Finally got the 83 moved into the shop.

Looked it over good Top, Bottom and inside - Did not see anything that should not be able to be repaired or replaced if necessary.

Removed the Bonnet (Hood) and air cleaned all debris from motor.
Removed plugs, they were new Motorcraft. Motor turned over by hand, but very stiff. I injected a little Marvel Mystery oil into the cylinder tops and let set for awhile. Motor turns over very easily now. Have it set up for a compression test right now. Will need to purchase a battery for it first though. PO had removed the air pump and rails, but he installed set screws in their place. Distributor was very sticky feeling so I've oiled it for now. I first thought I was going to have to replace the distributor as some parts looked to be missing, but going back to the manual, it is just an earlier version and all those parts are accounted for. It has cold start injectors and the connectors for those are cut off the harness. From the looks of things, the wiring will be the biggest issue. Attached are a few photos of the car setting on my lift.
Tomorrow I'm going to start with my repair list, concentrating on getting the engine running before getting into the rest.

 

I am surprised to see the old round fuel rail. I was under the impression ALL HE's had the square rail. If memory serves me correctly some early HE's came with round but were recalled and fitted with square.

If I were you I would replace the fuel rail with square if you can find one, or make a new one, Bernard Embden has a write up on one he made from copper pipe fittings.

Good luck with the renovation.

 

Thanks Warren, I had mentioned the round rail in an earlier post I'd made about fuel lines and Grant had advised me also about changing it out to the square style. Have not searched a lot for one yet, but will. I will track down the write up you mention in case I have to fabricate another one. I will probably remove these today to clean the injectors and thinking about doing a pressure test on them. I can fit a fuel injector pressure tester to them and seal off all nipples. Fill with fuel and pressure them to 70 psi or so, that should be about double the regulators pressure and hopefully show any signs of leakage. From what little information I've found on the leakage problem, it was from the clamped fuel line ends. EFI fuel lines have changed for the better since then.

 

Are you 100% sure that the engine is an HE engine at all? I cannot see the Lucas amplifier fixing bosses in those photos, and the crankcase breather stuff looks different too, as does the cross pipe at the rear.
Greg

 

It looks very much like a '76 l have. Maybe a previous engine chang has been performed.

 

Greg, Baxtor, That thought crossed my mind also. Not being familiar with the differences in the engines. I'd also noticed the difference on the B block intake manifold while I was looking at the distributor. I'm going to get the engine number today and figure that out hopefully.

Before I get much more invested in this, I'm going to do the compression test, and then re install the distributor and plugs, figure out a way to get some fuel into it and see if it will fire up.
If it does not, then I will most likely part it out, that's why I originally bought it.

 

IIRC that's the D Jetronic system used from 1975-1980, never used on an H.E.

http://www.jagweb.com/aj6eng/djetronic.php

 

Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll be one of those rare, 300 HP high-comp version made only for about a year circa 1980-81


Cheers
DD

 

Doug, I do not believe the word "Luck" and my name has ever been used together.

 

That makes two of us!

 

According to the information in Kirby Palms book the XJ-S H.E. 1981-1987, Engine numbers started at 8S18001, My number is 8S21499SB.

 

I couldn't see "why" but I wonder if someone went through the trouble of retrofitting the DJetronic system on an H.E. Block?

 

8S is an XJS V12 number, but SB at the end indicates a 9:1 compression ratio engine, which is Pre-HE CR, as far as I know. Are you going on the actual stamped number on the block aft of the end of the V? This is almost impossible to see, engine in car; or on some documentation which might have the middle par of the number wrong?
If it turns out to be a pre HE, these are by far the easiest to modify for more power, a lot more if you want to! So might be worth keeping. If it turns over OK, I highly doubt it is bad mechanically, as these engines are so tough.
Greg

 

Yeah, I was diverted the other day on You Tube. Firing up ancient
domestic engines from deep sleep. Rough and ready OK for basic engines. But, each that could be turned over fired up!!!


Basics. Fuel, air compression and spark. Each in the right amount and at the right time.


I've some old "one lung" engines. Two and four cycle. Pull them through, feel compression and they can be made to run. If none, it ain't gonna happen!!


Carl

 

Greg, the number was taken from the back of the Vee, directly off the engine. I moved some of the piping and cleaned the block there.

Ran the compression test, I used three different gauges, all read in 5psi steps. I then average the readings

A1-180 B1-175
A2-180 B2-180
A3-175 B3-185
A4-170 B4-180
A5-185 B5-180
A6-180 B6-180
Pre H.E.'s tend to be 130-150psi, H.E.'s 200-220psi?
Spins over fine, Compression seems to be in the middle of the ranges, not sure what/why, but good enough I'm going ahead with getting it running.

One good thing, I tend to try to keep things as original, with this ones questionable originality, I'm going to have fun

 

On the pre HE engine, the spark plugs go in almost vertically, I have been told, while on the HE the top of the plug is angled inwards towards the centreline of the V as all of us who have struggled with 1 A and 1B, and 5 A and 5B know all too well. Hard to tell from your photos, but if you pop a plug back in and post a close-up pic, Grant or Doug will know for sure which head you have. Compression numbers look great!
greg

 

Spark plugs all angle towards the center of the Vee. Attached is a photo of the engine number and ecm. From what I've read, the pre H.E.'s had 3cu. ecm's. I read on Bywater AJ6 that there was a short lived 10 to 1 compression engine in this time area, that might explain the mid range compression psi's.

 

Early HE's had the round fuel rail, Jaguar recalled them and replaced the fuel rail as it causes hard start issues because of the multiple paths through the rail. Maybe this one fell through the cracks and did not get the fuel rail replaced.

 

Also, the pre-HE used washers under the spark plugs while the HE used taper seat spark plugs



Not me ! I'm confused by this engine.

Cheers
DD

 

That rare 10.0:1 engine (the 300 HP baby I mentioned earlier) also used the 6CU

Cheers
DD