The brass plate in the engine compartment of my car states:
Car (Chassis) Number 942825
Body Number H 013800
Engine Number BC 4918-8
Gearbox Number GB 15291 JS
From books and the internet I find that the 94 indicates that it is a 2.4 Litre LHD Mk 1.
And that January 1958 started with 2729, January 1959 started with 3359.
So my car was the 96th 2.4 LHD Mk 1 made in 1958; 630 2.4 LHD Mk 1’s were made
in 1958; hence my car was made around the end of February, 1958.
Somewhere I found that the H in the body number signifies that it is a 2.4 Litre car.
I have no idea what the numbers mean.
I do not know what the BC in the engine number means. As I recall the 2.4 engines
in Mk 1’s can have BB BC and BD prefixes. I suppose that BC denotes some changes
from BB, but I do not know what. I do know that the -8 means 8/1 compression ratio.
I have no idea what the gearbox numbers and letters mean. The car does have a 4
speed with overdrive.
The car has a Tudor Webasto Riviera Sunroof.
Now comes a complete mystery number: The number E 009033 appears on a thin rectangular
tag screwed to the rear and below the fuel pump in the boot.
BUT THE CAR IS REALLY A MONGREL.
The engine casting in embossed: JGUAR 3.8 L.
The engine number which appears near the oil filter mount is R 5414.
From my superficial research, I find that this is a 3.8 litre E-type engine made
before Feb./March 1963.
The number on the front of the head is KE 3190-8. I find that KE is a 3.4 litre
Mk 1 engine and that 3054 appeared July 1957, 3888 Sept. 1957. So the
head was made about late July, 1957. It does have two SU carbs — there is
not enough space for three carbs.
Comment, corrections, more information would certainly be appreciated.
According to Nigel Thorley’s book Jaguar Mk1 and MkII Complete Companion, the 2.4 was introduced Sept '55 and the 3.4 Feb '57 so we probably did see some 2.4s in the US. I know my neighbor had one in the 1960s and called it his Two Four Leader because he didn’t know what the decimal point and the word Litre meant.
With the car number (they don’t really have a chassis as the XKs and big Marks did), the 9 indicates the Mark 1 body, the 4 indicates it is a LHD 2.4, and since they started at 940001, the 2825 means it is the 2825th made out of 3741 in this configuration.
The H body number indicates a 2.4 body where the 3.4 Mk1 bodies begin with E. They made 3741 LHDs and 16149 RHDs and body numbers are sequential, but I don’t think they differ for RHD vs LHD. The E009033 could be a 3.4 Mk1 body number, makes me wonder why it is on your car. Could be a factory worker’s mistake. I don’t know if the 2.4 and 3.4 bodies differ in any way.
The 2.4 engines began with BB1001 running to BB9999 and then to BC1001 to BC9999 and BE1001 to the end of Mk1s; they skipped BD because that prefix was being used for body part numbers. Mk2s had BG, BJ and BH. There were various changes in the 2.4 engine throughout its production life, which are listed in the Mark 1 parts catalogue. It is available on CD from JDHT and other vendors.
Gearbox prefix letters GB are set up for Mk1 without overdrive. GBN was Mk1 with overdrive. Suffix JS means shaved gears. The number is stamped on the left side upper rear and on the top cover. Other prefix letters such as JL and JB for the XK and big Mark models have different top covers and tail cases.
E-Type Engine R5414 might be closer to May 1962. Look for a casting part number above the Jaguar logo beginning with letter C. R5414 should have a suffix number /8 or /9 indicating the compression ratio by the different pistons installed.
You are correct that KE is an early Mk1 3.4 B-type head. There will be a C part number on the underside.
Webasto sunroofs were installed on completed new cars by a separate company somewhere near Coventry. You can search this forum for discussions about them.
Hi All,
I have a mk2 jaguar 3.4 1961 , this also has the small plate below the fuel pump in the boot . Does anyone know what this number relates to ? it is not the same number as the chassis number or the body number and doesn’t appear anywhere else. My car matches all the numbers on the heritage certificate and on the main plate in the engine bay but I can’t seem to find any information about this small plate.
Can anyone shed any light on this ?
Wiggles posted
“I’ll be interested to know, but was under the impression 2.4 liter Jags never saw American shores.”
According to Nigel Thorley’s Jaguar Mk I and Mk II The Complete Companion page 153:
“Left hand drive 2.4’s commenced at chassis number 950001, this particular car being completed on 21st November 1955 with engine number BB1023/8 and finished Green with red interior. It was subsequently shipped to Jaguar’s New York distributor as a demonstrator.”
So there must have been many 2.4 Mk I LHD sold in the US.
What I really wanted to emphasize in this part of my post
So how does a 3.4 head fit on a 3.8 engine?
2.4 and 3.4 Mk I engines have the same block because they have the same bore.
But this bore is 83mm. The 3.8 has a 87mm bore. This is only 4mm different so
it could well be that the 2.4, 3.4, and 3.8 have exactly the same block so that
the 3.4 head fits. In fact, the camshaft driving chains must also be the same.
Of course, superficial stuff like the lettering on the block are different, but except
for this, the castings are exactly the same, and the machining of everything
would be the same except that the 3.8 has a 2mm difference in bore radius?
Sir William Lyons was famous for using parts from earlier models on later models
to keep the costs down. Do we have an example of this here?
As I noted, the car must have a 3.4 head as the three carbs on a 3.8 head would
not fit in the engine compartment.
PS: Ferrari’s original V12 had a displacement of 1.5. The same block was used
for larger bore and strokes to have 2.0, 2.5, some in between, and finally 3.0 liters.
They are not the same blocks.
The 2.4 block has a stroke of 76.5 mm where the 3.4 and 3.8 strokes are 106 mm.
Check the casting part number on the right hand side above the JAGUAR logo.
Also with a mirror and flashlight you can see the head casting part number on the underside, usually in the middle but may be either on the intake or exhaust side.
A 3.4 head will fit on a 3.8 block. The radius or size of the combustion chamber might be different, I don’t know.
Beyond that, further enlightenment about head swapping might be better found on the XK engine forum.