Hello all.
I am posting for a review before I attempt to start the car. (MARELLI) As stated in my other posts re XJS parts swap. I did the following not necessarily in the order below:
1. Installed B spec piston (courtesy Robert- Camp Chaos Chronicles) THANKS FOR TRYING Greg in France.
2. Installed new piston rings and connecting rod bearings on all 12 cylinders. All main bearings were in perfect condition.
3. Installed new chain and Tensioner. The engine has all new gaskets so I am hoping for a leak free engine.
4. Installed 2 NOS cylinder heads. (lapped valves and did the valve adjustment all new shims @ .012 -.014)
5. Adjusted throttle plates @ 0.02
6. Verified integrity of old fuel injector harness and replaced the injector plugs. I am in the process of building a new FI harness.
7. Repaired and replaced coil connectors and verified that the A coil (lower) and the B coil (upper) are connected to the correct position on Dist cap and the ignition modules.
8. Verified TDC for A1 and installed distributor with rotor pointing at the mark for A1.
9. Had injectors cleaned and flow tested and installed them with new FI hoses with ferrules. Fingers crossed for no leaks. I was able to get 7.9 mm (not 5/16) fuel hose at NAPA
10. New spark plugs gapped at 0.25
HERE IS THE PLAN. IF WRONG PLEASE CORRECT ME. I will wait on a response before I attempt to start the car.
Disclosure: I am going to attempt the start with no coolant. I only have the radiator in place to connect the tranny lines. No hoses and no fan. Power steering pump and alternator belts are on. I will have to disassemble the front to install the AC compressor after the engine starts.
I just want to see that the engine fires up and runs for a few seconds. BAD IDEA?
a. With the fuel injector harness disconnected, Verify proper spark
b. With the ignition disconnected verify fuel delivery(I have an inline fuel pressure gauge installed) and flow. I am lifting the injectors off the intake and using 12 small plastic jars I "borrowed" from the wife.
c. Connect everything back together and attempt the start.
I had to purchase the MAIN (AGU 1070) and FUEL PUMP(AGU1068) relays from Moss Motors so I am waiting on those before I can proceed. (2-4 days)
If I missed anything blame it on my old age. Clocking 75 in 9 days.
Any and all comments good or bad are welcome. I await your response.
Thanks.

 

I’ll be 70 soon, so I applaud your dedication. Obviously make sure you have all the oil lines connected, and oil in the crankcase. I wouldn’t run it longer than 30 seconds without coolant…..

 

I’m a little more than a year and 1/2 ahead of you. (76&1/2) So you are right it’s still worth it.
You can run the engine for over a minute without coolant. Don’t get rushed.
I prelube everything.
I have an adapter I made that goes where the oil pressure is measured. Instead of pouring the oil in, I punch an hole in the cap ( and seal) then let it drip into the funnel slowly. Takes hour per quart. All those oil lines and paths need to have good clean oil in them. . I pre-fill the oil filter and put it on. I save 2 quarts for filling the oil lines and 4 if I’ve drained the oil cooler.
Then spark plugs out, I just crank the engine over until I get oil pressure on the guage ( my guage is mechanical so you’ll probably need to turn the ignition on with the coil disconnected and the fuel pump fuse removed.
Crank it no more than a minute and let the starter cool for 3 before doing it again.
Is never been instantaneous so relax,

 

Thanks for the replies.
Because I did not know how long it would take before I would be able to get to the point of starting the car, I used assembly lube on all the moving parts as if it were a completely new rebuild.
I will be careful and bring up the oil pressure before I start the engine. I had flushed out the oil cooler and on installation I manually pumped it full of oil before connecting the oil pipes.
I also have to get back under the car to double check the air gap for the crank sensors. Since the original engine ran before it threw a rod, I am assuming that the crank sensors were good.
Not sure how to check them before attempting the start. (Anyone knows how?) I do have a mini oscilloscope that I can use when the engine is turning over. If they are 'duffs' I will have to purchase 2 new ones.(Which aftermarket ones will do?)

 

Did some work on the car today.
1. Wired up Fuel Pump. Installed Main and Fuel Pump relays. Pump works, fuel pressure @ around 60 psi with the key "ON". When cranking the pressure drops to about 38 psi. CHECK.
2. Wired up starter circuit. Car cranks . I have a nice blue spark from the coil outputs A & B. Have not checked at the spark plug yet. Having a good spark at the coil output means that the CPS and the Amps are good. YES or NO. I checked for spark with the FI harness disconnected so as not to flood the engine during the spark test. Tomorrow I will verify spark at the spark plugs.
My other plan for tomorrow is to lift the injectors off their ports and insert the mini jars I "borrowed" from the wife and check the flow and see how well they are misting. I had them serviced about 3 months ago. BTW: When I open the throttle I hear the injectors click.
I will also do compression test just to record the numbers for future reference.
One other thing I noticed but will leave for another topic is that the TEVES pump is on all the time. So as not to do any (further damage)? I disconnected the power wire from the pump to stop it from working all the time. That would help kill my new battery

 

I wouldn’t bother with the compression test; fresh rings that haven’t run will result in misleading results. Pointless until the engine has broken in, probably 500 miles. I believe that the break in should be varying loads with no prolonged steady speeds, keeping rpm below 3000. And no prolonged idling.

