Hi all.
Somewhere I saw a chart of SU carb dates that had letters going up to Z for 1966. My HD 8 set are stamped “B” which I’m thinking might be 1968? Which would be nice for my 68 FHC. 
Any help always appreciated
So here’s the chart I saw in a previous thread. Z is 1966. Assuming they start again with A for 1967, B would be 68?
Thoughts?
Sorry to rehash this thread, my 1960 MK2 has S5 stamped.
So that would be 59 correct ?
Thanks
Justin
Justin,
Yes, you are correct……….
The letter-code S does equate to 1959, with the number 5 being the month of May, so your S5 stamped HD6 carburetters were made by SU in May 1959, noting that may well predate up to a month or two the Manufacture Date of your completed Mark 2. But as you say, I would be checking for an accurate manufacture Date of your Mark 2 as although possible, its improbable that your carburetters were made 7 months earlier than your Mark 2 date-of-manufacture. Don’t know where you live, but it was common practice in USA in particular to sell a new car, as the next years model, whereas in the UK the date of manufacture is usually close to the date of first registration.
Can you advise your Chassis Number which will allow car to be dated more accurately, and indeed can you confirm that both of your HD6 carburetters have this same S5 stamping.
And please note, the E-type forum listing provided is NOT correct on many fronts with the letter-codes V, W, Y and Z not being used at all. Indeed this year-coding system started at A = 1945, with a few letter skipped, eventually getting to S = 1959, then restarting again at A = 1963.
I have shown an accurate Date-Code listing in several forums over the past 10-15 years, but it would seem not on The E-type Forum being more pre-occupied with matters XK, albeit I have and love E-types as well………………
@Roger_Payne I am in the mist of striping the carbs and each is stamped withe the same date code.
I am also finding dates on the distributor of 10 59 and 7 59 on the generator as well.
Justin,
175379DN tells me it is a LHD 3.4 Mark 2, and an early one, the 379th, but being 3.4 LHD more first quarter 1960 than 1959. Majority of the earlier LHD Mark 2 had the 3.8 engine. Unfortunately I don’t have much of a data base on LHD 3.4 so cant do any better than first quarter, indeed more late first quarter than early. So short of a Jaguar Heritage certificate, cant do any better. But your carburetter dates and indeed your Distributor and Generator dates suggest something abnormal. Maybe a built up engine that was initially installed in an earlier Body, and then an issue found in pre-dispatch road-testing, that warranted a replacement engine, with your engine reworked, then once ready now fitted in 175379DN. That’s a guess of course, but something out-of-the ordinary to explain such an unusually large gap in dates of your carburetters in particular, but also your Distributor and Generator relative to the build date of 175379DN. It was not common to replace a complete engine after final inspection, but it did happen………………
Roger
Thanks for your help !
This car has me wanting to dig deeper. The car as I can tell has not been messed with for the most part. Some things I have found in the car as I pull everything out among all the assembly tags on seats and signatures. I have found some Items from London under the rear seat.
Almost wondering if the car was ordered and delivery taken In England.
Justin