Since you’ve done the investigation, I’m reasonably confident you’re fully aware of what’s involved.
Having pulled more than a few of these engines,( about 50?) it’s just the usual stuff. Imagine pulling a Cadillac motor from that era and you have a good idea of what’s involved.
Do what you want, it’s your car. But look at what Jaguar XKE’s are going for now. Some over $200,000. At one time you wouldn’t believe how cheap they were. I once bought an XKE convertible. A car that today would sell for north of $160,000 I only paid $300 for. I chopped it up and tossed it away because I needed some parts for my race car.
A Jaguar XJS is commanding an absolute premium in Europe , England, Australia, and starting here in America. Just like the XKE did.
While you may be willing to go ahead if the engine needs work. If it were mine , I’d go to the web and type in Car-Parts.com and check the price on a 6.0 Jaguar V12. ( sedan and XJS are the same)
While it’s used it will come with a warranty, and save you a massive amount of work and frustration. Plus probably be a much better investment.

But like I said, I scrapped a nice XKE for a few parts.

 

When the '76 dropped a valve seat, i put a Chev 350 in. I know what is involved. It's really fairly simple. The largest amount of time would be involved in making the engine compartment very clean and presentable

Heck,

I can keep the motor and bits, and someone can always return it to as stock, if they choose.

I doubt i will live long enuf for these to be worth significant $$. Electronic era cars (see 1985 Corvette, for example) don't seem to have the same appreciation potential as earlier cars due to their electronic complexity and dearth of replacement electronic parts.

Yeah, I suppose I could spend $200K to restore the car to a condition that a $250K XK-E would be in, but it would bring maybe, maybe $45K at the most, according to Hagerty. They made too many of them, enviro regs are taking toll on ICE cars and eventually their collectibility. An E type is collectible because it looks nice, it has a racing heritage, most rusted away decades ago, and it is relatively uncomplicated. An XJ-S with its power windows, power seats, power top, etc, isn't exactly the same, IMO. You didn't even see the way the dash was hacked up in the XJS, pic below, The PO had dementia and used hacksaw to get into the glove box (hacksaw meaning he cut the steel supporting the glove box). I can make it presentable, but it won't be original. Lots of 1978 Corvette pace Cars out there with low mileage and all original, they bring $25K today, they were selling for $25K in 1979. They made too many for them to be worth anything.

You can look at my sig and see what i own. I didn't "buy" those cars, i built them. . I paid $500 for that 1961 Corvette in 1974, it was junk, i put about $35K into since then, which is probably the same at $100K in todays dollars, and it would be worth maybe $110K, up to $150K if was restored to all original with all numbers, original engine, matching.. Non-original motor, nope, it won't get the $$

I do appreciate the input and the car parts link.

Doug

 

Fair enough, I understand your choices but it’s not what I’d do. ( it’s your car so you should do what you want to do).
I’ve just fallen in love with the V12 because I’m a racer and it’s the only engine someone could seriously race without replacing most of the engine.
I’m building 2 cars, Using the V12. One a Group 44 tribute car. The other a very low dollar ( $2000 limit) MGuar. ( MG TD with Jaguar XKE suspension and a V12 Engine). It’s really just Bitsa of both cars.
Really just pieces I have laying around from all the cars I restored. The track on the MG is the same as the track on the TD. I bought 2 cheap E Bay turbo’s and expect a stock V12 with 90,000+ miles on it to make 850+ hp. Unopened.

 

Too bad I didn’t know you last year. I gave away a very nice Jaguar interior. Complete from dash to rear package shelf. A hint if you want good interior parts really cheap, buy them from the rust belt. Our bodies may disappear from rust but the mechanicals are usually very nice.

 

Those are some nice looking welds on that roll cage, based on the cage, you "do" race.

Yes, the high RPM and reliability of the V12 has its advantages.

The only real racing I ever did was 1/4 mile, straight line 20+ years ago. I did a few days at Spring Mountain outside Las Vegas in the Corvette Z06, several years back, never got over 135 MPH on those short twisty tracks, it was fun, but the car really did most of the driving (various forms of braking and traction control), its not like old school where the driver was fully in charge of keeping it on the track. Of course you can disable all of that in full Track mode, but thats for people who don't mind wrecking a $100K car...

Around town, the low end torque of a BBC will get that 5000 lb XJS to 60 MPH faster than about anything other than a Tesla or ICE supercar. Or at least let it keep up with your typical new Nissan. LOL

Haven't made up my mind until i get a handle on what is really going on with the V12. Anything involving motor out, means the Chev will be going back in place of the 12. I just want to drive the car and not have to fuss with it all the time.