 

That fuel pressure seems a tad bit high. Most jaguars systems I check are around 30 -32.
I rarely use the JAGUAR system anymore. Since I modify my engines I typically use Chevy fuel pumps ( so much cheaper and they have the ability to provide a seriously modified engine).
Unless I’m using carbs for some reason. Then I like the tandem SU. Fuel pump. I can feed both rows of carbs with one pump. And by looping them together at the engine keep track of pressure at both sides.

 

Depends where you are checking the fuel pressure; if before the A bank regulator, 60 is expected. If checking after (from the rail), 30-32, dropping to 28 at idle.

 

The engine had the A bank FPR deleted. I am checking the fuel pressure with an inline pressure gauge on the supply line before it enters the fuel rail. These readings are just the initial checks before I activate the injectors. The engine has not been started yet. As stated above I am going to check the flow rate of the injectors before attempting to start the car. If the fuel pressure is higher than it should be I would be able to verify that the fuel hose change was done correctly and will have no leaks. I am not using any clamps on the hoses.
I know I have good spark at the coils. I have to set the engine back to TDC (A1) and verify ignition timing (rotor position) before I attempt to start the engine. Slow but sure.. Been working on this for the last eight months so a few more days is neither here nor there. The reason I want to check the flow rate is because the cleaned injectors have been sitting for 3-4 months and I read that that is not good.

 

Should not be seeing 60psi unless the exit from the rail (B bank regulator) is blocked or failed….sounds like return is blocked off or you hooked the pressure directly to the removed input line to the rail.

 

The Fuel Pressure readings I gave were incorrect. I will correct that when I resolve the following issue:
NO OIL PRESSURE
I removed all 12 spark plugs and the oil pressure sending unit. For over 1 1/2 hours, I cranked the engine foe 45 secs; let the starter cool down; cranked again for 45 secs let the starter cool down. Repeated this cycle for the time noted above and not a drop of oil came out of the oil sender hole. The starter is turning over the engine at a pretty good clip.
Is there another way for me to prime the system. I did not interfere with the oil pump on this engine. The oil pump is engaged to the crankshaft as it should.
I don't expect to see oil pressure, rather I expect to see oil flowing out of the sending unit hole.
PS: I installed all new O-rings for the oiling system.
Just a thought: Can I overfill the engine with another gallon of oil to saturate the area where the oil pump is located, then once I get oil up at the sender, I can drain the extra oil out of the engine. Or Jack up the back of the car so the oil flows forward to where the oil pump lives

 

Did you prelube as I suggested ? The assembly lube will keep things from being hurt without oil but the pipes leading to the oil pump have to be full and dry won’t pick up oil.
Plus then the pump has to fill up all the oil passageways. Before you’ll get any indication of pressure ( or oil)

 

I started to inject oil through the oil sender hole but I stopped as I have an oil leak on the B side banjo bolt. I have ordered sealing washers from Moss so I will attend to that before continuing.
One thing to note is that I may have caused this because the oil pipe I had was slightly askew so I had to bend it a bit to to line up the pipe hole on the head. Now that the engine is in the car, it is going to be difficult to see how much off kilter the pipe is when I remove the banjo bolt. Any ideas?

 

If you have not already done so, I suggest you buy these:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324493979...AAAOSwALxgMnMz

 

@ Greg. I have not purchased the upgraded banjo bolts. Even if I did, I still have to resolve the leaking banjo issue first. Whether it is the OE banjo bolts or the upgraded ones, I read that I would have to undo the rear tranny mount and jack the tranny up into tunnel to get enough room to replace the banjo bolts especially on the right hand side of the car. I haven't personally looked at it to see if that is the case. Right now I am looking to see if I can line up new sealing washers without having to remove the valve covers which as you know is a lot of dismantling to get to them.

 

I think you mentioned that only the B bank side is leaking? On my car at least, this side's banjo is JUST accessible and removable. A bank not.
My idea was that if you are resealing the banjo, you might as well use this mod as it is better able to seal and less likely to strip the thread in the engine.

 

Thanks Greg. I placed the order for the upgraded banjo bolts. I guess it will take a while to get to me from Jag-Improver. I will only replace the B side for now as the A-side is not leaking.

 

UPDATE:
I am still waiting for the upgraded banjo bolts from Jag-improver to resolve the slight leak I have at the driver side banjo bolt. While doing so, I was able to get the oil system primed and I have about 60 psi oil pressure during cranking, all spark plugs removed. However, I noticed a puddle of oil under the car. I lifted and supported the car and got underneath and I saw that the oil pipe on the engine block above the oil filter was leaking. (HAS ANYONE DONE THIS REPAIR BEFORE)This is the pipe that leads to the cam boxes and the oil sender units. As you all know, there is a limited amount of space to work there. I am going to try and repair the oil leak (I ordered the crush washers from Moss yesterday) by removing the oil filter to see if I have enough space to undo the bolt and replace the washers with the new ones I ordered. I am hoping that I would not have to drop the exhaust pipe as I just got a mobile welder to come to my home and weld up the exhaust pipe I had to cut to remove the old engine. The PO had the pipe welded up with no clamps except for the ones on the Catalytic Converters. When I was removing the old engine, I tried to remove the cats to no avail. They were frozen solid to the pipe.
Back to the issue. Any other ideas of how to tackle this job?
On another note, I have all 12 injectors firing and I placed 12 jars under the injectors to verify that all of them were spraying evenly. I am not going to assemble the ignition and fuel system until I have resolved the oil leak at the bolt on the engine block.
Thanks for reading.