Hi Rhys

FWIW I used a sealant called "Red Hermetite", and had no seepage problems.

 

If it was me, I would ues a smear of sealant. Red Hermetite is good in this location.

 

Before you re-assemble it, did you discover the source of coolant in your oil? Have you done as Fraser Mitchell suggested, and checked the timing cover for corrosion?
Remember that Jaguar XK motors are numbered from the rear, so when you have the cams timed correctly, the rear cylinder should be on compression stroke.
Pete

 

Hello,

Thanks for the responses.

After inspection of the head gasket, block and head with the "shop" mechanic, the conclusion was that the head gasket had been leaking at the rear of the engine.

At this stage, with new head bolts, new head gasket, clean surfaces and correctly torqued head replacement, I will at least have a bench mark for the future, ( if the issue continues).

Rhys

 

Whooooohoooooo!

Finished.... back on the road. What a joy/saga/roller-coster ride and experience.

Could not have done it without the wise help and guidance of these (and other) forums. Thanks to NBCat, Fredd60 and David84XJ6, but especially Doug Dwyer, Fraser Mitchell and some hands-on assistance from a local "Yoda".

Doug's influence cannot be under estimated. His articles that appear on other forums and recorded advice on this forum have been absolute signposts and proverbial "lights in the darkness" as I have struggled with my first experience with the insides of the 4.2 motor.

Stressful, but great experience and have learned so much. Not ready to tackle anything else yet, but we'll see.

Milestones were understanding the chain tensioning arrangement and the "no short-cuts" rule, but the biggest "gotcha" for me was storing the head upside down, without the camshafts fully torqued down (after it came back from the machine shop). Many of the shims must have slid down, inside the tappet retainer, and when I torqued down the head, those valves remained "open". Of course, I didn't test the valve clearances until after I tried to (spark pugs out) crank over the engine. In hindsight, I cannot believe how stupid that was. Also how lucky I was that there appears (at this stage) to be no damage done. I was also pleased that my local sage didn't express in words how clearly dumb he thought I must be to have not checked the tappet clearances first. ( I did catch the pained look on his forehead and the colour draining from his face.)

Anyway, these forums, their history and the depth of knowledge in them cannot be underestimated. With the notes that I made, the photos that I took, the advice given and the daily searching and reading of these and other forums, gave me the confidence to continue.

Whilst I may be disappointed that the gasket blew, and the cost(s) were not budgeted for, every problem associated with the task became an opportunity to learn more.

I have to agree with Doug.... there are no shortcuts... "Don't try to rush....the car will fight you every inch of the way."

I have learned a lot from the forums... and am often embarrassed that I cannot help others, but maybe someone reading this may learn from me... that patience, persistence, research, swallowing pride and asking even the most basic questions, and a methodical approach of breaking the major task down into a series of smaller tasks will, eventually, get you there.

 

Well done !! All of us 'oldies' had to start some time, mine was on motorcycles, then a Mark 2 Jaguar. Back then there was plenty of stuff around on rebuilding XK engines. Today they are much less common so it is more difficult to find out the "ins and outs" of these engines.

BTW was your engine block slotted on top or not ? This slotting was a late mod to avoid the need for cylinder liners.

 

Yes, the block was slotted, so I gather it must be quite a late model of the Series III XJs.

I will have to do the tappets, 'cos on the exhaust side, they are all around .016, whereas the inlet side are all around 0.012. The engine isn't noisy as such, but you can hear them.

Now that I know a little more about how the head gear is structured, I might just wait till a rainy day and have a go at them. I will have to take more accurate measurements so that I can pre-order some shims I guess.

 

Congratulations on your success and thanks for the kind words.

I bought my first Jag 15 years ago and could never had made it this far without lots of "reading, learning, doing".....and most certainly not without the help of others who are willing to share what they know. At the risk of sounding maudlin I guess it's a "pay it forward" type of thing.

I am convinced that we'd have far fewer old Jags on the road with the internet.

Cheers
DD

 

Glad to hear you've got the slotted block, because the linered blocks were the Achilles Heal of the blocks with long head studs, (as I found out in 1989 !!!!). OK, so you've got some slack tappets but the engine will run perfectly well until you can get round to doing them.

For me, the XK engine of 1947 is one of the classic engines; far ahead of its time and a lovely piece of engineering. Trouble was it should have been replaced around 1970 by the V12 and also a new six based on it, but Jaguar really royally lost their way in the 70s. The six came years later as a 3.6 first in the XJS, then the XK40 saloon in 1986. The V12 used too much petrol to be their first choice engine

BTW you normally can swap around the shims, and usually only need to buy a few.

 

Please post pictures, if at all possible.