contacted my engine rebuilder and they sent me this estimate. take a look as see what you think. the engine is out of a '67 mk2 and is a 3.4l. with a build number within a 100 of the worthless one in my car...this is the estimate they sent me. they'll get my current engine with the cracked block.

Things to be done to rebuild engine:
 Completely strip replacement engine and put engine block and cylinder head castings in hot tank and
steam pressure wash them. Thoroughly clean them.
 Meticulously clean and prepare all engine parts.
 Brush, polish, blacken or zinc plate all fasteners and parts as necessary.
 Re-cut crank journals and polish. Clean crank journals and install new plugs. Balance crankshaft.
Cut rear main for updated rear seal and install new seal kit on reassembly.
 Recondition connecting rods with new bushings sized on small end and big end recut to spec.
 Install new 9:1 pistons and rings with a gapless second ring.
 Match weigh pistons with connecting rods.
 Lightly deck block and bore out to .020” over.
 Paint block with insulating varnish on the inside and black on the outside as original.
 Install new soft plugs in block.
 Install new main and connecting rod bearings, upper and lower timing chains, chain guides, lower
guide and chain tensioner.
 Recondition or replace oil pump depending on condition.
 Replace valve guides on cylinder head as necessary along with any worn tappet guides.
 Re-machine top of tappets.
 Check cams and recut if necessary.
 Install new or reconditioned adjustment pucks under tappets.
 Install new bearings, valve seals, uprated valves, and uprated springs in cylinder head.
 Recut bottom and top sides of cylinder head, do a valve job and re-bore cam journals.
 Re-cut valves seats to ensure good seal and lap in valves.
 Polish cam journals and pre-test to check oil clearance and turning quality before final assembly.
 Polish cylinder head on front and paint valley to correct color for model and year.
 Rebuild carburetors to spec.
 Install engine in car.
 Replace hoses, clamps, thermostat, belts, etc. as necessary.
 Install new radiator.
 Look into shifter, brakes, steering, rear end and other issues after car is running and can be test
driven.
 Possible upgrades to consider: 123 Distributor with high-supression wires
We estimate that it will cost in the $20-25,000 range to get the engine rebuilt and installed in the car to a
point where we can test drive it and look into and address the other issues the car has. This amount includes
the purchase of the core engine and the work done to this point, not including the transportation. The work
to rebuild the engine and install it in the car will probably take in the 2-4 month range to complete. We need
a deposit of $4,500.00 to buy core engine and start work. Thereafter, work will be invoiced periodically
(with pictures) throughout job until we are finished.

 

I'll do it for half that!

 

It does seem a bit on the high side. As a reference point I had a 4.2 E Type engine rebuild last summer and was invoiced ~$12,000 Canadian dollars for it. Mind you, it was a badly done job that needed to be mostly redone, but at the time I thought $12K was steep.

That was just the engine rebuild though, and did not include carbs. I have recently done a set of triple SU's and it was close to $800 in parts and I think about 25 hours to rebuild them. When I did the engine and transmission install it was myself and another fellow and together we probably took close to 80 hours to get everything in and connected. We were also building the car to concours standards, so that does take longer too. Multiply by whatever the shop rate is and it adds up in a hurry.

 

thanks for the response!

 

Gapless piston rings, never herd of them until now, didn't realize that they've been around so long _ according the video anyway.
Not the best video though, I hate how they assume that with out the gapless rings that an engine is going to run really poor because the compression and atmosphere flow into the engine will be so greatly reduced that it will effect the engine performance in a street car.
That; and how blow-by compression gasses and fuel will contaminate the oil so badly that the engine will be ruined with out a gapless ring.

About lapping in valves, assuming that they're using valve grinding compound to do this, my machinist that I've known for over 20 years doesn't do that anymore.
New valves come from the factory at the correct angle, and the machine shop cuts the seats; no more grinding and there is a reason for this.
No matter how much you wash the carbide grease away after lapping, a microscopic amount remains in the seat and the valve, the bits heat up and burn tiny holes in the seat and valve, this of course happens in the exhaust valves.
The seats are cut accurately enough so lapping in should not have to be done anymore.
Maybe they are using some sort of new valve grinding grease that can be totally removed.

what is a gapless compression ring - Google Search

My machine shop; not just a guy working out of his back-yard shed.

Mid-Island Engine & Machine LTD. Duncan BC. (midislandengine.com)

 

At a glance without much thought ~ missing

1. Set crank end float with suitable. thrust pads
2. Redeck block with chaincase in place
3. I would simply replace tappet/cam followers.
4. One can't say rebore 20 thou without checking bore size/wear, taper & ovality.

I'm sure they intend more detail. I'm sure if I contemplated it for an hour more would come up.

EDIT: With high US labour rates I have no reference.

 

They seem to assume everything in the replacement engine has suffered enough wear as to need replacement or machining, but nothing catastrophic. They haven't mentioned welding water ports.

Does the rebuilder have his own machine shop? If not, the time scales might be optimistic.

Rob Beere, who is probably the best of the best, recently had an advert for a complete 4.7 litre, 300 bhp, XK engine at £25,000. A US company called Vintage Jag Works (I know nothing about their quality) list prices for different elements of an engine rebuild on their web page. You could ask your rebuilder for an itemised list and see how it compares.

Does anyone reputable supply rebuilt XKs of the shelf in the US? The cost would not be much higher and you'd save yourself a few months.

Certainly, I'd be expecting excellence from a supplier with a well established reputation for what you have been quoted.

