Update on Big Blue

[RollyTG]

Greetings gentlemen. It's been a while since I last posted on here and a lot has been happening - not much of it good unfortunately. The good is that Big Blue was up and running nicely for a few weeks and took 1st place in the Jaguar non E-type class at our club show back in April, which was extremely satisfying. Then a few weeks later almost home from a club meeting there was a horrible noise and no further progress to be made. I had to use up my annual free tow to take it half a mile home. I assumed initially that something had blown up in the transmission. But a while later I got around to trying to diagnose the problem. It simply would not crank. So I had to have a look inside. I pulled, with unusual difficulty, the No1 plug - and found it badly smashed. Something really bad had happened. Examining inside with an endoscope revealed a large hole in the top of the piston. It seems the exhaust valve had got stuck and the hole was the result - bits of metal everywhere. That was a few months ago. With help of a car enthusiast neighbour I removed the engine and transmission and took it to be rebuilt. It turns out that the damage was not as bad as it might have been. The head was badly damaged but I was able to locate a replacement for a reasonable price. The block had only a tiny bit of shrapnel damage and we are able to use that. Crank and oil pump etc are all OK. So it is getting new pistons, valves, bearings, etc., etc, and it should be back together soon. So while the engine is out I am taking advantage of the space to overhaul the power steering. Hopefully I will be able to get rid of most of the many leaks. The next issue of course is the transmission. I have decided to go with replacing the BW8 which worked but was essentially an unknown quantity. The John's Cars GM T700 conversion kit is most likely where I will go with that. Airconditioning is also on my wife's wish list for the car - so why not. I may be able to get an original 1960's setup to install - the kind that goes in the boot. So - wish me luck gentlemen for I am surely going to need a truckload of it. I could also use a bigger garage and a wheelbarrow full of money, but I guess I will have to figure that out.

I have a question about the transmission shifter but I will put that in a separate post in the relevant section.

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[John Quilter]

In these unfortunate situations, always good to know what the total mileage was on the car at the time of failure.

And if fitting AC, I would recommend a cooling system upgrade, perhaps an aluminum radiator, electric pusher fan or other mods. In my experience, S Type cooling systems were marginal and better suited to cooler UK weather.

[RollyTG]

Thanks John. I don't really have any idea what the actual milage of my car is. The odometer says 23,000 - no doubt the second time round. The engine has been apart at some time previous, but I have no information on when that might have been. It is bored out 20 thou. Cooling might well be an issue here in South Carolina. I am coming up against some cost realities though. I will certainly try to upgrade where possible.

[jerry_hoback]

I am sincerely saddened by this news. I have been trying to use my S as often as I could even though earlier this year I finally did a compression check and found #6 to be 1/2 compression of the rest. Your story scares me to think that I could have done this same damage out of sheer determination to use the car. I had already been planning to remove the head and make that repair this winter. This only makes me more determined to get it done.
Im sorry, and thank you.

[RollyTG]

Good luck with yours Jerry. Mine happened very suddenly - no warnings and no symptoms. It looks like the exhaust valve just got stuck somehow. My wife and I have decided to invest in the car and hopefully have many more years of enjoyment with it.