Taken a year on and off but my 1968 XK340 engine I bought last year is finally finished, fully rebuilt new bearings and rings, regrouped crank and honed the cylinder bores, fitted with Newman Cams and 123 plus distributor, also fitted with a fully tuned exhaust system from Classic Fabs. Now fitted into my 1969 240 and I’ve got to say what a difference it’s made, the additional HP and the wonderful sound from the exhaust has transformed my beautiful car into everything I could have wished for.

 

Should I retain the sweet running original 240 engine. also changing the interior to an fully adjustable XJ all leather interior so should I retain the original interior although I’m not intending ever to sell this car. After 50 miles my compression readings are 160 on four cylinders and 165 and 170 on the other two should they all be the same? Pistons are 8-1.

 

That's a beautiful sight!
Great work.

 

Anything over 160 psi is good so after only 50 miles it possibly just needs bedding in and all the compression readings will go up. Do the valves tick at all or is the engine quiet?
Is it worth keeping the old engine, holding on to it for years in the garage taking up space, slowly seizing up through lack of use. Will you ever put it back in the car?. No sell it and it will pay towards the rebuild of the 3.4.
In my opinion I would ditch the XJ seats they look horrible in a classic Mk2 Jaguar. Sir william Lyons designed the interior so there was nothing of the seats showing above the window line. Keep it that way with the original seats. Have them recovered if you want in leather as the 240 possibly had the Ambla material seats but that said my 1968 S Type has the original Ambla seats and they are in better condition after 52 years than any leather seat would have been. The XJ seats take up more room in the back so unless you never want to take any rear seat passengers who have legs below the knees I would stick with the Mk2 originals. Others will say that the XJ seats are more comfortable, Safer with the head restraints and more figure hugging. So what go buy and drive an XJ6 if you want those seats.
Just my opinion.

 

take a look at member Primaz' S type interior. Looks very comfortable with modern seats. I have a 1984 XJ-6 and the front seats don't have enough leg support or torso/back support. Hell my school bus had better seats. Better to go with 2000-up Jaguar seats, like XJ40-on.

 

Hi Cass, thanks for your input, yes that’s what I thought, my son is telling me to keep everything but if I’m never selling my car what’s the point. With regards the seats I have a severe back problem which is my reason for changing to fully adjustable otherwise I would never have done so, same reason I put power steering in, no power steering could not drive it. The original seating with real springs is great and more comfy for those that can sit in that position so again I agree with you. Don’t agree with you about the space in the back being reduced, I’ve only fitted the passenger seat at the moment so I’ll take a picture tomorrow with both new and old seats in the same position and post them on here, took the fittings off the new runners and bolted through onto the original seat bases. Had to re-dye the leather as I couldn’t find the seats I wanted in red. I was careful to have all valve clearances to the recommendations from Newman cams of 8 to 10 and 10 to 12 none are under the minimum suggested, upon listening they all have the appropriate rumble/ticking whilst running.

 

Seats awaiting fitting after changing the colour to red. Not sure about using the headrests yet as they make the seats look a bit high.

Before dyeing process.

 

Of course I’ve named my Jaguar “Charlie Boy”

 

Beautiful looking car by the way. Is that Primrose yellow? I repainted my S Type Old English white during my rebuild. There are three shades of Old English white. WT1 being a snow white to WT3 which is almost a cream. I went for the WT3 and when it came out of the booth I thought we had painted it Primrose yellow. It was not until you put all the bling back on that the colour died down a bit and looked less yellow.
As I said changes are a matter of opinion. Jose talks about Primaz S Type where he has fitted high backed XJ40 seats but there is nothing on Primaz's car that has not been altered. Suspension, brakes, big V8 all the interior. If I could keep my original S Type and have Primaz's along side it in the garage I would. Fantastic job he has done to it.
For an fairly stock Mk2 or S Type though I would have to stick to the original seats. I recently fitted all new foams to mine and the result was really good giving me a more comfortable and firm seat to sit in. I was amazed at how much the old seat foams had deteriorated over the 50 years. I was also surprised at how much higher I sat in the seat with my head almost touching the roof and the tops of my thighs touching the underside of the steering wheel due to the firmer foam. It has all settled down now and I do not feel so high anymore. If you are changing the seats for a medical reason I would suggest keeping the originals and do away with the head restraint on the XJ seats.

This is my S Type coming out of the spray boot and later when it was finished with added wire wheels and no I have not kept the original steel wheels in the garage for prosperity.
.

 

Nice car & the 340 engines had the straight port head making them great performers.

 

As promised pictures after first seat install showing a direct comparison with the original seats. I did not remove the original seat mounting brackets but removed the brackets on the new seats so I could attach without changing anything allowing old seats to be used again if required simply by unbolting and rebolting. Pictures show both seats in the same position and I would say with the same amount of room for the rear passengers unless you start reclining even further but even then you will have the same foot room. I picked these seats because they best matched the construction pattern of the original seats so if I didn’t want to change the rear seat that’s ok. Seat sit about 4 inches higher without the headrest but being in line with the central door column it looks ok to me without the headrest.

 

Thank you Glyn, before I got the engine it had been rebored to +30 so now sitting about a full 3 1/2 litres. Once run in a bit I will be taking it to be tuned on a rolling road. I also have a 123+ign so once tuned I’ll post the advance slope we find best with the performance results for those interested.

 

You went the full nine yards on your Motor didn’t you, very nice. I painted mine Rolls Royce ivory to match my other wedding cars, retired from it all now but having difficulty parting with my cars. After painting it looked bright yellow but as you say buffing and the bright work makes a massive difference, also believe it or not it doesn’t show the dirt very much.

 

That was not the full nine yards. This what I took it back to.


I have to say your seats do not look too bad. Without the head rests they do not look stupidly high and the seat pattern is very similar to the originals seats. The XJ seats I have seen at shows in the Mk 2s have had the head restraints fitted and have been fawn or cream in colour so really stick out above the window line. You have done a good job of dying the seats red. They are a good colour match with the original. Looking at the match I would leave the original back seats in place. Which model XJ did these seats come from?

 

That’s taking it to the limit, well done. Yes my seats came from a 1997 XJ8. Finished fitting both seats today. May look at the rear seat because it has seatbelts internally fitted but unsure as yet. Obviously bolted to the car but completely hidden. Here’s a picture of them both fitted with headrests but I think your right I doubt if I’ll use them unless we go on a motorway run just for safety.

 

Hello Sir, I was wondering if you where still in possession of the jag would be very interested in talking to you