I tried to plan things to make the refresh quick but forgot to go to one of the few remaining hot steam cleaners to clean the under carriage so I have to do that after the Jag is drivable and then repaint POR-15 again but hopefully in a month it will be back to being a daily driver. Way easier as I am not changing anything, well almost anything, the intake is being upgraded so hopefully going from a 78mm air intake to a 92mm intake will not pose too many issues; that is the only unknown, the rest is bolt it back the way we had it..

You guys are right to do the gaps is painful, as an example it took a week to get the hood to have nice gaps and fit well.

 

The little things that you never expect take long always take longer Changing the 5.3 truck intake to a performance non truck intake and other minor upgrades were not exactly the same. Some fuel line, coil pack mounts, etc. ended up being different and creating delays but in a few weeks I hope to get her back on the road!

Here is a sneak view of the partially installed newly rebuilt engine....

 

Looks serious. Should light up the tires at will!

 

Thanks! I am nearing the home stretch, should have it running this week, then another week to respray the undercarriage, then redo some of the fatigued exhaust pipes, and if all goes well I will make my 3/16 appointment for the final ECU tune...

 

It's a wonder how you made that engine fit and run properly in that body !

 

The previous rendition of that engine was about 400 HP and that was tight but provided what the power that the Jaguar 3.8s should have had. I ran that engine which I did not really know all of the internal details for over 225,000 miles and I could have stretched it but it is a daily driver so I wanted to proactive.

This time I choose how it was built, still with the focus as a sleeper & daily driver, but now with all forged internals, large intake/exhaust valves, ported, heavy duty oil pump, large 92mm cathedral intake to make it much more reliable with more power. I think this reincarnated engine expected to put down around 500 HP is about the maximum for the stock chassis with mild simple bracing to the rear suspension. Anything more would need either stock frame bracing to handle more power or a new beefier frame like what Clyde has done. I'll be content with this setup as I have other cars to go more insane that can handle the power

 

After my hard driving and hundreds of thousands of miles with a transmission dip stick that leaked sometimes, along leaks from power steering line, etc. the Jag had an incredible amount of grease/grime front front to the back. I found a rare shop that all they do is jack the car up on their heavy duty lift and clean with high PSI, hot temperature water and cleaner. That took off all of the grease and old paint that was flaking due to the oils, etc. The undercarriage never looked that good for quite some time. It was so bad that the custom A-arms and rear suspension that I powder coated blue was covered with grime.

I just applied two heavy coats of POR15 to keep it protected, now ready to go get the old brittle exhaust pipes changed this coming week!

 

I am sure on an Original Jaguar the oil leaks were pre planned in the design as an anti rust feature. All the cars where the oil leak were fixed rusted out.lol.

 

Making amazing progress. Show us some shots when finished. That's what a protected floor should look like.

I have some friends that provide that full underbody clean & coating to perfection. Even LPG gas some of the goo off. Unfortunately they are in Poland.

 

Back in the 1950s and 60s, many good mechanics disposed of their used engine oil by painting it on the undersides of the cars they serviced. Good recycling, if possibly not totally ecological.

 

I remember them spraying the old engine oil into the sills and wheel arch cavities before Waxoyl. Those cars are probably still around.

 

What is getting very rare is the shops that specialize on high pressure, hot temperature cleaning. Especially here in California where the environmental protection agency has made it hard for many to survive. I have a movie file that works on my phone of them blasting it but could not figure out how to transfer it to my PC correctly? The amount of grease, grime, etc. that came off was amazing! I am hoping the new configuration of the power steering and the better transmission dip stick will eliminate all of the oils that coated the 225K miles that went everywhere.

 

The exhaust is 99% complete, I am waiting for 2 additional V-bands to add another easy to separate section before the mufflers. I reused the old mufflers, headers, and all the rest of the pipe has been replaced with larger diameter. No clearance issues and even a little quieter than before. I am really happy with Steve at Livermore Muffler whom did excellent work! Had an oil leak that we are working on now so you know why some of the new pipes got some oil on them The POR-15 came out nice and will protect for another 300,000 miles before it needs the next refresh

 

Added two V-Bands before the first/main mufflers to make it easier to service the car. Having these multiple quality V-Bands to easily remove then reinstall the exhaust makes it easy to service the rear end, the multiple batteries where the stock gas tanks used be located, etc. Since I drive this Jaguar daily I opted to re-use the old mufflers as they were still good. I am on the home stretch now...finally....!!

 

Looking good!

 

The Original pipes on the S Type go up through the back axle cage and are a real pain to get in and out if you want to do any work that requires dropping the back axle. To get them through the axle at the right angle you definitely need a ramp to get the car up high enough.
I am not to sure I would want my exhaust that low on British roads. Too many speed bumps and pot holes.

 

I thought the exhaust looked low initially but I have found no issues on any driveways or speed bumps at all. I think the way they did my exhaust is totally fine for any street driving and my car is lowered more than most with no issues at all; plus instead of going thru rear end cage the flow is less restrictive. Cass, if you put V-Bands then you can easily service areas without removing the entire exhaust, etc. For me with the batteries and other things that will need occasional service especially given how many miles I put on the Jag it is well worth the effort to add those.

 

Since these photos were taken I have actually changed all my U bolt clamps for what we call Band clamps in the UK. Basically a sleeve about three inches long with two pinch bolts to pull the sleeve together over the join sealing it off completely.

 

I first used the Heat Shield carbon over the AC and heater box but given the prolonged heat of the engine bay they were not enough. I then added Second Skin Heat Wave Pro and that is much better but not so attractive so we painted it and it looks much better and functional

 

Ok, now the engine has been properly badged