I bought a 1997 XK8 with a bottom end knock so I replaced the engine , the old engine was running when removed so I stripped it to see why it had a knock, one of the shells was broken up which is why it knocked.

A previous owner has cherished this car as the engine had all the 1997 problems sorted out , it has alloy tensioners and a replacement block which has steel lined bores, it must also have had new rings fitted at the time.

If you have a good engine which has failed the blow by test this is the block and pistons you need to make it good again.

The broken shell bearing allowed play in the conrod which has allowed the valve to kiss the top of the piston, not causing any damage as far as i can tell but it has marked the top of the bore which you can see in the picture, it's above the ring line so won't affect compression.

I dread to think what the block and 8 pistons would cost from Jaguar, £3000+ would be my guess as there's a lot of machining in the alloy block.

The very bottom casing in the picture is from the new engine which is why it looks different, the old engine has oil cooler pipes at the front so we had to swap them over

£600 collected from Warrington Cheshire or + delivery