Hey chaps,

Thanks to Bill for taking my surprised earlier comments in the spirit in which they were intended (disbelief, not offense), but such was the level of my disbelief at your comments about performance (or lack of) that after spending the weekend with my car's new owners, then with my Jaguar UK contacts, and going through all the specs ... I think I can shed some light.

I had puzzled about reference and link to "Strangleberg" syndrome, until the factory specs started to reveal the enormity of how detuned the XK engine was that was fitted to NA markets - I presume this included Canada as well as US. Gone are the big-throated triple 2" SU HS8s, specially ported inlet manifold and high flow big bucket air cleaner. These were replaced with quite restrictive twin dd Strombergs a la 2.4L Mk1! Gone also were the special broader overlap high lift cams first developed by Heynes for the Le Mans D-Types. The significant impact this made on the factory figures for both bhp and torque make for sober reading.

Your note about the 4.54 diff was also confirmed ... Wow, their cheek ... and this was obviously a strategy by Jaguar to offset all the power losses and restore some acceleration. Certainly, compared to the E that I and the rest of the world saw, there is absolutely no comparison. I can only imagine your shock at seeing the BBC "Top Gear" segment that I linked in my earlier post.

Still and all, they were great cars all, and I wish you chaps lots of happy, safe miles.
Best wishes,
Ken

 

Ken,
Do note however that US ser 1 xke's thru '67 had triple hd8's, smooth intake ports, polished cam covers, the big air cleaner and toggle switches as on the home market cars. I'm not sure on the cam profiles (or compression) though. I thought all the 4.2l pre '68 had the same cam specs. The early 3.8l e's had different cams than the 4.2 I'm sure as it was a different motor.
And I never thought of my '67 as being underpowered, but if the euro market cars were a lot faster I would LOVE to drive one! I had two friends with '68 and '69 models, the previous being a series 1 1/2. It had the one year, low profile uncovered headlights, ribbed cam covers, 2 'bergs (yuk), and rocker switches (yuk). The '69 was the same with the second and last version uncovered headlights that sat higher. It really was a huge loss in performance, not to mention looks after '67.

Hey E55,
I'm still pretty sure it would be more prudent to look to the carbs and intake (damn thing has 2 sets of butterflys in path!) as the big bottleneck on this engine. Not much else is gonna help until this changes. It's not uncommon to still find a deal on a triple su setup. I bought a triple su manifold and linkage last year for around $300. Carbs could be picked up one at a time if needed until all the parts were in hand. I would look into head/cam differences for the series 2 also as noted by Ken. Triples are bound to help but I don't know if they would perform like the earlier US cars if the head/cams were also altered for emissions. But I'm with you on wanting a bit more pep, can never have too much really.
Bill

 

Hello again Bill, and again, you have raised some questions about the US Series 1s for which I don't have answers, but I am very intrigued. Obviously, you will understand that my viewpoint was for the RHD ROW car which was essentially the "home market" UK spec (not euro in those days). Please also forgive me my confessed bias that the 4.2L S1 preserved all the best attributes of the initial 3.8L but with increased torque, new all synchro box, improved brakes and cooling system.

My comparison, based on data received, was with the later US XK-E with ribbed cam cover XK S1.5 and S2, particularly the dd Stromberg units. I didn't think of the US S1, but from what you are suggesting, it sounds like it was a direct or very close LHD equivalent of my car. Have you any local fellow owners who might corroborate that?

As your earlier posts reveal, there is no such thing as a "slow" E-Type ... I reckon they all look like they are doing 120mph ... even when standing still ... well, maybe the S2 2+2 looks uncomfortable. But, your interest in the quickest of the breed deserves some feedback ...

Contemporary road tests in the 60s, were renowned for quoting electric 0-100mph acceleration times. I remember that, with our factory gearing, 100mph was just beyond the red-zone reach of 2nd gear; 3rd was good for 120-125mph into the red; but, in practice, we could never reach 4th gear red-line ... save the one occasion I quoted, at the speed trap at the foot of a closed one mile downhill straight on Australia's premier race circuit. Back in those days, Conrod Straight was straight ... don't laugh ... but it had a serious hump near the speed trap ... scary ... but these days, has kinks and sweepers to limit top speeds by current V8 saloons to nearly 200mph.

If I can dredge up any of those road or track test results, I'll post them, but I must thank you for inspiring me to sort through and verify these memories of a great production sports car .... and don't get me started on our 4.5L efi race car special.

Best wishes,
Ken

 

2+2... my sentiments too, but after all these years I seem to be warming up to them a little, even if they do look a bit pregnant. (flame suit on)
4.5L race car? No kidding? Do you have a website for it?

 

Methinks you are a very BIG bit brave.

Sorry ... no website ... even the few old grainy pics prior to the race incident and crash that saw it reduced to spare parts, all went down the drain during a later session to drain our sorrows ... a decision we have regretted ever since.

Much of the engine development, fuel injection and dyno time was done in conjunction with a Sydney Aus firm (Lynx Engineering) and alloy body development was assisted by another local firm (Bolwell). I do know that the engine/gearbox and highly modified rear end all went into a Queensland road-going E-Type, but I have been unable to track down subsequent owners

Best wishes Bill,

Ken

 

Hi,
I'll offer, I run a Pertronix sparkie in my rebuilt re-curved otherwise stock LUCAS distributor. I run a set of ceramic coated headers, custom muffs (pic) and K&N cleaners. Also added, a Mallory CD box. But, one of the best changes was swapping out the UM (stock) needles for EOs(?, I think that's the correct nomenclature). However, I am running SUs as you can see. All of these mods work together nicely for a good running engine.

 

Ken,
Where did you get the air filter setup? Very nice pipes btw...

 

They were purchased from Classic Jaguar of Texas. I fab'd the evac system to replace the factory version lost in the change.

 

Was the Pertronix difficult to install on the OE distributor? Also did you change out your ignition coil as well?

 

Did you ever get the strangleberg fix working?

 

Hi,
The Pertronix sparkie is an "easy-peasy" drop in. Just remove the rotor, add the magnetic insert, adjust gap, connect a few wires and off you go. This replaces the points and smooths out the idle. To increase the HT (high tension) spark, I added a hotter coil and the CD box, These two items insure a full-proof ignition that will not breakdown during WOT. All else being in good working order, the engine will darn near fire under water. I gap my plugs at .040-.045. LOL!
As mentioned previously, I run a LUCAS sports gold coil with a Mallory CD box. Once fuel reaches the carbs the engine will fire with a vengeance.
In this pic, you'll see the LUCAS coil and the red Mallory CD box. This was taken before I added the evac kit.

 

There is an ignition system that is made by the company electromotive that is adaptable to the etype 6 cylinders and when I ordered the trigger wheel for my v12 build the guy made a mention of systems he used to build for jaguar 6 cylinders
Call clewitt engineering

 

What about a cylinder head off a Series 3 XJ6 engine ? This EFI engine has bigger inlet valves, (the same size as used on the Le Mans D-types) so breathing should be improved. Also a more flowing exhaust would help too. Of course, electronic ignition, but there's not much more you can do other than fit the triple SUs, or maybe Webers from a specialist supplier.

 

i just bought a set of headers for my 68 series 1 1/2 had them coated and will pick them up monday they will be installed in about a month. Belive it or not Summit racing had them on the shelf.

 

which reminds me that i will begetting rid of the stock exhaust manifolds, get cond with no cracks