Doug

 

Guys,

With respect you seem to have hijacked Mclovin22's thread to talk about your own cars. Remember, standard Forum protocol is that he owns this thread for discusion on his car / problem.

McLovin22,

How are you getting on with the spark plug removal and the examination of the cooling system?. Any advice that you would like from members?

Cheers

Psul

 

Hi

McLovin22

Don't throw that Old 'Dizzy Cap' away! as that looks the Genuine Article

A Genuine Marelli Magretti with Brass Contacts and if the Contacts are not burned and the Cap is not Cracked, then that is the one I would clean up and put back on my Car, although I'd keep the New One as a Spare in the Boot/Trunk

Those Marelli 'Dizzy Caps' are Gold Dust and even if you could find one could be worth $500-$600

Even a S/H one could be worth Megabucks as Marelli don't make these any more, so all you can get are 'Clones' made under License with the Aluminum Contacts, considered by some to not be quite so good

 

If originality is not hyper important to you, you can eliminate the whole distributor. What I hate about the original distributor is the difficulty is changing timing very much.
The timing marks are on the bottom of the engine and there is no way to watch while the distributor is moved to advance or retard the timing. New cars control the spark with the ECU and changing timing is simple key strokes on a laptop.
If today’s gas was the same as original and you weren’t looking for improvement. Then leave it as is.
But it’s not.10% alcohol is normal. Which calls for slight changes in timing for optimum power and fuel mileage. Any other changes to the engine such as camshaft or fueling. ( carbs? Turbocharging, etc. ) Also call for timing changes.
there are aftermarket ECU’s that are plug and play. But cost a fair bit. Then still require adjusting. Inexpensive ECU’s like Megasquirt are sell learning so once properly connected will start and run. Then to speed up self learning you can simply attach a laptop and make the changes required for optimum power and fuel mileage.
Elimination of the distributor requires either coil on plug or do like Jaguar did on the 6.0 use 6 dual outlet coils.
If you want the benefits of E85 all that is required is a simple fuel line sensor. That will allow you the 10-15% power gain plus buying fuel that is a dollar cheaper than premium. It won’t matter what gas you buy. It will. Automatically adjust for whatever you get.

 

I am not sure how you get 15% more power out of E85.

Normal 100% gas has about 119,000 BTU/gal, on average

E85 has about 109,000 BUT/gal, on average.

You lose 10% of the fuel energy per gallon, going to E85. You would have to burn ~10% more E85 to get the same BTUs per mile as gasoline gives. 1 HP = 2545 BUT/hr. That is an immutable conversion.

Torque is pretty straight forward as displacement x compression ration x volumetric efficiency (x factors).

You aren't changing the disp or CR or vol eff (or factors) by going to E85.

HP is a torque x RPM function. It doesn't change with fuel type if Tq is the same.

You may, or may not be able to advance the timing more with E85, i don't know, but it can't be much more.

Please explain?

Thanks,
Doug

 

The extra free oxygen in Ethanol allows each cylinder to burn more fuel. ( overly simple). Think of it as a mini supercharger) Yes timing can be advanced a decent amount because of the flame Alcohol produces. ( overly simple)
That same flame burns further down into the cylinder pushing the piston further. ( slower flame front)
In drag racing alcohol puts you in a faster class. Indy cars use 100% ethanol, NASCAR adds 15% to gasoline.
There is an option available on most US made cars/ trucks called flex fuel. In a Ford it’s about $104 it allows you to put any combination of gas and methanol and will automatically adjust timing and mixture strength. I have it in my pickup. The difference between gasoline and E85 is staggering.
First time I tried i, smoked my tires.
I doubt you’ll accept what I’ve just said,if so, I suggest you go on UTube and look for E85 comparisons with pump gas premium. There seem to be countless tests.

The reason I used 10-15% increase is because the higher the compression the greater the power increase.
Since ETHANOL has a higher octane than gasoline, our HE V12 ( with 11.5-1 compression) gains that 15% if the timing is properly adjusted. But the early PreHE with our 7.8-1 compression doesn’t benefit as much. ( but the timing is closer to correct with the stock distributor).

 

Nice work, did you acquire the flares from JBL specialties in Virginia? I spoke with him some years back about them but they weren't quite yet in full production.

 

Yes, nice guy, great work