Thank all for the advice. Re the headers Apparently there a several manufacturers here in the UK, but only one that “is worth the upgrade” per my local guy who sorts out some of the local racing cars at goodwood. Will send back the details.
Nice to see all the other upgrades that are out there. Some future options!
While we are discussing 140 engines: I have been working on getting a 56 XK140 DHC back on the road. As we approach trying out the new brakes, battery box etc the owner decided to sell it after we get it running. I am wondering what the values is because:
(1.) non-original 140(?) engine is in car although the original engine is in the garage awaiting a rebuild
(2,) the car was originally (she says rare) auto trans which was converted to a stock Jag transmission. I can imagine how a top restoration of an auto trans 140 might bring more money than a stick, but I am guessing a modified car like this is at the bottom of the heap. Where is the best place to sell this vehicle
?
So long as the OE is there, valuation is not terribly affected.
Here’s Hagerty’s valuation tool: dont assume the car is “bottom of the heap.”
Thanks Paul, I wonder about the automatic transmission (since replaced by a 4 speed) but there are vestigial parts which still make it apparent it was once an auto.Hagerty says reduce by 10% for auto. I do not imagine a converted tranny car is worth as much as an original stick, but that’s more a negotiation point I suppose.
My philosophy on values leans more toward condition than original atoms. Bodywork is top of the list of considerations, though it’s also the trickiest to assess because plastic fillers are so easy to abuse. Original engine and gearbox (aka Matching Numbers) are absolutes for some buyers so they’re out of the dynamic anyway. Other buyers don’t put as much emphasis on matching numbers as they do on original colours, which is also a paradigm influencing the subjective concept of “value”. In other words, the value a potential buyer perceives is in his head. He may prefer to spend almost as much, or even more, on a rusted out unrestored barn find that needs everything than a nicely presentable driver with a period correct replacement engine in deference (or perhaps reverence) for that short string of numbers stamped into the head and/or engine block.
Gearbox swaps, in my estimation, affect the value dynamic to a lesser extent and are more likely to increase the value than dampen it. I’m thinking now of five speed conversions but your situation is much the same - personally, I would’t consider buying a classic sportscar with a slushbox, original or otherwise, but a four-speed conversion would put the car back in the game.
Another perspective.
Thanks Nick, you make a lot of sense. I was surprised but understand her wanting to sell it, althougjh she scares me because she is naive about the value. (She reminds me of the lady I spoke to back n the 80’s: I had gotten up early Sunday am to check the newspaper for classic cars for sale, There was a 140 DHC with a new top for $6000, so I called, but it was gone already but the lady widow who was selling it was upset, I asked what all was wrong with it, she said she car was in excellent condition, had been repainted and had a new top but was old. She was asking $6000 (low even for 1985). The first man there made a deal when a second man showed up, found out what it was selling for and offered a few thou more -it ended up with the cops breaking up a fist fight. I need to help this owner develop a sense of the value of what she has.
For alternators, if one wants to keep it looking original, they are alternators now made to look like Lucas generators. Alloy body instead of electroless nickeled steel , but I got them to run a lathe tool over the outside before assembly yo look like a Special Equipment one’s turning marks.
The CAV ammeter could probably have an XK Smiths face put on it. It doesn’t really matter that the scale is different. You don’t need to know a numerical value for charge or discharge, just when things become ’ not normal’.
XJ engines worry me a little because of the studs down through the water jacket can corrode and break Apparently Leyland altered the original spec of the material to a cheaper one, which would be OK IF owners changed corrosion inhibitor at recommended intervals …fat chance
A friend with an XK was given a 4.2 XJ engine . Looked OK but on undoing the head nuts, found that one had been the victim of the above corrosion, So the PO had tapped the head and made a stepped stud to hold a dummy dome nut in place. 10 points for innovation.
The earlier 4.2 engines didn’t have this problem.
Can’t believe its already been a year. But thought an update would be appropriate given all the support.
Chevy v8 out along with auto transmission. Sold in the UK for a helpful amount.
3.4 Mark VII “m” block, KJ head (It was orange when I got it, so I repainted it orange. It was never going to be 100 points anyway), Moss box with overdrive. lightened flywheel. Since I needed to buy a clutch pedal I upgraded to hydraulics. Electronic ignition, upgraded alternator. Went with an original starter though. Might regret it.
Before and after
Gunna be a sweet ride, and only “rain-on-your-paraders” are going to bellyache about the “incorrect” engine.
We have a saying, here in the States, you can tell’em, but I think you may already know it…
The welded-in AN nipple, and AN return line is brilliant!
Paul, you are a bit late with the " brilliant" surely!! both Rob and Lovell have used
this accolade in recent posts. Perhaps a advisory at the (BIG) head of my posts
to wear shades !! what say you?
When and if I crack Nuclear Fusion or magic up a perpetual motion machine I will accept
the aforesaid accolade, indeed for the latter invention “brilliant”, as a descriptive, will seem rather dull !
As it is I just rearrange the " brilliance" of others. Used with positive meaning “Schemer”
is perhaps a apt appelation.
Photo of the bottom rad 2" Aeroquip connection, over the top or what !!
of course it is, but who gives a OOOO.
Peter B
Not sure what I’m looking at: is this a full-on dry sump setup?
Wet rather than dry Paul, its the bottom rad connection to a chamber that mounts two electric pumps, one for the normal entry point and tother to the block.
Corona lockdown has been good for making progress on the car. A long way from the original V8 version.
Does it purr with a Jag 6, now?
Interesting! How much amperage do those electric pumps require?
lovely colour mist grey? and I assume a wesbasto sunroof?
So this, or these, is/are electric water pumps that replace the belt driven original?
This view, looking up, from underneath the front chassis crossmember
Those pumps are pulling water from the bottom of radiator? IF that is correct, how does the water enter the exhaust side of the head IF you are not using the water pump passage as an ingress point?
