looking to buy a 3.4l short block for a 1967 mk2. want main bearings, rod bearings, rings, and balanced. maybe an oil pump, timing chains and tensioners too. want one that is professionally built and ready to ship. looking for leads on sources too.

 

Might help to say where you are and possibly update your details with that information for future posts. Remember this forum is world wide having members from the USA, Australia, South Africa and the UK to name four contributing on a regular basis.

 

oops, sorry...

the engine will need to be shipped to the continental U.S. i assume it will also, due to financial considerations, need to be sourced from within the continental U.S. too.

 

Huey: I believe what Cass is suggesting is that you complete your profile so that your location will appear each time you post, so others will not have to ask you.

 

This forum is in need of a glossary of terms & their meanings. Only in the US would the term "short block" be understood. While obvious to some of the well traveled such as myself that had a global job ~ not to most here. The most we can tolerate is spelling differences. US vs. UK.

We talk of the block as that containing the cylinders & the head as that containing the valvetrain & combustion chambers.

Just as Aussie & SA jargon would not be understood by an American. e.g. the word "crook" for broken or disfunctional.

I did one for financial terms when on the FTC "clean team" for the merger of our 3 oil companies as we kept talking past one another but meaning the same thing. It's a hell of a job. We split the world into 227 countries/markets. From the US to Figi & the Philippines. Between them they have over 600 livable islands at high tide.

 

I think the Americans refer to their engines as BIG block and SMALL block. A Big block is over 6.5 litres (400 cubic inches) and a small block under 6.5 litres. In the UK we only have small block engines as through better design we can get more power out of a 3 ltr engine than an American engine twice as big plus we have the advantage of putting it in a car that weights a fraction of the American monster. Colin Chapman of Lotus fame once said "Simplify, then add lightness".
A short block has always to me meant a stripped down engine consisting of the bottom end and not the head or valve train.

 

That's changed here and there Cass (a little), their new Ford Ranger is huge and made light, and with only a 2.5 litre 4, with a turbo on it.
Have to be careful not lean on the body as it will crease the body work.

 

Back in the day when I was in the imported car parts business there were three levels of completeness

1. Short block was a bare block with just line bored bearing caps installed
2. Block-fitted, also had pistons of the correct tolerances installed.
3. Long block was an assembled lower end ready for fitting the timing gear and cylinder head.

The terms have evolved since then:

Short Block vs. Long Block Engine - What's the Difference? (autolist.com)

 

That was my understanding when I lived in Dallas working for our oilco.

 

Interesting the differences! As a Canadian, to me short block is crankshaft, rods and pistons installed in the block - basically everything below the head gasket and ready for the head(s) to be installed, but not likely to include an oil pan.

A long block would be the above, plus heads, but excluding accessories such as distributor, waterpump, and intake/exhaust manifolds.

 

You're very unlikely to find a rebuilt "short" engine ready to ship. As you probably know, engine suppliers work on service exchange, and with a very small demand for Jaguar short engines, especially those dating back to the 60s, nobody will have stock, they just rebuild an engine when it's presented to them. What would be better is to buy a complete engine and get it rebuilt by a reputable engine builder. You can always sell off the cylinder head if you've got a good one already. What the situation is with 3.4 litre XK engines in the US I don't know but I suspect there are very few around, with most of them already in a car.

 

Officially Jaguar did not import 3.4's to the US (other than Mk1) until the 340. The endless American drive for barn door engineering & cc's (large capacity.) I mean Cadillac's 7 litre engine only producing 340bhp vs an E Type 3.8. & if we go to the Italians even more power per cc.

 

Those large displacement American engines would put up with a significant lack of maintenance; European engines would not. This is why there are so many vintage Jaguars here in the States that were the recipients of Chevy V-8 "heart transplants. Sad really...

"Barn door engineering" is a great term! I will have to remember that. 1 HP per CID, 0r 62 HP/litre was the magic number for "hot rodders" back when the OP's car was new. I had a Volvo P-1800 in 1966 what met that standard right off the showroom floor. Never owned an American car (save a 1947 Ford Army Jeep), but growing up in the San Francisco bay area, imports were quite common. We had a MK-VII-M and then a MK-IX in the family when I was young.

 

While admittedly rare there were 3.4L Mk2s imported to the US by JCNY. There were others purchased by servicemen through the overseas tax plan. We are fortunate to have one of the very first 3.4s.

 

Finding these early 3.4 or even 3.8 engines is very difficult. There are not too many going through the wreckers/brakers/ parting outers or what gets to you in your part of the world
Another option is to put in a 4.2 engine with S1/2 XJ6 carbies. That is not as difficult as it sounds. The basic engine block is very much the same.
Pulleys, oil filter, water pump and assorted linkages will need modifications, but I have seen a number of Mk1/2 cars with later engine model engine "heart transplants"

 

The problem with the 4.2 is cracked blocks as we have discussed here frequently. Some of the figures Fraser Mitchel gives are frightening. He quoted a number of 8 out of 10 in one case.

https://www.jagtas.org.au/torque/tec...-engine-block/

 

Don't forget the XK120 and XK140! Mark VII had a 3.4 originally too.

 

Correct JB. My bad. I was talking the newer saloons. Mk1> and Jaguar's strategy for the US. Should have explained myself.

 

Jagboi right as well as the XK150.

 

update...

3.4l block found, it will be rebuilt with new rings, main bearings, rod bearings, timing chains and tensioners. crank pulley, crank, pistons, rods, flywheel and clutch will be balanced.

i'm now back in california and will fly back and drive back to california when it's ready. parts will be obtained from welshent.com in steubenville, oh. supposedly, a big older jag parts supplier.

BTW, ttraceengines.com does older jag six cyl race and street performance rebuilds. supposedly they have a 3.4l that may be used in my backup plan in case this rebuild in delaware falls through.