Engines

[grb90]

Afternoon all. I have been offered what is described as a "Daimler 4.2 straight 6 efi engine" complete but without ecu... for a "couple of hundred quid"! This is through a friend who always seems to be in the right place at the right time and comes up with some crazy bargains.. one of life's lucky dogs.. so it's nothing dodgy from that point of view. More info to come my way.
Is this just a standard Jag / Daimler unit with interchangeable parts? Does it have the big valve head that improves the 4.2 engine? In the fullness of time my plan is to go EFI on my S2 with a Mangoletsi/Jenvy/Emerald type set up. Would the Daimler EFi camshaft work better than the standard Federal spec engine camshaft?
All thoughts appreciated as ever..
Many Thanks
Guy

[politeperson]

Sounds good to me. The head alone is worth a few hundred quid.

It all even better if it is a 9:1 compression ratio engine and is from a manual car so has a flywheel. That alone is a few hundred quid too.

I should have larger inlet valves and a slightly sprightlier cam shaft with bigger ports and thicker casting.

A big valve engine number should be higher than the engine number 8L50476

The bottom end should be stronger too.

You can check pout what it is with the engine number.

Does it turn freely? Is their oil in the sump that is a sensible color? Do the spark plugs look normal?

You never know, it might not even need rebuilding. Having said that it should take less than an hour off to take off the head as long as the studs are not corroded. Then you can check the bores and the valves properly.

To go from a saloon to an e type it will need engine mounts, sump, dip stick and tube water pump, exhaust manifolds and carbs with manifold.

The cheapest way to sort E type induction is to buy a complete Stromberg setup with manifold. These go for not a great deal on ebay and fit the E types frames. That is £200 gone. So that will allow you to fit the engine and test it in an E type. A full Jenvey Setup with EFI with something like an Emerald K6 ECU will be in the region of £5,000, but worth it.

[mgcjag]

Is your car registered.........if it is then you will have to notify dvla of an engine change....thus could flag up an inspection and depending on age of engine a loss of its "historic" status......similar if its not registeted then when you do an inspection is not unusual to check all components are correct......the engine will stand out as not an E type engine if the inspector knows what he,s looking at and registration could be refused......so some thinking needed......also when you sell it on the enging could cause problems....Steve

[grb90]

Morning Gentlemen. Thank you for your helpful replies. All good. The car is still on a NOVA so I take on board what you say about mods etc. I have a reason to phone DVLA so may ask some clarification on that side of things. I know with old LR's they have/had a point based system for keeping originality but that's for Meccano cars! I get that E type classic may be a bit different.! So worth noting. Thank you. I had considered using original block and combining best bits of both but reading what you say James, will consider using the whole short engine as it clearly has advantages. ( legalities notwithstanding ) Of course I would still keep the original engine complete and stored should the day come I have to sell...
However, as I haven't heard back from said friend and I'm still only as far as getting the new floor in I'm not getting too excited! But thank you both for your insights.
ATB Guy
PS... By way of a footnote, The Home Office was looking over my shoulder the other day and noted that there is no Welsh flag in the Smilies section.... She wanders if this is an oversight or a deliberate policy!..

[mgcjag]

Hi Guy.....there are many other contries flags not in the Smilies......you can have it displayed in your profile if you edit it .....Steve

[christopher storey]

I had considered using original block and combining best bits of both but reading what you say James, will consider using the whole short engine as it clearly has advantages.

The short engine will offer you no advantages and will look obviously non-standard with the vertical ribs on the block : the only substantive advantage of an efi engine is that the head has slightly bigger valves than the earlier straight port heads

[Joes66]

Actually there are many differences between the late and early 4.2 blocks
The late series 3 xj6 engines have many technological upgrades over the early engines
Internal water ways and cylinder head design just being two of them
Jaguar overcame many design problems of the early engines in the later engines
Its a good engine and probably the way to go if your on a budget and don't have the original engine
There are many hundreds if e types running around with them fitted for obvious reasons
Cheap to buy and better than the original
Jaguar dident fit incrementally worse engines!
Visually they are almost identical as well unless your going to start searching for the vertical ribs on the engine block
But honestly who cares?
Its a better engine.........
If you want originality then fine go find an original engine and spend the thousands its going to cost
Otherwise the xj6 series three big valve head engine is frankly a no brainer
Joe

[christopher storey]

The late series 3 xj6 engines have many technological upgrades over the early engines

Fascinating. I never knew that. What are they ?

[PeterCrespin]

Extra waterways, Larger pump and block water passage.
Larger ports and valves. Valve seals and lighter spring retainers and collets.
Improved cam oiling, relief valve & spin-on filter block.
Improved con rods and fasteners.
Nitrided crank (check Haynes XJ6 engine number note)
Quieter cams (same effective lift).
Lighter solid-skirt stronger pistons with modern oil rings.
Superior head clamping and force distribution into block.
Improved harmonic damper and far easier timing pointer.
Improved cam cover crack resistance.
Electronic distributor.
Other

All introduced over time but all present on Series 3 XJ 4.2

[christopher storey]

Thanks for that, peter. I think some of those e.g. clamping force , conrods and fasteners, larger water passages etc long pre-date the 8L engines, but useful to know nonetheless