaguar stuff in there but there is some GM the ignition amp is the HEI in a different package, GM Turbo 400 transmission in a different case, Dana rear again differnt setup so not so differant than your average hotrod ;-)

Ok. I learned something new.

Well if they had all the cool stuff we have now, I believe it would have been used then. You "are" right, thats why I called it the XJ-Chevy. The motor sounds great. Should be fun to drive. Moff has done some nice work so far. I'm about as far along with mine as he is.

Moff, where did you get your tanks at? Might be easier to put a fill neck on each one.

I think I got them from Speedway the thing is I have the fuel pump drawing fuel from the R/hand tank up to the fuel rail and the return through a cooler into the L/hand tank if I do not link the tanks I could end up with one empty tank and one full tank and no fuel at the injectors ;-( but I am open to any ideas at this stage once I cut the holes in the tanks there is no going back!

It might be a silly question, but why not return the fuel to the right tank? Using an elect. bypass swith. you could do the same to the left tank, you may have to use 2 switches. You could rig up the left fuel gauge to a relay that would turn an elect. fuelpump on, to pump it back to the right tank, then you could conect them at the top. Less chance of a leak that way. This way you could only fill one tank though. In the early 70's toyota used a small bypass valve just after the fuel pump so when the carb. float was closed, it just went back to the tank. I did this to my 53 1/2 T and it works. Not sure with a fuel rail. Just some thoughts. I like the way those tanks fit.

No such thing as a silly question only a silly answer, but your right I could use one as a reserve tank and use a change over valve or as you suggest use a float to circulate the fuel, I was trying to keep this simple but it always gets complicated but great fun though, thanks for the idea ;-)

Depending on your fuel flow here are two 6 port valve options that will allow you to run off of 2 tanks and return to the same tank as you draw from. Which In my mind is the safest way to go, no risk of over running one tank because of a failed valve, plugged line, or carelessness.

Pollack 6 port valve

Groco manual 6 port valve

If I ever run dual tanks on my truck I'll use the Groco. Wish I had found them when I was plumbing my fuel system, would have installed one from the start.

Grigg

A friend of mine use to have a 78-79 f--d 3/4 ton camper special with a main and aux. tanks. It had a switch on the dash that selected which tank and also switched the fuel tank sender so you knew how much fuel was in each tank using 1 fuel gauge on the dash.( Each tank had a fuel sender in it ) In your case, you could two valves, one for feed and the other for return. Maybe someone on here can say if Chevy ran two fuel tanks.

Thanks for the feed back guys, Grigg I like the Pollak valve has the internal switch for the fuel gauge senders only thing is I wanted to keep it simple now its more involved and twice the expence with two senders, two filler necks and twice the pipework but I think it will be worth doing it this way less risk of leaking fuel

That Pollak valve seems to be the trick. If all this was easy, it would'nt drive you crazy, then how could you have any fun? Good luck with it. I'll keep watching.

I don't mind hi-tech or complex systems I am really into that kinda thing but the Jaguars had a bad rep for reliability mainly due to its constant change in management and trying meeting emission regulation here in the US which meant a lot of add on systems.
This build I have tried to simlyfy things but safety over rules that process and I agree the Pollak looks like the way to go, been messing with tin posted a few more pics

Fitted my Christmas present from the wife today and it works like a charm

That shifter looks great - and so does everything else!

What kind of shifter is that? Lokar?

yes its a Lokar shifter

Managed to repair and paint my damaged frame cross members just need to find a bed next, posted some pictures in the album.

As I mentioned before, I've seen one Jag inline 6 in a truck years ago, but seeing your V12 install in your open engine bay pic, well I'm just awed. Even following your build through your posts and pics, it's still amazing you pulled this off so neatly.
what a winner!

Thanks Drew I set out to keep it clean and simple and in the most part I achieved that, still a lot to do but its getting there

I have the Virginia Jaguar Club (VJC) visiting my garage in a couple of weeks to see the truck, word has got around about the 1940 Chevy truck with a Jaguar V12 engine. They are having a meeting,brunch and then the gear heads are heading to my place for a technical viewing session, not to sure what to expect I will just wait and see.

That's cool. I wouldn't worry how it goes, but you can gives us a report on your "grade".

Well the VJC turned up in convoy 14 people 4 wives, 6 gear heads and 4 disbelievers. The wives hustled into the warm house for tea and coffee, I was introduced by the Vice President of the club who I know, I gave a run down on the truck and its technical layout the gear heads were taking pictures of every nut and bolt and firing questions left right and center, the disbelievers were still shaking there heads. Then came the time to fire her up I looked at there faces eyes wide open in anticipation a push on the start button and the V12 roared into life the open mouths turned to big smiles I let it warm up a little then cracked the throttle a few times up to 3000 revs with no exhaust pipes it thundered a very loud roar which pleased the crowd. Gear heads happy, disbelievers amazed a big thumbs up from everyone with a 10 out of 10

What's not to like? I was impressed with the vidio. It's the neetest rod I've seen in a while. Could it class as a Rat rod? Drew, are you almost done with yours? I,m gettin close. Steve

Not sure where you draw the line Steve its just a collection of my ideas put into practice, not to fussy about paint as long as its not too rusty and its all about the engineering with me making things work with what you have available.

you have a lot of talent
did you know that the server on your home page is not working...

Thanks,
yep its down I have my business on the back burner for now so I have suspended the site for the time being.

I was just wondering. Not trying to pin anything down. I feel the same way you do, about my truck. I just want to drive it and have fun. Well I think you've done a great job and I'd like to see it run sometime. Maybe we will meet at a show or swap meet sometime. Richmond is not that far from Baltimore. Did you ever get that gastank thing straightend out? Steve

No problem Steve its a valid point and I can see where your coming from, I know what I want to do with it now but like many things it depends on other elements like the bed, I have the Pollak valve mounted which was a great suggestion off this site.
I need to make a plate for the top of each tank to hold the fuel lines, sender units and filler necks but that takes more money so it will have to wait a while.
I went to the hotrod show in Fredericksburg I really enjoyed that show some great creations and cars good fun, maybe see you there with the trucks.

cheers

Be careful with the Pollack valve and make sure you test it so that you know it's working. My dad had 2 of the electric valves fail before he put a manual one in with the handle just below the driver. Of course this left him stranded.

I got my front fenders fitted and the running boards had to make some adapter plates and spacers, I raised the cab at the front by about an inch and that meant I had to raise the running board which in turn moved the holes for mounting the fenders talk about a knock on effect but it turned out ok in the end, put some pics in the album, coming along now will soon be running around the yard once the weather picks up.