When the Mechanic is Ready, the Car Will Appear
Then my friend John called me a couple weeks ago saying that there was a 1996 Chevrolet Caprice ex-police car on Craig's list for $800. John like Caprice station wagons, and
all their variants. He has a number of them right now. I don't want to be too specific
because I'm not sure what he has told his wife. Anyway, for some reason this banged-up
beater Caprice had a desireable aftermarket hood on it, which would allow John to build
up a Hearst-edition wagon. We went down to Miramar or wherever it was, talked them down
to $700, and drove it back up to my house. Actually John drove it back, with no tag.
We had one close encounter with the law, but he didn't stop us. I followed John in my
car, and I could see the car wallowing and bouncing. I forgot to mention that the
brakes were spongy. Really spongy, so I wasn't worried about following too closely.
John called me a couple times on the way to describe the metal-on-metal grinding he
could hear everytime he hit a good bump. He was still able to get it up to 90 mph with
no trouble.
The Recipient
So now I had a car with a strong-running LT1 and 4L60E transmission in my yard. Obviously
I needed a donor recipient. I started looking on Craig's list. I found a couple
candidates. The first one was a 1991 Jaguar XJS convertible located about three miles
from my house. I really wasn't interested in a Jaguar, but Linda convinced me to go
look at it. It was in fairly good shape for having sat for five years. The paint was
peeling on the hood, but otherwise it looked good. One little rust spot, and the
driver's seat needed some frame and upholstery work. We told the guy we would call him,
and left. On the way home Linda was surprisingly interested in the car. She really
wanted me to drag home another POS car, which was a first. So that night I checked out
Jaguar conversions on the internet. The more I read, the better I liked it. It seems
like the most popular engine swap out there. There was a lot of information, and a lot
of conversion parts. Apparently the usual decision process goes like this:
Mechanic: "You need a new V12 engine for your Jaguar."
Customer: "How much will that cost?."
Mechanic: "Eleventy-gazillion dollars."
Customer: "Could you put in a cheaper engine please?."
I have a long, straight commute down the turnpike to work, and a 4000 pound sportscar
seemed like just the thing. Plus Linda liked the car. So the next day I went back and
bought it. I had a little difficulty getting it towed back to my house, but in a
couple days I had two old cars parked in my backyard.
Time to get to work! |
