Engine number should be repeated on the head.

 

On South African Cars: Chassis/VIN Number =

Built at CDA, East London Start with "A" ~ e.g. A1B56966DN
Built at Blackheath, Cape Town Start with "B" ~ e.g. B1B59173DN

All 3.8 Litre. No 3.4 S Types built here.

 

Chassis number 2102 means it started life as a 3.4 RHD in 1964. If it has the prefix P then it came from the factory with power steering but if the P is not there the PAS has been retro fitted. (easy enough job and makes the car more desirable) The DN means it had a manual gearbox with the Laycock overdrive.

If you can find the engine number I can possibly tell you where that engine has come from although it might not be from an S Type that depends on whether it starts with the 7B prefix.

If this is the correct chassis number and it is stamped in the slam panel not just in the VIN plate then major alterations have been done to the car to change it to LHD. The steering will have been swapped over but this involves changing the whole dash (all the wood), the hand brake swapped over, wiper blades swapped to clear the left side of the screen, Pedals moved, brake reservoirs from one side of the engine bay to the other, head lamps swapped out, wiring loom under the dash altered. Auto gear change linkages. I even think to change from RHD to LHD with PAS the front subframe would have to be swapped out. Possibly only on the later Adwest PAS cars with the indent for the power steering pump. All the Jaguar chassis were set up to be able to run RHD or LHD. All the bolt holes and apertures are there but there are a lot of parts that need to be changed over.

The other alternative is that this car is not what it says on the tin and the identity has been changed but we will not go there.

 

Makes me think if the engine has been replaced maybe the gearbox was too. Reverse is left and up according to the gear knob, that is the moss box isn’t it?

Are there any other differences between the 3.4 S and the 3.8 S? Anything that should have been modified when the engine was swapped?

 

Thanks very much for all the info. Plenty of things to check when I take a look.

 

Yes ~ that is the Moss box. Later cars had the Jaguar gearbox with synchromesh on all 4 gears. The straight cut first gear on a Moss box makes a loud howl. Awful!

 

"DN" on Overdrive cars stands for "de Normanville".

 

Apart from the badges there is not a lot of difference between the 3.4 and 3.8. The 3.8 had the power lock diff as standard whereas on the 3.4 it was an option. There were options in both engine sizes so you could have a 3.4 with leather and a 3.8 with Ambla or vice versa.
Some say the 3.4 engine is a sweeter engine than the 3.8 although it does not have the same acceleration or top speed. That said acceleration difference from 0 to 60 is 3 seconds between the 3.4 manual and the 3.8 manual but if you get the 3.4 auto the 0 to 60 times is slightly quicker than the 3.8 manual. This is down I would guess to the rear diff ratio rather than engine power.
Top speeds that you will never get near to vary by 5 to 7 miles an hour. Below are the specs taken from Wiki but not sure if they are correct.3.4S automatic
0–60 mph 10.0 s
Max speed 118 mph (190 km/h)

3.4S manual/overdrive
0–60 mph 13.9 s
Max speed 115 mph (185 km/h)

3.8S manual/overdrive
0–60 10.2 s
Max speed 122 mph (196 km/h)

3.8S automatic
0–60 mph 11.5 s
Max speed 116 mph (187 km/h)

 

The real difference in 3.4 & 3.8 cars lies in the torque curve. There is only 10 bhp difference in a 3.4 vs a 3.8 but that does not tell the full story. The 3.8 produces considerably more torque at the right time on the curve. The 3.8 MOD will always fetch higher prices for similar condition cars & is considered the prime choice.

 

@Cass3958 Could you do me a huge favour and look up this one too? It’s the well maintained but slightly tatty one. P1B79558DN.

 

refresh page for edit.

 

Come & join us at the S Type Register.

Jaguar 'S'-type Register

 

Edgar de Normanville came from an engineering family in Leamington Spa. His father was responsible for several civil engineering projects in the town including some very nice bridges. After an engineering apprenticeship, Edgar worked as a motoring journalist. He was a captain in the Royal Engineers during WWI. He designed a number of epicyclic gearboxes; one was a four-speed for Humber. He's best known for his overdrives made by Laycock. Thinking of what (in my opinion) are probably the best modern gearboxes, he was way ahead of his time.

 

Lots of history & very helpful people on the Forum section. Devoted to S Types only.

 

This one is not on the register but I can confirm that the chassis number relates to a 3.8 LHD with power steering, manual with overdrive from 1966. The closest on the register is 79549 which is a LHD 3.8s which is registered in Munich, Germany.
The register although it gives a lot of good information is no longer kept up to date due to the death of the founder David Reilly last year and only includes S Types that have been registered with David. We have 419 LHD 3.8s, 290 RHD 3.8s, 55 LHD 3.4s and 252 RHD 3.4s on the register giving a total of 1016 S Types known to us. David was based in the US so the majority of the cars he was aware of were on his side of the pond. There are many more out there not known to us but not that many. I would think there are only 1500 or so S Types still around which is just 6% of the 25000 that were produced world wide. The S Type forum that Glyn mentioned is still up and running but sadly not used as often as it could be. Most of the S Type members such as Glyn, Jose and myself also use this forum so if you have any questions please ask.

 

I have been watching the Register. Plenty of onlookers reading existing data. Hopefully we will find a replacement for David. I would have offered but being a Super Mod and Ambassador at MBWorld keeps me too busy. I come here for fun & enjoyment.

 

The only reason we only sold the S Type as a 3.8 here was the weight & the power sapping altitude of much of the country. Most Mk2's sold were also 3.8's. We did however build the run out 340's here. For the way I drive my car at coast I'm sure I would be quite happy with a 3.4. I think the 3.4 is a sweeter version of the XK and more free revving.

 

There is also the saloon data base but sadly it’s (P1B79558DN) not listed there either.

saloondata.com

You could add the if to the data base if you want. I’ve add quite a few 420’s the the data base.
cheers
Bob_S