Dear Friends:

This is important for me. The mechanic rebuilding the block of my '86 4.2 suggested to incorporate the following upgrades. I sure will consider, but I'm not sure about the parts involved, whether those are the best choices. Items he suggested are: high-flow oil pump, rear crank seal conversion, and uprated rod bolts plus crank bolts. Regarding the bolts it seems ARP used to make them but they are no longer in their catalog, as for the previous two, I found in the SNG Barratt arsenal the following:
https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#...5-2ea70e381e32
https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#...20%60c19687%60
Drastic difference in price exists between various aftermarket choices. Is more expensive necessarily better?

Please advise...
Paul

 

If it's a standard rebuild i.e. not being used in racing, the original oil pump provides plenty of pressure. I have some friends who race E Types in vintage racing and use the factory pump. Unless your pump is worn or damaged it can probably be reused.

The rear crank seal conversion does require machining of the crankshaft, so is an irreversible modification. The original seals works, but does require some skill to install the rope seal correctly. I've built leak free engines using the original seal.

Rod bolts and nuts: Again, for a standard engine the OEM bolts are fine. The late Series III bolts are actually considered an upgrade for the earlier XK engines, so I'd only deviate if ARP bolts are cheaper/easier to get or if you are substantially increasing the power output.

 

The only real PITA job is the rear crankshaft oil seal with its rope seal. Without the correct tool made by Churchill, it can be difficult to set up, but it is possible as I've done it with a couple of turns of masking tape. This was told me by a bloke who rebuilt these engines for a living. If you're having the crankshaft out, if it were me, I'd covert to a lip-type seal. These old "wing and prayer" seals were OK when people didn't mind a few oil stains but nowdays we expect better. No modern engines use this old tech sort of stuff.
As an '86, your block will be of the slotted type, so probably well worth while having the bloc, deck lightly skimmed, and don't forget to bolt on the timing cover before you do this or the head gasket won't seat properly. The slotted blocks eliminated the block cracking problem so head gaskets last longer. but don't expect it to last a huge amount of time. You're on borrowed time after about 80k miles since the gasket went on. Of course for most low-use classics like yours, this will be many years away.

 

Get the lip type crankshaft seal.!!

Those old rope seals were a common cause of oil leaks.
I have one leaking at the moment in my Series 3 XJ6 with only 5000 ks since a complete rebuild about 10 years ago. ( it was off the road for other reasons)
I am contemplating pulling the engine again, stripping it out and modifying it for a lip seal.

Bill Mac
MK1
MK2
S3XJ6
X300 (x2)
15 previous jags. MK5 to X308





.

 

The rope seal must work if done properly. My car is 49 years old, I have had the sump off and pistons out but never removed the crank. Zero oil leaks from the rear main seal.
Same at the front, a very small weep that never makes it to the ground. Clearly the original setup can work.

 

That may be your problem right there. Drive it and I bet the leaks will dry up. The seal likes to be wet to work, extended sitting doesn't do it any favours.

 

The reason for the lay up was for a complete strip back to bare metal, rust repairs and re-paint. This got put on hold as a new developments in our area consistently coated us in dust so I could not complete the paint job for years. (I do my own painting)
The leak in the rear seal started within the first 1000 ks of the engine rebuild by a Jaguar "specialist." It was being used as a regular driver
When I went back to him I found he had shut up shop and departed.
The S3 now lives over a drip tray.
Bill Mac

 

Hey Bill, at least in sunny Qld you have plenty of warm evenings to pull and strip down your 4.2 engine.
As for us in the ACT, middle of spring & we are still freezing our butts off.
As for global warming, I say "bollocks".

 

We are getting a bit off the theme of this thread when we get involved in "global warming". Lets get it into the proper context.

The highest consistent temperatures ever recorded in Australia occurred in the 1890s.
Bourke in NSW had a couple of weeks when the temperature did not drop below 100F even at night.
Heaps of people died from heat exhaustion. It was so bad that the NSW government put on special trains to evacuate people out of the western areas.
Overall global warming is a natural phenomenon. They used to have "pop up" vendors on the Thames River ice in the 1700s.
The Dutch ice skated and raced on their canals until early this century.

I pity you in Canberra as I was regularly shunted down there in mid winter to assist in writing some manual or procedure when I worked for CASA as a Pilot
I also got married in the ex railway station church in Ainslie in 1969.

Back to the theme of the rear crankshaft oil seal .
I have owned about 20 Jaguars. I have dealt with this old rope seal on many occasions starting with MK7s.
At the same time I have owned along with my children about 30 assorted vehicles including Fords, Holdens, Austins, Morris, Renaults, Alfas, MGs, Datsuns, Hyundais, Toyotas etc.
Only one ever had a leaky rear seal which was a 1976 Ford XC.
I think the modern lip seal is the way to go for the XK engine rebuild.
Bill Mac

 

Thanks to SKF latest Viton stretch seal does the trick.

 

Is that seal a drop in replacement for the original rope seal?

 

If it is, the scroll machined in the crankshaft that the rope seal is agains will probably need grinding off, or the seal won't last 5 minutes. The rope seal is not of the lip type, it's working surface is much wider, so I suppose that's why the scroll doesn't wear it out. It's also made of asbestos (or it used to be)

 

I recall doing a few rope seals. Some came with a coating to provide the iniltial lubrication. Counter intuitively, they do not run dry! If not, we oiled them .
Installation was done with a round tool to press them in the groove uniformly and It was trimmed flat with a very sharp blade. A tab of Permatex red, and ready to go
completely seated. The seal stood proud at the mating of the block and the main cap.

 

As in pic 1 scroll needs machining off crank.

https://forum.etypeuk.com/viewtopic.php?t=16408

 

The trick with rope seals is that they should be worked into the groove with the crank or Churchill tool, wooden hammer handle etc.. They should never be trimmed at all. Listen to Jaguar.

 

Thanks Glyn, I'm not machining my crank and I have been able to make the rope seal work for me. We thinking of future rebuilds if it's a drop in replacement for the rope than I'd use it.

 

My rope seal is fine & no leaks. But as you say above they need to be used & kept wet with oil. If I was doing a rebuild now & cutting the crank anyway I would try the SKF seal.

 

I remember back in my mechanic days, using a brass drift to compact one side of the rope seal and adding some more, then putting new on cap side ( if that makes sense) all done without removing the crank!

 

Model A engines also use rope seals and it's been my experience that if you soak the seals for 24 hours in oil, they are easier to install. Too, I find that the older rope material is far superior to the stuff being sold today. When the time comes, I will pay for the machine work to use modern seals on my Jag.