Long stud straight port head....or short?

[Wilder]

With an October '69 car you're on the cusp of the camshaft and potential clearances changes so if you're so keen to get everything right and your engine number is lower than 7R8688 you need a head with the original camshafts and 4/6thou valve clearances.

Thanks John, I am getting a couple of phone calls tomorrow, one from a dealer with a complete engine (long block) so I will run the points you raise with him.

[christopher storey]

I have now looked at the photographs of the block. This engine as a whole has nothing to do with an E type. It has the vertically ribbed block which came in with the Series 3 XJ6 and IIRC has engine numbers which have an 8 prefix

[Dawnpatrol]

Hi,
This might be an old fashioned way of differentiating parts, but are the head part numbers still visible on the head face on the inlet side? They could be raised as in cast in or ground off and re stamped if the head was updated during the machining process.
Also, what year / month build is the car, the production changes can be tracked through the bulletins.

Michael

[Wilder]

I have now looked at the photographs of the block. This engine as a whole has nothing to do with an E type. It has the vertically ribbed block which came in with the Series 3 XJ6 and IIRC has engine numbers which have an 8 prefix

Chris, I am not sure what you are saying here..The block has the correct engine number on the flange /left side of the bell-housing where it should be, and the engine in its unrestored state had not been touched for many years....the engine number is a 7R number with a -9 compression reference at the end of it.
I have compared the picture of this block with a S2 restored engine done by E type UK, and they are identical on both the inlet and exhaust side. Perhaps I am missing something, but I scrutinized both very carefully.
PS:
I have been to the engineering company today, and they removed the paint from the engine number . We examined the bevel diameter, the number size and font (comparing it to other Jaguar stamped numbers), the surrounding metal it was stamped into, and are satisfied that it is 100% correct and has neither been altered, or ground out and re-stamped.

[christopher storey]

Unless it is an artefact in the picture, the block in your photograph looks to have the vertical ribs adjacent to the core plugs which were only present in the S3 XJ6 block ( and some of the military engines ) . If those ribs are present , and not just a quirk of the photograph, then this is an engine produced long after the 6 cylinder Es finished in 1971, and has been re-numbered to suit , which is,sadly, by no means unkown. It would at least explain why you have an S3 head

PS I have now blown the pictures up, and the vertical marks look more like some sort of reflection, although from what is not apparent. Feeling the block is conclusive - the ribs stand proud by about 5mm . If they are not there then disregard entirely what I have said

[Wilder]

Hi Chris, yes they are a reflection...The gloss paint was a lot more reflective than I think was used looking at another block that I saw there today.