Updated: 05-09-23
Here we have a nearly ground up engine and gearbox rebuild. We purchased this engine from a well known classic restoration shop out of Colorado who was getting out of the Jaguar game and into higher end work. Higher end work! How much better does it get than a Jag??
Our master tech Caleb Simpson went to great lengths to make this 60 year old engine purr like a baby kitten. Can't write this without one Jag cat joke, right?...
Below are pictures and brief details of how the procedure came along.
Well to start with the finish, here is the completely rebuilt Jaguar 3.8 Liter series 1 E-Type engine. The engine number was one of the last R prefix numbers, R 9932-9 and was dated 12 - 11 - 62. The triple SU carburetors, air/water rails, cam covers and other aluminum parts were polished. All new gaskets and seals were installed. When completed the engine was closely scrutinized for leaks and none were found. The engine sold on Bring A Trailer and the listing can be seen at this link https://bringatrailer.com/listing/jaguar-xke-e-type-3-8/
The lower end of this engine was said to have been rebuilt by the last owner. So, we disassembled the engine and inspected the crank, pistons and cylinder walls.
We found the pistons to be new and the cylinder walls with a nice cross-hatch pattern signifying that they had not been used.
The oil pan had some left over residue so we cleaned it thoroughly prior to replacing the gasket and reinstalling.
The Lucas starter 26183B M45G was from a later car. We rebuilt the unit with new bushings, brushes, painted the housing and bead blasted and cad plated the hardware.
The gearbox EB 6337 JS, a 3.8 Jaguar XKE Moss box was disassembled, inspected, cleaned and reassembled with new seals.
When completed, we tested this on our custom run stand. It ran for hours, getting up to temperature and held consistently. We also performed a leak down (nearly 0% leak down) and compression (just under 170psi) test getting great results across all cylinders.