Absolutely Peter.! The E Type is the only vehicle in the range that came with the anti roll bar as standard fitting to the IRS.

 

Of course, if you see a Jaguar you'd like to buy and are having difficulty justifying it to yourself or your family, then it's an excellent excuse that it's a cost efficient source of parts for the car you already own. Once you get it home and have a closer look, you can decide it's far too nice to break and the only honourable option is to restore it.
​

 

The art of rationalization.!

 

I think I am right in saying that the rear IRS cage is the same across the different models it was fitted to and it was just the length of the half shafts and wishbone that were different. This would make sense of the S type IRS cage having the anti roll bar fittings but not being used where as the E type had them and used them.
Just my thought.
As for buying the S type as a donor although as Glyn has stated there are few parts that are inter changeable you will find a lot of parts that are swappable or sellable so you can then buy the parts you want with the cash you make. The engine alone is worth a couple of grand in any state and there is someone on here looking for an XK 3.4 engine to put in his Mk1. If you have the room and the time I would say buy it, if it is not savable, strip it for parts which you can sell and buy the parts you need for your 340. If you wanted to save it though you could be looking at $10 to $20k for starters so I hope you have deep pockets and an understanding wife.

 

No, the cages are different, as they mount to the body and the body of an XJ is wider than an E Type. The roll bar fittings are not on the cage. The drop links attach on the radius arm and the bar itself has fittings that attach it to the body ahead of the IRS. The bars were not attached to the subframe until the X300 in 1995.

There are 4 variants of the cages, with part numbers:

Type 1 - MKX/420G - C20174

Type 2 - S1/2/3 E Type - C17014

Type 3 - S Type/420 - C21393

Type 4 - XJ6/XJS - C43894

There are 3 basic rear suspensions designated by Track.

50’’ - S1/2 E Type

53’’ - S Type/420/ S3 E Type

58" - MKX/XJ6/XJS

 

Correct JB. There is a considerable difference in the width of the "bridge piece", as the plant termed it, between a MkX/420G and a Series 1, 1.5 and 2 E Type.

BTW ~ because I know the question will be asked about a Series 1.5 E Type. While there were numerous minor changes to the Series 1.5 E Type. It's most obvious change/distinguishing feature, was no covered headlights and a completely changed chrome surround. Other markers are that the rest of the lighting on the 1.5 remained above the bumpers.

 

My thinking was wrong then and I stand corrected.

 

Don't worry about it Rob. If I did not know Cobra kit car builders I would not know either. That's why a disproportionate number of S Types/420s got scrapped. For the IRS. It was the required width.

 

I don't think that happens very much in the UK anymore. We have a few axle and drive shaft specialists who narrow or otherwise modify series XJ suspension to any track width you like. As for the bridge, that's usually chopped down or even totally eliminated. Sadly, the kit car industry is suffering under the burden of ever more restrictive and expensive (and often irrelevant) regulation.

 

Yes Peter. I can't speak for the UK. I'm talking SA. I wonder how many of the original production RHD S Types are left in the UK. You probably have a source for that. I sadly added 2 S Types to the crusher yards. One came without it's IRS & the other was sold for a Cobra build. I had 2 donor cars. Massively useful. Cost me nothing after sale of IRS & a few bits.

This was the complete one. Makes me realise how lucky my find was. It was still in darn good nick. This car still had all it's bits partially stripped but lying inside or the boot. Right down to the windscreen, hubcaps etc.

 

From the photo, it doesn't look too bad. Sort of getting back to the original topic, quite a few S Types in the UK ended by donating their engine and gearbox to Mk2s. Of course, for a 340 owner, the cylinder head of the S type wouldn't be so interesting.

 

It was not bad ~ no rust ~ but after my build it ended up in a brush fire. Dash, Gauges etc. all burnt & then my restorer moved to Bloemfontein to be with his latest lady friend..

All that's been kept is complete Engine, GB & OD. Condition unknown ~ turns over ~ Plus front suspension. I've Stored the carbs, inlet manifold & many useful bits. e.g. Rev counter generator.

The leftovers of the two ~ front car was a bit of a rust bucket. The rear one would have been a good project car. Anyway I saved one out of 3 & got it to concours standards..

 

http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/

The link above gives some ideas about surviving cars in the UK. It also shows the UK DVLA were not too brilliant in computerising their records and even now cars are registered under the wrong model or no model name. The most popular model for most makes is model name missing! However, of classic S types, there seem to be about 400 or so that are taxed and running and another 200 that are registered as SORN (statutory off road). There will be an unknown number of others that were taken off the road or exported before DVLA invented SORN (about 1990?) - my Mk2 used to be in that group. There may be others that fall under model name missing. They don't give the total numbers in the DVLA files, which may include cars that have been broken up or destroyed without informing DVLA.

 

Thanks for that ~ very useful. They built a total of 18380 RHD cars (S Types) mainly for home market, South Africa, Australia/New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore & Japan. SA built 850 of those.

 

Sadly, a large number of S types in Australia ended up suffering the similar fate of being stripped of their rear ends for the hot rodders.
Apart from Cobra kit cars, the S type rear end track and mount system was just what the reproduction Ford T bucket hot rodders wanted.

I am not really familiar with 340s but having had about a dozen MK1 and MK2 cars (over 40 years) I suspect there is not much to the rear of the S type engine firewall which would be useful.
BUT having said that, my current 1960 MK2 has been fitted with S type seats by someone in its distant past.
I did get a 3.8 engine with MOD box from an S type which had been wrecked for its rear end and put it in a 1958 MK1 ex-auto car which had disc brakes.
That was a really lively car!
Cheers

 

This is a bit off topic, but since we've mentioned survivors and the 340, it might be interesting. I came across Brian Loftus on Jaglovers. He owns one of the rare 3.8 litre 340 cars. He together with the JDHT archivist has done some research on them. 13 were built, 12 RHD and 1 LHD and 4 are known to survive. The engines were not taken from the S type line as some authors have suggested. They all had straight port heads and numbers prefixed EE or SE. The EE prefix was also used for the lightweight E type. Although originally fitted with HD6 carbs, the ports on what looks like a 420 manifold are 2 inch.

 

Yes you are spot on Peter about the 13 ~ 3.8 340's that Jaguar slipped through. They were quite obliging if a customer or police force was persistent about what they wanted.

 

I also have a Mk2 shell lying in Pretoria that was part of the package deal I did. But good luck trying to get it out. It has about 15 other cars in the way.

 

Glyn
The value of that MK2 shell is probably appreciating faster than any shares.
It would be worthwhile hanging onto it.

 

Bill ~ It's not going anywhere. It's in a very dry climate. It will probably remain there until Erens sells it one day & I'm long gone. ~ partially after spoiling him at completion, I made an agreement that for working so hard on my car at a very reasonable rate per hour ~ that we would split the spoils from any leftovers 50/50. I would advertise & he would strip off the part. We have a condition unknown 3.8 engine, Moss box & long-tail overdrive unit that people want for nothing. Cooling system dry, Turns over & boroscope inspection shows to be certainly re-buildable that we are hanging onto until someone makes a half sensible offer for. I'm not running a charity ~ I would rather donate the proceeds to a charity.