Long time listener, first time caller.

I am hoping that someone might be able to help me figure out the engine in the pictures and guide me on if it will work for my application.

A little backdrop, my dad bought a '63 XKE in 1973, drove it till 1979 and then the engine seized on it. He took it to a machine shop along with the head and then proceeded to have the owner die, the shop close and my dad never get back the original motor. (yes I do plan to put the serial of the car out there to see if by chance anyone has the original but near term going to source a different one)

So long story short I have a XKE that needs a ton of work but I love building cars and will be redoing this XKE that I used to sit in and pretend to drive when I was 4-7 years old. It will take me a while to do but I stumbled on a potential motor for it if I could get some guidance from you knowledgeable folks.

This engine is an XK that I am guessing was in a sedan based on the two carbs (I have the original to my car XKE carbs so no biggie). Looking at the color of the head, it looks like perhaps this was 3.4 head from the color and I initially questioned the seller on the motor because of that being odd on a 3.8. He has since sent me the attached pictures with the 3.8 liter stamp on the engine.

So a few questions.... based on what you are seeing in the photos, am I correct that this is the same basic motor as would have been in a series 1 XKE? What stampings should I be having him send me pictures of and where would they be located on the engine? What additional information could I gather to determine what this might have come from and confirm that it will work in my future application? What should a complete 3.8 cost in unknown running condition (seller notes that it is not seized and it will be completely disassembled and painstakingly rebuilt so I really just want good bones)?

The motor is unfortunately all the way across the country so I can't just swing over and look myself. The price is right enough that I think it is still a good start on getting a power plant available even with having to ship it.

Any guidance you can give, questions to ask, etc would be greatly appreciated.

 

Twin carbs indicates to me that it would be out of a saloon as the E-type had three fitted. Therefore it could be out of a Mark 2 or an S-type, as both had the 3.8 engine. There should be a stamped engine number somewhere. What you have shown so far are the casting marks. 3.8 blocks were used on both the saloons and the E-type, with Jaguar making the difference on the E-type with triple carbs and maybe a different cylinder head, and higher compression pistons.

When I can look them out, I'll have a look in my two Jaguar books by Paul Skilleter.

 

Many thanks, that fits my assumptions. I basically want it for a starting point on the power plant. Based on that head color, I still tend to wonder it the head is from a 3.4 and was put on a different block at some point so I will figure that out if I pick it up, worst case I will source a correct head.


Were there other differences in the 3.8? Most things I have read noted simply the difference in the carbs. Are the cranks, rods, etc the same? Like I noted I am basically trying to get together some key building blocks here. Worst case I will source some other items to make it into something that would have been E-type in spec. Just trying to make sure I am working off a decent starting point. And PS - yes I totally know that I might get it here and find after magnaflux that there is a problem with the block, I am prepared for that if it was to happen but first I will focus on happy thoughts.


Here is a pic of the poor old girl as it sits at the moment.