 

Considering the amount of work they are doing for you I would say that was a reasonable price. Try buying a rebuilt XK engine for that price let alone have it fitted, tested and then further work completed on the running gear. Yes it sounds a lot but as long as the body, paint work and interior are sound you are practically getting a new car.
Would I pay that amount? No as I would, as I did, do the work myself but I still had to pay an Engine builder to thoroughly clean the block and head, rebore my block, grind and balance my crank, fit new valves and pistons and lastly skim the head. That lot cost me £1500 even though I supplied all the parts.

 

yes, agreed. there're a lot of parts and work in that list.

 

Is it all necessary? Are you going racing or weekend cruising?

Prices in the UK used to be anchored by one company, VSE, that did everything in house. They would do a very good job for road use for £5 to 6k. Since they closed a couple of years ago, the cost of that sort of work seems to have doubled or more. Personally, we've reached a stage where I would do everything myself apart from the machine shop work or go to Rob Beere and pay for what I'm certain would be fabulous or swap to a good secondhand AJ6/16. I wouldn't swap to non-Jaguar or Jaguar V6 or V8, but can understand those who do.
My advice to Huey: find the top two or three Jaguar XK engine builders in the US (your supplier might be one of them) and ask them for their prices.

 

If the work is as good as the shine on the outside, the engine in the link below isn't bad. Considering that machine shop time is (I think) more expensive in the UK, it gives an idea of what Huey's rebuilder should be aiming for.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144885811...1172&recoPos=1

 

Coventry West in Atlanta used to be the go to place for XK engine building, but I don't know if Dick Maury is still there.

EDIT: I forgot CW closed.

I wouldn't necessarily wed yourself to a 3.4 as well unless you want total originality, that isn't as common an engine to find a core in the US. 3.8 and especially 4.2's are much more common.

 

Even in the UK, 4.2s are easier to find and much cheaper. I bought a running 4.2 complete with all ancillaries from a series 3 XJ with 80,000 miles on it for parts for my 3.4. It cost £600 delivered. Old 3.4 and 3.8s that turn over go for at least twice that.

 

$25,000 is ridiculous. Unless your engine is soooo rare that they are super expensive as cores (think 426 hemi) the engine work is the same as on any other engine blueprinted type quality rebuild. And thats not going to cost you more than $5000. Now I havent rebuilt an engine in probably 15 years but turning cranks, deckinv blocks, magnafluxing, boring cylinders, gapping rings and making all the critical sizing measurements with all the cleaning etc is not more expensive than any other V8.

so unless that piston set, timing chains, oil pumps, rings, bearings gaskets etc are super expensive youre being taken for a ride.

get a DETAILED ITEMIZED COST BREAKDOWN for the core, the machining, parts, and labor showing what theyre charging for the list you posted (or even more detailed). Then post that so we can give a better estimate. Part prices have come down since the olden days and the machining is easier with better equipment.

and recutting the lifters and rebuilding the oil pump? Why? How much for new parts? Id never reuse lifters or pump. I even dont like reusing cams but I have if not to bad.

one last comment, get them to commit to a tight tolerance on the weights of the rotating assembly. And have them list the weights for each rod/piston. Everyone seems to have a different idea what “balanced” means as I found out the hard way. I fought with a company (Scat) over what they considered as matched weights. They didnt cut any of the rods or pistons and just provided stock parts which varied a LOT! And I had to have the rods all matched (both ends) and pistons matched by a balancer who got everything practically spot on equal.

good luck and post up the breakdown.

Mopar 340 Six Pack. Bored and stroked to a 416 with forged crank and solid lifter cam. Ported and polished flow tested heads. Runs hard. Sounds mean!

 

For the XK, that is one place I would always reuse the oil pump if it's in spec. The original pumps were very high quality and typically do not wear out unless they have had a lot of metal go through them. The aftermarket pumps that are available now are not nearly as good and often don't quite fit on the engine. A serviceable original is a better choice than the new aftermarket that are available now.

 

I can agree with that. Newer is not always better. And I have reused oil pumps before so I would probably do the same if the condition of it looked good. But youd need to disassemble it and check for wear

 

I did a quick shopping cart at SNG Barratt of the things I woudl replace on a rebuild and I could get it to a bit under $4000 without too much trouble. Add in something like a new crankshaft damper or water pump and it woudl take it over $4K. Add labour to strip a core and machining then reassembly and I can see how a rebuilt engine could be well over $10k sitting on a stand. Then add in labour and parts for carb and distributor overhaul, then installing the engine and I can see getting to $20K, depending on the labour rate.

 

I would have guessed about $4000 in parts was the high end and well SNG Barrett is at the high end of the spectrum

 

A couple of things. I too was advised by my Engine builder to reuse the old oil pump. He checked it all after cleaning it and the tolerances were tighter on the original pump from 1967 than a new one I had bought. That got sent back unused and refunded.
Prices for Jaguar XK parts are higher than those for a typical American V8. There is a bigger after market demand for V8 parts than for older Jaguar engines and therefor the parts are more costly. Lastly there are loads of engine builders especially in the USA who will work on a V8 but few who would touch a 60 year old Jaguar engine as Jose has learnt to his cost. I would love the cost of having a Jaguar engine worked on to be cheaper but it is supply and demand situation. Not quite the same cost as perhaps a Ferrari or Lamborghini or McLaren engine but still more than a typical American V8.
Everything can be found to be purchased somewhere else cheaper but is the work quality going to be the same. Look at the difference between the picture of the V8 above and the link to the E Type XK engine in the link and you can see you get what you pay for.

 

Oh yes! I was shocked at how cheap parts are for older US V8's. A piston set for a 3.4/3.8 is around $650-675 depending on size. I can get a set of 8 pistons for a Ford 302 for $140, and the gasket set for under $30. I would never base the cost of rebuilding a Jaguar engine based on domestic V8 part prices.